SQL Business Intelligence Professional

I have endeavored to use my Wednesday post for a very technical subject.  However, this week I want to share what I see as the major roles and responsibilities that I enjoy leading the BI practice at ComFrame Software.  While it is not really specific to BI, I see practice management as being concerned with three P’s : People, Pipeline and Product.

People

At the core of every great service organization, from valet parking to high-end global consulting, are the people that deliver the service.  No formal, McDonald’s-like recipe (i.e. Methodology) will substitute for staff that do not have a genuine passion for what they are doing and the capabilites and experience to do it.  To develop a world-class organization, I believe it is vital to find team members who create pressure across the organization to know a little more, do a little more and teach a little more.

It is incumbent upon practice leadership to ensure their team has a current personal development plan and that progress toward those stated goals is occurring.  Non-revenue activities such as training and vacation are not swept aside without great consideration as one is vital to keeping the tools sharp and the other in preventing burnout.

Pipeline

Aside from existing projects, it is vital the successful practice manager stay in close contact with the sales pipeline of potential engagements and the sales team that owns the accounts.  Booked backlog is one of the key metrics we track to understand our staffing needs into the future.  BI sales often involve both business and technical decision makers and as such usually require a level of technical pre-sales support.  In addition to a weekly standing meeting, involving the entire sales team, I communicate regularly with our business development team to understand what my practice can do to move any real opportunity to a close.

Pipeline caretaking also involves the monitoring of existing projects in progress.  This is true for at least two reasons.  First, it is always easier to sell a second (or third or fourth) engagement to an existing client.  Second, nothing will help sell your service to new clients better than a great reference from a current customer.

Product

Ask ten people what Business Intelligence (BI) means, and you are very likely to get up to ten different answers.  It is vital, for three different groups, Sales, Customers and Consultants, to have a consistent and uniform definition of the services provided

We formalized our definition (known as the BI Playbook) which details a set of service products including a customer blueprint, metrics for estimation (pricing factors) , deliverables and schedule.  We have added to this templates for common deliverables so that for example, an Extract Specification Document from the team on Project A is very familiar in structure and content to the team on Project B.  This consistency in deliverable template management allows us the deliverables to always evolve, with little additional effort, encompassing the lessons of the past.