David Elliott
Feb 21 2011
DM/BI Tech Tip: Nail Down The Data Details in Your Requirements
One of the things I’ve learned the hard way is to include a checklist of data-specific criteria in your Data Requirements document.
We have all heard the question come in from a developer asking about formatting of numeric values. “How many decimal places?” or “Does this value have a leading dollar sign?” The Data Requirements section of most Requirements Documents lists the name, description, data type and other characteristics of specific data elements. It defines whether each data element is a character (and its length) or numeric, and whether NULL’s are allowed.
Jan 31 2011
Are personal gadgets becoming corporate BI tools?
A few months ago I attended a presentation at MicroStrategy which focused on their Mobile product. The class highlighted how information can be presented on iPhones and iPads in very useful and flexible ways, but one section of the presentation really sparked my interest. It showed the usage growth of the various technologies as they become current:
If these figures are to be believed, and I suspect they’re pretty close, then the evolution is continuing and rapidly expanding towards less expensive, more portable and easy to use devices. For our discussion, let’s assume that Mobile Internet computing consists of phones (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, etc.) and tablets (iPad almost exclusively at this time).
Jun 09 2010
Cloud Computing – are you participating and don’t know it?
For something that is attracting boatloads of attention, lots of curiosity, some level of skepticism, but plenty of filled seats in various seminars, Cloud Computing still seems like a pretty mysterious thing. But maybe it’s really in use more than we think, and for many of us, we can actually claim to be participants without having consciously moved towards the cloud.
Apr 16 2010
Managing multiple Calendars in Microsoft Project
I was recently asked to assist a co-worker with an issue he was having with Microsoft Project. He was working on a rather large implementation plan, and needed to assign the first 2/3rds of the tasks using the typical 8-hour day/40-hour week calendar, but the last third (and of course the most critical) were to be done across three 24-hour days. While this seemed like a common enough scenario, especially for large application upgrades and installs, MSProject was balking at allowing us to set this up. It was another case of “I know what I want to do, but I don’t know how”.
After much searching of the help files, google-ing and otherwise gnashing of teeth, we found the answer.
Jan 27 2010
Effective Communication Through a Requirements Document
After reading Chris LaCroix’s blog entry on Requirements gathering (see Five Things Analysts Should Always Do To Ensure Success), I was reminded of a previous assignment where two things I had learned long ago were reinforced. The first was a mantra preached by a senior Business Systems Analyst: “You can never have too much detail in your requirements”. The other was “A picture is still worth a thousand words”. They both fit together into one statement: Requirements must be communicated effectively, in a way that is easy for everyone to understand.