OBIEE Technical Conference Getting Started with a Dashboard
OBIEE Technical Conference Getting Started with a Dashboard Development Project Theresa May 12/4/2008 1
Agenda ■ Project Scope – Tied to Finance 9. 0 upgrade ■ Partnership between ITS and Data Steward – Roles and Responsibilities ■ Process Followed to Implement Finance Dashboards – – – 12/4/2008 Requirements Gathering Dashboard Prototyping Data Modeling Feedback Change Management 2
Project Scope ■ Scope the Project for 90 -8 -2 Success – 90% of campus users require general functionality » Generally most campus users who require operational information to support business processes on a daily basis. – 8% of campus users require more flexibility or complex functionality » Generally most power users who write queries and work with data directly. Requirements might be in a more adhoc nature. – 2% of campus users require the ability to problem solve or do trend analysis by utilizing campus information. » Generally the functional support team and campus executives. 12/4/2008 3
Project Scope ■ Phases are Important – Phase the project for 90 -8 -2 – Don’t try to tackle the entire project on day one – It’s better to deliver smaller components in shorter time frames than to ask the campus to wait for a larger deliverable over a long period of time – Phasing the project provides the support teams a chance to understand how to work within the new environment 12/4/2008 4
Project Scope ■ Review Current Campus Functionality – What is being replaced by the dashboard? ■ Review Timing of Campus Processes – When does the campus need certain information? ■ Is the Data Available? – In Finance Reporting Solution (RSOL)? – In People. Soft? ■ 12/4/2008 Joint Decision to Increase Scope 5
Project Scope ■ Initial Phased Approach – Phase I - Department Page » Account summaries » Purchase orders » College based fees – Phase II – Fund Page » Trial balance » Expense summary – Phase III – Transaction Research 12/4/2008 6
Project Scope ■ Phase I – Pages Delivered – My Revenue & Expense – My Open PO’s – My Trial Balance – My Revenue & Expense Transactions – My PO Transactions – My Trial Balance Transactions – My Budget Transactions 12/4/2008 7
Partnerships Work Best ■ Full Commitment by Data Steward and ITS – To the project » Communication » Compromise – To each other » Communication » Compromise ■ ■ 12/4/2008 No Partnership – No Good Must Trust Each Other 8
Data Steward Role ■ Project Ownership (Extremely Important) – Data Warehousing is a business function – Data steward should own and drive the project ■ Project Direction and Vision – What information do they want to provide? ■ Validation/Testing – Data validation and testing – Dashboard design input – Dashboard validation and testing ■ 12/4/2008 Intake for Campus Feedback on Dashboard 9
Information Technology Services (ITS) Role ■ Technical Support and Expertise – Supports the data steward ■ Provides the Technical Infrastructure – Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) – Data warehouse – Servers, load balancers, network, etc. ■ ■ 12/4/2008 Gathers and Documents Requirements Designs and Implements Data Models Designs and Implements Dashboards Provides an Environment that Allows for a Quick Response to Fixes and Enhancements 10
Requirements Needed ■ Dashboard Requirements – – – ■ Key performance indicators Questions to be answered Flexibility Downloads Printing Data Requirements – Sources for data » Finance reporting solution (RSOL) » People. Soft finance tables 12/4/2008 11
Requirements Gathering Process ■ ■ Don’t Ask Data Steward to Write Down Requirements First Learn about the Services the Data Steward Provides, Business Processes, and Reports – – ■ Ask about the Goal for the Dashboard – – 12/4/2008 Review RSOL prior to first set of meetings Set up long information gathering sessions (2 -6 hours) Document information learned from working sessions Does ITS need an accounting 101 overview? We did! Is this dashboard to support operational requirements? Any key performance indicators (KPI’s)? What questions should be answered? Who is the audience? 12
Dashboard Prototyping Process ■ Data Steward should Drive Initial Design – Describe using » Tool or » Sketching or » White boarding ■ ITS should Provide Guidance and Options – Deliver the dashboard as close to the data steward’s vision as possible ■ ITS should Develop Standards for Enterprise Dashboard Deployment – – ■ Branding Column selectors Filter view Information box ITS should Set Up Prototyping Sessions – Set up working sessions (2 -6 hours) ■ ITS should Provide Guidance on Terminology (need consistency) – What’s a Page » Page Prompt » Filter 12/4/2008 13
Dashboard Prototyping Process ■ ITS should Provide Guidance on Dashboard Layout – Need to start with summarized information – Use drill capability to get to detail – Help demonstrate a new way of looking at data – This may be a major change management issue for campus depending on the tool they currently utilize for querying data 12/4/2008 14
Dashboard Prototyping Process ■ Used RSOL to Build Initial Page Prototypes – Set up RSOL tables in OBIEE Metadata layers – OBIEE requires fact and dimension tables ■ ■ Utilized Preliminary Dashboard Design as Provided by Data Steward Set Up Working Sessions to Build Upon Provided Samples of Dashboard Pages – Made modifications on the fly – Documented items to research – Created task list of items to implement after session ■ Encountered Issues with Drilling and Hierarchies – Determined that there was a Need for a Data Model 12/4/2008 15
Dashboard Prototyping Process ■ Documentation – Utilize the dashboard prototypes – Document items not included in the prototype » Research items (things to figure out) » Task list – Don’t get hung up on documenting all components of the dashboard through prototyping sessions » Next two slides show unsuccessful attempts 12/4/2008 16
Dashboard Prototyping Process ID # Business Requirement User Base Priority Phase Benefit DEPARTMENT - DEPARTMENT REPORT 1. a. 1 What are the budget, expenditure and encumbrance amounts for a given Department, by Fund and Account Group within a specific fiscal year? Budget Specialist 1. a. 2 What are the expenditure amounts for a given Department, by Fund and Account Group within each accounting period for a specific fiscal year? Budget Specialist 1. a. 3 What are the total expenditure amounts for a given Department(s) for a Fiscal Year? Budget Specialist 1. a. 4 What are the total expenditure amounts for a given Department and Account group, by Fund within each accounting period for a Fiscal Year? Budget Specialist DEPARTMENT - OPEN PURCHASE ORDER LISTING 1. b. 1 What PO’s are currently open for a given Department? Budget Specialist 1. b. 2 What PO's are currently open for a given Fund? Budget Specialist 1. b. 3 What is the detailed activity for a given PO? Budget Specialist DEPARTMENT - DEPARTMENT REPORT BY SELECTED FUND 1. c. 1 What is the Trial Balance for a given Fund by Object Code? 12/4/2008 Budget Specialist 17
Dashboard Prototyping Process Req. ID # Logical Data Element Description/Alias Physical Data Element 1. a Department ID FINANCE_SUMMARY_BALANCE_CMP. DEPTID Department Description PS Department Description FINANCE_DEPARTMENT. CSU_PS_DEPARTMENT_DESCR 1. b Filter Sum Fund Code FINANCE_SUMMARY_BALANCE_CMP. FUND_CODE Budgeted Amount FINANCE_SUMMARY_BALANCE_CMP. BUDGETED_AMOUNT Y Monetary Amount FINANCE_SUMMARY_BALANCE_CMP. MONETARY_AMOUNT Y Encumbered Amount FINANCE_SUMMARY_BALANCE_CMP. ENCUMBERED_AMOUNT Y Accounting Period FINANCE_SUMMARY_BALANCE_CMP. ACCOUNTING_PERIOD GAAP Object Category Code Account Group FINANCE_ACCOUNT. CSU_GAAP_OBJECT_CATEGORY_CODE GAAP Object Category Descr Account Group Description FINANCE_ACCOUNT. CSU_GAAP_OBJECT_CATEGORY_DESCR Y Fiscal Year FINANCE_SUMMARY_BALANCE_CMP. FISCAL_YEAR Y CSU GAAP Account Type FINANCE_ACCOUNT. CSU_GAAP_ACCOUNT_TYPE_CODE Y Document ID PO # FINANCE_ENCUMBRANCE. CSU_DOCUMENT_ID Document Line Number PO Line # FINANCE_ENCUMBRANCE. CSU_DOCUMENT_LINE_NBR Fund Code FINANCE_ENCUMBRANCE. FUND_CODE Department ID FINANCE_ENCUMBRANCE. CSU_DEPTID Account FINANCE_ENCUMBRANCE. ACCOUNT 12/4/2008 Y 18
Data Modeling Process ■ Learned about the Data that Supports the Finance Business Processes – Data steward provided overviews – Discussed business rules » What makes up a revenue or expense? ■ Built Data Model using RSOL as Source – Reviewed design and all data elements with data steward 12/4/2008 19
Data Modeling Process ■ Data Modelers and Dashboard Developers – Communicate! – All need to understand the dashboard requirements – All need to understand data relationships – All need to understand hierarchies within the data – All need to understand the grain of data – All need to attend working sessions with data steward 12/4/2008 20
Feedback Process ■ Dashboard Users – Internal finance team » Used the dashboard to perform their daily activities – Pilot group » First set of campus users to use the new dashboard – Campus users » All users after roll to Production ■ ■ 12/4/2008 All Feedback must be Funneled through Data Steward to Provide Fix-It/Enhancement List to ITS along with Priorities 21
Change Management Process ■ Open Forums – Data steward and ITS partnered – Project overview – Demonstrations of new tool & dashboard ■ Tool Training – ITS supported ■ Dashboard Training – Data Steward supported 12/4/2008 22
Questions? 12/4/2008 23
Contact ■ OBIEE Technical Conference: http: //polydata. calpoly. edu/dashboards/obiee_conf/index. html ■ 12/4/2008 Email: polydata@calpoly. edu 24
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