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Problem
...
1:
...
Unfamiliar
...
Territory
...
for
...
Users
...
This
...
creates
...
a
...
problem
...
that
...
might
...
be
...
unique
...
to
...
the
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
field.
...
The
...
problem
...
is
...
that
...
the
...
end-users
...
or
...
consumers
...
of
...
a
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
solution
...
are
...
not
...
familiar
...
with
...
those
...
terminology,
...
tools,
...
and
...
technologies.
...
This
...
situation
...
does
...
not
...
exist
...
in
...
other
...
fields.
...
For
...
example
...
the
...
consumers
...
of
...
a
...
customer
...
relationship
...
management
...
(CRM)
...
system
...
are
...
familiar
...
with
...
the
...
concepts
...
of
...
leads,
...
opportunities,
...
customers,
...
and
...
accounts
...
that
...
the
...
CRM
...
system
...
manages.
...
The
...
problem
...
surfaces
...
right
...
at
...
the
...
start
...
of
...
a
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
project.
...
How
...
do
...
you
...
discuss
...
the
...
requirements
...
of
...
the
...
system
...
when
...
the
...
consumers
...
don't
...
understand
...
the
...
terminology?
...
The
...
answer
...
is
...
that
...
you
...
cannot
...
effectively
...
present
...
and
...
evolve
...
the
...
requirements
...
in
...
document
...
form:
...
you
...
need
...
to
...
show
...
them,
...
and
...
ideally
...
let
...
them
...
use,
...
a
...
prototype
...
or
...
pilot
...
of
...
the
...
system.
...
The
...
consumers
...
of
...
a
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
system
...
have
...
to
...
be
...
actively
...
involved
...
in
...
the
...
definition
...
of
...
the
...
system
...
and
...
can
...
only
...
do
...
so
...
effectively
...
if
...
they
...
have
...
a
...
something
...
that
...
works
...
and
...
is
...
based
...
on
...
real
...
data.
...
If
...
more
...
users
...
have
...
access
...
to
...
the
...
pilot
...
system
...
better
...
feedback
...
on
...
the
...
requirements
...
can
...
be
...
gathered.
...
This
...
introduces
...
a
...
second
...
problem.
...
Problem
...
2:
...
Cost
...
of
...
Prototypes
...
In
...
order
...
to
...
alleviate
...
the
...
first
...
problem
...
many
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
practitioners
...
recommend
...
using
...
5-10%
...
of
...
the
...
project's
...
budget
...
(or
...
proposed
...
budget)
...
to
...
create
...
a
...
prototype
...
or
...
pilot.
...
These
...
prototypes
...
or
...
pilot
...
need
...
to
...
be
...
created
...
very
...
early
...
on
...
during
...
the
...
project:
...
in
...
many
...
cases
...
before
...
the
...
project
...
has
...
been
...
given
...
budget
...
approval.
...
This
...
is
...
because
...
the
...
benefits
...
of
...
a
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
solution
...
are
...
often
...
hard
...
to
...
quantify.
...
A
...
particular
...
solution
...
might
...
help
...
managers
...
make
...
more
...
informed,
...
and
...
therefore
...
supposedly
...
better,
...
decisions.
...
How
...
much
...
money
...
will
...
those
...
better
...
decisions
...
save
...
the
...
organization
...
in
...
the
...
first
...
year?
...
It
...
is
...
frequently
...
hard
...
to
...
estimate.
...
Prototypes
...
are
...
often
...
built
...
during
...
feasibility
...
or
...
return-on-investment
...
(ROI)
...
studies
...
to
...
help
...
alleviate
...
this
...
situation.
...
However
...
if
...
the
...
estimated
...
cost
...
of
...
estimating
...
the
...
ROI
...
is
...
too
...
high
...
the
...
feasibility
...
study
...
might
...
not
...
ever
...
be
...
undertaken.
...
The
...
problem
...
is
...
that
...
to
...
get
...
good
...
feedback
...
on
...
the
...
expected
...
ROI
...
you
...
need
...
to
...
gather
...
feedback
...
from
...
as
...
many
...
users
...
as
...
possible,
...
however
...
if
...
there
...
is
...
a
...
per-user
...
license
...
cost
...
to
...
do
...
this
...
the
...
cost
...
of
...
gathering
...
the
...
feedback
...
can
...
become
...
prohibitive.
...
If
...
it
...
costs
...
$20,000
...
to
...
do
...
the
...
prototype
...
the
...
project
...
budget
...
needs
...
to
...
at
...
least
...
be
...
in
...
the
...
$100,000-200,000
...
range.
...
The
...
good
...
news
...
is
...
that
...
open
...
source
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
tools
...
let
...
you
...
do
...
this
...
with
...
no
...
license
...
fee
...
for
...
the
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
functionality.
...
In
...
conjunction
...
with
...
open
...
source
...
operating
...
systems,
...
databases,
...
and
...
application
...
servers
...
a
...
pilot
...
using
...
open
...
source
...
BI
...
tools
...
can
...
be
...
executed
...
without
...
any
...
software
...
license
...
fees.
...
Problem
...
3:
...
Expensive
...
Infrastructure
...
A
...
third
...
problem
...
with
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
implementations
...
is
...
that
...
the
...
infrastructure
...
of
...
a
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
solution
...
is
...
expensive.
...
This
...
means
...
that
...
there
...
can
...
be
...
a
...
high
...
cost,
...
in
...
both
...
software
...
(unless
...
open
...
source
...
is
...
used)
...
and
...
effort,
...
in
...
creating
...
even
...
a
...
simple
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
solution.
...
What
...
is
...
worst
...
in
...
most
...
cases
...
the
...
users
...
get
...
no
...
value
...
from
...
the
...
system
...
until
...
the
...
end
...
of
...
the
...
project.
...
You
...
can
...
compare
...
it
...
to
...
building
...
a
...
house:
...
it
...
takes
...
a
...
lot
...
of
...
resources
...
and
...
time
...
to
...
construct
...
the
...
house
...
but
...
none
...
of
...
the
...
value
...
can
...
be
...
realized
...
before
...
the
...
end.
...
If
...
the
...
house
...
design
...
has
...
10
...
rooms
...
and
...
you
...
are
...
half
...
way
...
through
...
the
...
construction
...
of
...
the
...
house
...
do
...
you
...
have
...
5
...
usable
...
rooms?
...
No,
...
you
...
have
...
no
...
usable
...
rooms,
...
and
...
you
...
continue
...
to
...
have
...
no
...
usable
...
rooms
...
until
...
the
...
last
...
day
...
of
...
the
...
project.
...
Problem
...
4:
...
Rigid
...
Project
...
Methodologies
...
The
...
fourth
...
problem
...
with
...
traditional
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
projects
...
is
...
that
...
the
...
methodology
...
used
...
can
...
compound
...
the
...
problems
...
above
...
and
...
make
...
them
...
worse.
...
Traditional
...
development
...
methodologies
...
have
...
phases
...
with
...
rigid
...
transitions
...
between
...
them.
...
In
...
addition
...
there
...
are
...
different
...
people
...
working
...
on
...
the
...
different
...
phases
...
with
...
'hand-offs'
...
between
...
them.
...
This
...
makes
...
adapting
...
to
...
change
...
difficult
...
and
...
the
...
later
...
in
...
the
...
process
...
that
...
the
...
change
...
surfaces
...
the
...
harder
...
it
...
is
...
to
...
handle.
...
This
...
causes
...
problems
...
for
...
the
...
development
...
of
...
all
...
software
...
systems.
...
Business
...
Intelligence's
...
unique
...
'unfamiliar
...
user'
...
problem
...
makes
...
it
...
hard
...
to
...
concretely
...
define
...
the
...
requirements.
...
Combining
...
a
...
requirements
...
definition
...
that
...
cannot
...
be
...
reliably
...
confirmed
...
with
...
a
...
process
...
that
...
does
...
not
...
handle
...
change
...
well
...
is
...
a
...
recipe
...
for
...
problems.
...
Problem
...
5:
...
Inertia
...
A
...
combination
...
of
...
the
...
problems
...
above
...
means
...
that
...
it
...
is
...
not
...
a
...
trivial
...
exercise
...
to
...
create
...
an
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
solution.
...
This
...
makes
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
unsuitable
...
for
...
projects
...
where
...
a
...
quick
...
answer
...
is
...
needed
...
to
...
a
...
one-time
...
problem.
...
For
...
example
...
let
...
us
...
assume
...
that
...
an
...
organization
...
is
...
under
...
a
...
new
...
competitive
...
pressure
...
and
...
wants
...
to
...
adjust
...
its
...
pricing
...
scheme
...
for
...
all
...
of
...
its
...
many
...
products
...
in
...
all
...
of
...
its
...
markets.
...
The
...
new
...
pricing
...
scheme
...
needs
...
to
...
be
...
decided
...
upon
...
within
...
10
...
days.
...
If
...
it
...
takes
...
two
...
or
...
three
...
months
...
to
...
assemble
...
a
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
solution
...
to
...
analyze
...
the
...
sales
...
trends
...
within
...
each
...
market
...
there
...
is
...
no
...
point
...
even
...
starting.
...
Even
...
if
...
it
...
only
...
takes
...
two
...
weeks
...
to
...
create
...
the
...
solution
...
it
...
will
...
be
...
available
...
too
...
late.
...
Is
...
there
...
an
...
alternative
...
way
...
to
...
approach
...
Business
...
Intelligence
...
projects
...
that
...
helps
...
alleviate
...
these
...
problems?
...
Why,
...
yes.
...
The
...
alternative
...
is
...
to
...
use
...
an
...
agile
...
approach.