7 Ps of Successful BI Implementation-

In one of my previous blogs:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/4012

I introduced the concept of "Information Supply Chain" and like every Supply Chain it will have a product which to be successful needs to follow generic marketing rules and one of those rules is "7 Ps". This blog is an effort to amalgamate these two streams. Here are 7 Ps of Successful BI Implementation:

1.Product – For any BI Implementation end product is “Analytics or Reporting”. Every time you deliver ask yourself “Is current delivered Analytics or Reporting appropriate and suitable for the information consumers today?"

2.Price – What is Price, it is nothing more than “Cost + Margin” or from another perspective is actually way to Recover Costs. From BI Implementation perspective it is ROI (Return on Investments). Are you able to justify the ROI of your BI Implementation?

3.Promotion - Promotion includes ways to tell consumers about generated Analytics & Reporting (Product) and post this consumers start consuming analytics. From BI perspectives you need to sell your project internally at the same time promote the overall BI solution during various touch points with various stake holders including information consumers. It also includes interactions during training, knowledge transfer etc.

4.Place – “Place where product is actually delivered”, from BI perspective, analytics it is always going to be some form of computer but you need to use the right kind of front-end (Excel, Visual Composer, Web etc.) to reach the Information Consumers.

5.Packaging – Ask yourself are you using the right kind of packaging for different set of consumers, to deliver Analytics & Reporting? Packaging in BI parlance is ”Format” to be used, it can be Excel Workbook, PDF, pre-calculated web template in HTML format, ZIP files etc. You need to make sure you are packaging it right for target consumer.

6.Positioning – Develop the habit of thinking continually about how is BI solution as a whole is positioned in the hearts and minds of Information consumers. How is it being perceived by the Users (Consumers)? For example do they find it worthwhile or just the replication of OLTP system’s data or just another reporting tool?

7.People – Last but not the Least “People” rather I would term it the Most Important “P”. Think in terms of the Information Consumers (Users) and their needs. This “P” extends beyond mere users, boundary of this “P” extends to all stakeholders of BI project be it consultants configuring the product or power users creating queries, it is important to have right kind of people at right place.