Archive for December, 2011
BI Platform Admin Tip: Clean Up to Improve User Adoption
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A cluttered BI environment challenges users and can deter adoption. Few users appreciate a screen cluttered with outdated and little-used objects. To improve the situation, make the user interface an organizational priority. We recommend creating a process to track and remove unused and obsolete objects. This can help to keep menus and navigation paths as [...]
BI Platform Admin Tip: Remove Unused and Obsolete Objects
As the BI environment evolves, so will its objects. New reports and applications will replace older versions. Organizational priorities will shift usage away from some functionality and toward others. As these changes occur, it’s critical to ensure that the system mirrors the business. To make sure it’s quick and easy for users to access the [...]
BI Platform Admin Tip: Simple Steps to Plan for Growth
No one in IT wants to be the bearer of bad news, especially when the news is accompanied by a hefty—and unexpected—price tag. As your BI program expands, there are ways to avoid this headache by being proactive and strategic about your future software and hardware needs. At least once a year, audit current usage [...]
BI Platform Admin Tip: Take Time for Capacity Planning
As your BI program grows in usage and complexity, we recommend making sure each system component has enough capacity to avoid becoming a bottleneck in the BI environment. For example, servers need adequate memory and CPU power; databases need enough storage. Though we’re all well-intentioned, it’s not uncommon for organizations to overlook licensing compliance, resulting [...]
BI Platform Admin Tip: How to Design for Expansion
The good news: your BI platform is growing. The bad news: setting up new users eats up more and more of your valuable time. If you’re experiencing this scenario, it’s time to develop a repeatable, scalable process to manage security administration. Start by developing a standard architecture for security settings, including templates you can apply [...]
BI Platform Admin Tip: Be Prepared to Scale Up Security Administration
As your BI platform gains traction, creating and maintaining user accounts can take up more and more of an administrator’s valuable time — especially when each new account starts from scratch. Streamlining this task can reduce manual errors and free up resources you can apply to more strategic activities. To assess the complexity of your [...]
BI Platform Admin Tip: Resolve Issues Faster with Support Network
No single organization ever has complete visibility to all known situations that can cause BI performance issues. That’s one reason it makes sense to be involved in the broader BI community. There will always be issues that require research, outreach and even the need to bring in a troubleshooter. We recommend staying active in online [...]