In continuation to our previous post on evidence-based intelligence, we are writing more on the step 1 of defining aims and information needs.

In this step the focus should be on manger’s information needs identification and objective of these. In other words organization’s information needs to be highly selective.

Identify strategic objectives/information needs – here we link the data we collect to most important drivers of value and performance. This insures that analytics we generate (a) are relevant to organization’s competitive positioning, (b) support its greatest information needs, and are not (c) wasted on irrelevant information. [1]

Identify who has the information needs

Here it is important to target audience (information customers)
Information customers can be groups of people such as the board of directors, senior managers, the HR and marketing departments, or a single person.[1]

Clarify what questions they want answered

The aim is to ensure that analytics provide the knowledge that will enable the recipients to make most appropriate and focused business decision.

Clarify what decision needs to be taken
We need to clearly identify any important decisions the data support.

Our point of view: the above steps are true for business intelligence and data mart development.

Source:

1 – Intelligence required – moving from data to insights by Bernard Marr – Management by CMA