Business intelligence is about getting the right information

normbi — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:18:00 GMT

Okay, it's time I take a small break from writing about PerformancePoint Server and share a story that I read that illustrates the importance of how we use the resources that are available to us.

Two men formed a partnership. They built a small shed beside a busy road. They obtained a truck and drove it to a farmer's field, where they purchased a truckload of melons for a dollar a melon. They drove the loaded truck to their shed by the road, where they sold their melons for a dollar a melon. They drove back to the farmer's field and bought another truckload of melons for a dollar a melon. Transporting them to the roadside, they again sold them for a dollar a melon. As they drove back toward the farmer's field to get another load, one partner said to the other, "We're not making much money on this business, are we?" "No, we're not," his partner replied. "Do you think we need a bigger truck?"

While this story is shared to discuss some principles of harvesting cranberries, I want to use it to illustrate principles of harvesting data. Increasing the amount of data we have will not make our decisions better. Understanding the value of the data and delivering it to the right users will help good decisions throughout a company. In the words of Bill Baker, "There is no substitute for getting the design right, getting the data right, training your users and in general providing them the least amount of data and the most amount of guidance."

The amount of data we have will continue grow and Microsoft and other companies will continue to develop better methods for moving, storing, retrieving, and displaying it. I just read a recent example of when a new ETL world record was set. This was a great accomplishment. But our capacity to use useful data that will come from various systems will require some skills. For instance, communication between those that must consume it and those that help bring the data to the surface is a skill. After goals for what data are communicated, getting the right data will require focus and prioritizing. Another skill is establishing best practices for getting relevant information into different forms or visualizations to help provide information that assesses previous behavior. In other words, getting the right Key Performance Indicators.

A key theme of PerformancePoint Server is putting BI in the hands of more decision makers. See Bill Baker's discussion about the return on investment for companies spending millions on data warehouses to only realize 200 users.

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In my first Welcome Blog entry, I said that I would share some things I learn about work life balance. Here is a list of work-life time savers that I try to apply. Kind of like a plane which is 90% of the time off course but makes its destination because it continually makes corrections.

Get clear on what you want in life and write goals down to review often. Focus. Consider reading about hedgehog concept by Jim Collins.
Consider reading about how to grow Quadrant II (not urgent but important) from Covey's book.
Don't let e-mail manage your day. Turn notification off and apply MS Outlook rules.

I'm sure I will think of some others.

Now I look forward to attending the MVP Summit. Kudos to Nick Barclay and Adran Downes (two contributors to PPS publications) for the awarded title of SQL Server MVP.

A time management productivity principle

normbi — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:24:06 GMT

(update: 1.15.08) Wow, this is weird. The day I decide to Blog about productivity and a To-Do list, Microsoft Press releases a story called Survey Shows Increasing Worldwide Reliance on To-Do Lists. That article outlines differences between how men and women handle To-Do lists. There are some more tips on being more productive on this site http://www.windowsmobile.com/organize.

(original post: 1.14.08) In my very first blog, I mentioned that occasionally I would share some lessons learned about balancing work and life. One of those lessons comes from having a real understanding of what I value and then aligning my values with my actions.

In this post, I stray from PPS topics to mention a tool that I use to organize and prioritize my actions so that they align with my values. This post assumes that you have defined what you truly value.

I am sure there are other ways to organize a to-do list. The following is one way I have used (off and on) for several years (credited to Hyrum W. Smith). I use it when I feel overwhelmed with things that have accumulated.

1. Put all of your tasks on a list.

2. Place one of the following letters before each task:

A (must do)
B (should do) - can be postponed to another date
C (can do) - can be postponed to another date

3. Next, place a number after the letter to prioritize which A, B, and C tasks you will focus on completing first.

Priority	Task
B1	Write a blog about being more productive
A1	Network with other BI Bloggers - link to some
A2	Research metric tools such as Blogpulse
C1	Add a counter - structuretoobig

4. Begin work on task A1, and then move on to task A2. If there is time left, begin on task B1.

Although this can all be done in a notepad or on paper, these methods have since been integrated into software that can work in Microsoft Office 2007 or can be installed on a standalone computer. Like most good software, what makes the tool valuable are the time management principles that give it reason to exist. You can review that software here (FranklinCovey).

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Norm's PerformancePoint Server Blog : Time Management

Business intelligence is about getting the right information

A time management productivity principle