On Transparency

Top 10 Questions: Mobile BI for Operations

[Guest post by Dave Sherman]

All workers, no matter what role they play in an organization are now expecting to be able to get  access to corporate systems from their smartphones to make decisions and to help them do their jobs better.  It has indeed gone from being a nice to have to the more urgent level of “gimme!” and “must have, now!”  Gone are the days when checking critical systems in all types of discrete or process manufacturing systems, data operations and financial systems meant getting out of bed at night when there was a problem and going to the office or plant to check in. The expectations have changed because the number of smartphones and all other web-capable devices (e.g. iPad, tablet PCs, iPod Touch, flat screen TVs, etc.) has grown so large that almost every decision maker has access to one. Whether it is a personal device or a corporate issued device is irrelevant. 

Want some numbers?: http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS22333410

(I am still wondering exactly why my 12yr old wants the latest android device with a full data plan, but that’s another subject)

So this begs the question, “Why not give workers access to their most important data to help them do their jobs?”  Well, ahead of this potentially contentious corporate decision to provide the access, is the research and comparison of current best practices for delivering any kind of data to a mobile device.

We thought you might like to hear what questions have come up most often from people just like you, who are looking to leverage their existing investment in data systems and find a solution to mobilizing it.

To date, here are the 10 most popular queries:

• Is my data secure if I deliver it to a mobile device?  How?

• What types of data are most beneficial to mobile users?

• What will my operational data look like on a small device?

• How long does it take to implement an Mobile BI project with my current data?

• Do we have to create a new data source or can we leverage our existing ones?

• Can I only view simple data, or can I perform lightweight analytics?

• Do I need to run software on my devices, and which ones are supported?  Blackberry, iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows Phone, others?

• How much coding needs to be done during implementation, and must we do it again when we need to make changes?

• How much time and/or money will a Mobile BI system save my company?

• What are best practices for deploying operational data to smartphones?

As always, we would like to hear from you, and over the coming weeks we will post some answers to these questions and possibly even more questions.  Feel free to send us your own.

Also, if you want to get an idea of how we answer these questions right now, download our free guide to the most common Mobile BI mistakes and how to avoid them:  Free Mobile BI Guide 

Until next time…

Dave Sherman

   

Yet another video: Visual KPI Screen Overview

Look out – we’re stepping up the volume over here when it comes to video.  Here’s the second one this week.

This video is an overview of the various mobile BI screens that are available in Visual KPI for the end user.  They are all shown in both a standard web browser and on a mobile device (Windows Phone in this case, but it will work on almost any smart device like Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.).

 

 

If you want additional details on the screens, visit the Visual KPI product tour on our web site.  Also, for you iPhone or iPad users our there, be sure to download our new iPhone mobile BI app – it’s free!

As always, let us know if you have any questions.  Thanks!

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New Video: Visual KPI Excel Editor Overview

Luckily we got Michael to record a video or two recently that shows us various parts of Visual KPI.  This video covers the Visual KPI Editor which is an add-on to Microsoft Excel.  This is where setup, configuration and ongoing changes are made to deployments of Visual KPI.  As you can see, we leveraged all the work Microsoft has done (and continues to do) on Excel which not only makes it easier on us, but users end up with a configuration tool they already know how to use (read: low training cost) and one where changes can be made in seconds without any coding.

All the configuration work you do in the Excel Editor defines what the screens will look like in your web browser or on your mobile device (Blackberry, iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows Mobile, etc..  In another video (which we will post soon), you will see an overview of those screens.

As always, please let us know if you have any comments or questions…

Excel Editor Overview

For see our web site for more information on Visual KPI for mobile business intelligence.  If you want us to demo the software for you over a web meeting, just contact us at info@transpara.com. 

 

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We are not a startup, but we play one on the Internet

Technorati Tags: mobile business intelligence,startup,osisoft,robert hylton,visual KPI,mobile

Standing in for Michael today, mostly because he is too busy talking and not typing (he’s at the OSISoft PI User’s Conference in San Francisco), is me: Robert Hylton.  My role?  Not really sure, but I guess you could call me a long-time band member and they guy who aspires to make mobile business intelligence great for the masses, not just the massive.  Enough about that, on to today’s topic…

We’ve been talking to some folks that are not part of our core lately (I know, risky).  They are not customers, partners or our own employees.  They are industry analysts, reporters and various others that we interact with to gather feedback from time to time.  They are very helpful and we actually like them quite a bit, but they keep using the word startup when referring to us and we aren’t always sure if that is a good or a bad thing.  Good, I guess because we like to think of ourselves as a lean, scrappy, agile band of renegades that break rules in unique ways to better society.  Bad, because we write industrial strength real-time software for some of the largest enterprises on the planet and they aren’t always fans of risk. 

So, are we a startup?  Yes and no.  Let’s look at a few of the downsides (for customers) of working with a startup:

Startup Stereotype	Transpara Reality
New, often immature product	New product, but years in the making
Newly assembled team, often young	Core team has been together for over 10 years - this is the 3rd company.  Unfortunately for us, not that young anymore
Backed by venture capital	Self-funded
In the red	In the black

Ok, but forget that self-indulgent sales pitch for a moment and lets look at some of the things that make startups great:

Startup Stereotype	Transpara Reality
Small = Agile, nimble	Small = Agile, nimble
Frequent releases	Frequent releases (every month or so)
Modern business model	Modern business model
Community driven customer interaction	Community driven customer interaction

So, are we a startup?  We are five years old and most of us have worked together for over a decade.  To be honest, it doesn’t really matter the way I’ve described it above except to those who feel compelled to categorize us (like analysts – they get paid to – we understand).  What really matters is how a company like ours goes about serving customers.  In our case, that means mixing the two together into a stew of goodness that makes our customer want to buy software from us and keep doing so.  To that end, here are a few of our priorities

• Build agile software like a startup, with quality control and customer scenarios of a mature company
• Use the latest technology and processes, but never at the expense of quality
• Leverage our community like a startup, but maintain real relationships with our customers like a mature company
• Focus on usability and simplicity like a startup, but don’t limit customization like a mature product (this one is always a tough balance)
• Front end (web presence, marketing, community, training, education, etc.) like a startup, Back-end (development, quality, support, operations) rock-solid like a mature company.

There are many more, but to paraphrase my last bullet above, we are not a startup, but we play one on TV the Internet.

As always, comments are welcome.

Robert

5 Mobile Business Intelligence Myths

I just finished reading a great post by Hannah Smalltree at searchbusinessanalytics.com called Mobile Business Intelligence – Will it take off (for real, this time)?  Again, a good read, but it highlights many of the issues that still cripple mobile BI (for now).  Even the success story she highlights is riddled with flaws which have to be overcome before Mobile BI can really hit the mainstream.

Here are a few examples:

1. Why do BI vendors keep assuming that software needs to be installed on the device?  Somehow most companies in the industry have ignored how powerful the browsers are on these new devices, and I’m not just talking about the iPhone.  Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone, Android, Palm, etc. all have really powerful browsers that can accomplish nearly everything that an app can without putting software on the device (and this gets even better with HTML 5 on the horizon).  Do we have to remind software companies how hard it is (for the vendor and the customer) to create a new version of your app for every device that gets released?  There are hundreds.  It is impossible, frankly.  Oh, and if you solve for the phone’s browser you also get the desktop solution for free (and new devices like the iPad).  Some might say security is an issue, but it isn’t and here’s why.
2. Why does everyone assume there needs to be a big project to accomplish all of this?  I expect it is because most of these vendors make the majority of their money on services (the custom project that was referenced was $30,000, which was quite small, but still involved low-value services work which was unnecessary).  This is unfortunate, because when done right from the beginning, most key metrics can be viewed, in context and from all of the right angles, in just a few key screens (which should be generated by default), especially when those KPIs are operational in nature.  Key “views” always include:
   • What is the state of my x (business, factory, profit, product, supply chain, etc.) at a glance? (in our case, a % rollup view of all KPIs in a group)
   • What is the current value of a key individual metric? (found on almost every screen)
   • How does it compare with its expected value (thresholds, limits, etc)? (trend, KPI map, bar chart)
   • What does this value look like compared to other similar KPIs? (scorecard)
   • What led up to this point? (the history, trend)  This leads you to… (trend)
   • Are things likely to get better or worse given the trend? (trend)
   • Am I alerted when something is particularly bad or good? (monitoring, alerts via email, sms; see example on the right)
   • Optional: Who is responsible for this KPI and who do I alert?  (alerts)
3. Mobile BI should focus on operations data, not future planning data.  Traditional BI (OLAP cubes, data mining, hard-core analytics) often looks at planning data and also focuses on huge problems that need deep analysis (e.g. how many people might buy an iPad if we build it).  This is hardly the right application for the mobile platform.  Think about what people care about on their phones, regardless of what is possible:  email, Twitter, getting directions, text messaging, sports scores, breaking news – all of these are operational, or “here and now” metrics.  If you are going to analyze hundreds of variables around future planning scenarios, you are going to want to be in front of a big monitor with plenty of time and a pile of empty Mountain Dew cans – this does not make an ideal fit for the mobile scenario.
4. Mobile BI need not be rocket science.  Most vendors we run into think mobile BI applications need to be wildly customizable.  We respectfully disagree.  My second bullet above highlights this.  Transpara’s Visual KPI application has been running with customers’ data in industries as diverse at utilities and power generation, oil and gas refining, data centers and biotech and we talk with those customers all the time.  The funny thing is, we almost never get comments like “if only I could make a new screen that had x in it” which for a long time even worried us.  Are they even using it, we thought?  Turns out they were, and the screens we created showed them all of the key metrics in the right way.  Now, this doesn’t mean we don’t have a significant list of improvements to make (we do) but it does highlight how straightforward mobile BI software must be in order to deliver value.
5. Mobile BI software is not just a front end client to traditional BI.  Again, read bullet 3 above about operational data.  Traditional BI is a great source of data for a mobile business intelligence solution, but they are most often not a 1:1 match and certainly not exclusive to each other.  The ideal mobile solution often includes marrying multiple data sources to create that real-time solution.  For example, get some thresholds or limits from deep analysis in your data warehouse but combine that with some real-time data from a streaming database, historian, or even a traditional database that is refreshed faster for a true “here and now” mobile application.  With the right solution, this will be easier than you think.

I could go on for weeks on this topic, but customers await.  If you have comments we would love to hear them, especially if you disagree.  Oh, and you can read a potentially more intriguing operational intelligence case study here (See the intro section on Mohawk Paper and Information Everywhere on a Blackberry on page 3 - I will write up more about this one in another post soon).  Thanks as always for reading.

Michael Saucier

www.transpara.com

http://blog.transpara.com

http://twitter.com/transpara

Mobile BI / Operational Intelligence Software UI Contest

Today’s post should be a quick one, but something we wanted to highlight.  Here’s the story:

Transpara has a great real-time engine that took years for really smart people to build and get right.  We also have a very “effective” client that does some amazing things, and we are also quite proud of it (and we think our users would agree, given their customer feedback so far).  That said, small screens of data are often hard to make sexy, while still being very usable.  That is one of our latest challenges, and we stumbled upon something really cool we thought was worth sharing: design contests.

I read about these in a book on inbound marketing, and hit a few sites.  Most notable were www.99designs.com and www.crowdspring.com.  Both are great concepts, and now that they have some serious scale they are incredibly useful.  Beyond just a cool concept, we have a current need to think about UI improvements on the client so we ran a contest on 99Designs and had some fun with it.

How’d it go?  Great!  In fact, check it out yourself and let us know what you think of the entries:  http://99designs.com/web-design/contests/pimp-mobile-web-app-41273

For a few hundred bucks, we got 10 or so designers to compete on the look and feel of our mobile software for business intelligence / operational intelligence.  Once we pick a winner (we haven’t yet) we get the design and the copyright.  Good for us, but also good for the winner.  Some other great things about doing this:

• Diverse entries from people with different design backgrounds
• Entries from all over the world (we had at least 3 countries represented in ours – most designers profile did list their location)
• You provide immediate feedback on things you like and don’t, then designers can resubmit and others can improve their designs as you go along
• It’s like Ebay for designs.  Slow at the start, and then it picked up and most of the designs were submitted on the last day.  We received 16 entries in a week long contest

That’s it for now.  Just wanted to share the fun we had and get your thoughts on the results.  

FAQ #1: What is “Security Inheritance” in Visual KPI?

We are keeping things random here on the Blog (by design) but we knew at some point this would become a great place to answer some oft-asked questions from our users and even people seeing Visual KPI for the first time. 

Today we’ll start off with an easy one: “What do we mean when we mention the Security Inheritance Model?”

In simple terms, it means that Visual KPI conforms to our customers security model and/or requirement without any work on their (or our) part.  It just “inherits” the requirements from the host environment at the customer site. 

Simple, right?  Yes, but we know you want details.

The design team at Transpara make all kinds of design choices when building and updating the product.  Some are feature-oriented, some are focused on usability, and some are there specifically to make the lives of your IT staff easier!  OK, in the interest of full disclosure everything we do to make things easier also makes things easier on us (easier to deploy, easier to maintain and support, etc.).  Add this all up and you will see why security inheritance benefits everyone involved.

Here are some basic facts about almost every customer environment:

• They each have their own security requirements
• None of them look the same, and some of them are incredibly sophisticated (even crazy at times)
• They, and only they, really understand who should have access to what applications or data
• This information is usually kept in a directory and most often it is Active Directory

Here’s your worst case scenario: Often, enterprise-class software applications require you to create and maintain a dedicated “user database” of the people who will have access to the software and which features they are allowed to use. Let’s say you have a CRM system from Vendor A. It needs a list of users and their access rights so the CRM system knows which users can access which pages and functions in the system. Next, you buy an HR system from Vendor B and again you have to create and manage the list of users and their associated permissions for the HR system. This pattern gets old and fails to scale very quickly.

Now that we know the facts along with what we don’t want to do, Security Inheritance becomes a system that is quite easy to describe.

1. Visual KPI is an enterprise-class software application and of course needs to know who in your organization is allowed to create, modify, delete and view the various KPIs, scorecards and trends (among other things).  This is critical, because so is the data we deliver.
2. By designing Visual KPI as a web server-based application, and specifically using Internet Information Server (IIS) as the platform, we get to leverage the existing authentication and rights-assignment subsystem within the platform, including the directory and all related security policies. 
3. Want the tech-heavy version of #2, here you go (consider yourself warned): Visual KPI is an in-memory IIS application whose component parts all run as part of a virtual directory structure in IIS. One of the many benefits of IIS is that each virtual directory has a set of “permissions” which govern who which users may see or execute functions contained and managed by the virtual directory. Since each of our feature sets (website, Excel Editor, interfaces) have unique virtual directories we have complete flexibility and access to the power of Active Directory as our NATIVE user authentication and rights assignment engine!

Summary: No one gets access to our system until the customer’s existing environment says its ok. 

Only then do we allow editing and delivering of KPIs, trends, scorecards, etc to mobile devices, laptops and desktops. 

Because of this design, Visual KPI requires NO additional user database and NO additional rights assignment functionality beyond that which is built in to the Windows Server operating system.  Our users already have a well-defined collection of Active Directory Users & Groups, and we simply “assign” one or more of each to the virtual directories which govern each of our components. It is an elegant and IT-friendly way to leverage all the work a company has put in to defining their AD Forest, and reduces the added complexity of locking down visibility and editing to near zero.

We are extremely proud of this architecture and our users have benefitted from it since the day Visual KPI 1.0 shipped in 2006.  If you want to speak to one of them, just let us know.

Comments?  Questions?  Please enter them below or contact us directly.

Michael Saucier

 

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Killer App for Mobile: Context

Michael Gartenberg was right!  Context is almost ALL that matters, since data without context is irrelevant noise.

Imagine a person running down the street screaming “8! 8! 8!” without the context of “number of Olympic Gold Medals.”  We probably could not understand the significance of this outburst and that it relates to Michael Phelp’s accomplishment from the 2008 games. It could just as easily refer to someone’s winning lotto number or Chinese good luck.  Context is what adds dimension and meaning to raw data. In software, usability and adoption rate of new features is largely governed by the quality of the context given to users—see graphic (courtesy of Kathy Sierra). 

Let’s take decision-support software as an illustrative example. There are two users of this software—the person configuring the dashboards and metrics (the ADMIN) and the person using these dashboards to make operating decisions about the equipment or plant (the CONSUMER).

The time between newbie and expert at software configuration for the ADMIN is determined by the continuity of context.  Leading a person from “clueless” to “competent” to “wizard” is always about exposing and teaching incremental features and capabilities without increasing the user’s frustration level every step along the way.  People’s passion for new capabilities is inversely proportional to how pissed off they are with the implementation details.

Similarly, the CONSUMER of the software is driven by a similar curve.  If the ADMIN configuring the software has done a good job, then the CONSUMER of this software will be incrementally exposed to layers of nuance in the data, which helps him or her make decisions faster and with more confidence.  Boyd’s OODA loops are the way in which all decision-support software should be judged. The users “Observes the data, Orient themselves with context, Decide what to do, and then Act to bring about the necessary change to the environment.

Until the advent of smart phones with broadband internet access, it was absurd to think of OODA loops and context delivery for anyone but desktop software consumers.  Windows Mobile, the iPhone, Google’s Android and Palm’s new Pre all make it possible to create a desktop-like decision-making environment on a mobile device.  A decision-makers location has been rendered irrelevant, as the complete context for any decision is now available wherever they are, making today’s agile workforce capable of market and demand-driven responses only available in the dreams of our forefathers.

Delivering the contextual information users need, when they need it, is what's critical -- not any particular application or service.

Context contradicts conventional wisdom.  For one thing, feeds and speeds are no longer the defining metrics for value.  The fastest and most powerful laptop won't do much for a user on the road if it weighs 10 pounds and gets barely an hour of battery life -- or can't open in a coach seat on a plane.  By contrast, the ability to check email, browse the web or listen to music doesn't matter if your phone won't make a call when you need it to.  Smart vendors will learn technology applied to context for users is what matters -- especially since I think there's an upper limit on the number of devices most people will carry with them at any given time.  As I've said in the past, for most of us that's two, with a maximum of three.  The jury is out on whether the iPad could change that.

It's time to be liberated and connected.  The dream is real -- now it's time to see more devices execute and deliver the vision.  Onward and upward (in context, of course)!

Michael Saucier

Edward Tufte draws Bigger Crowd than Sarah Palin

He has been called the “Leonardo da Vinci of data” by the New York Times.  This was evident at the San Francisco Westin in mid-December as close to 1500 devoted followers paid almost 400 bucks each to hear Edward Tufte talk about visualizing complex data.  Given what we do at Transpara, there was no way we would miss it.

Tufte’s thesis is “do whatever it takes to explain something.”  By this he means use a diversity of display methods, a diversity of data, remove “chart junk” and replace it with evidence.  Key themes:

• De-emphasize (or better yet, eliminate) the process of looking at data
• Allow the viewer to see as much as possible all at once 
• Don’t adorn the data, let the data speak for itself  (see example below of US cancer patterns)

All three of these may sound contrary to your average PowerPoint skills curriculum, but there is a reason Tufte has this following. 

Mr. Tufte thinks there is no relationship between the amount of detail and the ease of understanding.  The optic nerve processes the equivalent of 20 megapixels per second, so there is no doubt our physiology supports high-bandwidth displays.  “Information Overload” is always bad design, not too much data.   Tufte shared a good design for showing 400,000 pieces of data on a single 11x17 piece of paper without being overwhelming and still allowing for immediate grasp of meaning (hint: he used “sparklines” to condense the space required to show huge data sets, just like we do in Visual KPI).

Tufte goes on to use the Sports Page in a newspaper as a great example of data density and information layout and compares this to PowerPoint charts and graphs.  There are an average of only 12 data elements in a typical PowerPoint table, but an average of 150-200 data elements in a sports score table.  “Did we suddenly get stupid just because we arrived at work?”  has asked us.  He suggested that we relegate PowerPoint to being the “operating system for the overhead projector.”

Information wants to be free of the shackles of over-designed user interfaces, 3-D charts, perspective views, all of this “non-data” simply gets in the way of communication for the purpose of understanding.  Data should always be arranged to support reasoning about the information.

The Dangers of Glitziness and Other Visualization Faux Pas

My personal highlight was his page-by-page review of our mobile scorecard application.  While much of Visual KPI is already organized in the spirit of Tufte, his personal review and critique of the Visual KPI design has meaningful implications for us going forward.  I won’t share the details here, but expect a few incremental improvements to further embrace the parsimony and simplicity of Edward Tufte.  But I digress…

For us, or anyone who cares about visualizing data, scorecards, KPIs, dashboards, or just good design, the lesson is that you must understand the differences between Tufte’s view of data and the sometimes overly popularized view of simplicity for simplicity’s sake or you are missing more than half of the story (and Tufte would also disapprove of doing that). 

His books are amazing (and beautiful, right down to his choice of paper) and there is much to learn about him on the interwebs.  In fact some people take some pretty good notes when they attend these things: http://terriemiller.com/notes/presenting-data-and-information-class-notes/

Enjoy and feel free to comment as always!

Michael Saucier

Breaking News: Michael Saucier Caught in Tiger Woods Scandal!

At a routine analyst briefing last week, Transpara CEO Michael Saucier was ambushed by TMZ.com and questioned about his alleged long-running affair with Elin Woods, wife of professional golfer Tiger Woods.   Tara Dugan, head of Transpara Corporate Communications, stepped in and stopped the surly reporter, who was waving around a picture taken at a recent charity ball, where Michael escorted Mrs. Woods at Tiger’s request.  Mr. Saucier explained that Tiger had asked for a favor so that he might check on some of his other properties in New York, Australia, and Dubai.   TMZ then presented dozens of other photos showing Mr. Saucier and Mrs. Woods together, at various locations including St. Bart’s, Paris, Kabul and Moscow.  At this point, Transpara General Counsel Gloria Allred put a halt to the proceedings and ushered Mr. Saucier to a waiting limo.  Since this hasty exit, nothing has been heard from the Saucier camp, fueling speculation that a multi-million dollar “hush money” deal might be in the works.  

Can it possibly be?  Actually, while stranger things have happened, this wasn’t one of them.

As Tiger’s situation mushroomed over the last several days, it illustrated what can happen when facts are concealed and people are forced to “interpolate” and even “invent” data to fill in the missing gaps.  This lesson applies equally well to business, where people are expected to work in unison as a team.  Without shared access to timely, consistent, and contextual operating data, people can never truly work as a team.  They end up making assumptions and using old “rules of thumb” to overcome the lack of real performance metrics.  They end up with “dueling spreadsheets” at morning meetings – each side claiming that their spreadsheet is the true measure.  Sometimes decisions are made based on politics or gut feel instead of rational measurements.  All of this can be solved by creating a culture of transparency, where everyone has up-to-the-minute data on their most important metrics.  It is easy to keep to the intended course when you have ready access to cold, hard facts. 

Might some of the 10,500 internet stories about Tiger Woods have been avoided if the facts were readily available in a timely manner?  The press might not concur, but I’m sure Accenture, Nike and a few other folks might.