The Nielsen Company BI COE: A Case StudyJohn Boyer, The Nielsen Company

Edie Harrison, The Nielsen Company

Katie McCray, IBM

BI COE Case Study

> Who We Are

> What It Is

> What We Do

> How We Do It

> What We’ve Done

> What We’ve Learned

> Where We’re Going

> Speakers

> Corporate Background

> BI COE Background

> Where the BI COE fits

> Where the BI COE sits

WHO WE ARE

> The Nielsen Company

• Consumer

• Media

• Business Media

• Integrated Services

> Application Development / Shared Technology Services

• Dot Com apps

• BI Media

• BI Consumer

• Portal

• STS Support Team

Corporate and BI COE Background

What is a BI COE?

> Textbook Definition

> Practical Definition

Our Mission

How the BI COE Relates to its Environment

> Upwards

> Sideways

> Downwards

> Outside

WHY A BI COE?

> Purpose

• Quality of deliverables

• Success of projects

• Adoption of common vision

• Bridges the gap between business and IT

• Limits re-learning

> Primary Benefits

• Consistent message

• Reusability

• Convergence

Where the BI COE sits within the Nielsen Enterprise

PMO

COE

BPM

COE

SOA

COE

Database

COE

Data

Management

COE

Intranet /

Dot Com

COE Portal

COEEngagement

COE

BI COE

Application

Teams

BI COE – Org Contributions by SDLC

Project lifecycle

Ongoing support of shared environments, release process and application hosting

CloseoutOOM Assessment Architecture Leadership

Closeout

Ongoing project collaboration through BI COE PM team

Assessment Requirements Detailed Spec’s Development / Test Release Maintenance

BI Consulting Services

OOM Assessment Adoption

Solution Definition

Development Consulting Services

Ideation

Support & Deployment Team

Project Coordination Team

Adoption Team

BI Advisory Team

Delivery of shared services and application delivery frameworks such as presentation services (Page Bus) & BI Service (BI Bus)

Shared Components Team

BICC Survey Findings IBM Cognos 2008

HOW WE DO IT

> Design of the Nielsen BI COE

• BI COE Structure and Responsibilities

• Departmental and Vendor Interactions

• Project involvement and touch points

• Dependencies for success

• Measurements for success

> Adoption Team

> Platform Team

> Advisory Team

WHAT WE’VE DONE

> Adoption and Development Team

> Support and Delivery (Platform) Team

> Advisory Team

> Project Management Team

> Shared Components

Adoption Team

> On-boarded over 40 application teams

> Addressed scalability of Adoption Team

> Implemented “constant review” for on-boarding projects

> Streamlined On-Boarding Documentation and Processes

> Updated model to provide continuous project interaction

> Implemented a standard Cognos TCS status reporting process

Support and Delivery (Platform) Team

> Expanded environment

> Made documentation available in iShare

> Implemented outages management

> Created JIRA and change management

> Standardized processes

> Created SLOs

> Overcoming challenges of managing and integrating off-shore team

Project Management Team

Data Access

Security

Migrate

Answers

Phase of SDLC

Stack

considerations

Databases used

Schedules and

Future plans

Skill level

Project Management Team

I am a unique and special snowflake

Project Management Team

Development Challenges

Traffic Cop

Standards Evangelist

Efficiency expert

Advisory Team

> Interacted proactively in 30+ Projects

> Developed standard project review process

> Established proactive Cognos environment monitoring

> Evaluated new products and vendors

> Initiated planning for application convergence

> Initiated recurring vendor communications

> Documented and published proven practices

> Created Self-assessments with algorithm for project risk scoring

> Developed 10+ project prototypes and proofs of concepts

> Trained and mentored project teams

> Capacity planning for custom and upgrade environments

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED

> Project Management

> Application Development

> BI COE

Project Management

> Got a plan? (Project Planning)

> Is there a method to the madness? (Methodology)

> Can we talk? (Communication)

> Got a minute? (Time Management)

> Can I friend you? (Networking)

> Do you mind? (Emotional Commitment)

Microsoft Word

Document

Application Development

> Run the numbers (SLOs)

> Acknowledge the greater good (Enterprise vs Project Goals)

> Know whom to trust (SME as experts)

> Trust but verify (Competence)

> Be the white on rice (Availability)

> Build a covalent bond (Team dynamics)

> Know your limits (Support and backup)

BI COE

> Evangelize and proselytize (Adoption Message)

> House rules (Standards)

> Role playing (Define role of BI COE)

> Everyone needs a hand to hold onto (Support and maintenance)

> Things we should have learned in kindergarten (Sharing –

information, resources)

WHERE WE’RE GOING

> Conclusions

> Recommendations

> Vendor Recognition

> Take away

Conclusions

> What has worked

• 1+ years in – sustained personnel changes, growth, building of team

• Supported all above achievements

• Add third bullet here

> What hasn’t worked, or what hasn’t worked for everyone

• One size does not fit all – Shared environment aren’t perfect for all teams

• Organizational Changes – New teams

• Herding cats

• SLOs

Recommendations

> Executive sponsorship

> Dedicate appropriate resources

> Create a plan – then change what doesn’t work

> BI COE with a bite

> Constant monitoring

> Start your own BI COE

Vendor Recognition

> Cognos

• Products

• Cognos 8.3

• Partnership

• Support

• Services

> Motio

• Products

• MotioCI

• MotioADF

• MotioPI

• Services

> Composite

• Products

• Clustered Enterprise Software

• Services

> TCS

• Services

Take away

> Business Intelligence Key Performance Indicators

• What do you want on your dashboard?

• As you develop your BI COE, make sure you monitor your progress.

• It is not possible to recommend one and only set of KPIs.

• Choose between three and five of the metrics below to start measuring.

• Choose metrics that are meaningful, easily captured and on whichyou can take action.

• Make sure you’re measuring quality, timeliness and cost (in dollars or hours).

> Access the Cognos resources you need www.ibm.com/cognos/customercenter

> Continue your learning with Cognos Education www.ibm.com/cognos/training

> Engage a Cognos consultant www.ibm.com/cognos/consulting

> Cognos Support resources at your finger tipswww.ibm.com/cognos/support

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