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DEPLOYING ANALYTIC APPLICATIONS AS PART OF A BI AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY |
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Written by Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00152705, Nigel Rayner, 2 November 2007
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Packaged analytic applications are an important part of a business intelligence (BI) and performance management strategy. Because these applications are targeted at business users, most organizations suffer from tactical purchasing, which creates silos of disconnected data and applications. This makes it difficult to manage performance holistically. IT organizations can follow a number of steps to deploy packaged and custom analytic applications more effectively.
KEY FINDINGS
- Packaged analytic applications should be deployed as part of a BI and performance management strategy. Uncontrolled tactical purchasing will create more problems than it solves.
- An enterprisewide metrics framework is key to success. This may seem counterintuitive because it does not directly relate to the purchase of specific analytic applications but it is the glue that binds them together.
- The IT organization cannot implement an effective analytic applications strategy "bottom up." It needs the support of key business users and executive sponsors.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Start by taking an inventory of the analytic applications in each business area, including legacy and Excel-based applications.
- Follow the Tactical Guidelines in this research to limit tactical purchasing of packaged analytic applications, and build a road map for a more strategic deployment. You can also use the guidelines in the deployment of custom-developed analytic applications.
- Use a common set of metrics to link disparate analytic applications.
- Use the Business Intelligence Competency Center (BICC) to help reconcile business needs with the organization's BI technology. In particular, the focus of the BICC should be on the emerging need to embed analytics directly into business processes.
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