Business intelligence now sits at the top of most IT budgets, yet most deployments are still far from complete. This is costing companies thousands of pounds everyday, and some are considering abandoning projects altogether. Here Paul Harris outlines his top five ways for ensuring successful deployment.

Step #1 - Design for Users

One of the major risks with any BI deployment surrounds user requirements not being met. It is imperative that all users have access, at the bare minimum, to the same information as before to prevent disruption.

The collation of these requirements is certainly time consuming and a difficult process to manage. To gather this information we suggest calling in a project manager who has experience of setting-up teams of business intelligence experts within your organisation to do this effectively.

Step #2 - Build in Stages

On establishing the user requirements, the size of the task can prove daunting. With 10's to 1,000's of users potentially being affected, it is imperative that control of the project is maintained.

To maintain control we suggest building a solution, initially, for just one department. We suggest resourcing experienced BI consultants on the technical side, to ensure the foundations of a robust system is being implemented. Our choice at Saphere would be to start building the first solution within the finance department.

Step #3 - Test the System Works

Without running too far ahead we suggest testing and trailing a sample of reports or analyses (10-20%) with users of the system. This is important as you will quickly test two important facets of the project:

1. The reports provided are producing sensible results
2. The BI team on board has the correct skill required to implement the solution

On the users' acceptance of the reports, should the project be rolled out to further departments. This acceptance process will save costly mistakes in the future stages of the project.

Step #4 - Deploy

If you have completed steps 1-3 successfully, your BI team will have demonstrated their skill and capability of deploying the solution throughout your organisation. Providing you with a clear idea of the deployment's likely time and cost. This avoids the classic issue where projects are abandoned because of inaccurate projections.

We now suggest rolling out the solution to other departments, ideally in stages, rather than in concert. We suggest the team of experts take a more pivotal role in the organisation, to create engagement throughout the organisation as the project is rolled out to more users. Saphere's project managers are experienced in this area of engagement and have seen this methodology work extremely well.

Step #5 - Support the Users

The success or failure of any system will clearly depend on the system being available on a 24-7 basis. To ensure this we suggest using support services from your BI vendor. However, if you use an accredited partner we suggest going via them to buy training and support from your BI vendor, due to the volume discounts they are able to pass on.

If you stick to these five easy to follow steps,  the deployment of your business intelligence will be handled in a more timely, and financially beneficial, way.