Adding value through BI: a Jisc perspective

Editor's Notes

• #2: Purpose of the session: To explore some of the context re what BI is and why institutions are becoming increasingly interested in it To outline some of the challenges institutions face To look at some of the resources that Jisc have already produced to assist institutions in this area To look ahead at a major new investment for the sector being developed jointly by Jisc and HESA
• #3: BI is a term you are increasingly likely to hear being mentioned in a lot of different places and contexts. But often means different things to different people. Inevitably there is no single right definition, but it is obviously helpful to be sure that you have the same thing in mind when planning and discussing! On the slide are a range of definitions picked from various sources. Take a minute or two to read through them and have a think about which one you think is the most helpful/useful to you. Do a hands up exercise on each in turn to establish which one the room thinks is the most useful, perhaps asking one or two of those who selected it to comment on what they liked about it (from previous experience it is usually the MS one which comes out top, which usually gets a laugh!) I also usually feel obliged to explain a little of the rationale behind the Jisc definition. We felt it was important to stress the end product of BI: why you are doing it – ie to support ‘evidence based decision making’. Quite a few of the others lead with the technology or the fact that you can do stuff with the data, but without any real idea of why and what the benefit is: what Myles and I tend to call the ‘So what?’ question. Ie sure you can use all sort of flashy tools and whizzy data to come up with all sorts of fascinating but useless results, but unless you are going to find ways of integrating it with your business processes and making informed decisions based on the data, so what?! http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/business-intelligence-bi/ http://www.techopedia.com/definition/345/business-intelligence-bi http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc811595(v=office.12).aspx http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/business-intelligence/ http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/business-intelligence-BI.html
• #4: When we started our work on BI we were aware that single definitions are, as we have just seen, always likely to be partial, and potentially contentious and though we felt it was important to state our own parameters for our work (without any claims for being definitive) we also thought it would be useful to augment this with a list of attributes that may be of more practical use when trying to determine what is or isnt a BI system or solution. The list of the slide indicates some of the core attributes that we came up with and which may help to distinguish between what is a BI system and what is not…
• #5: BI projects represent what could be considered a ‘perfect storm’ of challenges, encompassing as they do the need to tackle and align (disparate) data sources, business processes and changes to roles and responsibilities – in addition to the myriad ‘regular’ challenges posed by carrying out any sort of IT implementation.
• #6: At the Jisc Digifest conference in March we held a participatory workshop where we asked groups of institutional representatives sitting at tables to (separately) describe: What they perceived to be the benefits of BI: their BI nirvarna or desired state Then to consider what the barriers may be that they are likely to face in terms of making this a reality within their institutions And then to try to come up with some ideas for how they might overcome those barriers and make progress towards their goals (followed by a vote as to which of the ideas they came up they thought had most merit) The table above represents the results of just one table’s discussions on each of these perspectives, but gives a good indication of some of the pros and cons we have just been talking about, within an institutional context. It is particularly interesting to see ‘Exposes the truth’ listed as a barrier. It is certainly easy to see how this might be challenging to some, but experience also tends to suggest that BI projects can be hugely beneficial in terms of bringing to light data quality issues which had hitherto remained underneath the radar in a way which cannot be ignored by senior management any more, so can actually be a positive driver for change.
• #7: So where and how has Jisc’s work on BI come from? The slide provides an overview and gives some indication of both the longevity and depth of our engagement. Started with initial conversations and discussions to ‘test the water’ with a range of sector and professional membership bodies back in 2010 which led to the first draft of our BI infoKit (might be worth explaining what infoKits and infoNet are for those who are in the dark….). The draft infoKit was then reviewed and road tested by the 11 projects that Jisc funded to investigate and explore BI within institutions from various perspectives, including in relation to student retention rates, estates management and system and data integration issues… The outputs from these projects were then used to inform a revised version of the infoKit, drawing on their real-world institutional experience. We also took the opportunity to integrate advice and guidance on related areas to the BI agenda, including data analytics and data visualisation. We are now on the cusp of an exciting new chapter in Jisc’s BI journey, but more of that later….
• #8: All of the resources and experiences that have been mentioned thus far have been brought together in the Bi infoKit. In it you will find: Advice and guidance on how to plan for and carry out a successful BI project Descriptions of the various ways in which a BI project can be delivered The challenges, and strategies for meeting them Links to the experiences of 11 institutions Image collections of dashboards and other data visualisations Links to additional guidance on data visualisation and other topics related to BI, such as data analytics etc A maturity model, developed by an international collaboration of institutions and agencies to enable you to benchmark your current level of BI maturity
• #10: Service Level 1 This level caters for the low - middle BI maturity customers. It comprises the suite of Heidi data sets delivered through a commercial data explorer tool replacing appropriate current Heidi client with enhanced functionality. Projects will be commissioned to produce innovative visualisations based on HESA data sets along with supporting documentation to ensure onward use is sound. A selection process will be enacted to choose which visualisations migrate to service. It is envisaged that Level 1 will provide access to the most generically applicable visualisations and related BICC services. As customer maturity increases, Level 1 will offer a wider choice of additional visualisations to cater for specific missions / areas of interest as derived through the BICC along with the ability to for customers to create their own visualisations. Level 2 is very much an exploratory activity to determine what is possible in the following areas being high risk and potentially highly innovative. It is anticipated that Level 2 will add new visualisations based on the interpretation of non-HESA data sets. These may be mashed up with HESA data. Innovations in data visualisations will be explored through technical data mashup and visualisation projects providing complimentary supporting documentation to ensure onward use is sound. If demand for such visualisations is proven, the visualisations will become part of a Level 2 service. Customers may be required to pay additional fees for access to the additional aspects of the non HESA data catalogues. There will be a role for Jisc to negotiate with the data owners. It is envisaged that should this gain momentum it would pave the way to a national data catalogue for BI. Level 2 will be championed by HESPA in partnership with Jisc. Level 2 candidate data sets might include XXXX and cross sectors including FE and schools Level 2 customers could include UUK, Jisc  ,national abodies, BI, FE S and more….l   Both Service Level 1 and Level 2 must cater for existing Heidi features such as API functionality for local data import.
• #14: Go to ‘View’ menu > ‘Header and Footer…’ to edit the footers on this slide (click ‘Apply’ to change only the currently selected slide, or ‘Apply to All’ to change the footers on all slides).
• #17: New co-design challenge for 2014-15 – outline briefly co-design process (steering group, partners including Sconul, sifting of ideas into themes/challenges and approval by Jisc Board).