Power BI

Data roles are often the first subject I discuss when building data literacy

This communication becomes a survival tactic if you are one of a few data folks in an organization

Here’s an analogy that stresses differences between data roles and elucidates the broad ecosystem needs for data development:

It is impossible for one person to build a college dorm, populate it, manage it, work with the students, tell their stories, and research the impact.

Conduct independent research: The working team performs research into the business context and existing BI solutions or initiatives.

To define an effective BI strategy, the working team must understand the business goals. By understanding the business goals, the working team has the right business context to describe why people use data and BI tools, and comprehension of their desired outcomes

You should identify the existing BI initiatives and solutions with respect to the business processes they support and objectives they address. These solutions help illustrate what business users do today to address their data needs, so that you can assess whether it's effective.

Taken together, research on the business context and existing BI initiatives and solutions describe the current state of BI adoption and implementation. The working team verifies this research in workshops when capturing stakeholder input.

This article uses the term workshops to describe interactive meetings with key stakeholders. The objective of the workshops is to gather input so you can accurately describe and understand the objectives and data needs.

The following diagram depicts the process to identify and inform the right key stakeholders about the BI strategy initiative.

For each functional area, identify two to three candidate key stakeholder representatives.

hen you initially request key stakeholder participation, ensure that you: Obtain approval from their manager, as appropriate. Explain the scope of the initiative, and its objectives, timelines, and deliverables. Describe specifically why they've been asked to participate and what the desired outcomes are. Outline the necessary time commitment and participation that you need from them. Communicate clearly and concisely.

key stakeholders who have sufficient knowledge and credibility to represent their business area.

Identifying the right stakeholders is essential in order to run successful workshops and gain an accurate understanding of the business areas in scope.

Often, top-down BI initiatives limit stakeholders to executives and decision makers. While these individuals have a significant role to play (to obtain sufficient executive buy-in and strategic alignment), they aren't necessarily the right stakeholders. In this scenario, you risk defining a strategy isolated from the reality experienced by business users. This misalignment can result in strategies and solutions that don't meet the needs of day-to-day users, and consequentially they aren't used.

The working team investigates strategically important BI solutions to understand how the organization currently addresses business data needs. Specifically, the working team identifies who the business users are, how they use the solutions. The working team also documents key data questions or problems that these solutions address, and also potential flaws, opportunities, and inefficiencies.

The working team identifies strategically important KPIs and master data. These KPIs and master data are critical to enabling the business to achieve their business objectives.

Agree on communication values: Encourage all working team members to engage with concise, clear, and consistent communication throughout the initiative.

Business goals. Business objectives to make progress towards their goals. Business processes and initiatives to achieve their objectives. Business data needs to support the processes and initiatives. BI tools and solutions that people use to address their business data needs. How people use the tools and solutions, and any challenges that prevent them from using the tools and solutions effectively.

To help identify priorities, the working team conducts two types of assessment: a data culture assessment and a technical assessment.

Semantic link is a feature in Microsoft Fabric that establishes a connection between semantic models (aka Power BI datasets) and Synapse Data Science.

Ensuring data quality in the semantic model, also known as the diamond layer

high-quality data assets in the semantic model lead to more accurate and reliable insig

the diamond layer, is crucial for organizations to make informed decisions based on accu

With effective business alignment, the data culture and data strategy enable business users to achieve their business objectives.

strategic importance of data and analytics in achieving measurable progress toward business goals.

engaged executive sponsor who provides

Structured and consistent processes to validate, deploy, and support solutions.

regularly update existing solutions

Effective and consistent

Plan regular alignment meetings

concise communication and documentation that's formatted and well organized.

visible roadmap

iteratively define high-level desired outcomes

backlog of solutions that help you to achieve

Design, develop, test, and deploy solutions

organize short, quarterly executive feedback sessions

promptly identify any potential changes in the business strategy

Assign a responsible team: A working team reviews feedback and organizes re-alignment sessions

Create and support a feedback process

Measure the success of business alignment

you should understand that solutions and initiatives will change over time.

shared awareness

effectively balances

Productive and solution-oriented

clear and unified understanding