Aligning your company’s business intelligence initiatives with overall corporate strategy makes complete sense. Few would argue against such an intuitive approach, especially as articulated by Robert Kaplan, father of the proverbial Balanced Scorecard. Yet a quick review of the real world reminds us how often we defy such thoughtful strategy and instead play things by ear.

In BI and data warehousing organizations, there is a pattern of dissatisfied internal customers and siloed organizations. What is going on? The customer waits. “When will IT finally get their act together and deliver? Why don’t they serve me? Why don’t they understand what I want? I am the reason they exist…they don’t get it!”

(Originally published by B-Eye-Network) by Todd Saunders
A very common situation faced by consulting and project teams is the addition of a new team member after the project is already underway.  There are a variety of reasons for this situation: the project plan called for the addition of a resource at this point in the project, [...]

To be successful in business intelligence, system sight should be one of your key competencies.

The business intelligence world is dominated by the word “systems.” We have source systems, operational systems, ETL systems, database systems, application systems, data warehouse systems, reporting systems, analytic systems and business intelligence systems. But the “system” that tends to be most misunderstood and challenging for most people is the organizational “system” that we live in.

One strategy to improve the effectiveness of business intelligence teams is to increase the clarity of roles and responsibilities.

Like business intelligence (BI) initiatives, BI teams have a maturity lifecycle. And like BI initiatives, you can expect different activities and milestones at each stage. Tight timelines and limited resources can exacerbate the challenges at each phase and adversely impact communication, decision-making, conflict management, productivity, and retention.

Many companies see the need for effective communication for business intelligence professionals, but they often fail to provide the opportunities to focus on the skills required to achieve it.

Darren was furious! Bob had committed to finishing the business requirements by Tuesday, and as of Thursday, it still wasn’t done. In their meeting with their CFO [...]

If you’re a manager, director, vice president, or even the president of your company, I have a simple question for you. Who is responsible for the success of your team and/or organization? Most of you have probably responded, “That’s easy, we all are – after all, I can’t do it myself!” Good answer. Unfortunately, in practice, research shows that people in a managerial or leadership role regularly take on too much responsibility for the success of their areas, and this predictable behavior has its consequences. Those at the top of the “system,” whether we define the system as being a business intelligence (BI) team, a task force, a division, or even the entire organization, often feel burdened, exhausted, and overwhelmed. And what’s worse, their behavior may be limiting the success of their team.

The basic principles of supply and demand pertain to a company’s ability to recruit and retain business intelligence (BI) professionals. My company has been CONNECTing (forgive the pun) data warehousing and business intelligence professionals with consulting and employee positions since 1992. During this 15-year span, we have certainly experienced the cycles of both 1) more-demand-than-supply of qualified resources, and 2) more supply-than-demand of qualified resources.

Maureen Clarry presents the top tips for working with an internal or external recruiter to find new people for your business intelligence team.