1. NEXT PRACTICES
The partnership route to
business intelligence success
Four steps to building BI solutions that meet strategic objectives
According to Computerworld’s
“Business Intelligence Survey 2006,”
90 percent of large companies have either
acquired or are looking to acquire a busi-
nessintelligence(BI)solution.Atthesame
time, many companies are expanding the
scope of their BI solutions from depart-
mental problem-solving systems to stra-
tegic, enterprisewide solutions. While
this trend promotes the business value of
the BI solution, it also requires a revised
approach to implementation.
The key to making BI a strategic asset
lies not only in the choice of the right
technology, but also in the ability to
realize the technology’s potential through
the right implementation approach.
Based on consulting experience from a
number of successful BI projects in the
UK and Norway, I would recommend
this four-step process to companies that
are implementing BI:
1 Partner with a trusted vendor.
2 Create a formal project organization.
3 Document shared expectations.
4 Identify business-driven priorities.
Partner with a trusted vendor
As businesses work to expand the value of
BI, the roles and characteristics of the BI
supplier also change and expand. Although
it may have been possible to deliver a
departmental tool almost as a parcel in the
past – with a supplier approach of “Here
is your software; where do you want me to
put it?” – this is not a sufficient mechanism
for larger implementations.
AAGE SELJEGARD
When the big picture gets considerably
bigger and the details required become
considerably more complex, a deeper
partner relationship is required. For
enterprisewide BI solutions, companies
should seek longer-term relationships
with experienced partners who will share
ownership of the business challenges.
Working with the supplier as a trusted
adviser and team member can better
leverage the benefits of external compe-
tencies. A true BI partner will:
• Focus on the business challenge – and
not seek short-term financial gains
from suboptimal recommendations.
• Understand that large BI projects
involve risk – and show the willing-
ness to co-manage that risk.
• Know that flexible determination is a
key success factor – and provide the
mindset and technology to enable
the managed facilitation of project
change.
• Seek win-win solutions – and endorse
this commitment through project
documentation and contracts.
Recently, Norwich Union, one of
the UK’s leading insurance providers,
adopted a partner approach in working
with SAS to implement the SAS Enter-
prise BI Server. Together, Norwich Union
and SAS set up a team that secures the
required blend of business and tech-
nology competence. The approach of
working as one team with a common
goal – rather than as a customer and a
For enterprisewide BI
solutions, companies
should seek longer-
term relationships with
experienced partners
who will share
ownership of the
business challenges.
C O L U M N S
R e p r i n t e d f ro m
Second quarter 2007 issue
sascom®
magazine
2. NEXT PRACTICES
supplier with separate goals and expecta-
tions – has helped the project to maintain
its solution orientation.
“A joint project team was established
which quickly blended SAS BI and
Norwich Union business knowledge,”
says Norwich Union Program Manager
Adam Munt. “A clear set of deliverables
were jointly agreed, and the team worked
together effectively. This made commu-
nication easier and allowed focus on the
shared goal.”
Create a formal project organization
After adopting a partnership mindset, the
next step in making the partnership work
is formalizing a management structure
for the project. This involves establishing
a project organization, with a steering
group as its senior body.
While the partnership mindset estab-
lishes the project values, the roles in the
project organization provide the formal
structure that gives the project managers
authority to implement these values.
Hierarchically, the project teams report
to the project managers, and the project
managers report to the steering group.
Project teams typically include mem-
bers from both the partner and the
customer organizations. Likewise, I
recommend representation from both
organizations at the project management
layer of the project hierarchy and at the
steering group level as well. The steering
group represents the interests of the busi-
ness and is responsible for setting the
overall direction of the project. Align-
ment between the partners at this senior
level is therefore crucial to secure a stable
partnership throughout the project.
When implemented well, this system
gives all stakeholders a clear ownership
and understanding of the roles in the
project organization. The agreed reporting
lines enable the project managers to
manage the stakeholders and limit confu-
sion caused by undue escalation.
The project organization also ensures
continuity when the senior stakeholders
who were central to the early shaping of
the BI vision remain involved in a steering
group capacity. Likewise, the authority
passed on from the steering group gives
the project managers control of events
and milestones. At Norwich Union,
senior managers have partnered with SAS
account managers to secure these benefits
in their joint steering-group capacity.
“It was important for us to ensure that
theSASsolutionwasimplementedtomeet
Norwich Union’s strategic requirements,”
says Rob Smith, SAS Account Manager
for Norwich Union. “By attending the
steering group meetings along with Nor-
wich Union senior management, we were
able to proactively verify that the delivery
was meeting expectations.”
Finding the right blend of people is
essential to achieving a successful imple-
mentation, and a carefully thought-out
project organization can help. With
shared objectives, a strong team should
be able to work across the boundaries of
different companies and departments to
realize the business value of the solution.
Document shared expectations
Out-of-sync expectations form a very real
threat to the success of BI implementa-
tions. Even when a project begins with
a partnership mindset backed up by a
PARTNERING WITH SAS
You’ll receive these benefits when you
partner with SAS for project planning
and execution:
• A flexible partner with high levels of
competence in the areas of project
management, business and IT
consulting.
• A detailed work breakdown struc-
ture that allows the project team
to create project plans faster and
based on a common approach.
• A roles and responsibilities matrix
that allows determination of
resources for each task, enabling
the establishment of optimal
project teams.
• Questionnaires and templates that
shorten time for project planning,
assessment and documentation.
• Estimation, communications and
risk assessment tools that help
secure overall successful delivery.
A strong team should be able to work across the boundaries of different
companies and departments to realize the business value of the solution.
3. Worldwide SAS Consulting resources:
www.sas.com/consult
SAS Business Intelligence:
www.sas.com/technologies/bi
ONLINE
formal project organization, the project
will be vulnerable unless expectations are
aligned among stakeholders. A project
charter document with clearly defined
scope and timelines is fundamental to
secure such shared expectations.
The steering group should own the
project charter document, which will
enable the project managers to lead the
project on a day-to-day basis. Without
the approval of a formal body with rec-
ognized authority, such a document loses
much of its value – like a new set of laws
that are not recognized by the enforcers
of those laws. Without approval, this doc-
umentation may provide a useful guide-
line, but does not secure the authority
required by project management.
With the project charter sign-off, the
expectations have been agreed at all levels
of the project organization. In such a situ-
ation, the steering group can revert to an
approach of management by exception
whereby the plan sets the expectation, and
further senior management intervention is
required only for exceptions to the plan.
At Norwich Union, the project charter
is “owned” at a senior level within both
partner organizations – secured through the
steering group’s agreement and sign-off.
Identify business-driven priorities
One of the pitfalls of large BI projects
can be setting out on the journey without
a clearly defined destination. A BI vision
should think big and seek to identify
opportunities for cost savings and rev-
enue increases across the enterprise. At
the same time, the project will fall off
track if it attempts to achieve all of its
ambitions at once. With the technolo-
gies and the masses of data now available
to a large enterprise, there are continual
opportunities for improved BI.
The challenge therefore becomes iden-
tifying priorities. These should be busi-
ness-driven. Realizing the BI vision is
best achieved by identifying a sequence of
achievable phases or iterations. Each phase
should be driven by a particular business
opportunity – with added data or func-
tionality acting as the enablers. Such an
approach secures a continuous cost/benefit
focus and reduces the overall project risk
by enabling new organizational learning to
be picked up for each iteration.
Maintain a flexible long-term focus
BI projects are characterized by their reli-
ance on meticulous detail to enable the
tackling of big-picture challenges. Busi-
nesses should not embark upon large BI
initiatives without an ally who has previ-
ously tackled similar challenges.
The partnership approach, imple-
mented through clear reporting struc-
tures, shared expectations and a drive
for business value realization, is key to
A BI vision should think big and seek to identify opportunities for cost
savings and revenue increases across the enterprise.
making the project both constructive and
profitable. When getting these fundamen-
tals right, companies are equipped with
the rigor to keep sight of the ultimate des-
tination, and the flexibility to tackle chal-
lenges and make required adjustments
along the way.
“The time invested in creating a joint
SAS and Norwich Union project team
and finding the right way to work together
with the business laid the foundation for
a successful implementation,” concludes
Program Manager Adam Munt. ■
C O L U M N S
