Remember when Apple’s iPhone stormed onto the market? As a smartphone it was a break-through technology and a very complex instrument. Yet its user interface made it very easy to learn and use, and its value quickly made it a product most people can’t live without. Proof of the iPhone’s success could be seen in the product’s phenomenal adoption rate and sales curve.

Modern BI and EPM technology is also very powerful and offers an increasing array of capabilities. But with that power comes a risk: The implementation specialists configuring your solution might be so fascinated by all the latest cool features that the result could be an “over-engineered” application that’s confusing to your users and hard to maintain. Overly complex solutions reduce efficiency and don’t deliver business value to the fullest potential.

At Analysis Team, one of our Guiding Principles is that our design approach is straightforward. Simplicity in process and application design means a more effective solution that is also easier to maintain as business needs evolve. “Simplicity” does not mean “simplistic” however; we believe that complex modeling can be achieved through simpler design approaches.

Straightforward design that avoids unnecessary complexity brings several benefits:

Faster user adoption. When users like the solution they learn it faster and utilize it more completely, resulting in better insight and decisions. This can also have a positive impact on work satisfaction.

There’s less that can go wrong. Fewer “moving parts” means lower risk of failure. And if something does go wrong, it’s easier to figure out what happened and to correct the problem.

Easier and cheaper to maintain. Less effort is needed to maintain the solution. In addition it will be easier to extend functionality down the road to meet new business needs.

Greater value is realized. Greater use, better insights and more effective decision-making result in increased profit. Return on project investment is higher because the ratio’s numerator is higher.

Have you had to contend with an “over-engineered” application that was so frustrating you wanted to sneak into the server room and pull the plug? Please feel free to vent!