Creating a Business Intelligence roadmap: baseline measurement, principles, and the 5 steps

Author: Dick Pouw
Senior Consultant and CIO

Table of Contents

Featured image | Business Intelligence roadmap | Business Analytics vision | 4 steps

Key principles for a Business Intelligence roadmap

Plotting a clear route for Business Intelligence & Analytics can help you lift your organization to a higher level. A route and a goal that everyone can see and understand. It’s also important to be able to continually course-correct as you go. In our experience, the agility of Business Intelligence teams and information products leaves something to be desired from time to time. In this agile environment, BI itself has to be agile too, of course.

Key principles

In order to make a successful roadmap, these key principles should be adhered to:

A clear vision of Business Intelligence & Data Science.
A clear link to the company strategy and IT strategy.
No arguments about the current situation.
The desired result is ambitious but realistic.
The road map plots the route from the current situation to the desired one.

Making a sound BI roadmap in 4 steps

Making a Business Intelligence roadmap is a matter of consistently following four steps:

Take stock of your current situation. Based on interviews, automated surveys, and analysis of your documentation and systems, map your current situation.
Our BI consultants will help you create and test a vision for Business Analytics. We won’t just consider your company strategy and IT strategy, we’ll also zoom in on the company’s processes, products, and customers.
During one or more workshops, we, the information managers, and the direction (and any other possible stakeholders) will help you find your goal. In a presentation, we will develop and clarify the desired results of the roadmap.
Based on the results of the previous steps, one or more BI programs will be started. These will be divided into several projects with (resource) planning.

The complete project of developing a roadmap may take several weeks to months, depending on the size of your organization and the complexity of your business model.

Business Intelligence Training

Step one to a Business Analytics roadmap: Baseline measurement

You can’t make a Business Analytics roadmap without a baseline measurement telling you where you are now when it comes to your Business Intelligence maturity level. Our proven BI model can be used to determine your current position (the baseline measurement), and from there you can decide on the goal, which is where you want to get to.

Figure 1: Maturity levels of Business Analytics. Used to determine the current and desired situations of your organization.

It’s important to realize that there is a very strong correlation between the maturity level of BI and the success of Business Analytics. This is a cornerstone of our BI training course.

Prepare for the future with a BI roadmap

Making a Business Intelligence roadmap isn’t as easy as it may sound. There are many factors to consider:

Who do you involve when plotting out your BI roadmap? Who do you leave out?
What principles should you use for your Business Intelligence roadmap?
Does the organization have a clear vision for Business Analytics?
How should you deal with the diversity of BI tools and software?
What are the prospects for funding from the business side for the foreseeable future?

There are also Data Science angles to consider. No organization can afford to ignore these any longer. The experienced Business Intelligence specialists from Passionned Group are eager to help you with BI advice and Business Intelligence training.

Business Intelligence vision

You can’t plan a BI roadmap without a coherent Business Intelligence vision. But what does that mean, exactly? And why shouldn’t you start using QlikView or Tableau Dashboards right away? The core of a BI vision is getting the right data and information about a specific process to the right place. In this way, it can immediately generate added value for the decision-makers in your company from a strategic, tactical, and operational point of view.

Without this vision, you can make the prettiest BI roadmap ever made, but you will never reach your destination. You’re missing the goal. Here’s an example of a clear BI vision: “In 2020, we want to work and make data-driven decisions company-wide. We’ll use data analytics in every step of the process to improve continually.” Management, and all the teams, obviously need to embrace and co-sign this vision.

Change management and Business Analytics

If you want to successfully make changes to improve the maturity level of Business Analytics, you can’t escape change management. It’s tempting to think that technology is a silver bullet. Our advisors and consultants have a lot of experience with change management, besides having a lot of BI expertise. They know the process and organizational sides of Business Analytics.

Why choose Passionned Group?

✓ Our Business Intelligence specialists know the tricks of the trade.
✓ We work with a fixed price: no surprises!
✓ We are 100% vendor-independent. We serve your interests, and yours alone.
✓ Over 200 satisfied clients served!

Choose quality and contact us

Are you curious about what we can do for your organization, or do you want help making a Business Intelligence roadmap and vision? Contact us freely for more information or make an appointment. We’re eager to surprise you with our BI expertise.

About Passionned Group

Passionned Group is a leading analyst and consultancy firm specializing in Business Analytics and Business Intelligence. Our passionate advisors assist many organizations in selecting the best Business Analytics Software and applications. Every two years we organize the election of the Dutch BI & Data Science Award.