DataOps as a Prerequisite for the Next Level of Self-Service Analytics – Balancing User Agency and Central Control

The area of Business Intelligence and Analytics (BIA) has repeatedly oscillated between more central, efficiency-oriented, professionalized approaches and decentral, agility-oriented, user-driven ones. We investigate whether and how to alleviate that tradeoff by combining an agility-oriented self-service BIA approach with the professionalization-driven DataOps concept: DataOps aims at transferring ideas from DevOps to the realm of analytics, namely a mutual integration of Development and Operations and a high degree of professionalization and automation. From a case study with a series of interviews and a workshop we generate insights into the viability of such a combination. Our results inspire a theoretical concept for capturing the economics behind the approaches that is considering the (opportunity) costs of the components “user agency” and “central control”. The concept has been evaluated with representatives from the case study. Based on our results, we argue that the discussed combination can push BIA solutions towards fine-tuned federated environments

Analyzing RFID Data For The Management Of Reusable Packaging

A common issue that most automotive manufacturers have to face in production logistics is the efficient handling of a considerable number of cost-intensive pallets, trays, boxes and similar reusable packaging goods. As empirical studies show, deficiencies in monitoring, controlling and optimizing packaging material are widespread within this industry. In this contribution a case study is used to investigate the potential of supporting these managerial tasks with a combined use of RFID infrastructures and Business Intelligence (BI) infrastructures. This includes a derivation of relevant RFID reader locations, the identification of further relevant data sources as well as crafting concrete analysis and reporting scenarios based on the paradigm of multidimensional data modeling. The results are used to design a concept for a BI and RFID based system architecture. They highlight the need to include data management systems that bring data integration capabilities and that are capable of tracking historical data – as a possible component of a wider BI infrastructure for manufacturing and logistics

A Capability Approach for Designing Business Intelligence and Analytics Architectures

Business Intelligence and Analytics (BIA) is subject to an ongoing transformation, both on the technology and the business side. Given the lack of ready-to-use blueprints for the plethora of novel solutions and the ever-increasing variety of available concepts and tools, there is a need for conceptual support for architecture design decisions. After conducting a series of interviews to explore the relevance and direction of an architectural decision support concept, we propose a capability schema that involves actions, expected outcomes, and environmental limitations to identify fitting architecture designs. The applicability of the approach was evaluated with two cases. The results show that the derived framework can support the systematic development of fundamental architecture requirements. The work contributes to research by illustrating how to capture the elusive capability concept and showing its relation to BIA architectures. For further generalization, we created an open online repository to collect BIA capabilities and architectural designs

Impact of service-oriented architectures (SOA) on business process standardization - Proposing a research model

Originally, Data Warehouses (DWH) were conceived to be components for the data support of controlling and management. From early on, this brought along the need to cope with extensive data preparation, integration, and distribution requirements. In the growing infrastructures for managerial support (“Business Intelligence”), the DWH turned into a central data hub for decision support. As the business environment and the underlying technical infrastructures are fostering an ever increasing degree of systems integration, the DWH has been recognized to be a pivotal component for all sorts of data transformation and data integration operations. Nowadays, the DWH is supposed to process both managerial and operational data – it becomes a transformation hub (TH). This article delineates the relevant motives that drive the trend towards THs and the resulting requirements. The logical composition of a TH is developed based on data transformation steps. Two case studies exemplify the application of the resulting architecture

Business Intelligence in the Cloud?

Business Intelligence (BI) deals with integrated approaches to management support. In many cases, the integrated infrastructures that are subject to BI have become complex, costly, and inflexible. A possible remedy for these issues might arise on the horizon with “Cloud Computing” concepts that promise new options for a net based sourcing of hard- and software. Currently, there is still a dearth of concepts for defining, designing, and structuring a possible adaption of Cloud Computing to the domain of BI. This contribution combines results from the outsourcing and the BI literature and derives a framework for delineating “Cloud BI” approaches. This is the bases for the discussion of six possible scenarios – some of which within immediate reach today

Ubiquitous Computing – an Application Domain for Business Intelligence in the Cloud?

A number of IT providers have introduced web-based services for management support that are discussed under the label“Business Intelligence (BI) in the Cloud”. It has been argued that these Cloud products might become valuable complementsto on-premise enterprise BI infrastructures by allowing a flexible addition of sizeable components, tools or – in selected areas– complete solutions. In this publication, it is discussed in how far a Ubiquitous Computing setting based on technologies likeradio frequency identification (RFID) or sensor technology could become a relevant application domain for Cloud-BI”. Themain insights come from a literature review, a series of expert interviews on BI and Cloud Computing, and a case on spareparts logistics. The results indicate that the addressed domain indeed comes with business potential and highlight the need forfurther design oriented research

From data warehouses to transformation hubs - A conceptual architecture

Originally, Data Warehouses (DWH) were conceived to be components for the data support of controlling and management. From early on, this brought along the need to cope with extensive data preparation, integration, and distribution requirements. In the growing infrastructures for managerial support (“Business Intelligence”), the DWH turned into a central data hub for decision support. As the business environment and the underlying technical infrastructures are fostering an ever increasing degree of systems integration, the DWH has been recognized to be a pivotal component for all sorts of data transformation and data integration operations. Nowadays, the DWH is supposed to process both managerial and operational data – it becomes a transformation hub (TH). This article delineates the relevant motives that drive the trend towards THs and the resulting requirements. The logical composition of a TH is developed based on data transformation steps. Two case studies exemplify the application of the resulting architecture

Design Principles for Institutionalized Data Ecosystems – Results from a Series of Case Studies

Sharing and collaborating on data across organizational boundaries is increasingly important for building a comprehensive data foundation for a variety of relevant analytical models and reports. We argue that a formalized set of rules and responsibilities - data governance - is needed to guide such data sharing ac-tivities and thus provide the foundation for an institutionalized data ecosystem. To this end, we propose a set of design principles. Based on three case studies from different application domains, we derive the design principles using Ser-vice-Dominant Logic as our theoretical lens. We distinguish between dynamic and static design principles. Our approach supports the delineation and specifi-cation of data governance structures for data ecosystems

Institutionalizing Analytic Data Sharing in SME Ecosystems – A Role-Based Perspective

There is a variety of reasons that sharing data among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) carries business potential, particularly for analyti-cal applications. But outside a few niche domains, the number of success stories for data sharing is rather modest. Based on a qualitative study and first experiences from a research project with pilot im-plementations, we argue that this is mainly due to a lack of an institutionalized governance structure: Founding a separate legal entity for data sharing and analysis can address core concerns regarding sharing valuable data assets. However, this requires a well-calibrated set of defined roles for the in-volved partners. Based on our results we propose a first concept on delineating and mapping out those roles

The ICT convergence discourse in the information systems literature - A second-order observation

The growing relevance, scale, and complexity of Business Intelligence (BI) entails the need to find agile and efficient solutions for the coordination of maintenance and release processes – under consideration of the heterogeneity of the involved units on the IT and the business side. The finance industry with its mature BI infrastructures and its highly turbulent business environment is a forerunner for these developments. Based on a survey among BI users in the finance sector, relevant problem areas in the BI service provision are identified and structured. A series of qualitative interviews among banks and insurance companies is used to gain further insights into approaches for dealing with the related issues. The studies uncover several advantages of a central “BI Competency Centre” (BICC) as well as levers for effectively structuring the interfaces between BICC, IT, and user interface