BI Governance: building a Management Intelligence leadership

The adoption of a methodology and the subsequent use of it for the ICT Governance strategy lead to a greater attention on the initiatives of Business Intelligence in order to structure and manage a BI Program consistent with the objectives and business needs, that is at the same time under a continuous (re) planning, implementation and monitoring activities.

The complexity and expectations around BI have grown and continue to do it quickly, along with the investment required and the incomplete satisfaction of many companies’ stakeholders.

Hence the need to balance the technology standardization and flexibility to support business and confirming the BI Governance as an integral component of the IT domain and as a logical extension of ICT governance and its management paradigms.

In this context, it is necessary to provide the managers with tools and support, in order to respond to the four questions of each BI Program: What decisions need to be helped? Who will make those decisions? How are decisions made? How will be checked the choices made?

Any BI initiative is subject to complex situations that can lead to decisions that are not correct and/or to an excessive control. Hence the need to put BI Governance at the heart of organizational, information and decision flows, to ensure the cross-functional objectives and the alignment with business strategy.

BI Governance is not just about policies, rules and standards, but also considers the behavioral aspects of decision-making, mechanisms for relationship and learning. The Governance can not only be defined as the organization and the hierarchy. It also deals with mixing functions and people into a dynamic and interconnected team, driven by common goals and paradigms of cooperation. It requires a conceptual framework that leads to a strong motivation, the establishment of working relationships, able to face all the scenarios.

The design of BI governance must reflect a vision of executive business needs, linking strategy, processes, information management and various aspects of the IT scenario. This ensures an excellent level of sponsorship and maintains an appropriate focus on decision-making to appropriate managerial levels. It should then be is based on leadership and change management: it requires a 360 degree view of business, clear communication, effective management of expectations and taking a direct responsibility by business leaders.