Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2. Case overview
Organizations
A
B
C
D
E
F
Type / Branch
Electronics
Transport
Food & Bever-
ages
Non -Profit
Telecom-munica-
tions
Transport
Market
B2B & B2C
B2B
B2B & B2C
G2C
B2B & B2C
B2B
R e v e n u e
26.385
3.5
485
112
14.602
1.330
(million)
# Employees
+/ - 120.000
+/ - 100
+/ - 2.900
+/ - 550
+/ - 40.000
+/ - 2.750
BI front-end tool
SAP BW
Microsoft Re-
porting
SAP BW
Business Ob-
jects
Cognos
Webfocus
# BI End-users
+/ - 250
+/- 20
+/- 700
+/ - 250
+/- 1500
+/- 100
(figures taken from 2008 annual reports)
fied with a 'one size fits all solution'. Next, after
discussing the main assumptions and elements
of the BI-FIT model, respondents were asked to
identify the relevant individual characteristics
applicable for BI. It appeared that in addition
the above discussed computer proficiency and
analytical abilities, most respondents consider
process knowledge, as an important capability
of BI end-users. So basically when conducting
analysis using BI tooling, an end-user must know
how-to analyze (analytical capabilities), how-to
use the tool (computer proficiency), and must also
posses knowledge of the business process that is
analyzed, in order interpret the outcome of the
analysis, and to be able to understand the impact
on the business. Furthermore, as the complexity
of the analysis goes up, a more profound busi-
ness knowledge is required. Therefore, business
knowledge seems like a plausible contribution to
the model. The redefined framework is depicted
in Figure 3.
findings: bi usage in practice
While investigating the case organizations'
end-user communities it appeared that in some
organizations an explicit end-user segmentation
model had been developed, while others had not
explicitly done so. In the case of organizations
A and C, end-users are explicitly divided into
groups, and it appears that next to the purpose of
segmenting end-users, as discussed in Section 3,
such as establishment of the end-user fit, other
purposes of end-user segmentation are to ensure a
flexible reporting process (because of the respon-
sibility of the “power” user, as discussed below),
and to select the appropriate form of training, as
e.g. novice users require different training than
expert users.
Table 3. Respondent overview
Organizations
A
B
C
D
E
F
Respondent 1 Function Project manager
BI consultant
BI consultant
BI consultant
BI manager
BI manager
Respondent 1 project
-role
BI project man-
ager
Project manager
/ analyst
Developer / ana-
lyst
BI project man-
ager
BI manager
BI manager
Respondent 2 Function Key-user F&A
BI Consultant
BI manager
BI support
NA
BI support
Respondent 2 project-
role
Key-user
BI Developer
BI manager
Functional sup-
port
NA
Functional / tech-
nical support
 
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