BI User Personas – are you scaring users with the kitchen sink?

BI User Personas are a key part of delivering any BI solution. Throughout my career I have encountered clients who have all faced the problem that their BI Solution has not achieved the adoption they had hoped for. This in turn has reduced the impact of the solution and thus the ROI. A common thread in the examples I have seen is the horrifying kitchen sink that is thrown at every user.

To explain to those not familiar with the idiom, to include “everything but the kitchen sink” means to “Include just about everything, whether needed or not”. What it means in this context is that the BI solution presents so many dimensions, measures and KPI’s to the user that the experience becomes confusing, overwhelming and as a consequence – useless.

Why building your BI solution is like making a hit movie.

No Hollywood movie is ever made without considering the audience appeal – they even use predictive analytics to drive scripting decisions. So why should your project be any different? You have consumers that need to be satisfied, and their wishes must be taken into account.

A key element of our Data & AI Strategy is to ensure that the end users different needs are planned for. Constructing BI User Personas to define what level of detail gets exposed to each persona helps in this process. To stretch our analogy a little further, your executive team may only care that there *is* a kitchen sink and whether it is working or not. A management team may need to know how hot the water is and how water efficient the tap is. The analysts will need to know detailed water usage statistics over time for analysis. Not everyone needs to know the same thing.

Most BI tools allow you to provide different views of the data model so that you can tailor the output of a very complex model to users with simple needs. An executive may only need a few key metrics and dimensions in a dashboard to examine before they pass further analysis downstream. A manager may need a more complex report with interactivity to drill into an issue. The analyst may simply need access to raw data to answer their questions.

The same applies for less data literate users. If they are not technically minded they may find a much simpler model less intimidating. Data literacy is whole additional topic but with proper preparation, it can be managed and taught.

Use a BI User Persona to drive a smash hit!

Understanding your audience is essential. As part of the process of designing your solution, BI User Personas need to be defined so they get appropriately suited content.

Building and understanding the personas of your end user team is of course only part of the equation. There are many human components in a Data & AI Strategy that need to be implemented. Change management, training and ongoing communication help ensure that what you deliver is adopted.

Contact us today to learn more!