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Lessons Learned in Business Intelligence Projects at Australian Universities

Gain insights on successful BI projects in Australian universities, including strategies, challenges, and key takeaways from experienced Business Intelligence Manager.

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Lessons Learned in Business Intelligence Projects at Australian Universities

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Presentation Transcript

  1. AIR Forum 2019 Denver, Colorado

  2. Lessons Learned From Starting Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Projects in Australian Universities David Cawthorne, Business Intelligence Manager Charles Darwin University November 2018

  3. About me… • 25 years in Higher Education • Roles in Management Information, Business Systems, and Integration • Embedded in Planning, IT, and Business Areas • My professional mission statement:To provide the means for timely access to the best possible information within a system that is supportable, maintainable, and within the reach of the organisations with which I associate myself.

  4. Introduction

  5. The Australian Tertiary Education Context • Australia has 41 local universities and two overseas institutions that operate here. • 37 public sector (Government) and 4 private sector universities. • Over 55% of sector funding comes from Government sources • Almost ¼ of funds from international students • Only 7% of income from domestic students Source: Universities Australia (https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/)

  6. The Projects • Western Sydney University, 2010 • Consultancy report recommends work on a data warehouse to support centralised reporting. • Hiring of a new manager to support the project. • My role: ETL & warehouse developer • Charles Darwin University, 2017 • Consultancy report recommends building a BI capability beyond existing operational data store. • Hiring of a new manager to support the project. • My role: Business Intelligence manager

  7. The Facts in Brief

  8. The Initial Approaches • Identified high-value reports to target ETL & warehouse builds • Product backlog built & groomed from highest priority regardless of subject matter • Sponsor = Champion = Client • BI road map developed, ETL & warehouse built with quick wins, then by business area • Product backlog built & groomed from prioritised items within business area • Client changes based on Sprint product goal, Champions in many locations Western Sydney University Charles Darwin University

  9. After 12 months… • New star-schema warehouse supporting high value reports • No Conformed Dimensions • Large technical debt backlog • New products slow to develop • Highly satisfied senior executive client • New star-schema warehouse supporting single business area • No Conformed Dimensions • Managed technical debt • New products leverage business area infrastructure • Multiple enthusiastic business area clients • Quick wins: varied outcomes Western Sydney University Charles Darwin University

  10. Lessons Learned

  11. The Main Lesson • Even in Universities, the indicators for a successful BI/Warehousing project hold true • Executive Sponsorship • Well-defined requirements • Understand what your users want • Control your scope • Cleanse your data

  12. Lessons Starting Out • Beware of your quick wins, as they often aren’t quick, and are so fraught with pitfalls that they don’t feel like wins. • “Other universities” probably experienced exactly the same problems you will, no matter how messy things feel when you first encounter them.

  13. Lessons for Teams • Virtual teams need strong relationships to be successful, both inside and outside the virtual teams themselves. • Your team needs time to absorb the new things – breaking out of their own silos, learning new methodologies, understanding the nature of BI (many moments of falling back)

  14. Lessons for Agile • While Agile development helps your team focus on customer-centric rapid product development, interacting with other parts of the University leads to some heavy roadblocks • Devote time to your technical debt, or you build an environment that takes too much resource to maintain.

  15. Lessons Concerning Expectations • Be clear in your expectations, particularly with upstream supporting teams who aren’t working to your team’s timelines. • Manage your client’s expectations at all times – as you start you’re learning as you go, and you will miss deadlines. • Pay particular attention to conforming dimensions very early on, or you will agile build your way to hardship when you conform.

  16. Any Questions? Make contact on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/david-cawthorne-au

  17. Thank you Please remember to submit your evaluation for this session.

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