Business Intelligence For Dummies®

Chapter 23. Ten Signs That Your BI Environment Is at Risk

Let's hope all that planning pays off and your BI systems work flawlessly. I wish you nothing but green lights and happy users in your future. But the bad news is, if it's not all smiles and handshakes in the user community, you won't always know it. It's not always obvious to the project team when systems aren't doing their job, or when people are dissatisfied.

Here are some symptoms you should keep a watchful eye for that may indicate your BI environment is at risk of failure.

Note

If these things happen it doesn't mean all that planning—or your whole BI initiative—was for naught. It just means it's time to shore up the technology, the support, and the company processes.

The Spreadsheets Just Won't Die

If a report gets generated automatically, but nobody sees that report, does it really exist?

Your BI initiative may have taken shape exactly as you specified; it could be perfect in its conception and implementation. But if people aren't using it, all of that counts for nada.

One of the easiest ways to tell whether people are getting the most from your BI system is to monitor the transition between the old-style reporting-and-analysis tools and the new BI approach to the same problem. If folks still show up at meetings with the same old spreadsheets and the same old reports they used before the BI implementation, it might indicate that you still have a ways to go to make your product more useful and user-friendly.

Tip

Don't take it ...