Dataspace Dimensions
The Dataspace Business Intelligence Newsletter

JULY 2011

"My Son works with computers" -- Mom

Do you work in business intelligence? Do your parents understand what you do? Or, are you still the one they call on the phone when their PC's printer stops working because you, "Work with computers" and that's really all they understand about it?

For that matter, does your management understand what you do for them? More importantly, do they understand what you can do? If not, you've got some work ahead of you. As a BI expert you have the skills to take the data they've invested millions of dollars in capturing, and increase it's value. But, as you know, it's not always a slam dunk.

One key to getting value from BI is making sure that it gets used. And the key to getting it used is understanding the business process changes it should drive: What actions should users consider after reviewing their data? Do you know enough about their business processes to guide them in the right direction? Is your BI actionable?

We explore actionable BI in more detail in this month's Blog posting.

In any case, welcome back to Dimensions, the Dataspace Newsletter! For those of you new to us, our goal with Dimensions is to provide our clients, alumni and other friends with quick overviews of the more important things going on in the world of business intelligence. Let us know what you think.

And, by the way, for that printer problem, start by checking that the power button is on.


Benjamin Taub, CEO
Dataspace


NEWS
Strong Example of a Mass Audience Dashboard
Do you need to communicate performance data to a large group of users? Check out the State of Michigan's government dashboard. Michigan's governor, Rick Snyder, is an ex-CEO of Gateway Computers. One of his initiatives is instilling a sense of direction and accountability via this dashboard. It's a great example of a simple dashboard that communicates a lot of information to a very broad audience. Click here to see how Michigan is performing. (By the way, this looks like an SAP BOBJ Xcelsius application).

A Tool for Quickly Explaining Master Data & Data Quality
Are you pursuing a master data or data quality initiative and need to explain it to your management? ETL / MDM / Data Quality vendor Informatica has an executive brief that concisely explains these concepts. It's a worthwhile, five minute read. Use this link to download the document: MDM + Data Quality for the Data Warehouse, an Executive Brief

Dissenting View: Business Intelligence Isn't Working
A recent article in Accountancy Age questions why companies keep investing in BI when the technology is frequently "falling short of your objectives." The opinion raises some very important issues. One of its key conclusions is that companies jump into BI without thinking about where their data is going to come from. We're big fans of providing quick results by attaching BI tools directly to source systems but, only as a short term measure. Long term success usually requires some serious work on the data side.

iPad: A New Tool to Build Executive Buy-In to BI
Ann All, a blogger on IT Business Edge has an interesting take on executive buy-in to BI initiatives: putting the applications on iPads could drive enough interest to get execs to use the software. As is usually the case, if they like it, the execs will order the technology for those on their teams and acceptance will snowball from there. Click here to read Ann's full post.

OPINION
Everyone talks about making their BI 'actionable'. This monSuperman just chilling.th's Blog post discusses how action figure Superman does it and how you can too.

Read the posting at: Superman Makes BI Actionable by Asking, "Who Should I hit?" 


DATASPACE NEWS
Here's a sample of what's going on at Dataspace:

• DATA STRATEGY ANALYSIS: We recently completed a data strategy study for one of the nation's largest insurance companies. The findings were interesting and the study methodology can be applied to any IT environment.
  
  
• PROVING ROI: An extremely large, urban healthcare client is now using QlikView to tie internal investment data to external patient satisfaction scores. The goal is to determine if investments in facilities improvements actually affect patient satisfaction. The results have been very well received by executive management.
  
  
• WARRANTY DATA WAREHOUSE: While we've done work for a number of auto companies, both US and European, we are just kicking off a warranty data warehouse project with our first Japanese auto client.
  
  
• REUNION: Past Dataspace consultant Rich Meyer is helping out with client projects.

DATASPACE
Founded in 1994, Dataspace provides consulting and staffing services in the areas of analytics, business intelligence, and data warehousing.

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