Business Intelligence > BI Delivery

To understand BI, it is important to know the steps to take. And as our department takes off in a new direction, a fresh perspective offers some valuable insight.

It is this writer's belief that business intelligence fails at the earliest and most important step in the BI process: planning. In order to answer the questions your company has, you will need to clearly understand what they are looking for--which is a lot easier than it sounds.

A new agile procurement process--one that can operate in conjunction with and alongside an agile software development methodology--should significantly improve both the procurement of software vendor’s services and and successful delivery of software projects. This article will explore the underlying principles as well as map the reconciliation points required to harmonize agile development and procurement methods.

New Business Intelligence offering from Oracle features role-based intelligence to track project performance.

The Field of Dreams saying: "If you build it, they will come!" doesn't hold true in the world of BI. You need to provide the right training to the right users to have a successful BI implementation.

BI isn't an official Olympic event (yet), but if you want to go for the gold on your next project, you're going to need some world-class players.

In any business intelligence cycle, the analysis step is critical to providing value back to the organization. But don't confuse information with intelligence...

While the Lean Six Sigma approach is rarely linked with business intelligence, it is a concept that relies heavily on data, measures and analysis to support and encourage process improvement efforts. These can be provided by the BI function in the organization. The two disciplines can work together in a symbiotic relationship--one requiring data to solve problems, the other requiring problems for the data it can provide.

Do PMOs have value? Arguably, yes. At least...sometimes. According to the results of recent research, the presence of a PMO was often a contributor to the attainment of organizational value. What was of particular concern, however, was the actual role of the PMO within the organization. Two broad types emerged within the research; find out what they are inside...

A project management instructor shares why he uses the scenario of a Business Intelligence system implementation in order to go beyond the textbooks and explore the many ways that real-world projects get messy — and how solid project management practices can help sort it out.

Adult children. Jumbo shrimp. Seriously funny. I’m sure you recognize these expressions as oxymorons — self-contradictory phrases, often with an ironic meaning. Should we add “agile requirements” to the list? Does agile development fit in with traditional requirements practices? And if so, how?

The more you specify exactly what your team must do and how it must do it, the less team members will seek to understand the thinking behind what they’re doing. High-performing teams start with a firm grasp of the goals of the project — the "why" — and then actively participate in achieving its success.

The first step in scaling agile is to move from partial methods to a full-fledged, disciplined delivery process. The second step is to understand eight scaling factors and determine which are applicable to the range of complexities your project teams face. Here, agile thought leader Scott Ambler presents his scaling model.

Nothing helps a project get headed down the right path than a well-planned and professionally organized project kickoff. The five-step process outlined here will help insure that the customer and your delivery organization are of the same mind as you start your engines.

When times are tough, competition for sponsor dollars gets even tougher. Here are some tips to help push your BI project to front of the line for funding.

One of the beneficial features of Mindjet MindManager is its ability to import and export to Microsoft Project. This feature is very useful when the project manager is managing project execution while trying to control the project schedule.

Why involve project management before there’s a project? Customer expectations are often out of whack before the services part of the organization ever gets its hands on the project. Here we look at the root of the problem--and provide some solutions.

Looking for the path to BI enlightenment? Here's a start.

Whatever the scope of your latest BI project, you can't afford to overlook the business justification for moving forward. Analyze this, every time.

How many projects does your organization have underway right now? Join the conversation with our SME to help solve this surprisingly challenging question.

Turn the key, the car doesn't start...what else is new? In Business Intelligence, an outsourced solution is an appetite for disaster. Here's how to avoid it.

Agile methods are powerful approaches that bring many benefits to how we undertake project work. However, they are not immune to misuse or failure. The following list of five common pitfalls is often seen in organizations switching to agile.

The market's in an uproar, and tech companies are more unstable than ever. How do you know if your BI tool vendor will still be in business when you really need it?

The latest hot spot in the fad-driven world of business intelligence is bringing business together to be more productive and more, well, intelligent.

There is lots of great information available on how to use agile methods for custom software development projects, but less so for package implementations. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf solutions make up a large percentage of the IT projects undertaken by companies each year, and many organizations are missing out on benefits that an agile package approach can bring.

How do you make a fixed-price contract work? This article investigates the reasons why IT projects tend to overrun the budget--and the mitigating actions that can be applied.

The typical response to tough economic times is for IT leaders to make across-the-board cuts. While the cost savings are immediate, they are drastic, one-time fixes that introduce risk and don't position the organization for future survival.