Hallmarks of Effective Solution Design

digital marketing3We were recently brainstorming what makes an analytic, reporting or planning solution effective. Reflecting on the implementation work we’ve done over the years, we quickly came up with five attributes that make a solution effective, not just immediately upon go-live but also for the long term:  

 

Supports an effective business process. A critical first step in an implementation project is to understand the business challenges and what information is needed to address them. After an effective business process is defined (which might be different from the current process), then a solution is designed and implemented to support it.

Provides the right information at the right time. A well-designed solution delivers actionable information that enables people to make decisions that advance the goals of their organization. The information needs to fit the specific roles and responsibilities of the solution’s users. Business and organizational context is important for determining level of detail, metrics, update frequency, presentation format and other solution parameters.

Complete and automated. A solution that’s kept current with automated updates of data and metadata assures the information delivered will continually be useful. Users have confidence in a solution they know contains data for all products, customers, geographies, transactions, and so on and that aggregations at each hierarchy level are accurate. Process automation reduces manual effort to update and maintain.

Easy to learn and use. A design that meets needs without unnecessary complication and offers an easy-to-use interface encourages user adoption. A simple user interface facilitates learning and results in the solution being utilized to its fullest potential.

Extensible and adaptable. A forward-looking design results in a solution that can be extended and modified to keep up with changing business needs without significant effort and cost. During design and development, it’s helpful to envision how a solution may need to adapt to future changes in a company’s market or strategies, to accommodate for example new product lines, business acquisitions and updates to key metrics.

 

There are likely other characteristics that are important when it comes to effective solution design. What would you add to the list?