We all know regular medical check-ups are important for making sure our bodies are healthy and functioning properly.   Through an examination and a few tests our doctor can detect risks and early signs of trouble, and recommend lifestyle changes like diet and exercise to help us avoid serious problems down the road. If something isn’t right and needs correction, our doctor might prescribe medication or a minor procedure to get us back on track.

The same is true with Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). These are vital processes and solutions that help keep the enterprise on track by delivering relevant and timely analysis, insightful reporting, and planning that steers decisions and actions toward corporate goals. But over time, ongoing processes and static solutions may not keep pace with evolving demands. Reorganizations, new lines of business, acquisitions, and changes in corporate goals and priorities can give rise to needs for analyzing new data, delivering new metrics, or developing plans in a different way.

What are some indications that your current solutions may not be as healthy as they should be? Common symptoms include:

• Decline in usage of your existing BI and EPM solutions
• Decreased trust and reliance on the reports these solutions provide
• Increased manual effort, time and stress on the part of analysts to locate relevant data and format reports
• More manual planning activities outside the system, as your existing planning solution can only be relied upon to roll up numbers to corporate totals
• Increasing dependence on spreadsheets, despite the investment in BI and EPM software

Analysis Team’s solution “health check” is a business and technical review that can diagnose problems and uncover opportunities to improve alignment with corporate goals, business processes, and user needs. A few of the questions we examine are:

• How well are the data and performance metrics delivered by the solution meeting current and emerging business analysis needs?
• Are the reports providing the best information to the right people at the right time?
• Does your planning model, including operational and financial planning drivers, reflect current and future business realities?
• Can routine solution refreshes and maintenance activities be streamlined and automated?
• Could a software upgrade deliver better performance, or new and useful features?
• Does the current application design prevent you from making real improvements to business processes?

By periodically checking up on the effectiveness of your BI and EPM solutions and processes, you can assure effective analytics, planning and reporting that will keep your company healthy, growing and profitable.

The doctor will see you now!