Een organisatie die zo goed mogelijk wil draaien zal zich van zichzelf en zijn omgeving bewust moeten zijn. De mate waarin de organisatie zich bewust is bepaald haar overlevingskansen. De mate waarin een organisatie zich onbewust is bepaald in hoeverre zij minder goed zal overleven en dus in hoeverre zij energie en geld zal verspillen.
Een startende ondernemer zal aanvankelijk veel zelf doen. Indien hij erachter komt dat een bepaalde activiteit hem erg veel tijd en inspanning kost is hij geneigd deze activiteit uit te besteden aan iemand anders en zo groeit een organisatie.Met het groeien van de organisatie onstaan allerlei specialismen die een samenhang met elkaar hebben.
Als er meer marketing taken uitgevoerd worden zoals het uitdelen van folders is het te verwachten dat het aantal verzoeken om meer informatie toe zal nemen. Daarna zullen op termijn het aantal gesprekken met verkopers toenemen en vervolgens de verkopen toenemen. Logischerwijze zal dat dan ook weer leiden tot het schrijven van meer rekeningen, grotere inkomsten, toenemende budgetten, activiteiten in de productie en uiteindelijk dan ook meer kwaliteitscontroles, verbeteracties en correctieve maatregelen.
In ieder van deze activiteien/afdelingen werken mensen die zich in meer of mindere mate van hun werk bewust zijn. Zo is iemand die in de marketingafdeling werkt zeer druk met het "orienteren" . Met hoe staan de organisatie en de klant in relatie tot elkaar. En op een verkoopafdeling is een verkoper bezig met hetzij voorlichting om de klant "begrip" bij te brengen of de klant tot het inzicht te krijgen dat een bepaalde product of dienst beter voor hem is "verlichting". Als hij het uiteindelijk betaald oftewel zijn "energie" erin steekt kan hij de zaken "aanpassen". Wie in een productieafdeling werkt en verstand heeft van techniek houdt zich bezig met het plannen, werkvoorbereiden en de werkuitgifte. Zaken die te maken hebben met het "voorspellen" van de productiegang. Wie produceert is zich bewust van "productie" en wie de producten controleert is zich bewust van "validatie". Diegene die de organsatie uiteindelijk helpt erachter te komen hoe producten en diensten nog beter geleverd kunnen worden is zich bewust van "verbetering" . En diegene die producten en diensten die verkeerd geproduceerd zijn in orde brengt is zich bewust van "correctie".Zo heeft iedereen in een organisatie een stukje kennis en vaardigheden dat bewustzijn creeert. Een organisatie is dus een levend organisme van de eigenaar/oprichter die zelfbewust is en een deel van zijn bewustzijn hoopt te vergroten als hij werkzaamheden uitbesteed aan professionals op een bepaald gebied.
Een manager die goed contact heeft met z'n medewerkers zou als het goed is een zeer sterk bewustzijn kunnen ontwikkelen mits hij goed communiceert met zijn personeel en zijn personeel vakbekwaam is.
Grappig is om te zien hoe mensen met elkaar omgaan als ze uiteenlopende gezichtspunten hebben. Een productiemedewerker is zich bewust van productie en een marketingman is zich bewust van orientatie. Als een productiemedewerker binnenkomt op een marketingkantoor dan kan het voorkomen dat de marketingmedewerker onderuit op een stoel zit met zijn voeten op tafel en aan de telefoon hangt met een klant/potentiele klant of iemand anders met wie hij graag ideeen uit wil wisselen. De productiemedewerker is dan wel eens geneigd om te denken dat hij niet werkt (lees produceert). Diezelfde marketingman kan een productieafdeling binnenlopen en denken dat die mensen die daar driftig achter zo'n produtiemachine staan erg kortzichtig zijn en nooit om hen heen kijken lees "orienteren".Het is naar mijn mening de kunst voor een manager om alle gezichtspunten aan te kunnen nemen. Om met alle mensen te kunnen communiceren en zich zoveel mogelijk bewust te zijn wat er zich in een organisatie afspeelt. En niet alleen zou een manager de gezichtspunten van al die medewerkers moeten kunnen begrijpen. Hij zou ook nog zijn eigen gezichtspunt moeten ontwikkelen over de samenhang tussen al die gezichtspunten.
Ik zie een organisatie dan ook als een groot levend organisme waarin bewustzijn een hoofdrol speelt. Hoe meer bewustzijn een organisatie heeft, des te groter zijn de kansen op succes.
Zie het maar zo: Een eskimo kent misschien wel 1000 soorten ijs en het doet er niet toe wat voor weer het is. Of het nu regent of dat de zon schijnt onder alle weersomstandigheden weet hij het ijs in te schatten. De eskimo weet uit ervaring of hij er wel of niet overheen kan lopen en zal het waarschijnlijk overleven als hij op stap gaat. Zelf ben ik geen eskimo en ken is geen 1000 soorten ijs. Ik ken ijs uit de sloot, waterijs, softwijs en ijsblokjes uit de diepvries en dan ook nog ijzel op straat. Daar blijft het wel zo'n beetje bij. Als ik in het poolgebied op stap zou gaan denk ik dat ik het niet zo makkelijk zal hebben met overleven. Waarschijnlijk zal ik wel ergens een fout maken en door het ijs zakken. Wat ik met het bovenstaande voorbeeld probeer te zeggen is dat het van belang is om een referentiekader te hebben. Van zaken die ik zou moeten weten om te overleven. En ik ben ervan overtuigd dat dat voor een organisatie ook geldt. Het is wel handig om te weten waar je je bewust van kunt zijn in een organisatie voor je begint aan het besturen van een organisatie.
Ik ben ervan overtuigd dat de huidige beste BI-managers van deze wereld die BI-managers zijn die kennis en ervaring hebben met het sturen van een organisatie en geen managers zijn die louter en alleen ervaring hebben met het in kaart brengen van doelen, KPI's en het opstelen van scorecards en dan met IT en BI-tools aan de slag gaan. Volgens mij moeten het mensen zijn die uitstekend kunnen communiceren en een grote bagage in huis hebben op het gebied van de best practices voor het inrichten van organsities. Een goede BI manager zou, net als een eskimo die over het ijs wil gaan lopen, direct moeten kunnen handelen.
Misschien gaat het wat ver wat ik wil stellen. Maar als een echt goede BI-manager de eerste keer de voordeur binnenloopt van een bedrijf. En hij door de gang naar het bureau van de directeur loopt, dan zou hij eigenlijk al met de directeur een gesprek moeten kunnen beginnen over zijn probleem met kostprijsberekeningen. Simpelweg omdat hij tijdens de paar meter die hij door het bedrijf liep al in de gaten kreeg wat er aan scheelt. Omdat hij dingen al dan niet gezien heeft. En dat heeft weinig met IT en BI-tools te maken.
Pieter Nierop
www.ecademy.com/user/pieternierop
www.linkedin.com/in/pnierop
vrijdag 22 augustus 2008
woensdag 20 augustus 2008
Business Intelligence, niveau's van bewustzijn
Een organisatie die zo goed mogelijk wil draaien zal zich van zichzelf en zijn omgeving bewust moeten zijn. De mate waarin de organisatie zich bewust is bepaald zijn overlevingskansen. De mate waarin een organisatie zich onbewust is bepaald in hoeverre zij minder goed zal overleven en dus in hoeverre zij energie en geld zal verspillen.
Een startende ondernemer zal aanvankelijk veel zelf doen. Indien hij erachter komt dat een bepaalde activiteit hem erg veel tijd en inspanning kost is hij geneigd deze activiteit uit te besteden aan iemand anders en zo groeit een organisatie.
Met het uitbesteden van activiteiten besteedt een ondernemer een deel van zijn bewustzijn uit. Een deel van de redenaties die hij normaal pleegt om het werk uit te voeren laat hij op dat moment door een ander uitvoeren. Dus als de ondernemer zelf niet meer de redenaties uitvoert dan is hij een deeltje van de kennis over wat er zich afspeelt in zijn organisatie kwijt. Het is dus van belang dat de ondernemer een aantal meetpunten aanlegt om op de hoogte te blijven van wat er zich afspeelt. Punt is altijd, wat moet een ondernemer precies weten, met welke diepgang.
In de komende weken wil ik een serie artikelen publiceren over bewustzijn en business intelligence. Het zal gaan over niveau's van bewustzijn. Over beslissingen die genomen kunnen worden op basis van onderliggende gegevens of beslissingen. Het is nu eenmaal zo dat bepaalde informatie pas beschikbaar kan zijn als andere informatie eerst op orde is.
Een voorbeeld is het goedkeuren van inkooporders. Dan moet eerst bekend zijn wat de inkooptarieven zijn en wat er aan budget is. Het budget is echter weer afhankelijke van wat er verkocht is en tegen welke prijs. Dus een beslissing voor een goedkeuring hangt af van informatie die vooraf bekend zou moeten zijn. Wil je op het niveau van goedkeuren van een inkoopaanvraag juist handelen dan zal je je bewust moeten zijn van een aantal zaken die vooraf bekend moeten zijn. Wil je je bewust zijn over het toewijzen van budgetten dan moet je je bewust zijn van de gerealiseerde inkomsten en verkopen.
Kortom bewustzijn bouw je op in stappen. Bewustzijn kent niveau's. Daar is generiek wat over te zeggen en practisch heel goed een BI systeem mee in te richten.
Tot lees...
Pieter Nierop
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pnierop
http://www.ecademy.com/user/pieternierop
Een startende ondernemer zal aanvankelijk veel zelf doen. Indien hij erachter komt dat een bepaalde activiteit hem erg veel tijd en inspanning kost is hij geneigd deze activiteit uit te besteden aan iemand anders en zo groeit een organisatie.
Met het uitbesteden van activiteiten besteedt een ondernemer een deel van zijn bewustzijn uit. Een deel van de redenaties die hij normaal pleegt om het werk uit te voeren laat hij op dat moment door een ander uitvoeren. Dus als de ondernemer zelf niet meer de redenaties uitvoert dan is hij een deeltje van de kennis over wat er zich afspeelt in zijn organisatie kwijt. Het is dus van belang dat de ondernemer een aantal meetpunten aanlegt om op de hoogte te blijven van wat er zich afspeelt. Punt is altijd, wat moet een ondernemer precies weten, met welke diepgang.
In de komende weken wil ik een serie artikelen publiceren over bewustzijn en business intelligence. Het zal gaan over niveau's van bewustzijn. Over beslissingen die genomen kunnen worden op basis van onderliggende gegevens of beslissingen. Het is nu eenmaal zo dat bepaalde informatie pas beschikbaar kan zijn als andere informatie eerst op orde is.
Een voorbeeld is het goedkeuren van inkooporders. Dan moet eerst bekend zijn wat de inkooptarieven zijn en wat er aan budget is. Het budget is echter weer afhankelijke van wat er verkocht is en tegen welke prijs. Dus een beslissing voor een goedkeuring hangt af van informatie die vooraf bekend zou moeten zijn. Wil je op het niveau van goedkeuren van een inkoopaanvraag juist handelen dan zal je je bewust moeten zijn van een aantal zaken die vooraf bekend moeten zijn. Wil je je bewust zijn over het toewijzen van budgetten dan moet je je bewust zijn van de gerealiseerde inkomsten en verkopen.
Kortom bewustzijn bouw je op in stappen. Bewustzijn kent niveau's. Daar is generiek wat over te zeggen en practisch heel goed een BI systeem mee in te richten.
Tot lees...
Pieter Nierop
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pnierop
http://www.ecademy.com/user/pieternierop
vrijdag 15 augustus 2008
Business Intelligence – 3rd tip on collecting data
In my previous blogs I wrote I will give some tips this week on how to collect data for business intelligence purposes. So here is my 3rd one.
Organisations that better want to implement, control, change, or delete some internal processes can base their decision on data being collected. For that they usually collect data, they process it to create performance indicators and then act. Those decisions are largely based on data collected and one would like to take logical decisions. However one not always arrives at logical decisions due to the fact that one does not have all the data or correct data.
It is quite important to know if one has the right data and all data needed. But how does one know one has all the correct data? I believe I can't give you a full answer. All I can give is some tips. In this article I want to write something about what kind of data to look for if you like to optimize a process.
Basically all processes improve the moment you reduce :
1) the amount of time spend
2) the amount of materials/objects being used
3) the amount of energy spend
4) the amount of space being used or distance being crossed
The amount of time spend
So first of all for optimizing processes it is vital to measure time. The timestamp of a process being started, it's steps being taken and the timestamp of when the process ends. This data can be used for technologies like SMED to improve processes. In a production company we managed to increase the OEE Overall Equipment Efficiency with 30% by measuring times being spend in combination with SMED. SMED not only can be applied in production companies but in administrative organisations as well.
Anoter example is the billing department in which bills were written 4 weeks late, if not 2 months late. Of course this resulted in bills being paid late and therefore loss of interest and a bad position in liquidity.
The amount of materials/objects being used
Secondly it is necessary to determine the amount of materials and objects being used. One does not necessarily have to measure the amount of materials or objects being used in each individual step of a process. For instance one can afterwards determine how much has been used.
I remember myself measuring the amount of ingredients being used in filling bags of soup. It turned out that on the average there was 10% too much in each bag of soup. This was not determined by measuring several bags, but by measuring the amount of ingredients that were taken from the stocks (input for the process). After actions being taken this resulted in over 100.000 euro of profit enhancement.
In another occasion I had to measure how much concrete was being used in concrete plates. It turned out the plates were on the average 4,5 cm thick instead of 3,5 cm. So 29% more than necessary. We measured this thickness of plates afterward at the central stock (output of the process). After corrective measures being taken this resulted in over 300.000 euro profit enhancement.
amount of energy being spend
This is quite straight forward. The less energy you use the lower your energy-bill. Using more energy often goes hand in hand with applying more force and higher tempartures. Therefore you often see more wear-off and more maintenance as well.
The amount of space being used or distance being crossed
Using more space usually costs more money. Crossing bigger distances usually costs more time and energy. It's quite straight forward.
In one instance I had many articles in stock. Articles that turned out to be used a lot were in the back of the stocks. Articles hardly being used were standing in the front of the stocks. No need to tell you we checked in the administration what products needed to be put in the back and which in the front.In another occasion we had tools for a machine on another floor instead of close to the machine they were needed for.
In yet another occasion information relayed from one collegae to another passed via management. Of course cutting out the indirect line via the management made communication faster, easier and more precise.
Measuring 1, 2, 3 and 4 can open the door to improving processes remarkably.
Pieter Nierop
Organisations that better want to implement, control, change, or delete some internal processes can base their decision on data being collected. For that they usually collect data, they process it to create performance indicators and then act. Those decisions are largely based on data collected and one would like to take logical decisions. However one not always arrives at logical decisions due to the fact that one does not have all the data or correct data.
It is quite important to know if one has the right data and all data needed. But how does one know one has all the correct data? I believe I can't give you a full answer. All I can give is some tips. In this article I want to write something about what kind of data to look for if you like to optimize a process.
Basically all processes improve the moment you reduce :
1) the amount of time spend
2) the amount of materials/objects being used
3) the amount of energy spend
4) the amount of space being used or distance being crossed
The amount of time spend
So first of all for optimizing processes it is vital to measure time. The timestamp of a process being started, it's steps being taken and the timestamp of when the process ends. This data can be used for technologies like SMED to improve processes. In a production company we managed to increase the OEE Overall Equipment Efficiency with 30% by measuring times being spend in combination with SMED. SMED not only can be applied in production companies but in administrative organisations as well.
Anoter example is the billing department in which bills were written 4 weeks late, if not 2 months late. Of course this resulted in bills being paid late and therefore loss of interest and a bad position in liquidity.
The amount of materials/objects being used
Secondly it is necessary to determine the amount of materials and objects being used. One does not necessarily have to measure the amount of materials or objects being used in each individual step of a process. For instance one can afterwards determine how much has been used.
I remember myself measuring the amount of ingredients being used in filling bags of soup. It turned out that on the average there was 10% too much in each bag of soup. This was not determined by measuring several bags, but by measuring the amount of ingredients that were taken from the stocks (input for the process). After actions being taken this resulted in over 100.000 euro of profit enhancement.
In another occasion I had to measure how much concrete was being used in concrete plates. It turned out the plates were on the average 4,5 cm thick instead of 3,5 cm. So 29% more than necessary. We measured this thickness of plates afterward at the central stock (output of the process). After corrective measures being taken this resulted in over 300.000 euro profit enhancement.
amount of energy being spend
This is quite straight forward. The less energy you use the lower your energy-bill. Using more energy often goes hand in hand with applying more force and higher tempartures. Therefore you often see more wear-off and more maintenance as well.
The amount of space being used or distance being crossed
Using more space usually costs more money. Crossing bigger distances usually costs more time and energy. It's quite straight forward.
In one instance I had many articles in stock. Articles that turned out to be used a lot were in the back of the stocks. Articles hardly being used were standing in the front of the stocks. No need to tell you we checked in the administration what products needed to be put in the back and which in the front.In another occasion we had tools for a machine on another floor instead of close to the machine they were needed for.
In yet another occasion information relayed from one collegae to another passed via management. Of course cutting out the indirect line via the management made communication faster, easier and more precise.
Measuring 1, 2, 3 and 4 can open the door to improving processes remarkably.
Pieter Nierop
donderdag 14 augustus 2008
Business Intelligence, 2nd tip in collecting data for making organisations even more powerful
In my previous blog (See Business Intelligence, A tip in collecting data for making organisations powerful) I wrote I will give some tips this week on how to collect data for business intelligence purposes.
Organisations that better want to implement, control, change, or delete some internal processes can base their decision on data being collected. For that they usually collect data, they process it to create performance indicators and then act. Those decisions are largely based on data collected and one would like to take logical decisions. However one not always arrives at logical decisions due to the fact that one does not have all the data or correct data.
It is quite important to know if one has the right data and all data needed. But how does one know one has all the correct data? I believe I can't give you a full answer. All I can give is some tips. In this article I want to write something about balancing data.
In balancing data one has to keep the following in mind: The value of data depends very much on how this data can be evaluated. Or one could say data has value to the degree one can compare it with data of similar magnitude.
An example would be that one could compare the monthly income of a company with the monthly expenses. Or one could compare the planned orders this week with realised orders this week. It is a kind of difficult or totally impossible to come to conclusions on the comparisons of amount of registered trademarks this week and the amount of planned orders this week.
One of the ways to find data that is of comparable magnitude is to look at the input, throughput and output of processes. I usually divide a company in 7 main area's of processes. Of these 7 main area's of processes I determine the input, throughput and output. With that I have a first set of 21 main Key Performance Indicators. The 7 area's of processes that I use are finance, distribution, production/services, quality, growth, skills and management.
In finance one can compare the income generated (input), with the goods purchased and paid (throughput) and money on the bank, materials in stock (output)
In distribution one can compare the amount of marketing communications promotions developed and send out (input), with the amount of publications being supplied to bring a customer to understanding (throughput) and the profitable sales being done (output).
In production one can compare the amount of work being planned and prepared (input), with the amount of training to produce being done (throughput) and the amount of production created (output).
In quality one can compare the amounts of quality verifications being done with the amount of quality improvement actions (throughput) and corrections being done afterwards (output).
In growth one can compare the amount of new people being contacted (input) with the amount of people joining the organisation as an employee, supplier, investor or client (throughput) and the amount of people staying or being active for the organisation (output).
In skills one can compare the amount of skilled people hired and people being educated (input) with the amount of communication being done (throughput) and production realised (output).
In management one can compare the amount of idea's, policies, technical knowledge being developed (input) with the amount of registered trademarks, patents, copyrights (throughput) and new plans and new programs being created and executed (output).
From these 7 area's of processes the outputs can be compared.
Within these 7 area's of processes the inputs, throughputs and outputs can be compared.
Of course one can split up the area of production or services. And create multiple streams of production. The same counts for all 7 area's of processes. But basically I think there are these 7 area's.
Within these 7 area's one can for instance split up one process. As an example one can take the process of production and outsource this to another company. This company can then split up this one process of production into 7 area's of processes and define it's own 21 KPI's. You then see that this is recursive. Al 21 KPI's can be split up into another more refined set of 21 KPI's and so on.
Hope this gives another clue to defining KPI's and what data to collect.
Pieter
Organisations that better want to implement, control, change, or delete some internal processes can base their decision on data being collected. For that they usually collect data, they process it to create performance indicators and then act. Those decisions are largely based on data collected and one would like to take logical decisions. However one not always arrives at logical decisions due to the fact that one does not have all the data or correct data.
It is quite important to know if one has the right data and all data needed. But how does one know one has all the correct data? I believe I can't give you a full answer. All I can give is some tips. In this article I want to write something about balancing data.
In balancing data one has to keep the following in mind: The value of data depends very much on how this data can be evaluated. Or one could say data has value to the degree one can compare it with data of similar magnitude.
An example would be that one could compare the monthly income of a company with the monthly expenses. Or one could compare the planned orders this week with realised orders this week. It is a kind of difficult or totally impossible to come to conclusions on the comparisons of amount of registered trademarks this week and the amount of planned orders this week.
One of the ways to find data that is of comparable magnitude is to look at the input, throughput and output of processes. I usually divide a company in 7 main area's of processes. Of these 7 main area's of processes I determine the input, throughput and output. With that I have a first set of 21 main Key Performance Indicators. The 7 area's of processes that I use are finance, distribution, production/services, quality, growth, skills and management.
In finance one can compare the income generated (input), with the goods purchased and paid (throughput) and money on the bank, materials in stock (output)
In distribution one can compare the amount of marketing communications promotions developed and send out (input), with the amount of publications being supplied to bring a customer to understanding (throughput) and the profitable sales being done (output).
In production one can compare the amount of work being planned and prepared (input), with the amount of training to produce being done (throughput) and the amount of production created (output).
In quality one can compare the amounts of quality verifications being done with the amount of quality improvement actions (throughput) and corrections being done afterwards (output).
In growth one can compare the amount of new people being contacted (input) with the amount of people joining the organisation as an employee, supplier, investor or client (throughput) and the amount of people staying or being active for the organisation (output).
In skills one can compare the amount of skilled people hired and people being educated (input) with the amount of communication being done (throughput) and production realised (output).
In management one can compare the amount of idea's, policies, technical knowledge being developed (input) with the amount of registered trademarks, patents, copyrights (throughput) and new plans and new programs being created and executed (output).
From these 7 area's of processes the outputs can be compared.
Within these 7 area's of processes the inputs, throughputs and outputs can be compared.
Of course one can split up the area of production or services. And create multiple streams of production. The same counts for all 7 area's of processes. But basically I think there are these 7 area's.
Within these 7 area's one can for instance split up one process. As an example one can take the process of production and outsource this to another company. This company can then split up this one process of production into 7 area's of processes and define it's own 21 KPI's. You then see that this is recursive. Al 21 KPI's can be split up into another more refined set of 21 KPI's and so on.
Hope this gives another clue to defining KPI's and what data to collect.
Pieter
woensdag 13 augustus 2008
A tip in collecting data for making organisations powerful
Organisations that better want to implement, control, change, or delete some internal processes can base their decision on data being collected. For that they usually collect data, they process it to create performance indicators and then act. Those decisions are largely based on data collected and one would like to take logical decisions. However one not always arrives at logical decisions due to the fact that one does not have all the data or correct data.
It is quite important to know if one has right data and all data needed. But how does one know one has all the correct data? I can't give you a full answer. All I can give is some tips. I will write them down in my postings this week. On the end of the week you should have a whole list of points to check if you collect data for business intelligence purposes.
One has to keep in mind that in optimizing processes one wants to reduce the amount of time spend, amount of space matter and energy being used and or crossed. Also keep in mind that the power of an organization very much depends on throughput times When throughput times becomes shorter and shorter an organisation can become more and more very powerful.
Each process starts, changes and finally stops. And at the point of starting, changing and stopping one could measure in the process. In the process there are variables like time, position, objects, actions. So one could measure time at start position, in the various steps during changes and at the moment the process stops. The same counts for the position and objects added/changed or deleted and with what actions.With this data collected one can derive throughput-time and distance, speed, acceleration and expansion or contraction of space of objects in processes.
Pieter Nierop
It is quite important to know if one has right data and all data needed. But how does one know one has all the correct data? I can't give you a full answer. All I can give is some tips. I will write them down in my postings this week. On the end of the week you should have a whole list of points to check if you collect data for business intelligence purposes.
One has to keep in mind that in optimizing processes one wants to reduce the amount of time spend, amount of space matter and energy being used and or crossed. Also keep in mind that the power of an organization very much depends on throughput times When throughput times becomes shorter and shorter an organisation can become more and more very powerful.
Each process starts, changes and finally stops. And at the point of starting, changing and stopping one could measure in the process. In the process there are variables like time, position, objects, actions. So one could measure time at start position, in the various steps during changes and at the moment the process stops. The same counts for the position and objects added/changed or deleted and with what actions.With this data collected one can derive throughput-time and distance, speed, acceleration and expansion or contraction of space of objects in processes.
Pieter Nierop
dinsdag 12 augustus 2008
Business Intelligence defined, making up my mind
I always wondered: "What is the definition of Business Intelligence?" As long as I am in this business I never really found a definition that included all i understood was part of Business Intelligence. People sometimes ask me, what is BI? What do you use it for? Why is it so important? So one day I understood, after having read the business intelligence pages of the website of one the leading dutch IT-magazines, I have to make my own mind up on it and write it down. And so I will give it a try.
Business Intelligence is Intelligence that has to do with Business. And now what is intelligence? Well I think that one who is intelligent is the one that is able to survive or live according to his idea's. And I think that's what Business Intelligence is for. To make a person or group survive better by making rational decisions. Decisions that makes one survive better.
Now surving for one might mean to gain money, status, satisfaction etc. and for another it might mean his ideas get more or less fullfilled. In all cases one has to make the right decisions to reach ones goals. And so goals play an important role in Business Intelligence. Goals, Targets, Objectives, Purposes, Policies, Strategy, Tactics and modes of Operation can be found out and met or not by a person or group. It is an important role in business intelligence to find out what one tries to achieve and in what way.
Another part of business intelligence I think is to be aware of what is going on and where one is heading. For this one can collect data and process it. Very often people consider the collection and processing of data into KPI's as the definition of Business Intelligence. I consider that to be a very narrow definition.
I think that the data one collects must have to do with what one wants to achieve. If one sets as a target to be innovative, then why should one collect data about the costs of personell; maybe it would be more apropriate to collect data about the level of education and planned studies of employees. The collection of data might give you a clue of what kind of other data to collect and the setting of targets and goals might tell one what kind of data is needed. That's a very interesting one, as one become more aware during the process of collecting and processing of data new demands for data get created.
Very often I hear that BI has to do with collecting data in a company for strategic purposes. Well I think one can collect data for tactical and operational purposes as well. When an agent in a callcenter gets information about a customer wheather it is a golden, silver or bronze customer, he or she can more easily decide how to handle the customer. Pure Operational BI I think. So it's not only about strategy. Beside that I don't believe one should only collect data in a company but also from outside the company. This could be information about competitors, legislation, suppliers, partners, world events and so on. Ones focus should not only be inwards but also outwards. Nowadays competitive intelligence starts to become a buzzword. The broader the focus the better the chance to make the right decisions.
Business Intelligence is quite a big subject. One can collect and process data for personell recruitment, tranport, production, purchase, marketing, sales, quality and financial purposes as well as for legal, ict, maintenance, stockkeeping and many other purposes. One can set goals, targets, plans and programs for all. So there is a lot of work to be done and I think there will never be enought BI consultants in this world. In good times BI consultants are needed to boost profits and in bad times they are also needed to boost profits and bring down costs and raise turnover (Although not all organisations are striving for profit). BI is always hot, in good and bad times.
So what I see is that there are a large number of roles in the BI arena varying from Business roles to Technical roles. It's interesting to see in a project how all these roles come together. Recently I saw this in a project where I was building a realtime datawarehouse. Just amazing to see all these profesionals working together and building a great product.
However what I never saw and expect to see in the future is a new role, actually two new roles. A role for an Emotional Business Intelligence (EBI) expert and a role for a Awarenss BI expert. Just like you have intelligence and emotional intelligence. So you have BI and EBI. Emotions very much have to do with how you influence the world around you. One who is angry handles the world in a different way then one who is conservative, showing enthusiasm or in apathy. In various emotional states one collects data in a different way and handles data in a different way. One is setting different targets and tends to act in different ways as well. Haven't heard about such a role as and EBI expert, but I think such a role will exist in the future.
The second role I expect to be develop is the role of an Awareness BI expert. As survival is more easy for those who are aware one could state that a top pro in BI would be one who would be able to deliver a management full awareness of that what's going on inside and outside of the organisation. I believe awareness comes in levels and once one is aware on a certain level one is able to start working on being aware on a next level. This might sound like a vague concept but I believe one can become very practical in this. Actually I believe this role is going to be the most important role in BI in the future.
So this was my first try to write something down about my definition of BI. Hope you enjoyed and please let me know what you think about it.
Pieter
Business Intelligence is Intelligence that has to do with Business. And now what is intelligence? Well I think that one who is intelligent is the one that is able to survive or live according to his idea's. And I think that's what Business Intelligence is for. To make a person or group survive better by making rational decisions. Decisions that makes one survive better.
Now surving for one might mean to gain money, status, satisfaction etc. and for another it might mean his ideas get more or less fullfilled. In all cases one has to make the right decisions to reach ones goals. And so goals play an important role in Business Intelligence. Goals, Targets, Objectives, Purposes, Policies, Strategy, Tactics and modes of Operation can be found out and met or not by a person or group. It is an important role in business intelligence to find out what one tries to achieve and in what way.
Another part of business intelligence I think is to be aware of what is going on and where one is heading. For this one can collect data and process it. Very often people consider the collection and processing of data into KPI's as the definition of Business Intelligence. I consider that to be a very narrow definition.
I think that the data one collects must have to do with what one wants to achieve. If one sets as a target to be innovative, then why should one collect data about the costs of personell; maybe it would be more apropriate to collect data about the level of education and planned studies of employees. The collection of data might give you a clue of what kind of other data to collect and the setting of targets and goals might tell one what kind of data is needed. That's a very interesting one, as one become more aware during the process of collecting and processing of data new demands for data get created.
Very often I hear that BI has to do with collecting data in a company for strategic purposes. Well I think one can collect data for tactical and operational purposes as well. When an agent in a callcenter gets information about a customer wheather it is a golden, silver or bronze customer, he or she can more easily decide how to handle the customer. Pure Operational BI I think. So it's not only about strategy. Beside that I don't believe one should only collect data in a company but also from outside the company. This could be information about competitors, legislation, suppliers, partners, world events and so on. Ones focus should not only be inwards but also outwards. Nowadays competitive intelligence starts to become a buzzword. The broader the focus the better the chance to make the right decisions.
Business Intelligence is quite a big subject. One can collect and process data for personell recruitment, tranport, production, purchase, marketing, sales, quality and financial purposes as well as for legal, ict, maintenance, stockkeeping and many other purposes. One can set goals, targets, plans and programs for all. So there is a lot of work to be done and I think there will never be enought BI consultants in this world. In good times BI consultants are needed to boost profits and in bad times they are also needed to boost profits and bring down costs and raise turnover (Although not all organisations are striving for profit). BI is always hot, in good and bad times.
So what I see is that there are a large number of roles in the BI arena varying from Business roles to Technical roles. It's interesting to see in a project how all these roles come together. Recently I saw this in a project where I was building a realtime datawarehouse. Just amazing to see all these profesionals working together and building a great product.
However what I never saw and expect to see in the future is a new role, actually two new roles. A role for an Emotional Business Intelligence (EBI) expert and a role for a Awarenss BI expert. Just like you have intelligence and emotional intelligence. So you have BI and EBI. Emotions very much have to do with how you influence the world around you. One who is angry handles the world in a different way then one who is conservative, showing enthusiasm or in apathy. In various emotional states one collects data in a different way and handles data in a different way. One is setting different targets and tends to act in different ways as well. Haven't heard about such a role as and EBI expert, but I think such a role will exist in the future.
The second role I expect to be develop is the role of an Awareness BI expert. As survival is more easy for those who are aware one could state that a top pro in BI would be one who would be able to deliver a management full awareness of that what's going on inside and outside of the organisation. I believe awareness comes in levels and once one is aware on a certain level one is able to start working on being aware on a next level. This might sound like a vague concept but I believe one can become very practical in this. Actually I believe this role is going to be the most important role in BI in the future.
So this was my first try to write something down about my definition of BI. Hope you enjoyed and please let me know what you think about it.
Pieter
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