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BI Project

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Business Intelligence

Project
Mike Hannigan
Business Intelligence Project Manager
Via Systems Inc.
660 Southpointe Court, Suite 300
Colorado, CO 80906
(719) 579-6800
September 2006

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc. 1


Business Intelligence
Definition:
“Analysis of business data. Business Intelligence is the name
given to a class of software tools specifically designed to aid
analysis of business data. BI tools have traditionally been
associated with in-depth analysis of historical transaction data,
supplied by either a data warehouse or an online analytical
processing (OLAP) server linked to a database system. BI has a
wide range of commercial and non-commercial applications, with
the most common being the analysis of patterns such as sales and
stock trends, pricing and customer behavior to inform business
decision-making. For this reason it is sometimes referred to as
decision support software.”
Source: Procullux Media Ltd., 2005

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 2


Introducing Business Intelligence

BI focuses on the
“outside,” and should be
seen as a company’s radar
unit, scanning the external
environment for
opportunities and dangers.

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 3


It’s not just another term for
Market Research….

Good BI is broader in
scope and more forward-
looking than market
research.

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 4


Fundamentals
“Business Intelligence initiatives are expensive
endeavors. Disparate business data must be extracted
and merged from online transaction processing (OLTP)
systems, from batch systems and from external data
sources. Business Intelligence decisions – support
initiatives also call for new technology, additional tasks
to be performed, roles and responsibilities to be shifted,
and analysis and decision-support applications to be
delivered quickly while maintaining acceptable
quality.”
Source: BI Review, 2005

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 5


Fundamentals
“Sixty percent of Business Intelligence projects
end in abandonment or failure because of
inadequate planning, missed tasks, missed
deadlines, poor project management, undelivered
business requirements, or poor quality of the
deliverables.”
“Failure to Plan is a Plan for Failure”
Source: DMReview by Jonathan Wu, October 2000

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 6


Fundamentals
• Unlike static stand-alone applications, a
properly designed BI system cannot be built in
“one big bang”
• Data and functional capabilities must be rolled
out in iterative releases
• BI applications are very different from stand-
alone applications

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 7


Fundamentals
Do we know the type
of customers we
Can we forecast have? Are our products &
long-term buying services priced
habits of our competitively?
customers?

Do we know why we
are losing market Do we know what
share? our best customers
have in common?

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 8


Fundamentals
• Business Intelligence vs. Standard Application
• Business opportunity • Business needs
• Implement across the • Department decision
organization support
• Strategic Information • Operational functional
requirements requirements
• Best deployed as • Best released at the
release/evaluate same time with all
environment functional capabilities

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 9


Fundamentals
• BI requires a Cross-organizational development
approach
– Information consolidation
– Seamless business functionality
– Information integration
– Streamlined organizational business processes
– Information integrity
– Organization changes
– Corporate culture shifts
– Parallel development tracks (subprojects)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 10


Fundamentals
Business Intelligence Project Lifecycle:

Business
Justification
Analysis

Deployment Design

Planning Construction

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 11


Outline (Sixteen Steps)
Justification Design
1. Business case assessment 8. Database Design
9. ETL Design
Planning 10. Meta Data Repository Design
2. Enterprise Infrastructure
Evaluation Construction
3. Project Planning 11. ETL Development
Business Analysis 12. Application Development
4. Project Requirements Document 13. Data Analysis
5. Data Analysis 14. Meta Data Repository
6. Application Prototyping Development
7. Meta Data Repository Analysis Deployment
Note: ETL - Extract/Transform/Load
15. Implementation
16. Release Evaluation

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 12


Presentation Notes
• Handouts
• Two slides with
– Activities (do) – end of each step
– Deliverables (produce) – end of each section/stage

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 13


Stage One
Justification

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc. 14


Stage One: Justification
(1) Business case assessment
• The business problem or business opportunity is
defined
• Cost-justified
• Define the benefit
• Solving a business problem or taking advantage of a
business opportunity
• Balance between the costs involved and the benefits
gained
• Must be business driven not technology driven

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 15


Business Justification Components

Business Cost
Drivers Benefit

Business Risk
Analysis Assessment

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 16


Business Drivers
• Strategic business goals of the organization
• Substantiate business justification i.e.
– Customer satisfaction
– Reduced costs
– Critical business data available
• Must be in line with the company’s business
direction

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 17


Business Analysis
• What business issues will be resolved?
• Define information requirements for the business issue
• Determine subject area, level of detail, internal data
and external data needed
• Identify the user community
• Possible data sources
– Online Transaction Processing (OLTP)
– Private data (internal department data)
– External data (i.e. statistics, customer profiles, credit reports,
etc.

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 18


Cost Benefit
• Warning: ROI can be difficult to cost justify
• Remember do not justify by solving
operational problems
• How are you solving a business problem?
• What new business opportunities will be
available?

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 19


Risk Assessment
• All projects have risk
• Identifying risk triggers
• Create a mitigation plan for all important risks
• Create a contingence plan for all important
risks

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 20


Risk Assessment
Variable Low Medium High
Technology Experienced with Minimal experience New technology little
technology with technology experience
Complexity Simple, minimal Moderate, some Mission critical,
workflow impact workflow impact requires extensive
work
Integration Stand-alone Limited integration Extensive integration
Organization Solid internal support Supportive to a large Little internal support
extent
Project Team Business experience, Some business No business
talented, great attitude experience, talented, experience, only
fair attitude technology-driven,
bad attitude
Financial ROI in short time ROI within a moderate ROI after a few years
Investment time frame

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 21


Business Case Justification Activities
1. Determine business need

3. Access operational sources 4. Access competitors BI


2. Assess current solution
and procedures support initiatives

5. Determine BI
application objectives

7. Perform cost benefit


6. Propose BI solution 8. Perform risk assessment
analysis

9. Write assessment report

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 22


Justification Deliverable
Business case assessment report
• Strategic business goals
• Objectives of the proposed BI application
• Statement of the business need
• Explain how the BI application will satisfy the business need
• Ramifications of not addressing the business need
• Cost-benefit analysis
• Risk assessment
• Recommendations
Note: Remember to include an executive overview

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 23


Stage Two
Planning

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc. 24


Stage Two: Planning
(2) Enterprise infrastructure to support the cross-
organization initiatives
– Technical infrastructure
– Non-Technical infrastructure
(3) Project Planning
– Including scope, time, budget, staff, technology,
business representatives and sponsors
– Include in the plan must be detailed plans to track
and report progress

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 25


Planning the Technical
Infrastructure
• Description of the current structure
• Plan the future structure (changes)
• Middleware to the DBMS
• DBMS requirements

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 26


Middleware Platform
• Middleware – Runtime software
• Client/Server Architecture
• Middleware categories
– Distributed Logic Middleware: supports program-
to-program communications between two pieces of
custom application code
– Data Management Middleware: connects an
application or DBMS on one platform with a
DBMS running on another platform
September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 27
DBMS Platform
• Handling queries and data load
• Database scalability
• Internet integration
• Availability of advanced index schemes
• Unattended operations
• Network support
• Administrative support
• Future use/expansion
• Hardware scalability
• Query performance
• Load process and performance
• Security system
• Data dictionaries

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 28


Technical Infrastructure
• Data volumes
• Update frequency
• Data access patterns
• Number of reports and queries
• Number of people accessing the BI database
• Number of tools running against the BI
database
• Number of data feeds for the BI database

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 29


Technical Infrastructure Evaluation Activities

1. Assess existing platform

2. Evaluate and select


3. Expand current platform
new products

4. Write technical
Infrastructure report
September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 30
Planning the Non-Technical
Infrastructure
• Assess effectiveness of non-technical
infrastructure components
• Write non-technical infrastructure assessment
report
• Improve non-technical infrastructure

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 31


Enterprise Standards
• Development Approach
• Data naming and abbreviations
• Meta data capture
• Logical data modeling
• Data quality
• Testing
• Reconciliation
• Security
• Service-Level Agreement (SLA)
• Policies & Procedures

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 32


Technical Infrastructure Evaluation Activities

1. Assess effectiveness of
non-technical infrastructure

2. Improve non-technical
infrastructure

3. Write non-technical
Infrastructure report

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 33


Project Planning
• Managing the BI project
• Plan for setbacks
• Creating a project charter
– Goals & objectives
– Scope issues
– Project risks
– Constraints
– Assumptions
– Change Control
– Issues Management
• Project planning activities

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 34


Project Planning – Simple Terms
• What will be delivered?
• When will it be done?
• How much will it cost?
• Who will do it?

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 35


Four Major Project Constraints

Effort Scope

Budget Resource
s
September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 36
Scope
• Impossible to create a valid estimate for a project
without a solid understanding of the scope
• Traditionally, scope is measured in functions
performed
• BI projects should be measured by data elements
–Analysis and preparation of data takes much longer
–Assume 80% effort for data and 20% effort for function

Note: It is not reasonable to request a significant scope change to a carefully


deliberated and agreed-upon project plan without adjusting any of the
other constraints.

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 37


Project Risks
• Every project has risks
• Risks are unavoidable
• Use the Risk Assessment generated in Stage 1 (Business case
analysis)
• Depending on the likelihood and the impact on the project a
mitigation and/or contingency plan should be in the project
plan
– Triggers are situations that signal a potential, perhaps imminent
materialization of a risk
– The mitigation plan specifies what action the project team can take to
prevent the risk from materializing
– The contingency plan specifies alternatives in case the risk does
materialize

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 38


Project Risks
• Common project risks
– Lack of management commitment
– Lack of business participation
– Imposed, unrealistic schedule
– Unrealistic scope for the schedule
– Unrealistic budget
– Unrealistic expectations
– Untrained or unavailable staff
– Constantly changing business priorities
– Ineffective project management
– Limited scalability

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 39


Constraints
• All projects are subject to the same project
constraints: Effort, Scope, Budget & Resources
• In reality, there is a fifth constraint: Quality
• Quality and Effort (time) are polarized constraints
–Higher quality requires more effort
–Since time is a driving factor for most originations,
Effort always has top priority
Note: For a BI project, quality should have a higher priority than
any other constraint: Quality, Effort, Scope, Budget &
Resources

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 40


Assumptions
• Anything taken for granted
• (Wrong assumptions become risks)
• Important assumptions should have a
counterpart risk, identifying triggers, a
mitigation plan and contingence plan

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 41


Change Control
• Manage change
• Curb scope creep
• Change (unless minute) always impacts the project
– Effort (time), Scope and Quality
– Sometimes Budget and Resources
• Changes should be submitted to change control board
• Changes must be logged and reviewed/approved by Change
Control Board and tracked in project meetings
• Change log of the following information should be kept and
updated: Change number, Change date, Change description,
Status (approved, not approved or deferred), Current status or
Resolution and Closed date

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 42


Change Control Board
• Each change that must be added to a project
requires a business decision:
– Cut back on the current scope
– Extend the deadline
– Declare the change “not applicable” to the current
release and postpone it
– Incorporate the requested change in the next release
– Eliminate complicated transformations, edit checks,
and testing (impacts Quality)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 43


Issues Management
• Issues, related to business or technical concerns,
always occur during a project
• Issues need to be tracked and managed
• Every issue needs to be assigned to a person who has
the responsibility to get resolution
• Issues must be logged and reviewed and tracked in
project meetings
• Issue log of the following information should be kept
and updated: Issue number, Issue date, Issue
description, Assigned to, Action taken, Action Date,
Resolution and Closed date

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 44


Planning the BI Project
• Not a one-time activity
• Estimates must be adjusted frequently
• The more detail you have in the first version of the project plan, the easer it will be
to manage the project
• Sequence of activities for preparing a project plan (software available for these
activities)
– Create a work breakdown structure (WBS) listing activities, tasks and subtasks
– Estimate the effort hours for each activities, tasks and subtasks
– Assign resources for each activities, tasks and subtasks
– Determine the task dependencies
– Determine the resource dependencies
– Determine the critical path based on the dependencies
– Create the detailed project plan
• Expect to revisit and rework the plan often based on development activities
• Needs to be revisited when a Change is approved for this project by the Change
Review Board

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 45


Estimating Techniques
• Historical, based on learned patterns (how long
it took on the last project)
• Intuitive, based on intuition and experience
(“gut” estimating)
• Formulaic, based on the average of possibilities

Best Estimate + (Average Estimate X 4) + Worst Estimate


6

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 46


Resource Assignment
• Effort estimates cannot be completed until the
activities and tasks are assigned
• Estimates must take into consideration each
team member’s skill level
• Remember to take into account
– Administrative factors: meetings, other projects,
emails, in-baskets, training, etc.
– Non-work-related: vacation, illness, jury duty,
personal time off, medical appointments, holidays

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 47


Task Dependencies
• Not all activities and tasks have to be performed serially
• Many can be performed in parallel
• Identify task dependencies:
– Finish to Start Finish to Start Start to Start
– T2 cannot start until T1 finishes
Task 1 Task 1
– Start to Start
– T2 can start with T1 Task 2 Task 2
– Finish to Finish
– T2 cannot finish until T1 finishes Finish to Finish Start to Finish
– Start to Finish
Task 1 Task 1
– T2 cannot finish until T1 starts
Task 2 Task 2

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 48


Project Schedules
• Once you have all the tasks, resources,
dependencies and estimates you can create a
project schedule
• Creating a useful plan requires effort
• Once done adjusting it is not labor intensive
• Using a proper software tool, any changes
automatically cascade through the entire project
• Get a skilled Project Manager

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 49


Planning Activities
1. Determine project
requirements

2. Determine condition
of source files
and database

3. Determine or revise 5. Identify Critical 4. Revise risk


cost estimates Success factors assessment

6. Prepare project 7. Create high-level


8. Kick off project
charter project plan

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 50


Planning Deliverables
• Technical infrastructure report
– Scalability & Limitations: Servers, Workstations,
OS, Middleware, Network, DBMS, Software, etc.
• Non Technical infrastructure report
– Standards, Methodology, Estimating guidelines,
Scope management, Issues management,
Roles/Responsibilities, Security process, Meta data
capture, Process for merging logical data, Data
quality, Testing process, SLA’s, Support, Dispute
resolution, Communication process, etc.

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 51


Planning Deliverable (continue)
Project Charter
• Represents the agreement between the IT staff and
business sponsor
– Goals and objectives
– Statement of business problem
– Proposed BI solution
– Results from cost-benefit analysis
– Results from the infrastructure gap analysis
– Functional project deliverables
– Subject areas to be delivered
– High-level logical data model
– Items not within the project scope

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 52


Planning Deliverable (continue)
Project Charter (continue)
– Condition of the source files and database
– Availability of security requirements
– Access tool requirements
– Roles and responsibilities
– Team structure (core and external)
– Communication plan
– Assumptions
– Constraints
– Risk assessment
– Critical Success Factors
Project Plan
– i.e., WBS, Pert chart, Gantt chart, task estimates, task dependencies and
resource dependencies
– Hint: Use a project planning tool

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 53


Stage Three
Business Analysis

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc. 54


Stage Three: Business Analysis
(4) Project Requirements Definition
– Manage Project Scope (avoid everything instantly)
– Plan for change (change control board)
(5) Data Analysis
– Quality and source of data
– Learn what you have – consolidate and reconcile
(6) Application Prototyping
– System Analysis
– Prove or disprove a concept or an idea
– Allows the business people to see the potential and the limits of the
technology
(7) Meta Data Repository Analysis
– Technical meta data needs to be mapped to the business meta data
– Can be licensed (bought) or built (from internal systems)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 55


Project Requirements Definition
• General Business Requirements
• Project-Specific Requirements
• Get input from users
• Get input from business management
• Create application requirements document

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 56


Requirements Documents
General Business Project-Specific
Purpose Determine the general Define the specific functions and
business need delivery date
Interviewees •Business executives •Business sponsor
•IT managers & staff •Business representative
•Line-of-business managers •Knowledge worker/Business
•Subject matter experts analysts
(SME) •Subject matter expert (SME)
Deliverable Business requirement report Application requirements document
Content of •Findings •Functional requirements
deliverable •Issues •Data requirements
•Opportunities •Data-cleansing requirements
•Recommendations •Performance
•Next steps •Security
•Availability
September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 57
Project Requirements Definition Activities
1. Review project scope

7. Define preliminary
6. Expand logical
service-level
data model
agreements

8. Write application
requirements
document

2. Define requirements 3. Define requirements


for non-technical for technical 4. Define reporting 5. Define requirements
infrastructure infrastructure requirements for source data
enhancements enhancements

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 58


Data Analysis
• Bring business data together from multiple sources
• Business-focused data analyses
• Top down logical data modeling
– Integrate enterprise logical data model data-specific
business meta data components
• Bottom up source data analysis
– Transformation rules, technical data conversions, business
data domain rules and business data integrity rules
• Data Cleansing Activities

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 59


Top Down Logical Data Model
• Logical data model (AKA Enterprise Logical Data Model)
– Unique identifiers
– Correctly named
– Properly defined
• Validated for all business people who access the data
• Formal representation of the data exactly as it exists
without redundancies and ambiguity
• A logical data model, representing a single-cross
organizational business view of the data

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 60


Top Down Logical Data Model
• Standardized Business Meta Data defined:
– Name (no synonyms & no homonyms)
– Definitions (description of the data)
– Relationship (business associations/rules/policy)
– Type (structure: character, number, decimal, date, & time)
– Length (size)
– Content (available values)
– Rules (content of the data)
– Policy (content and behavior)
– Ownership (who can establish and control the data)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 61


Bottom Up Source Data Analysis
• Defining the source data files
• You will find business rules violations and
some data quality issues
• Map the source data elements to the new top
down logical data model
• Decide what elements of the source data can
build the new top down logical data model

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 62


Bottom Up Source Data Analysis
• Typical problems in the source data
– Missing data values
– Strange “default” values i.e., 999999, 9/9/9999
– Intelligent “dummy” values i.e., 888-88-8888
– Cryptic or overused values i.e., letters to define
customer type

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 63


Final Source Data Selection Process
• Identify the required data (logical data model)
• Analyze the data content (source data)
• Select the data for BI
• Prepare the data cleansing specifications
• Identify the ETL cleansing requirements
1. Identify the required data
2. Analyze data content
3. Select data for BI
4. Prepare data cleansing specifications
5. Select tool or method

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 64


Data Analysis Activities
1. Analyze external
data sources

2. Refine logical 6. Write data- 3. Analyze source


data model cleansing specifications data quality

4. Expand enterprise 5. Resolve data


logical data model discrepancies

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 65


Application Prototyping
• If time & budget permits
• Prototyping can be effective way to validate
application requirements
• Can find missing pieces & discrepancies in the
requirements
• Verifies the selected DBMS and/or tools
• Limited time period
• Limited scope
• Choose the correct data

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 66


Types of Prototyping
• Show-and-tell (Demo)
• Mock-up (simple throwaway)
• Proof-of-concept (explores implementation risks)
• Visual-Design (complex mock-up)
• Demo Prototype (sophisticated show-and-tell)
• Operational prototype
– Most involved, most complete & almost fully functional
– Functioning pilot (alpha/beta release)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 67


Application Prototyping
Activities
1. Analyze access
Requirements

2. Determine scope 4. Prepare 3. Select tools


of prototype prototype charter for prototype

5. Design reports
6. Build prototype 7. Demo prototype
and queries

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 68


Meta Data Repository Analysis
• Database
– Meaning & content of the business data
– Policies that govern the business data
– Technical attributes of the business data
– Specifications that transform the business data
– Programs that manipulate the business data

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 69


Business Meta Data vs. Technical Meta Date

Business Meta Data Technical Meta Data


Provide by business people Provided by technicians or tools
Documented in business terms Documented in technical terms
on data models in databases, files, programs &
tools
Used by business people Used by technicians, databases,
programs & tools
Names fully spelled out in Abbreviated names (as the rules
business terms of the database dictates)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 70


Data Standardization
• Every BI project must address the existing
data chaos
• Pull together all existing documentation &
create documentation where missing
• Building a proper BI database is not a trivial
task
• Be aware of missing data!

Note: Lack of data is a frequent reason used for BI application failure

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 71


Meta Data Repository Analysis Activities

1. Analyze meta data


repository requirements

2. Analyze interface 3. Analyze meta data


4. Create logical
Requirements for repository access &
meta data model
meta data requirements reporting requirements

5. Create physical
meta data model

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 72


Business Analysis Deliverables
• Project Requirements
– Applications Requirements Document
• Technical & Non-Technical infrastructure
• Reporting requirements
• Requirements for source data
• Data cleansing requirements
• Security requirements
• Data Analysis
– Logical & Business data model
– Data cleansing specifications
– Document enterprise logical data model

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 73


Business Analysis Deliverables (continue)
• Prototype Charter
– Purpose
– Objectives
– Data used
– Hardware & Software
– Measure of successes
– Application interface
• Completed prototype
• Revised application document
• Issues Log/Lessons Learned
• Logical & Physical data models

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 74


Stage Four
Design

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc. 75


Stage Four: Design
(8) Database Design
– Store the business data
– Detailed or Aggregated forms
– Must match the information access requirements of the
business user
(9) Extract/Transform/Load (EDL) Design
– Most complicated/Least glamorous part of the project
– Cleansing and transformation of the source data
– Data quality
(10) Meta Data Repository Design
– Has to meet the requirements of the logical data model

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 76


Database Design
Operational Database BI Database
Geared towards eliminating Geared towards supporting a wide
redundancies, coordinating updates range of queries & reports
and repeating same types of
operations
Sub-second response time Sub-second cannot be expected
Highly normalized to support Highly de-normalized to provide
consistent updates quick retrieval of a wide range of
large amounts of data
Data is usually deliver when needed Store large amounts of data to save
time on delivery
Historical records are archived Store large amounts of historical data
Lightly summarized, mostly for Many levels of pre-calculated
reporting purposes summarized data – from lightly
summarized to highly summarized
September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 77
BI Target Databases
• BI databases are designed for simplicity
• High-performance data retrieval
• Not for efficient data storage & maintenance
• Eliminate or minimizing data redundancies is not a
goal – but must be controlled
• Readily accessible
• Design is driven by access and usage
• Intuitive for a business person
• BI data must be derived from current internal or
external data sources

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 78


Physical Database Design
• BI databases can be enormous
• Consider indexing (B-tree, inverted files, etc.)
• Remember to factor in backup and recovery

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 79


Database Design Activities
1. Review data
access requirements

2. Determine
aggregation
requirement

6. Develop database
3. Design BI 4. Design physical 5. Build BI target
maintenance
target database database structure database
procedures

7. Prepare to monitor
8. Prepare to monitor
& tune database
& tune query design
design

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 80


Extract/Transform/Load (ETL) Design
• Build a loading process in which all BI target databases are
integrated & reconciled
• Integrated strategy – one common database for all the data
regardless of the source
• One common ETL procedure
– Reformat
– Reconcile
– Cleansing
• Set of ETL programs
– Initial Load (from current operations)
– Historical load (from archive data)
– Incremental load (daily batch data)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 81


ETL Process
Customer E T

T
E R
Accounting X E A T L
T N
O
R S
A
A F BI Target
D
C E O T Database
Inventory
T R
M

Orders E T

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 82


ETL Design Activities
1. Create source-to-
target mapping
document

2. Test ETL tool 3. Design ETL


function Process flow

4. Design ETL 5. Set up ETL


programs staging area

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 83


Meta Data Repository Design
• Meta data repositories used to be called data
dictionaries
• Design is based on database chosen

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 84


Meta Data
A definition and classification of the various levels of end user meta data.

Level Level Name Genesis


5 Report data Within a report, data is manipulated into a format that is
required.
4 Business intelligence data Data which has been extracted by a BI application. This data
may be manipulated using business rules.
3 Transformed data Data that has been transformed using business rules into a
format that is meaningful and is stored within a database.

2 Cleansed data Data which has been processed through a cleansing routine
which standardizes the format and is stored within a database.

1 Source system data Data which has been migrated from several source systems
into one database and is commingled.
0 Migrated data Data which has been entered or processed by an online
transaction processing application.

Note: While the levels define the transgression of data from its origin to a report, the complexities of each
level can have a significant impact on the definition of the data. Please note that not all levels of end-user meta
data are encountered by an individual using a BI application.

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 85


ETL Design Activities
1. Design meta data
repository database
or
2. Install/test meta
data repository product

3. Design meta data 4. Design meta data


migration process application

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 86


Design Deliverables
• Database Design
– Physical data model
– Physical design of the BI target database
– Data definition
– Physical BI target database
– Database maintenance & procedures (backup)
• ETL Process
– Source-to-target mapping document
– ETL process flow diagram
– ETL program design document
– ETL programming environment description
• Meta Data Repository
– Physical data model
– Data definition (data dictionaries)
– Data control language (MV Access statements)
– Data repository programming specifications (programming logic)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 87


Stage Five
Construction

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc. 88


Stage Five: Construction
(11) Extract/Transform/Load (ETL) Development
– Build the programs based on ETL Design
(12) Application Development
– Based on the prototype or finalized design
– Can be done in parallel with ETL Development
(13) Data Analysis
– Uncover the hidden information in the data
(14) Meta Data Repository Development
– Implement the database design

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 89


ETL Development
• Source data transformation
• BI projects present the best opportunity to
eliminate useless data
• Data transformation activities
– Cleansing/Clean data
– Summarization/Condensed data
– Derivations/New data
– Aggregation/Complete data
– Integration/Standardized data

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 90


Reconciliation
• Common complaint: BI target database does
not match the operational source files
• Reconciliation Process
– Record counts
– Domain counts (unique data values)
– Amount counts
• Prove the BI data is correct or business users
will not trust the results

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 91


ETL Testing
• Formal test plan
– Purpose
– Schedule
– Test cases
– Test log
• Unit tests (does it work)
• Integration tests (do the programs run together)
• Regression tests (did the new programs break original code)
• Performance tests (does the program perform with volumes)
• Quality Assurance tests (documentation an affect on other
programs)
• Acceptance tests (does the application work)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 92


ETL Development Activities
1.Build & unit test
ETL process

2. Integration or
3. Performance test
regression test ETL
ETL process
process

4. Quality assurance 5. Acceptance test


ETL process ETL process

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 93


Application Development
• Online Analytical Processing Tools
– Many
– Popular features:
• Multidimensional views
• Summarizations & Aggregation
• Query & Analysis capabilities
• Business Analysis
• Drill-down, Roll-up and Drill Across
• Trend Analysis
• Display data in Charts & Graphs

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 94


Development Environments
• Prototyping
• Development Environment
• QA Environment
• Production Environment

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 95


Application Testing
• Formal test plan
– Purpose
– Schedule
– Test cases
– Test log
• Unit tests (does it work)
• Integration tests (do the programs run together)
• Regression tests (did the new programs break original code)
• Performance tests (does the program perform with volumes)
• Quality Assurance tests (documentation an affect on other
programs)
• Acceptance tests (does the application work)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 96


Application Development Activities

1. Determine final
project requirements

2. Design application 3. Build & unit test


programs Application programs

4. Test application 5. Provide data access


programs & analysis training

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 97


Defining Data Analysis
• Blend of Components
– Intelligence
– Pattern Recognition
– Databases
– Traditional Statistics
– Graphics
– Present hidden relationships & patterns in the data
pool

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 98


Data Analysis Tools
• Executive Information System (EIS)
• Query & Reporting tools
• Statistical tools
• Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) tools

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 99


Data Analysis Activities
1. State business
problem

3. Consolidate &
2. Collect data 4. Prepare data
cleanse data

5. Build analytical
data model

6. Interpret data 7. Perform external 8. Monitor analytical


analysis results validation of results data model over time

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 100


Meta Data Repository Development
• Populating a Meta Data repository
• Receives most of its Meta Data from sources
• Data sources
– Spreadsheets
– Case tools
– Internal databases (dictionaries)
– ETL tools & programs
– OLAP tools & programs
– Data Analysis tools
• Meta Data repositories are active
• Prepare for rollout

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 101


Meta Data Repository Testing
• Formal test plan
– Purpose
– Schedule
– Test cases
– Test log
• Unit tests (does it work)
• Integration tests (do the programs run together)
• Regression tests (did the new programs break original
code)
• Acceptance tests (does the application work)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 102


Meta Data Repository Devlopment Activities

1. Build meta data


repository database

2. Build & unit test 4. Test meta data


3. Build & unit test
meta data migration repository programs
meta data application
process or functions

5. Prepare meta
6. Provide meta data
data repository for
repository training
production

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 103


Construction Deliverables
ETL Development
– ETL Test plan
– ETL Programs
Application Development
– Application design document
– Application test plan
– Application programs
– Training materials
Data Analysis
– Database
– Analytical model
Meta Data Repository Development
– Physical Meta Data Repository Database
– Meta Data Repository test plan
– Meta Data Repository Programs
– Meta Data Repository documentation
– Meta Data Repository training materials

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 104


Stage Six
Deployment

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc. 105


Stage Six: Deployment
(15) Implementation
– Rollout of the database and application
– User training
– Support functions begin (help desk, database backup,
operations)
– Monitoring of performance and database tuning
(16) Release Evaluation
– Lessons learned
• Any missed deadline, cost overruns, disputes, dispute resolutions
should be examined and processes adjusted for future projects
• Any tool, techniques, guidelines and processes that were not
helpful should be reevaluated and adjusted or discarded

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 106


Implementation
• Incremental rollout
– Small group
– Training & support
– Consider another test – perhaps adjust application
• Security management
– Test security policy's
– Secure at file/table level may not be enough
– Consider program control
– Network security – review network architecture
– Look for security gaps
• Password violations
• Data security
– Security for internet access
• Authentication (user ID & password)
• Authorization (access to resource)
• Encryption (encrypt data from server to workstation)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 107


Implementation
• Data backup & recovery
– Full backups
– Incremental backups
– Partial backups
• Monitor utilization of resources
– Computer utilization
– Network utilization
– Personnel – who is using what & when
• Monitor Growth
– In data
• Calculate average daily growth
• Remember to calculate any indexing
– In usage
– In hardware

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 108


Implementation Activities
1. Plan
implementation

2. Set up production 3. Install all BI 4. Set up production


environment application components schedule

5. Load production
database

6. Prepare for
ongoing support

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 109


Release Evaluation
• Nothing works 100% the first time
• The application release concept/guidelines
– Schedule release every 3-6 months
– Small & manageable deliverables
– Manage expectations
– The first release should deliver the basics
– Management must accept a partial delivery
– Everything is negotiable (scope, schedule, budget, resource & quality
– Infrastructure must be robust
– Data must be an integral part of each release
– Change control procedure
• New requirements
• Defects
• Review deferred functions/data/change

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 110


Post Implementation Review
• Measure Success / Problems / Failures
– Schedule
– Budget
– Scope
– Staffing
– Skill & training
• Plan for the next release
– Review Topics:
• Project planning & reporting
• Development approach
• Contractors, consultants & vendors
• General communications
• Lessons learned

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 111


Release Evaluation Activities
1. Prepare for post-
implementation review

2. Organize post- 3. Conduct post-


implementation review meeting implementation review meeting

4. Follow up on
post-implementation review

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 112


Development Deliverables
• Implementation
– Production Code
• ETL
• Application
• Database
• Data Repository
– Production Documentation
• Release Evaluation
– Post implementation review agenda
• Remember to review all deferred change requests
– Post implementation meeting minutes
– Create action item list
– Produce lessons learned report
– Save actual work efforts (time) for future projects estimates

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc 113


Stage
QED
Quod Erat Demonstrandum
(Latin: Which Was to Be Demonstrated)

September 2006 © 2006. Via Systems, Inc. 114

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