Transcript Session Title

How to Prepare Your
Business Users and
IT Organizations for
Dashboards
Dr. Bjarne Berg
Comerit
© 2012 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.
We are here
14
1
13
Seminar Roadmap
12
Best-in-Class
Deployment,
Dashboards
Testing & Change
Management
• Dashboards vs. reports
•
•
•
•
•
Key dashboard roll-out decisions • Answers to dashboard FAQs
• SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
Mobilizing your dashboard
4.0 overview
Support organization
• Product updates and
Volume, stress, and UAT
implementation criteria
Training and change management • Recent changes to dashboard
terms
Options &
Prototyping
11 Performance
& Security
10
• Common causes of poor
dashboard performance
• Effective performance testing
• Performance-enhancing design
techniques
• Preventing unauthorized access
to dashboards
• Password protection
Customization,
and SSO
Branding &
Governance
• Hands-on lab: Advanced techniques
• Web service integration and Adobe
Flex Builder
• Panel discussion: Dashboard Projects
• Ownership and branding
9 • Post-production changes
8
©
SAP AG 2009 / 1
2
7
•
•
•
•
•
Scoping vs. requirements gathering
KPI definitions
Required skills and resources
Data connectivity deep dive
Key criteria to retrieve data sets
Landscape,
Connectivity &
Sizing
• Hands-on lab: Build a dashboard
with BOBJ Dashboards 4.0
• Sizing and scaling recommendations
• User management and access
5
control
®
• SAP NetWeaver BW
Accelerator and
SAP HANA
6
3
4
The Low Rate of IT Project Success
•
In a survey of 600 IT and business people, 75% of respondents
believed that their projects are either always or
usually “doomed” right from the start
•
41% of the business people surveyed have this
view of IT projects: We spend at least half our time
on avoidable project rework, much of this effort is
wasted on preventable activities
•
78% think the business team “always” or “usually” lacks
alignment on project objectives
You need to communicate early that
dashboard projects are iterative and require
multiple go-lives to be successful
Create a strategic dashboard release plan
Source: Michael Krigsman, "75% believe IT projects are 'doomed'.
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stepping through a real-world SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
adaptation example
Facilitating BI and dashboard stakeholder management
Developing a dashboard change management strategy
Looking at user training and the BI self-service model
Understanding the role of the BI support organization
Planning for online help and knowledge transfer
Using the Business Readiness Dashboard checklist
Wrap-up
3
A Real-World SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
Adaptation Example
•
This project is for
travel expense
analysis
•
The color codes
communicate
changes, yearover-year
•
Graphs can be
displayed many
ways
•
Navigation can
be done and can
get new query
result sets
This dashboard is based only on BW query and BICS
connector; the cube is in SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator and
the dashboard therefore loads in less than 12 seconds
A Real-World SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
Adaptation Example (cont.)
•
Dashboards are
most useful
when compared
to something
•
This dashboard
is relative to a
budget
•
Notice that all
graphs can be
displayed in
many ways and
that color coding
is consistent
across the
dashboards
Make sure layout, buttons, and colors are consistently used
5
A Real-World SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
Adaptation Example (cont.)
•
This dashboard
groups six
different
categories and
over 30 lines into
an easily readable
table using a few
lines and mostly
colors
•
Too many lines
and incorrect use
of “bold” makes
dashboards very
hard to read
Don’t cram too much into a single
dashboard. Plan on multiple
dashboards for each business area.
6
A Real-World SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
Adaptation Example (cont.)
•
Changes over
time are typically
tracked in the
dashboards
•
Don’t just present
numbers, plan on
only showing
changes
 I.e., in
amounts and
percentages
In this dashboard, the graphs are sometimes hard to read,
so we added filter selections. Use these carefully, since
they are slow and make the Flash files very large.
7
A Real-World SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
Adaptation Example (cont.)
What-if
analysis can
be embedded
Tables can fill as
the time period
progresses
The more
functionality you
include, even when
not requested, the
more likely users
will leverage your
dashboards
Don’t expect all requirements to come
from your users. Be creative and suggest
functionality that may be helpful.
8
You Can Also Build Self-Service Dashboards
•
•
When building dashboards, you can create dashboards that allow
users to select measures and navigations, and save their views
 Thereby becoming more “self-service” with personalized
dashboards and a higher degree of flexibility
In the following step-by-step example from a real company, we
will look at some options on how to make this work in practice
9
First We Build a Template with Selectors
Step 2 – Self service to select any characteristic to filter on. Can select
multiple characteristics to filter on, i.e., Month, Plant, Material Group, etc.
Step 1 – Provide a self
service option to select a
group of any 38 key figures
available from the BEx Query
Step 3 – Self-service option to select
any range of dates or selections. The
dashboard is designed to limit to 13
characteristic key figures though. 10
The Measures Can Now Be Selected to Be Displayed
Step 4 –
Select available key figures
to display on chart
11
The Next Step Is Just to Refresh the Display
Step 6 – Update the Key Figures to add
more key figures
Step 5 – Select available key
figures to display on chart
12
Adding More Measures to the Display and Rearranging
Them
Step 8 –
Move SNP
Forecast
(MT) to the
top of the
list for a
higher
priority
Step 7 –
Add Revenue to
selected Key Figures
Then click
update
13
The Output
Step 9 – Notice SNP Forecast (MT) moved to the top
and now has numbers on the chart
Step 10 – Revenue is
now a selectable option
14
Controlling Characteristics
Step 11 – Select Xref, a custom
characteristic to describe a
material hierarchy
Step 12 – Select MESH
and click Apply
15
Key Figures Are Now Filtered Based on the Selection
16
Saving a Personalized View
Step 13 – Save this view as “Mesh and Mas
Dashboard”
Step 14 –
Enter name
and save,
and this
becomes
your
personal selfservice
dashboard
view!
17
Overall Result — Dashboard “Self-Service” (An Idea)
•
This is a template that allows analysts or managers to create their
own dashboard in a controlled end user environment
•
Fast and easy to roll out. For best results, the data set needs to
sit in cache, SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, or SAP HANA
•
This template can utilize any BEx query. The limitations are that
the charts can only display one characteristic but can be filtered
by ANY available characteristic in the query.
•
Another limitation is that the Save button is currently broken in
SP4. It does not remember the filter selections or the chart’s
saved state (will be fixed shortly).
18
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stepping through a real-world SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
adaptation example
Facilitating BI and dashboard stakeholder management
Developing a dashboard change management strategy
Looking at user training and the BI self-service model
Understanding the role of the BI support organization
Planning for online help and knowledge transfer
Using the Business Readiness Dashboard checklist
Wrap-up
19
The Dashboard Scope Agreement
•
•
For the first dashboard go-live, keep the scope as small as
possible
 For example, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, G/L,
or COPA
You have only three dimensions to work with, so if one of these
dimensions changes, you have to adjust at least one of the others
Scope
Resources
(people, technology,
and money)
Time
There is a limit to how far you can compress timelines: Brooks law
states that “Nine women cannot make a baby in one month”*
* Frederick Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month, Addison-Wesley, 1975).
20
Getting People to Use Your Dashboards
•
The organizational change process starts with FUD
 FEAR – “How will the dashboards impact my job?”
 UNCERTAINTY – “Will my job still be needed?”
 DOUBT – “This is just temporary, it will never succeed”
•
Gartner created a “hype cycle” that describes how new technologies are
adopted in organizations and society
1. Something makes the dashboard a
need-to-have tool: The Technology
Trigger
2. Everyone has high expectations
3. The first go-live was not that great
4. We now know how to use it properly
5. We reach the “plateau of productivity”
Source: Wikipedia, "hype cycle", 2011
Managing expectations and realizing that you will need more than
one “go-live” to get it right is critical to dashboard projects
21
Do You Have a Plan? The Six Dimensions of BI Management
•
•
There are six core dimensions you must consider before embarking on a
dashboard project
Project management is important, but it’s only one of these dimensions
 Failure to account for the others may result in project failures
Source: Peter Grottendieck, Siemens
For each dimension, articulate an approach, constraints,
limitations, and assumptions before you start your project
22
The Strategic Dashboard Release Plan
The plan should clearly map out the vision for the next 24-36 months
Freight costs dashboard
Cost analysis dashboard
COPA Profitability dashboard
Product profitability dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
Billing overview dashboard
Billing analysis dashboard
Billing
Billing errors dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
Order dashboard
Order Order trend dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
AR overview dashboard
Past due dashboard
AR
Aging dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
AP aging dashboard
Discounts taken dashboard
AP
Travel expense dashboard
Phase -2 enhancements
...
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sept
July
Aug
June
May
April
March
Jan
Feb
Dec
Nov
Oct
Aug
Sept
July
June
May
April
March
Jan
Feb
Dec
Oct
Nov
Sept
July
Aug
May
June
April
Feb
March
Dashboard
Jan
Area
2014
2013
2012
!
!
!
!
Make sure you add the “Phase-2” timeline for all areas, plan
for enhancements, and communicate this early to all users
!
23
Six Ways to Organize your Dashboard Project Team(s)
Option
1
Single site
2
Distributed analysis
3
Distributed analysis and design
4
Co-located analysis and design
5
Multiple co-located analysis and design
6
Fully distributed development
Benefits
Risks
The more distributed the
development effort becomes,
the more difficult it is to
maintain communication and
get cohesive requirements
24
How Tightly Should Multiple Dashboard Projects Be
Controlled?
The relationship between
control and success
according to a conference
Board Survey of 89 BI
projects
Coordination of Multiple Business Intelligence Projects
Tight Central Control
(24%)
Loose Cooperation
(38%)
Independent
(38%)
88% Successful
30% Successful
100% Successful
Source: The Conference Board Survey
25
Dashboard Stakeholder Management — Today’s Situation
•
In most companies, summarized data that is combined across
many organizational units are only available to senior
management
•
The power therefore resides at the CxO
and VP levels of the organization
•
There is little incentive to share
this information downwards in
the company
Traditionally organizations view information as “power”
and only grant access on a need-to-know basis
26
Dashboard Stakeholder Management — Tomorrow’s
Situation
•
•
When dashboard’s are employed to middle management, they can
combine this with operational details and start making sense of
“why things are happening,” instead of looking at “what
happened”
This shifts power within the organization and often makes the
senior management feel that they are not informed, or don’t have
the time to look at all operational details
Some companies are afraid to share summarized and operational data and are
simply employing a too tight “security” model, and therefore, see few
dashboard benefits
Dashboard Stakeholder Management — Power Pockets
•
•
If dashboard’s are given to only some key individuals within
an organization, you create “power pockets”
In this case, the dashboards can be used to concentrate power
regardless of position within the organization
Deploying dashboards to select power users in companies can create
significant incentives to withhold information and concentrate power
28
The Dashboard Deployment Layers
•
•
•
•
The best way to deploy dashboards is to take an open
security view
 Everyone has access to the data, unless there is a very good
reason to restrict it
Operational information is shared with the people who can make
the change on the daily operation — middle management
Financial information is shared only with the finance group and
senior management (VP and CxO)
Complex dashboards are given to power users that are
designated by the management, not the IT department or to all
requesting it
Create a dashboard deployment diagram and map
it to security roles as part of the project planning
29
The Dashboard Deployment Diagram
•
The dashboard deployment diagram provides an overview of who
has access to each dashboard
You should also provide a similar diagram that shows who can grant
access to the dashboards. These are called “dashboard owners.”
30
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stepping through a real-world SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
adaptation example
Facilitating BI and dashboard stakeholder management
Developing a dashboard change management strategy
Looking at user training and the BI self-service model
Understanding the role of the BI support organization
Planning for online help and knowledge transfer
Using the Business Readiness Dashboard checklist
Wrap-up
31
The SAP BusinessObjects Dashboard Adaptation Curve
How will you move
people along?
Went to a meeting: “My boss is using this, so I
better start looking at the same numbers”
Confidence
Went to training:
“This way is more effective”
Kept in the dark:
“I’m not sure what
these dashboards
may do to me”
Talked to a co-worker:
“My colleagues are using
it, I guess I should too”
Saw the
PowerPoint:
“You said it
was easy!”
Heard about a
dashboard project:
“I like the old
reports just fine!”
Saw the demo: “Actually, these
dashboards may be better than
what I am using”
Heard a rumour: “You can’t do this.
It won’t work. We’re not allowed.”
Time
32
How to Make People Use Your Dashboards
You have to engage
the users. Not only
provide logon
passwords!
“This is the way we do
analysis and reporting
around here”
Internalization
“OK, I’m ready to
start using these
dashboards”
of Dashboard usage
Commitment
to using dashboards
“I know how we need to
do our jobs differently”
“I understand
where we are
going with these
dashboards”
Translation
to the work setting
Significant
involvement
needed
Understanding
of change direction
“Yeah, I saw the email”
Awareness
of desired change
Source: Adapted by Dr. Berg from Piers
Schreiber's “Change Management,“ 2011
Information with
some involvement is
sufficient here
33
Do You Have Executive Sponsorship? What People Pay
Attention To
1.
2.
3.
4.
Leader attention, measurement, rewards and controls
Leader reaction to critical incidents
Leader role modelling, coaching
Criteria for recruitment, promotion, retirement and
excommunication
5. Formal and informal socialisation
6. Recurring systems and procedures
7. Organisation design and structure
8. Design of physical space
9. Stories and myths about key people and events
10.Formal statements, charters, creeds, codes of ethics, etc.
Between 80-90% of all user behavior is
determined by the first three points
Source: Piers Schreiber "Change Management,”
34
Getting the Right Dashboard Change Facilitators
•
•
•
Involve those most impacted by the changes
Develop an objective method for selecting candidates
Select staff of equivalent seniority
 Ask them to identify opportunities and have a say in
how the project funding is spent (e.g., prioritization)
 Select staff who are:
 Well regarded by their peers
 Credible
 Reliable
 Eager to learn and be involved
 “Opinion leaders”
 Have time to spend on active feedback and engagement
Do not select staff who are perceived to be
management mouthpieces
35
Level of Support
The Long-Term Use of Dashboards Requires Organizational
Acceptance
Time
New technology takes time to be used and accepted. Don’t be
surprised when few dashboards are actually used.
36
Source: Piers Schreiber's
“Change Management"
The Dashboard Change Management Process
IT responsible
Change
Request form
Integration tested
QA environment
Business responsible
No
Approved?
Sr. mgmt. responsible
Yes
Approved?
Submission
No
No
Complete?
No
Approved?
Yes
Yes
Moved to
production
System tested
Scheduled
Dev. Environment
Yes
Review
Recommended?
No
Change
Request form
Unit Tested
Developed
Dev. Environment
Yes
No
Approved?
Yes
The Change Management Form — Page 1
•
•
•
To make this process work, you need a formal instrument
The instrument can be online (e.g., a Web page), electronic (Word
document), or a paper-based system
The form should contain at least these fields
Change Request Form
Requestor Name:
Department
Phone number / email
Describe the change requested, be
detailed
The front page
that the requestor
fills out
Why is it needed
How important is it that the
change occur? (how would you
manage if this is not done)
TBD
When is the change needed
When
possible
Future
release
Date
Break-fix
(right now)
38
The Change Management Form — Page 2
•
•
This page is used by the system administrator or the project team
The purpose is to have controlled changes that are scheduled and
tested appropriately
For internal use only
Received date:
Reviewed by:
Comments/recommendation
The back page
that the system
admin and
approver fill out
Pending
Not-Approved
Future
release
Approved
Break-fix
(right now)
Pending
Prototyped
In QA
Tested
In Production
Approval status:
Approved by:
Approved date:
Assigned to:
Due date:
Development status:
39
39
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stepping through a real-world SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
adaptation example
Facilitating BI and dashboard stakeholder management
Developing a dashboard change management strategy
Looking at user training and the BI self-service model
Understanding the role of the BI support organization
Planning for online help and knowledge transfer
Using the Business Readiness Dashboard checklist
Wrap-up
40
User Training Options
•
There are four core options for the training strategy
 Classroom training
 Best when users are similar and centrally
located
 Online training
 Best when users are dispersed, dashboards are simple, or golive over a long time period
 Train the trainer
 Best when users reside in many locations, multiple languages
are involved, and when there is a very high number of users
 One-on-one training
 Best for executives and senior management
 Should be done at each user’s office
Communicate and schedule training early in
the project, so that everyone will be available
41
The BI Self-Service Model and Workspaces
The key concept of
the BI self-service
model is to let users
become selfsufficient and able to
create, access,
organize, and modify
their own content
This means that they can search
content, create their own Web
Intelligence reports, organize the layout
of their displays, view Crystal Reports
and other items at the same time
42
Self-Service — The BI Launch Pad in SAP BusinessObjects
BI 4.x
•
•
The launchpad is intended to
make accessing BI items
much easier
From here users can:
 Use multiple tabs to work on
several documents at the
same time
 Search for what they are
looking for and filter results
 Schedule and send items to
users
The idea is to have a single launch item
for all reports and analysis. Many call
this a “report center.”
43
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stepping through a real-world SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
adaptation example
Facilitating BI and dashboard stakeholder management
Developing a dashboard change management strategy
Looking at user training and the BI self-service model
Understanding the role of the BI support organization
Planning for online help and knowledge transfer
Using the Business Readiness Dashboard checklist
Wrap-up
44
The BI Help Desk — Level-1 Support
•
The first-level support
should be done by power
users in the organization
•
You will have to train
these resources, empower
them to make changes,
and leverage them as
much as possible, even
when it is easy to “jump to
solutions”
Dashboard-related support tickets from a central location/Web site should
be routed to the power users in each department. The power user can
escalate the ticket to Level-2 support if he/she is unable to resolve it.
45
The BI Help Desk — Level-2 Support
•
The second-level
support is used for
issues that are not
related to dashboards,
queries, presentations,
reports, and formatting
•
This includes data
loads, performance,
security, availability,
training schedules, etc.
•
This is addressed by
the central support
team
•
Some support-ticket types are always routed to
Level-2 support
•
It is important to have a generic email address for
Level-2 support that is not related to an individual.
Emails to this address should not be deleted.
46
Support Turnover and Team Rotations
•
•
•
Source: NobScot,, 2011
24% of IT application
developers leave their jobs
every year
4 years, 2 months is the
average time spent in an IT job
in the US and slightly longer in
industrial Asian countries
However, the IT support staff
lasts only 25 months!
* US Dept. of Labor statistics, Sept. 2009.
The top reason for leaving
an IT support job is the lack
of personal growth
opportunities!
SOLUTION: Create a formal plan for rotating
each support role every six months
Provide a formal mentoring and training
program that is communicated in writing to
each employee annually
47
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stepping through a real-world SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
adaptation example
Facilitating BI and dashboard stakeholder management
Developing a dashboard change management strategy
Looking at user training and the BI self-service model
Understanding the role of the BI support organization
Planning for online help and knowledge transfer
Using the Business Readiness Dashboard checklist
Wrap-up
48
Computer-Based Online Training (A Real Example)
Online training can be
delivered on-demand
There are many
companies that can
develop customized,
cost-effective, interactive
training for your end
users (starting around
$8K to about $20K)
The trick to being successful here is to provide
interactivity and common-task scenarios
Hint: Use a storyboard to develop your training
Over time, this is
probably the best way
of delivering casual
user training
49
Different Types of Training
Training Type
Pros
Inexpensive and can
accommodate many people
at their own time
Instructor led - on site Highly interactive and
questions can be answered
directly
Online
Vendor led - off site
One-on-One
Cons
Lack of interaction and
ability to ask questions
When to use
Very high number of users and
simple training (i.e. dashboards)
Limited number of users and more
complex training required (i.e.
complex dashboards, BPC, APO,
WebI etc.)
No setup requirements and Expensive and scheduling Standardized training, or one-time
simple to manage
conflicts may occur. Quality training of technical staff.
depends on vendor
Focused and attentive to
each user. Highly
interactive and targeted
Expensive, requires setup
and environment
preparation
Expensive, slow to
implement and not very
scalable
Executives, senior managers,
detailed analysis for controllers and
planners.
You may want to use several types of training depending on
your budget, audience, and complexity of your dashboards
50
Plan for an Online Help System for Your Dashboard Go-Live
•
•
Online help should be created for each dashboard
The online help system should
explain:
 How numbers are calculated
 How to read graphs
 What functionality is
embedded
51
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stepping through a real-world SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
adaptation example
Facilitating BI and dashboard stakeholder management
Developing a dashboard change management strategy
Looking at user training and the BI self-service model
Understanding the role of the BI support organization
Planning for online help and knowledge transfer
Using the Business Readiness Dashboard checklist
Wrap-up
52
The Implementation Outcomes
EFFECTIVE
INEFFECTIVE
There are four possible outcomes of your
DASHBOARD
dashboard project
REQUIREMENTS
 You can get the wrong requirements and have
WRONG
RIGHT
an ineffective implementation
(occurs only 10% of the time)
I
II
 You can have the wrong
10% of
20% of
requirements and do a great
occurrences
occurrences
job implementing them (20%)
 You can get the right
III
IV
requirements and implement it wrong
20% of
50% of
occurrences
occurrences
(20%) — This is what Phase-2
is all about!
 You can get the right requirements and implement it
correctly (best of all worlds)
IMPLEMENTATION
•
Be prepared to work seriously on requirements gathering
and user acceptance to avoid 30% of the project failures
53
The Business Readiness Dashboard Checklist
•
The purpose of the
business readiness
dashboard checklist is to
make sure that a project
is not merely an
afterthought with little
visibility, zero real
sponsorship, and has a
lack of communication,
support, training, and
organizational
commitment
There are reasons why many
dashboard projects fail
What We’ll Cover …
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Stepping through a real-world SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards
adaptation example
Facilitating BI and dashboard stakeholder management
Developing a dashboard change management strategy
Looking at user training and the BI self-service model
Understanding the role of the BI support organization
Planning for online help and knowledge transfer
Using the Business Readiness Dashboard checklist
Wrap-up
55
Where to Find More Information
•
•
•
Boris Otto and Jörg Wolter, Implementing SAP Customer
Competence Center (SAP PRESS, 2008).
Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, Waltzing With Bears: Managing
Risk on Software Projects (New York, NY: Dorset House, 2003).
Harold Kerzner, Project Management Metrics, KPIs, and
Dashboards: A Guide to Measuring and Monitoring Project
Performance (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2011).
56
7 Key Points to Take Home
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Successful SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards projects require
more than “finger power”
Design is done interactively with the business, not in “solitary
confinement”
Getting users to change their behaviors requires significant
organizational change and visible sponsorship
Training, online help, and formal checklists can increase
success rates
BI self-services require substantial resources to implement shortterm, but pays off in the long run
If you can get executives to use your dashboards in their
meetings, you are almost guaranteed success!
Spend time planning how users will access your dashboards and
plan for multiple iterations; you will not get it 100% correct the
first time!
57
Your Turn!
How to contact me:
Dr. Bjarne Berg
[email protected]
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Disclaimer
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