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Running Head: SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS INTELLIGENT PROJECT
Strategies for a Successful Business Intelligence Project
Kelly Buchanan
Seminole State College
March 28, 2015

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Abstract
This paper explores the importance of Business Intelligence, and the key strategies that are
generally used to implement a successful BI project. There is a tremendous amount of
information as it relates to BI systems, but what resonated throughout much of my research was
the importance of the design and development phase of a BI project. It is only when the
implementation team clearly understands the business user’s goals, objectives, and key
performance indicators that a BI system can be successful installed and fully implemented. This
paper defines Business Intelligence systems as they relate to helping corporations move closer to
their goal, which is to be more profitable by making faster and better business decision. Divided
into four complementary parts, this paper will explore the: 1) Design and Development of
Business Intelligence. 2) Key Strategies to a Business Intelligence Project 3) Keys Risks to a
Business Intelligence Project, and 4) The Return on Investment.

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“Technology is not the biggest challenge anymore. The challenge is to use the information in an
intelligent way.” Koen Vermeulen
Companies just like people, are judged by their performance. The main idea of this paper
is to discuss the key elements and strategies of a successful BI project. This idea is important
because Business Intelligence is a gem of information and can improve key performance
indicators by supplying the decision maker with timely, accurate, valuable, and actionable
insights. (Scheps, 2008). After researching BI and understanding how BI can make a difference
in small and large corporations alike, I am compelled to provide an overview of the strategies
and key elements that are required for a successful BI project.
So what is all this talk about Business Intelligence? What does it do? How can BI make a
difference in organizations today and in the future? Let’s take a few steps back and then start
exploring the key strategies. It’s important to understand that decisions drive organizations.
Making a good decision at a critical moment may lead to a more efficient operation, a more
profitable enterprise, and a happier customer. What does BI do? Research has many answers to
this, but in this paper, I will simply quote that, “BI revolves around putting computing power
(highly specialized software in concert with other more common technology assets) to work, to
help make the best choices for the organization.” (Scheps, 2008, p. 11) How does BI make a
difference? In other words, how does BI benefit an organization? One of the most tangible
benefits of BI is the time and effort saved with manually producing the standard reports for the
organization as well as faster and better decisions.
Divided into four complementary parts, Strategies for a Successful Business Intelligence
Project will explore the: 1) Design and Development of Business Intelligence. 2) Key Strategies

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to a Business Intelligence Project 3) Keys Risks to a Business Intelligence Project, 4) The Return
on Investment.
The intensions of this paper are to provide an overview of strategies that have been
identified to implement a Business Intelligence project. So how does a successful BI project start
and what does it take to get the project rolling? The process starts with a design and development
team.
Design and Development of Business Intelligence
The Design and Development process just doesn’t happen by flipping a switch. “The
development process requires almost constant interaction between the technology team and the
business team.” (Scheps, 2008, p. 222) . This process is an interactive phase where the most
talented team members step up and reveal they can do this. These individuals are true-problem
solvers and usually the best employees of an organization. The design and development process
is an intense phase that challenges the planning and company ideas prior to testing. “This phase
is important in that all new systems go into production, the old ones are phased out, users are
trained, and the rubber hits the road.” (Scheps, 2008, p. 303). There are three key elements to a
successful design and development phase which are designed with the user in mind, business
users in the design phase, and designing an easy system.
Designwith the users in mind
This phase is a key strategy of a successful Business Intelligence project. It’s important
that the designers of the BI systems understand that BI is about getting the right information into
the hands of the right people. “In addition, the users must be involved in the planning phase, the

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system must be as easy as possible, the user must be trained thoroughly, and management
commitment must be earned.” (Liautaud, 2001, p. 130)
Business users in the design phase
Business users must be involved in the planning and design phases, to make sure the
system responds to all of their needs as well as the CEOs. According the Liautaud, it is important
to involve users in the design phase to ensure that the terminology and standard reports are
meaningful to them. An example that Liautaud mentions is a healthcare organization, Allegiance
Healthcare. “Allegiance Healthcare took care with the design and implementation of its ASPIRE
system. For each component of ASPIRE-sales analysis, deal pricing, and customer proposals-
groups of 10 to 12 users were identified to participate in the development effort for the project’s
full life cycle. The users were hands on during this phase in that they participated in requirement
gathering, user-acceptance testing, and pilot rollouts.
Moreover, during the design phase the business users were shown either prototypes or
up-to-date progress reports, to make sure the developers were meeting expectations. This level
of involvement is critical and a good strategy for a successful project, and what I found most
interesting was how the business users actually helped refine the customer proposals that had
been in use.” (Liautaud, 2001, p. 305)
Designing an easy system
“The number one success criterion for the implementation of a business intelligence system,
mentioned over and over again, is ease of use.” (Liautaud, 2001, p. 131) An easy system can be defined
as a system that allows users to readily access data and to perform analysis with a graphical user interface,
and is relatively nontechnical, and easy to understand. The less complicated the system is the more
valuable it becomes to the organization. An example, “the Belgian telephone company Belgacom took

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pains to ensure that its users were insulated from the complexity of the data warehouse that they would
access through enterprise business intelligence tools. If top executives have to work with complex tools,
they will never use them” say Koen Vermeulen, director of IT business analysis.”
Keys to Business Intelligence Success
Business Intelligence must be a part of Business Strategy
The Business Intelligent project brings value as part of a larger business strategy, and the
value of the project can only be measured along with that of the strategy. For example, business
owners should ask themselves, does the BI system help our company achieve its strategy? It is
important that the organization have a good understanding of what the company strategy is, and
build the BI systems around this strategy. For example, does the organization want to be the
market leader in a given segment, increase revenue by 20 percent, or increase market share by 30
percent?” (Liautaud, 2001, p. 129).
Moreover, does the company have objectives or goals in place to fulfill their strategy?
For instance, are they trying to improve customer service, customer retention, improve the profit
and loss statement, and increase sales? The more precise an organization can be about their
strategies and objectives in the information gathering process; the more effective the design and
development team can be. If the objectives support the overall strategy, “the more effective the
related business intelligence system will be in helping achieve that strategy.” (Liautaud, 2001, p.
129).

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Key Performance Indicators
KPI’s are key strategies that should be implemented into every BI system. Measuring and
managing KPIs is the ultimate goal of any business intelligence solution. KPIs are metrics and
measurements that indicate at a glance how the organization is performing. These insights
should help the business users and the CEO make faster better business decisions. It is important
to determine KPIs that line up with your business goals. For example, “if you run a call center,
your BI solution should feed on KPIs like the average hold time and customer service surveys.”
(Scheps, 2008, p. 305)
There are many factors that contribute to a success BI project. Gopal Kapur, president of
the Center for Project Management, a project management consultancy group argues that “an
effective business sponsor is the single most influential ingredient in the recipe for success of

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any IT project, and enterprise business intelligence included.” (Liautaud, 2001, p. 131).
According to Kapur’s checklist, in order to champion the project, the project manager, and the
team, an effective business sponsor should:
 Empower the project manager with appropriate authority
 Remove high hurdles and keep the team out of political minefields
 Support the team in resolution of cross-functional policy issues
 Formally manage the project scope
Overall, if business users and CEOs believe the BI system has adapted to their goals,
objectives, and strategies and makes their day to day tasks easier, they will believe a return on
their investment has been made. Most importantly, “it is crucial for business managers and users
to drive the initial design, implementation, and training of the enterprise business intelligence
system and project.” (Liautaud, 2001, p. 130).
Key Risks to Business Intelligence Projects
We all have experienced change within our lives and the organizations we have worked
for. At times, nothing gives employees angst and anxieties like a high dose of change. A
Business Intelligence project can put any organization into a state of flux. In addition, it’s almost
certain the organization will encounter some level of professional push back or resistance. There
are two risks factors that can disrupt a BI project which are the resistance movement and scope
creep.
Resistance to Change
“Regardless, of where and when it strikes, resistance to change must be managed by the
BI project team and associated employees.” (Scheps, 2008, p. 308). Change can result into a full-

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blown company that is disarrayed, which can result in a BI project in shambles. How to
overcome the problem of resistance would be to implement a “change-control program” that
oversees any pushback and provides timely feedback and communication. Another option to
support those employees who are reluctant to change would be to implement a central BI
Committee or Center of Excellence that provides on open door policy to exchange ideas and
concerns.
Scope Creep
Scope Creep can create problems for a BI project by way of schedule and cost and can
sometimes even cause project failure. “Scope Creep is the addition of scope (specs, effort, and
resources) after it is defined in the scope document. Scope creep usually occurs during the later
stages of a BI project rather than during the earlier stages because the project team and business
users gain more knowledge of the project.” (Vaidyanathan, 2013, p. 177).
Research indicates there will always be pressure on the budget from unexpected costs or
the pressure to do just a little more than originally budgeted. “Business Intelligence projects
have a notoriously high incidence of scope creep, because BI crosses into so many departments
and often touches many different pre-existing systems.” (Scheps, 2008, p. 312).

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How a project manager avoids scope creep is a very important responsibility. There are several
key factors to help mitigate scope creep:
 Don’t hurry through the original scope.
 Anticipate change; build flexibility into our scope plan and documentation.
 Hire great people and great analysts to deliver excellent business requirements.
 Respect your processes; and use the change management process that was intended to
manage change.
Lastly, the scope of a project creeps naturally, and the best word to use is, “no” per my
Project Management instructor, Alonzo Williams.
Return on Investment
Implementing a Business Intelligence system can be a significant paradigm shift in many
organizations. It’s not easy and requires a tremendous amount of work. As a result, the strategies
required are strong internal communications and encouraging employees to embrace this type of
innovation and technology. “Like any project, implementing a business intelligence project

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throughout an organization has a cost, and that cost needs to be justified with quantified value
gains.” (Liautaud, 2001, p. 283).
Attempting to calculate precise ROI on enterprise business intelligence systems may not
be the best approach to determine their value. Return on investment calculations are difficult,
however research indicates several key areas where ROI can be detected. Some benefits are
quantifiable that includes worker hours saved in producing reports. Chase Manhattan Bank, for
instance, implemented a BI system that cut report development time from months to days and
hours. Some benefits are indirectly quantifiable where benefits can be evaluated through indirect
evidence such as improved customer service. Improved customer service can be measured as
repeat business and generating new business.
Conclusion
So, what is next? What is the future of BI? How will new technology change the field? In my
opinion, I believe BI systems will be adopted not only by large organizations, but also small
business owners. I anticipate a wider market opening up for smaller businesses. In addition,
getting information to the decision makers is where BI started, but definitely not where it stops.
Business users from the factory floor to CEOs on Wall Street will utilize BI systems to make
better and faster business decision. The future of BI product development will be focusing on
making the systems easier to use and making information available to all users within an
organization.

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References
Larson, B. (2012). Delivering Business Intelligence with Microsoft SQL Server 2012. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Liautaud, B. (2001). E-Business Intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Rud, O. P. (2009). Business Intelligence Succes Factors: Tools for aligning your business in the
global economy. Hobeken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Scheps, S. (2008). Business Intelligence for Dummies. Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley, Inc.
Vaidyanathan, G. (2013). Project Management. Prentice Hall.

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