Archive for 'Business Intelligence' Category
Is your BI Strategy stuck in a rut? Or is it following a standard?
The other day I received a joke from a very good friend of mine in Canada. The joke, based largely or partially on fact, talked about the history of the width of U.S. railroad tracks.
The joke begins with the story of the U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) being 4 feet, 8.5 inches. The joke goes on to say that the US railroads were built by English ex-patriots and that this width was the English standard. Before roads were paved they were traveled upon daily by horse drawn carriage which followed ruts in the dirt road. In order for carriages to stay in the ruts and not break wheels, most carriage builders kept to a uniform width.
The joke continues to say that the Imperial Roman Army was among the first travelers leaving behind ruts for others to follow in England. The width of a Roman chariot came from the need to fit the chariot behind two war horses. The joke ends by saying “So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder ‘What horse’s ass came up with this?’ you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses.”
So after I chuckled and shared this with my co-worker and good friend Dave Rathbun we began to talk about the relevancy of this joke and how it related to BI strategy. I am the perpetual kid that wants to know why? I took apart my fathers powered lawnmower when I was 10 because I wanted to know why? Why does pulling on the cord make the engine run, that turns the blade that cuts the grass? There is no happy ending to that story.
So when working on this project I had a lot of “why” moments. Why are we creating 13 reports that are eerily similar in content and scope? Why not just a couple? Why are we creating them in Webi? Would some of them be better suited for Crystal Reports or an Xcelsius Dashboard? Why aren’t we creating summarized values?
Those “why” questions were nearly always followed by a “because” which made me realize we were stuck in a rut. We were creating 13 reports because of some specification, procedure or process that has been followed for years and to my knowledge has not changed.
I think any BI strategy has to ask the sometimes uncomfortable question why and deserves a legitimate answer. If we are to participate in the business strategy of our companies we need to be prepared to ask questions and to be able to provide solutions to the current business need.
So I have to ask myself did I served my company well by following standards or have I done them a disservice by following the rut that was laid before me?