Business Change & Decision Making: Who Should Lead?
“If driven by IT, the decision is more focused on operational and architectural considerations than business requirements.” This is a comment that seems to have been doing the rounds recently in one form or another. Lets examine more closely to see who should be responsible for project decision making. Actually the information technology department must [...]
First Things First: Perform the Process Review!
There seems to be a common error in writing about implementing applications, it occurs when an author suggests “first select the right vendor”. Absolutely NOT. Little wonder so many implementations go wrong. The first step in doing any systems implementation is: understand, and document, the business process involved. In other words know the fullest scope [...]
Financing the BI Project: Uniqueness Factors (or USP)
In planning the BI project it is important to develop an understanding of the uniqueness factors for that business. Building this understanding may influence the type of solution that is financed. The last article in this series covered “The Corporate Architecture and Complexity of Data Links“. This builds on out business understanding that impacts the [...]
BI Project Decisions: Ready Made Database Options
There are broadly two types of ready-made Data Warehouse available, these are: A full data model, usually linked closely with an operational application. SAP, Peoplesoft, Siebel and other software suppliers provide Data Warehouses linked with their ERP and CRM applications. An industry ‘template’ that provides a basic model Data Warehouse relating to the industry sector [...]
Financing the Business Intelligence Project (Buy or Build?)
In order to finance the project it is necessary to decide how the underlying Data Warehouse is to be created. This means the Project Board will need to decide: Whether to use a ready-made solution or have it custom built What degree of external staffing resources are required This is the first part in a [...]
Virtual Teams, Project Slippage & The ‘Fear Factor’
One of the biggest challenges in managing remote, or viurtual projects, has always been one of communication and collaboration. From the management perspective it is not possible to simply walk down the corridor and see the fear in people’s eyes: not fear of physical harm, but the fear that you are going to ask them [...]
Emergance: Are we Ready for Growth?
As we emerge from these current economic troubles then corporate development budgets will get reinstated, yet one thing that the future does hold is conservative spending plans. Senior management has become acutely tuned into many former wasted expenditures that will not be allowed to recur. Maximizing resources and aggressively planing for the future are likely [...]
Applying the 80-20 Rule to Add Value
The 80-20 Rule suggests that 80 percent of your return comes from 20 percent of your investment. IT has had a version of this rule since its very inception, including some of the following: 80 percent of time and effort goes into deploying the 20 percent requiring the most customisation. Developers spend 80% of their [...]
CIO Strategy Development
The role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has changed forever. Today’s CIO’s role is more than simply managing IT staff and ensure that systems and networks are up and running. They need to serve as integral members of the senior management team within the corporation. They need to take part in strategic development, organizational [...]
Satisfaction Guaranteed?
Vendors of both software and hardware products are known for disappointing their customers. Often promised features do not exist or are delivered late. In a recent poll IT Leaders have stated that they need their vendors to be truthful about how products meet requirements (34%) and would like vendors to take time to understand requirements [...]
What are to Steps to Managing Succesful Projects?
By Peter B. Giblett Project management has traditionally been one of the hottest topics in business. There is a perception (largely unfounded) that the majority of projects fail. David Wright recently published an article “13 Steps to Better Projects” in ComputerWorld Canada in which he offers a personal view to overcoming change. I would like [...]
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