Building Your Dream Team

Vijay Sankaran - April 13, 2000 As you embark on a brand new BI initiative, a thought that undoubtedly crosses your mind is whom should you staff on your team so that the project is a success. Well, having seen many teams in a variety of shapes and sizes, here's some advice from the trenches.

The Superstars
The three most critical roles in the BI team are the project manager, the technical architect and the data modeler. If you put superstars who are team players in these roles, you have a higher probability of success.

• Project Manager: The project manager is basically the coach of the BI team. He or she ensures that the team works efficiently together, can build consensus quickly, and keeps project running on schedule. The project manager directs the team and makes sure that the team is playing at its optimal performance. The project manager should be fair, experienced, able to work with business users, and well-versed in BI-related issues.
• Technical Architect: Your next most important player is your technical architect. Your architect is the tech guru of the team and knows the nitty-gritty about BI architectures. This individual should know the latest and greatest tools, how to make the system scalable and issues that may arise when constructing the architecture. Strong technical architects are constant students of the BI game and will cultivate themselves through self-learning …

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