SAP Public sector implementation: 2010

The selection of business intelligence tool
This process can be expensive, overwhelming at times, and the risk can be extremely high – especially when time lines slip, budgets overrun and the needs of stakeholders and expectations of executive management are not met. The following is the terms of reference, gleaned from years of lessons learned that mitigates the business risk and reduces the time, cost and effort involved, in selecting a business intelligence tool.
Given SAP’s acquisition of Business Objects and its planned integration with SAP, every organization considers this to be an opportune time to reconsider continuing with existing BI tool set as their standard or moving to Business Objects for the long term, Given that a number or our partners are using MS SQL Analytics Services, we will also be reviewing this product suite as well.
Terms of Reference for Business Intelligence Tool Selection
1. Select a technical team with the inputs from business on key requirements
Select a group of IT staff who understands the value of investing in business intelligence technology and is empowered to choose business professionals across the organization to work with the technical team during the selection process.
2. Define and classify business, functional and technical requirements
Conduct facilitated sessions to define the business, functional and technical requirements that will objectively guide decision making during the selection process. Requirements must be classified in one of three ways:
• Essential: unable to achieve strategic and operational objectives without it;
• Important: makes large contribution to strategic and operational objectives; and
• Desired.

Typical business intelligence tool requirements may include:

Ease of use
Overall look and feel
Help menus, context help, online tutorials
Ad hoc query creation
Ad hoc queries to be saved or modified
Export reports to other formats
Publish reports to destinations
Dimensional drill-down
Drill-through to detail from summary
Statistical calculations
Report from stored procedures, views
Generates efficient SQL for chosen database
Ability to view and modify generated SQL
Ability to create tables
Ability to join multiple tables
Ability to create complex formulas
Supports database security
Restricts access to reports
Capability to monitor performance
Ability to customize generated SQL
Ability to limit rows queried
Able to set maximum query time limit
3. Leverage Gartner’s expert opinion based on evidence based research
Use external source (Gartner) to provide guidance on the vendors who are challengers, visionaries and leaders within the business intelligence spectrum and whose products are capable of meeting your defined business, functional and technical requirements from a macro level. The research will also provide insight on features and functions, strengths and limitations, and past vendor performance. The most successful vendors are ones who understand when their products have matured and follow up with new ones to maintain growth and success. To make sure each vendor’s supported technical framework – Web browser, client platform, server platform, Web servers, LDAP, OLAP servers, server databases – can be seamlessly integrated into UNICEF’s current and strategic information technology architecture. Lastly, get an idea of the customer trend in these areas and also the pattern of the customers migrating from one tool to another.
4. Assess vendor capabilities
Assess the vendor’s market share and growth, financial strength and technical support. It is important to note that focusing solely on product functionality could leave UNICEF at a strategic disadvantage. Nevertheless, revenue, net income and license fees from the previous four to six fiscal quarters are best measurements for assessing the health of a vendor.
5. Establish a list of core functionalities that are expected out of the BI tool
Establish a list of core components and functionalities that you would like to know which might be quantifiable and should be ranked. It is critical that this list be achieved without contacting any business intelligence vendor directly. The following are the key components:
Architecture
• Zero-footprint. Are the products fully web-based and support the zero-footprint concept (e.g. no software is downloaded or needed on the client)? Or which of the products have a lighter footprint?
• Platforms. On what platform does the product run? Please specify this for the design environment, the end-user environment (the clients) and the server environment.
• Reports, analytics, dashboards, scorecards, multi-dimensional analysis, ad hoc query all-in-one. Can one product meet all of these requirements?
• Does the solution provide above defined functionality within one environment, software package or screen? In this case, can reporting, interactive analysis and dash boarding be combined very easily?
• Functions in a Service Oriented Architecture. Does the product function well in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)?
• Supports In-Memory or Caching. Does the product use In-Memory technologies or caching? What are the restrictions and conditions for using it properly with the product?
BI Tool Functionality
• Role-based reporting and dash boarding: Does the product support the concept of personalizing reports, analysis and dashboards, based on the role(s) the user has to ensure that he can see only the information that he is authorized for?
• Common drill-down paths stored in repository: Are common drill-down paths and hierarchies stored in a repository, and can these be dependent on the role users have? For example, the first drill-down path of a product manager is to drill into the product groups; the first drill-down path of the sales director is region.
• Export to Excel and PDF: Is exporting of data to Excel with or without format available? Also, is exporting to PDF available?
• Write-back facility: Does the product support write-back facilities to change the data? This is useful for planning and budgeting purposes (PBF). Does the product have the ability to write back comments into the dashboard (e.g., if the indicators do not look good, can the users input comments that can be stored and retrieved in the future; does the product have the capacity for users to locally enter defined targets)?
• View combinations of structured and unstructured data. Does the product have the capability to present structured (SAP) and unstructured (flat files, Excel, user-entered qualitative statements) data in its reports and dashboards?
• Multi-dimensional analysis: Does the product have the capability of analyzing groups of data into two or more categories and measurements?
• Ad hoc querying and reporting: Does the product provide a facility for the user to create his own queries and reports?
• Off-line reporting and analysis: Does the product have the capability of running reports offline, e.g., on a laptop?
• Support for balanced score carding: Does the product support the balanced scorecard methodology in terms of key performance indicators, perspectives, critical success factors, strategy maps, and actions?
• BI self-service supported: Does the product support the concept of BI self-service where a user makes or changes his/her own dashboard, reports or lay-out?
• Scheduled distribution of reports and dashboards: Can reports and dashboards be distributed by e-mail on a regular, scheduled basis?
• Publish and subscribe: Does the product support the principle of publish and subscribe?
• Real-time aware: Is the product real-time aware (e.g., if there is new in the database, will the report or dashboard be refreshed instantly)?
• Integration with SAP ECC, its components and BW
Usability
• Ease-of-use: Is the product easy to learn and easy to use on a daily basis?
• Screen design: Does the screen look quiet and well-balanced? (UNICEF branding)
• Style-sheets supported: Does the product make use of style-sheets (CSS)?
• Support for PDA's and BlackBerry & iPhones: Are the reports and dashboards optimized for viewing on PDA’s and Blackberry phones? (May not be relevant for now, but as a future direction)
Search and alerting
• Meta data search: Is there a search facility to search reports and dashboards (search over meta data)?
• Search over data in reports and dashboards: Is there a search facility to find specific data that is stored in the reports or dashboards (search over data)? – (Structured and non-structured)
• Alerts and notifications: Can one define alerts and notifications? This may also include the usability report that indicates which reports are used and their frequency.
Security and connectivity
• Single sign-on supported: Does the product support single sign-on? If yes, please describe how it works.
• Support for Active or Enterprise Directories: Does the product make automatically use of Active Directories or Enterprise Directories?
• Data authorization available: Is it possible to define for each user, user group or role what data is one authorized to see?
Training and customer support
• Online support: Does the product have 24*7 support available and immediate response times?
• Training availability: Availability of training, both online and instructor led classroom courses by the product vendor or their authorized partner academies, frequency and training locations.
Availability of trained professionals
• Trained professionals: Availability of the trained professionals either from the vendors or from the open market. Bleeding edge products may lack in this area, which will prove to be very costly in the long run.
6. Schedule tailored vendor presentations
Schedule three-hour “tailored” presentations with each vendor. This presentation will facilitate the validation of accumulated research, and the assessment of product functionality and capabilities against the defined business, functional and technical requirements. A recommended tailored presentation agenda includes:

15 minutes: Introductions & Vendor Overview
60 minutes: Demonstrate product functionality and capability against specified requirements
20 minutes: Additional features and functions (vendor “wow factor”)
25 minutes: Questions and answers / next steps

This approach maximizes productivity and controls the flow of critical vendor and product information in order to make an informed decision on a “best fit.”.

7. Make an informed business decision
Although these best practices are just a subset of a more comprehensive library for business intelligence tool selection, these are the main ones to streamline this process. At this stage, make the practical aspect to be given the highlight and redo the ranking. Keep the Supply Division and the key players in constant communication during the entire process.