Better Business Analytics – ten thoughts from our experts

Efficiency. Visibility. Control.
Analysing analytics
The lessons we’ve learned over 20 years of
providing business analytics solutions
Practical insights to improve your business performance
1 Copyright © 2014 Advanced Business Solutions. All rights reserved. BIEBOOK V1.9.2014

Contents
Introduction – Analysing analytics 3
LESSON 1 – Clean your data first! 4
LESSON 2 – Always think about your end goal 5
LESSON 3 – Ask your data the right questions 6
LESSON 4 – Take a partnering approach 7
LESSON 5 – Review before you recode 8
LESSON 6 – Budget for flexibility, not fixed reports 9
LESSON 7 – Prioritise the executive dashboard 10
LESSON 8 – Focus on usability to reap greater returns 11
LESSON 9 – Invest in skills, not just solutions 12
LESSON 10 – Never underestimate the impact of an upgrade 13
Conclusion – Putting our expertise to use 14

Analysing analytics
In a world of Big Data and even bigger claims, you could be forgiven for thinking
analytics is a brand new capability: a hitherto undiscovered treasure trove for
businesses. But the reality is very different. The core task of analytics – processing large
quantities of information to generate valuable insights – is decades old. And Advanced
Business Solutions has been involved in it for almost all of that time.
So as more and more organisations feel the pressure to respond to Big Data expectations,
here are some valuable lessons that we’ve learned at first hand over the last 20 years of
providing business analytics solutions. Shared by our consultants, they offer a personal
perspective on some of the ways that you can make sure analytics works for you.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 1
Clean your data first!
“When your business analytics project involves consolidating data from
multiple source systems – and most now do – the temptation can be
to load as much data as possible into a data warehouse, as quickly as
possible. This, so the theory goes, then allows you to invest more time
in application and reporting development.
In practice, this really doesn’t work. It invariably leads to complexities in
report/analysis development, and significant rework which is difficult to plan
and budget for. Far better to focus first on data cleansing – ensuring your
data is of sufficient quality to meet your solution requirements – and then any
transformation needed. It does take time, but it means you avoid complexities
when modelling, and cuts out the single greatest source of errors during user
acceptance testing.
This upfront effort won’t be visible to key stakeholders – so it does require careful
management of their expectations, especially if they are looking for instant results.
But taking that little extra effort delivers tangible cost savings during other phases
of the project, particularly during testing and presentation layer phases.”
Tom Nixon, Business Analytics Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions
tom.nixon@advancedcomputersoftware.com
Reports and planning models can be aesthetically
pleasing and automated, driving stakeholder buy in. But
projects always falter without a strong data strategy.
Tom Nixon has a wealth of multi-sector
experience in the design,
development and implementation
of cube-based analytics systems
to replace overstretched excel
or relational database models.
He has worked as both a system
administrator and developer,
giving him the experience
needed to develop systems that
not only meet user requirements
but also minimise system
administration tasks.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 2
Always think about your end goal
“The first and most important point, bar none, is that you always have
to think what the end goal of your analytics is – and that shouldn’t
simply be to have a Big Data analytics solution.
It seems obvious, but all too often, we’ve gone in and very smart clients
haven’t really thought it through. Is your goal to improve everyday performance
management across the business, transform the way you manage risk, gain
richer insights into customer behaviour or ensure you’re meeting regulatory
requirements?
The end goal affects not only the basic solution design, but can also impact
on software selection, data models and even which users you consult. For
example, when we worked with Merseyside Police, they had a really clear goal:
to understand employee absence better. We recommended a solution that
could help them do that, and made sure the right data was being gathered and
processed. It not only helps them examine long-term patterns, but also ensures
they can cover short-term absence.”
Chris Lees, Project Manager, Advanced Business Solutions
chris.lees@advancedcomputersoftware.com
Data can tell you all kinds of things: to make
your analytics solution effective, focus on the things you
want to know most.
A highly experienced, versatile
project manager, Chris Lees
has led a variety of business
intelligence projects in a major
international banking and credit
card organisation. He joined
Advanced in 2013 after working
as a Consultant Project Manager
for Sopra UK. Since then, he
has worked on projects for
organisations in the NHS, local
government and the airline and
insurance industries.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 3
Ask your data the right questions
“One of the most common challenges we’re set at Advanced is making
business analytics useful. Organisations have dipped their toes in the
water, but have become frustrated that the system isn’t telling them
anything useful.
The problem is rarely the tool itself: instead, it’s the questions that are being
asked of it.
Such organisations tend to start with loosely defined reporting requirements,
perhaps a few printed-out charts and tables: easily replicated, but mean you
just generate the same charts, a bit faster.
What they really want is the ability to look beyond top-level indicators, to
understand trends or investigate dips in performance. To do that, you need to
first capture and document the underlying business processes. You can then
determine the questions that need to be asked, and so define the reporting
requirements of the system.
That was exactly what Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys Mental Health Trust did. It wanted
to improve its Payment by Results process, so documented it fully – making it
easy for us to identify the reports they needed to make it work more efficiently.”
Hiren Chouhan, BI Business Analyst, Advanced Business Solutions
hiren.chouhan@advancedcomputersoftware.com
It sounds so simple, but to get the answers you want
from your data, you have to ask the right questions.
Hiren Chouhan joined Advanced
in 2011 after working as a Senior
Business Analyst at Northgate
Information Solutions. His
expertise lies in capturing and
documenting business intelligence
requirements, to underpin data
mapping and modelling. He has
worked across public and private
sector, including NHS trusts,
mental health trusts, police forces,
retailers, airlines, supply chain
management companies and
pharmaceutical companies.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 4
Take a partnering approach
“When you appoint someone to solve your business analytics problems,
there’s a temptation to almost wash your hands of it: you’re working
with experts, so leave them to it! It’s flattering, but in all honesty
doesn’t always deliver the best results.
Instead, to get maximum impact, I’d always recommend involving key team
members from across your business right from the start of the project.
That’s the only way to ensure that the end solution satisfies your business
requirements as well as technical ones. Equally importantly, it also equips you
with the knowledge and skills you’ll need to maintain and extend your solution in
house in the future.
This collaborative approach proved its worth when we worked with Rotherham
Metropolitan Borough Council’s financial systems team. As well as training staff
to perform “Extract, Transform, Load” (ETL) development, we worked with them
collaboratively to design, build, test and deploy their solution – delivering all the
required mentoring and training along the way. They’re now wholly in control of
the solution.”
Chris Garvey, Lead Business Analytics Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions
chris.garvey@advancedcomputersoftware.com
By working collaboratively during
implementation, you often need less support once
you’re up and running.
Chris Garvey has over seven
years’ experience designing and
implementing IBM Cognos and
Data Warehousing solutions. He
joined Advanced in 2012, and his
experience spans a wide range
of industries including charity,
finance, healthcare, retail,
telecoms, manufacturing, police
and the public sector.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 5
Review before you recode
“In many organisations, business analytics solutions are introduced as a
more rigorous and reliable successor to spreadsheet-based reporting.
As a result, many vendors have developed solutions that are incredibly similar
to spreadsheets in look, feel and functionality. That can encourage some
organisations to task developers to simply recreate their existing workbooks in a
new environment – on the basis that this will reduce disruption.
But doing so is a real missed opportunity. While the organisation might think
its reports are all broadly similar, superficially slight differences can add
considerably to the complexity of building an analytics platform. That can lead
to longer development times and higher costs. Instead, it’s worth taking time
to review existing workbooks and spreadsheets, perhaps in partnership with the
developer. Are the table structures the same? Are the same calculations used? Is
data being sourced in the same way?
Identifying standard tasks and processes upfront can help eliminate
inconsistencies, support consolidation and reduce costs. Better still, it will make
future development tasks quicker and more cost-effective too.”
Lee Beresford, TM1 Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions
lee.beresford@advancedcomputersoftware.com
TM1 is an amazing analytics platform – you can
customise everything. But that doesn’t mean you should:
standardisation is the key to maximise efficiency.
Lee Beresford has spent over
a decade as a finance analyst
and database developer, working
for the likes of Barclaycard and
American Express. At the latter,
he built a global forecasting
solution based on the IBM Cognos
TM1 platform. He now uses his
expertise to help Advanced’s
clients get the most from this
powerful software tool.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 6
Budget for flexibility, not fixed reports
“At some organisations, once they’ve decided to invest in a business
analytics solution, they want everything. They make a comprehensive
list of every single report they currently need, plus a few they think they
might need, ready for us to build them.
Of course we can do that, but ultimately over-scoping is as dangerous as under-scoping.
You spend unnecessary amounts of cash building all these reports, but
have nothing left in the budget when you need to change them!
A far more fruitful approach is to use that upfront budget to create a ‘self-service’
solution – one that gives users the ability to build their own reports, or
customise existing ones. It means providing user-friendly tools that allow you
to select and source the right data, or redefine the queries, without needing
advanced coding skills.
The result is a far greater ability to ensure your analytics solution evolves with
business needs – and without needing to involve consultants or IT resource, you
can normally make changes faster too.”
Paul Killgallon, Business Analytics Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions
paul.killgallon@advancedcomputersoftware.com
Who knows whether the reports you need today
will still be useful this time next year? Make sure you’re
able to change them – or you risk obsolescence.
Paul Killgallon began his career
in a software development
background, focusing particularly
on User Interface design of
ETL tools. He then moved into
a consultative role, focusing
developing and rolling-out data
warehousing and reporting
solutions within the Business
Intelligence and Business
Analytics arena. He worked for
many years at Cognos (now an
IBM company) before joining
Advanced in 2012.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 7
Prioritise the executive dashboard
“Business analytics only delivers its full value for a company when it’s
fully adopted within the organisation. And the quickest way to ensure
that happens is to get board-level buy in.
It’s not difficult: senior management are quick to see the value of accurate,
consistent and relevant reporting. After all, it makes their job easier. But
in implementation terms, that means it’s well worth making the executive
dashboard one of the first deliverables of the programme.
We can work with you to create a dashboard that provides the right information
and has the right look for your management team.
Once executives have seen what analytics can do, and have richer information
at their fingertips in a way they can use it, they invariably become champions of
the solution. They’ll encourage others to use it, request more reports based on it
and drive uptake across the organisation.
And it generally gives plenty of kudos to the team that are behind it too!”
Paul Hamilton, Business Analytics Solution Architect, Advanced Business Solutions
paul.hamilton@advancedcomputersoftware.com
The more widely your analytics solution is used,
the broader the range and richer the level of insights
you’ll gain: it’s a win-win.
Paul Hamilton has over 20
years’ experience designing and
implementing analytics solutions
across all platforms. For the
last three years, he has been
Advanced’s Business Analytics
Solution Architect, which means
he oversees all Advanced business
analytics projects to ensure that
best practices are followed and
that resulting solutions are both
scalable and functional.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 8
Focus on usability to reap
greater returns
“If you want people to use your business analytics solution, then make
it usable. Sounds obvious? You’d be amazed how often people forget it!
The right user experience is essential to uptake. Users across the organisation
need to be confident that the solution will help them speed up reporting, and
improve decision-making. That means first they need to be able to navigate
information quickly when developing reports and queries.
Secondly, presentation is critical: the layout and style should be easy to
understand and make the key messages stand out. It’s worth taking time to
review existing reporting and presentation standards, and trying to align with
them – familiarity helps.
But so does actually involving prospective users, at all levels of the business,
from the outset. Consult them during solution design and then again during
implementation and testing. What will make it easier for them to access the
information they need? What will help them make decisions faster? Get it right,
and they’ll be keen advocates. Get it wrong, and they won’t use your solution.”
Chris Harrison, Consultant, Advanced Business Solutions
chris.harrison@advancedcomputersoftware.com
Engaging with users effectively turns them
from consumers of decision-making information to
creators of it.
Chris Harrison is an experienced
PRINCE2, MSP and ITIL-qualified
consultant, and uses these skills
and knowledge of these disciplines
to maximise the likelihood of
project success for Advanced’s
clients. His track record of delivery
over the last 15 years, in which
he has delivered a wide range of
high-profile IT projects for both
public and private sector clients,
demonstrates the value of this
approach.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 9
Invest in skills, not just solutions
“It’s standard practice to budget for training whenever you implement
new software. But in my experience, when it comes to business
analytics, it pays dividends to extend that budget to end users as well
as modellers – and to invest in regular refresher programmes.
Why? Because refreshing the knowledge of key modellers means they’re
equipped to maintain your solution and adapt it, without needing to rely on
costly third parties. What’s more, organisations are often tied in to paying
licence fees for new software releases; it’s only logical to ensure your staff are
equipped to make use of additional features.
Training as many end users as affordable promotes the initial adoption of a new
business analytics solution: many will be quick then to generate reports and
answer questions they’ve been pondering. But then there may be a lull: unlike
analysts, who work with the technology almost every day, end users might only
use it once a month or even once a year. Keeping their skills refreshed ensures
the positive impact of the platform is a lasting one.”
James McEntee, Head of Services – Business Analytics,
Advanced Business Solutions
james.mcentee@advancedcomputersoftware.com
Investing a little more in training can save large
consultancy and development fees for work you could
do in-house.
James McEntee has spent more
than 15 years working in business
analytics and has overseen the
successful implementation of over
200 business analytics projects
across the IBM, SAP and Microsoft
suite of applications. He is also a
qualified accountant and financial
planning consultant.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

LESSON 10
Never underestimate the impact
of an upgrade
“Clients often think that upgrades are just how sales teams meet their
targets in a quiet month! But in all honesty, the right upgrade at the
right time can be absolutely transformational – like the upgrade at Aer
Lingus which saves them an estimated 40 person-days a year.
It was quite a simple task: we upgraded their financial forecasting system so
it could use newer technologies and gather data from multiple sources faster.
So fast, in fact, that they no longer need to spend at least 3 days a month
gathering the data manually.
What’s more, because they can now complete the budgeting and forecasting
so much more easily, they don’t have to close the accounts three weeks before
month end – which is good news for suppliers too.
Of course, there was a bit of disruption from the upgrade, but it was far less
than the client feared: we’ve done a fair few of these, so we know what the risks
are. And now, they’re reaping the rewards, every single month.”
John Foxley, Support Centre Manager, Advanced Business Solutions
john.foxley@advancedcomputersoftware.com
You don’t have to upgrade every time a new
release comes along. Talking to an expert partner can
help you identify when the time is right – and provide a
compelling business case.
John Foxley runs the Advanced
Business Analytics Support
Centre. He has extensive support
management experience and,
along with his team of support
consultants, he ensures that all
support calls are resolved within
contractual SLAs. John has broad
experience of implementing
business analytics solutions
across a range of platforms, and
utilises his skills to manage the
rollout of upgrades across our
customer base.
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

Putting our expertise to use
Whether you’re planning a business analytics project, or looking for ways to make your
existing platform work harder, we hope you’ve found these insights of use.
We believe they’re all important factors to consider when delivering business analytics
solutions, but they’re not the only ones. And in your business, there may be specific
challenges that need addressing. We’d love to talk to you about those, and put our
expertise and experience to work to help you achieve your analytics goals.
Our solutions and services cover the entire spectrum – from solution selection, design and
implementation, to training and ongoing support. We work with clients in almost every
sector, and have the in-depth knowledge and range of technical and commercial skills
to identify opportunities to improve any existing solution.
If you’d like to know more, contact James McEntee, our head of services on 07785 621859 or
email james.mcentee@advancedcomputersoftware.com.
You can find solution overviews, case studies and white papers CLICK HERE
Introduction 3
LESSON 1 4
LESSON 2 5
LESSON 3 6
LESSON 4 7
LESSON 5 8
LESSON 6 9
LESSON 7 10
LESSON 8 11
LESSON 9 12
LESSON 10 13
Conclusion 14

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