Introduction
The report is intended to identify and analyze the skills of project management and planning in the project of implementation of information systems as well as the critical evaluation of the skills of business analysts for the effective use of the system. The most critical issue and challenge for the executives these days is the improved and efficient business information system planning and implementation for the successful outcomes and results for the business performance (Lederer & Sethi, 1988). The business goals and targets can be attained through effective information system (Van Grembergen, De Haes & Van Brempt, 2008). Therefore, the report is going to analyze the skills and abilities of the project management, project planning, and business analyst that are critically required to develop and implement business information systems. For this purpose, the report is mainly going to focus on the Business Intelligence System (BI). The paper includes the critical evaluation of project management skills and business analyst skills. At the end of the report, the conclusion is provided to summarize the report findings.
Appraisal of Project Management and Planning Skills
The project management teams, mainly project managers of Business Intelligence have been faced critical issues and challenges in achieving the success of the project implementation (Lederer & Sethi, 1988). Therefore, it is very important to discuss and evaluate the concepts and skills of project management and planning for the successful implementation of the business intelligence in the context of some project examples.
Project Management Skills
The project management skills, in general, are various for the success of any project, however, specifically for the business information system, there are most important skills required by project management to ensure the successful execution of the business intelligence in the business. These major skills are as follows:
Team Management Skills
Although, teamwork is important for any project, however, the information system project is mainly considered as the mixture of people and technology. Therefore, the most important skill required by project management for business intelligence implementation is the team management skills. At the beginning of the project, the most important requirement is to develop a team that can effectively manage each and every aspect of the project from its planning to its implementation along with an understanding of technical areas. A team must include field specialist, programmers, supporters and analysts so that the system could be easily integrated into the business. The roles and responsibilities in the team must be clearly defined according to the individual skills of every team member.
Time Management Skills
Another important skill for project management is to manage time throughout the life of the project of business intelligence system. Time management means the accurate estimation for the project activities so that the project can be completed in the real time. The project management must be skilled to estimate the time of delivery of the project. The business intelligence system implementation requires a series of activities; therefore, the resources and duration required for each activity must be estimated. The time management example can be found in the business intelligence implementation project of Apple Inc., where, the time duration is analyzed as follows (ppt, Apple Final):
(ppt, Apple Final)
The ability to control time and schedule of the business intelligence project is a very important skill required by project management.
Communication Skills
The project management is also needed to have excellent skills in communication so that the problems, success, ideas and information can be easily communicated throughout the circle of the project team. The project management must have skills of listening others, to give feedbacks, conduct meetings, negotiate with members involved in the team, etc. it is not necessarily important to have a face to face communication. It can be communicated through virtual meetings, documentation, web calling, etc. Without communication, the misunderstandings can occur that can directly impact on the successful project completion of business intelligence implementation. The effective management shares the goals and uses the interpersonal communication to solve the problem and provide the efficient and improved system (Alter, 1976).
Project Planning Skills
Gap Analysis Skills
As the business intelligence is the need of the business to solve the existing problems in the information system, therefore, the skills of analyzing the gap in the existing system and the required system is very important. The project team, while planning the system is required conducting an in-depth analysis of the information from the customers, end users and owners, etc. to understand the functional needs with the implementation of the new system. The information system in the company is very important to align with the business needs and goals; therefore, it is the most critical skill as it can impact directly on the success of the project.
Feasibility analysis skills
Although, the project management has many technical experts and technologies to successfully develop the business intelligence system, however, the project team must have a clear vision and sight of reasons for business behind the implementation and development of information system. Therefore, the feasibility analysis skills are very important to understand the opportunities and threats to the business in the implementation of the business intelligence. For example, the business intelligence is acceptable in the market, the support from the government, understanding the economic situation in the implementation of such system, ability to meet professional and business ethics, maintain the image to the public, etc (Chimezie, 2014).
Risk Analysis Skills
Another planning skill is risk analysis. The project management during the project planning must analyze the risk and threats that can occur at any stage of the project of business intelligence such as the resistance from users, lack of compatibility between system and employees, slow working of the system, unexpected outcomes, delay in the project delivery, high cost, conflict among team members etc. therefore, the project planning must define all possible risks along with deciding the mitigation strategy to respond these risks (Kerzner, 2013). The table below is an example of risk analysis from the Apple Inc, Project (ppt, Apple Final):
(ppt, Apple Final)
The table shows that how project planning identified and defined the possible risks and how the mitigation strategy developed to deal with the risks.
Appraisal of Skills Needed by Business Analyst
Business Analyst plays the most critical role in the organization because it has to stay in two different areas simultaneously. The first area is the business area and the second is the Information Technology Area. It means that the skills required by business analyst are very critical as it requires both personal skills and technical skills to implement business intelligence (BI) in the organization. The personal skills and technical skills are as follows:
Personal Skills
Critical Thinking Skills
The most important personal skill of business analyst is the critical thinking to provide multiple options to deal with the situation (Bloom, 2011). Although business analyst is responsible for identifying the needs of the stakeholders to make the use of business intelligence system efficient and effective, however, he must critically analyze the identified needs to trace the actual problem and need. Evaluating the actual problem behind the business intelligence use in the company makes the critical thinking skills as important for business analyst in the organization. Critically thinking, the business analyst can provide the option for how to use business intelligence to solve the existing problems as well as to achieve the business goals.
Problem Solving Skills
The business Analyst is mainly responsible for supporting decision making process of the organization; therefore, he must be skilled in using problem solving techniques and methods to find the causes and solutions for the discovered problems. Some of these techniques include brainstorming, Five Whys, Fish Bone analysis, etc. to critically analyze the root causes of the existing problems and then to solve them using business intelligence system. The problem solving skills of a business analyst can only make the effective use of business intelligence in the organization. The problem and issue in the business is the critical factor behind the implementation of the BI System (Kornkaew, 2012). Therefore, solving the problem is important. For example, the benefits and needs of Business Intelligence are identified in the project of Apple Inc, where, the most important needs include cost reduction, better decision making, improve production, efficiency and designing (ppt, Apple Final).
Analysis Skills
It is clear from the name of business analyst that he must have excellent skills of analysis. The analysis of situations, problems, solutions and systems all included in the skills of business analyst importantly needed to use business intelligence efficiently. He can use a variety of tools and techniques for analysis for example use of cases, models, processes, etc (Bloom, 2011).
The business analyst can analyze different areas such as organizational analysis, analysis of the existing and new systems and functional requirements needs analysis. Using BI in the business, it is important for the analyst to understand the environmental and organizational conditions as well as the analysis of available resources and equipment to use the system.
Decision Making
The decision making skills of business analyst must be strong and effective to efficiently use Business Intelligence System in the organization. Business intelligence is the system that provides information in an analytical way; therefore, it is the skills of a business analyst to add value in the available information and data from business intelligence and to make effective decisions using the information for the betterment of the company and to improve the performance. According to Huang, (n.d.), the business intelligence itself provides the excellent skills and abilities of decision making. It means that decision making and business intelligence are directly related factors (Nowduri, 2011).
Technical Skills
The technical skills include the following:
Documentation
Other than the analysis, decision making, and critical thinking, documentation is a technical skill required by a business analyst to develop concise, clear and easy reports of the complex data and information. The documentation skills of business analyst help him to start the excellent use of business intelligence for the business purpose to extract and report what business intelligence provided in the data processing. For documentation skills, the writing skills are the most common requirement.
Programming
As the business analyst is directly related to the IT area of the organization, therefore, along with personal skills, the technical programming skills are also very important (Bloom, 2011). To use Business Intelligence, the programming skills are very important for the business analyst to use different systems. There is a list of technical skills in the context of programmings such as VBScript, SQL, Perl, NET, and many other relevant programs and skills of information technology to be an effective business analyst. Along with programming, the conceptual knowledge, and technical understanding is very important to use the IT system for the problem solving in the organization.
Simplification of complex methods
Business intelligence is usually resisted from the employees and managers in the organization due to its complexity and their lack of knowledge and understanding. Therefore, the business analyst must have excellent skills of simplifying the methods and systems. For the simplification of the complex systems, there can be many techniques used. The business intelligence systems are usually complex for the data mining and extraction, processing, and interpreting (Moss & Atre, 2003); therefore, it is the technical skill of business analyst to simplify these complexions of business intelligence system for making it easy to understand for others.
Conclusion
For the efficient implementation and effective use of business intelligence system in the organization, the report analyzed and evaluated the skills of project management and planning and business analyst. Although, the project management needs various skills and abilities to lead a project successfully, however, the paper evaluated few major skills required by the project management. These few skills include team management skills, time management ability, communication skills, and planning skills include gap analysis, risk analysis, and feasibility analysis. All these skills are critical to the success of the business intelligence project, and the lack of efficiency of these skills can lead the implementation towards failure. On the other side, the paper also concluded the skills of business analyst that include critical thinking skills, decision making skills, analysis skills and problem solving skills along with technical skills such as programming, documentation, and simplification.
Based on the findings and evaluation of the report, it is recommended to the management of the company that for the successful implementation and use of business intelligence, it must use the skills of project management and identify the best possible individuals with the multidisciplinary skills to implement business intelligence. Furthermore, it is also recommended that the communication and sharing of information is very important for the adoption of new technology and system within the company as it helps to reduce the rate of resistance from the employees and executives. As the business intelligence is the information system, therefore, it is also recommended that the previous system must be analyzed to identify the changes and problems to be addressed with the new business intelligence system.
Other than simply focusing on the system and its implementation, it is also important to integrate the system into the business to achieve the business goals and aims with its effective use. For this purpose, the business analyst must critically think about the needs and requirements with the use of business intelligence. Along with the critical thinking, the effective use of business intelligence is not possible without making useful decisions of how and where to use business intelligence within the company for business purposes.
References
Alter, S. L. (1976). How Effective Managers Use Information Systems. Harvard Business Review, 54(6), 97-104.
Bloom, E. (2011). 10 soft skills every business analyst needs. Retrieved August 23, 2016, from http://www.itworld.com/article/2738883/it-management/10-soft-skills-every-business-analyst-needs.html
Chimezie, C. (2014). Critical Feasibility Study Skills Required for Effective Entrepreneurial Development: Implications for Business Education Programmes. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 5(10).
Huang, Y. W. Factors Influencing Business Intelligence Systems Implementation Success In The Enterprises.
Kerzner, H. R. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kornkaew, A. (2012). Management Information System Implementation Challenges, Success Key Issues, Effects and Consequences: A Case Study of Fenix System. Retrieved August 23, 2016, from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:545644/fulltext02
Lederer, A. L., & Sethi, V. (1988). The implementation of strategic information systems planning methodologies. MIS Quarterly, 445-461.
Moss, L. T., & Atre, S. (2003). Business intelligence roadmap: the complete project lifecycle for decision-support applications. Addison-Wesley Professional.
Nowduri, S. (2011). Management information systems and business decision making: review, analysis, and recommendations. Journal of Management and Marketing Research, 7, 1.
Van Grembergen, W., De Haes, S., & Van Brempt, H. (2008). Understanding how business goals drive IT goals. Rolling Meadows, IL: ISACA.
