Agile BI Platform Management - SAP BusinessObjects

Agile BI platform management requires a proactive approach to system analysis, administration, storage, data connectivity, and publishing. A well managed BI platform permits an agile response to the increasing demands of information consumers, and of the system itself.

Combatting BI platform chaos can be challenging, because your BI platform is a moving target. Growing volume and complexity in your content, and in your information consumers' data discovery and exploration requirements, can overwhelm both your existing system resources and your administrative resources if you don't face those needs proactively.

In the words of Peter Drucker, efficiency is doing things right, and effectiveness is doing the right things. Do you have the tools and resources to manage your BI platform both efficiently and effectively?

What Is Agile BI Platform Management?

Physical agility, or nimbleness, is the ability to change the body's position efficiently and effectively, and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. Agility is the ability to change the direction of the body in an efficient and effective manner.

BI Platform Management Agility is the ability to respond rapidly to changes and challenges in your BI requirements. A well managed BI platform lets you efficiently and effectively manage and maintain the content, settings, and structure of the BI environment, providing the service your information consumers need for superior data discovery and exploration.

An agile approach to BI platform management includes:

  • Vision - the ability to see your BI system in terms of the big picture, as well as to narrow your focus quickly to see aspects of the system in isolation
  • Speed - the ability to understand the impact of changes quickly
  • Strength - having complete knowledge of your system, enabling decisive action
  • Coordination - the ability to bring together data from multiple sources within the BI system
  • Consistency - having standardized methodologies that yield consistent, predictable, regular data, allowing you to benchmark system performance

When Chaos Comes Calling

Without agility in your BI platform management, your BI environment can easily descend into chaos. A chaotic environment is an unstable environment in which small actions tend to have great and unintended consequences
The precursor to the modern-day business card was the calling card, used by people of high society to announce their arrival. Wouldn't it be nice if chaos would present such a calling card prior to its arrival on your BI platform? In fact, it does, but in a very subtle way, and you have to know how to read the signs to recognize its arrival.

Here are some of the signs that your BI platform management capabilities are not agile enough:

  • User navigation difficulties
  • Storage limitations
  • System processing power disruptions
  • Migration complexity
  • Migration testing overload
  • Data breach risk

APOS well managed BI solutions provide the tools you need to recognize and conquer the chaos in your BI environment.