UNIT II

Business Intelligence Stages & Steps

Definition :
BI is neither a product nor a system. It is an architecture and a collection of integrated
operational as well as decision-support applications and databases that provide the business
community easy access to business data.

Business Intelligence Roadmap is primarily a project lifecycle guide for developing

BI decision-support applications using structured data.
BI Decision-Support Initiatives

Proven method for understanding and implementing the processes required in

the successful deployment of BI decision-support applications.

Development Approaches
The Traditional Development Approach
Waterfall model
The Cross-Organizational Development Approach

Like ERP, EAI

For what:
• Information consolidation
• Information integration
• Information integrity
• Seamless business functionality
• Streamlined organizational business processes
The Dynamics of a BI Decision-Support Project
Engineering Stages and the Development Steps

The Justification Stage

Step 1: Business Case Assessment

The Planning Stage

Step 2: Enterprise Infrastructure Evaluation
Technical infrastructure
Nontechnical infrastructure

Step 3: Project Planning

BI decision-support projects are extremely dynamic. Changes to scope, staff,
budget, technology, business representatives, and sponsors can severely impact the
success of a project.

The Business Analysis Stage

Step 4: Project Requirements Definition
Step 5: Data Analysis
Step 6: Application Prototyping
Step 7: Meta Data Repository Analysis
The Design Stage
Step 8: Database Design
Step 9: Extract/Transform/Load Design
Step 10: Meta Data Repository Design

The Construction Stage

Step 11: Extract/Transform/Load Development
Step 12: Application Development
Step 13: Data Mining
Step 14: Meta Data Repository Development

The Deployment Stage

Step 15: Implementation
Step 16: Release Evaluation
 Parallel Development Tracks

BI decision-support project has at least three development tracks

running in parallel after the project requirements have been
defined and before implementation.

1. The ETL Track

The ETL track is often referred to as the back end. The purpose of this
development track is to design and populate the BI target databases.

2. The Application Track

The Application track is often referred to as the front end. The
purpose of this development track is to design and build the access
and analysis applications.
• Deliver value-added information
• Provide easy, spontaneous access to the business data
Eg: Web languages, OLAP tools, client/server-based
decision-support applications
3. The Meta Data Repository Track
The purpose of this development track is to design, build, and populate a meta data
repository. The team members are responsible for designing and building the access
interfaces as well as the reporting and querying capabilities for the meta data
repository. Eg: SRS,Documentation
BI Project Team Structure

Need skill set to develop the three parallel track

1. The core team

1.The Core Team

SWAT team - SOFTWARE ACCELERATION AND TRANSFORMATION

100 percent of their time from beginning to end of the BI project to perform project
activities applicable to the roles assigned to them.

1. One project manager (not an administrator)

2. One representative from the business side
3. One business analyst from the information technology (IT) department
4. One technical person from the IT department (either a senior systems
5. analyst or a senior programmer)
2.Permanent step core team members

Application lead developer

BI infrastructure Architect
Business Representative
Data Administrator
Data mining Expert
Data quality analyst

3.The Extended Team

Roles to support the Permanent step core team members

4. Additional Limited Roles

Data owners
The facilitator
The scribe
Business Case Assessment
Business drivers: Identify the business drivers, strategic business goals, and BI application
objectives. Ensure that the BI application objectives support the strategic business goals.

Business analysis issues: Define the business analysis issues and the information needed to
meet the strategic business goals by stating the high level information requirements for the
business.

Cost-benefit analysis: Estimate costs for building and maintaining a successful BI

decision-support environment. Determine the ROI by assigning monetary value to the
tangible benefits and highlighting the positive impact the intangible benefits will have on the
organization.

Risk assessment: Assess the risks in terms of technology, complexity, integration,

organization, project team, and financial investment.
Business Drivers
Eg: Warrant, cost, unsatisfied customer,

Business Analysis Issues

Information Needs
Data sources can be internal as well as external
Types of Data Sources
1. Operational Data
Online transaction processing (OLTP) and batch systems provide internal operational
data about subject areas, such as the following:
• Financial
• Logistics
• Sales
• Order entry
• Personnel
• Billing
• Research and engineering
2.Private Data
This internal departmental data usually comes from the desktops and workstations
of business analysts, knowledge workers, statisticians, and managers. Examples
include the following:
• Product analysis spreadsheets
• Regional product usage spreadsheets
• Prospective customer databases

External Data
Organizations often purchase external data from vendors that specialize in collecting
industry-specific information available in the public domain, such as the following:
• Health care statistics
• Customer profile information
• Customer catalog-ordering habits
• Customer credit reports

External data is usually clustered around the following categories:

Sales and marketing data:, Credit data, Competitive data, Industry data, Economic data:
currency fluctuations, political indicators, interest rate
movements, stock and bond prices
Source Data Quality

Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Provide easier online access to a flat file
• Archive operational data
• Merge two operational files for operational processing
• Separate the operational reporting function from the operational update function.

• The purpose is shown in the figure

1. Revenue increase, possibly in the form of:
Identification of new markets and niches
More effective suggestive selling
Faster opportunity recognition
Faster time to market
2. Profit increase, including possibilities for:
Better targeted promotional mailings
Early warning of declining markets
Identification of under-performing product lines or products
Identification of internal inefficiencies
More efficient merchandise management
3. Customer satisfaction improvement through:
Improved understanding of customer preferences
Improved customer-to-product matching
Up-selling to customers
Increased repeat business
Faster resolution of customer complaints
4. Savings increase through:
Reduction in wasted or out-of-date merchandise
Reduction in requests for customized reporting
5. Market share gain through:
Increased numbers of customers who defect from the competition
Much higher customer ret
Risk Assessment

Risks are factors or conditions that may jeopardize a project. Risks should be
assessed for the following six major variables:
1. The technology used for implementing the project
2. The complexity of the capabilities and processes to be implemented
3. The integration of various components and of data
4. The organization and its financial and moral support
5. The project team staff's skills, attitudes, and commitment levels
6. The financial investment in terms of ROI.

Green = low risk go ahead with the project

Yellow = medium risk caution, proceed slowly
Red = high risk stop, re evaluate before proceeding

1. Technology risk
2. Complexity risk
3. Integration risk
4. Organization risk
5. Project team risk
6. Financial investment risk
Business Case Assessment Activities

Determine the business need

Assess the current decision-support system solutions
Assess the operational sources and procedures.
Assess the competitors' BI decision-support initiatives
Determine the BI application objectives
Propose a BI solution.
Perform a cost-benefit analysis.
Perform a risk assessment.
Write the assessment report
Deliverable Resulting from These Activities
1. Business case assessment report
The business case assessment report should document the following:
- Strategic business goals of the organization
- Objectives of the proposed BI application
- Statement of the business need (business problem or business opportunity)
- Explanation of how the BI application will satisfy that need (proposed BI solution)
- Cost-benefit analysis results
- Risk assessment
- Recommendations for business process improvements to the operational systems or to
the operational business processes and procedures.

Roles Involved in These Activities

1. Business representative
2. Business sponsor
3. Data quality analyst
4. Project manager
5. Subject matter expert