Lessons from BI in Public Institutions
The study in this article provides reasons why BI is not fully implemented in some organizations. The thematic approach to determining why the technological tools are or are not used by managers provides an actionable set of areas where improvements can be made. One aspect that may relate to our discussions on asking the right questions is, "do managers really need to know how to use BI tools?" In many organizations, managers have enough knowledge about specialized data and tools to know how to task their specialists (BI analysts, in this case) to use them to answer their requirements. This can give analysts too much power in organizations with poor systems, whose data quality is questionable, or with authoritarian cultures where analysts fear giving the "wrong" answer. But in a highly effective environment, managers manage, and analysts analyze.
Research design and methodology
Factor analysis
According to Pallant, factor analysis reduces a large set of variables to a smaller use of factors or components by identifying the inter-correlations in the set of variables. Factor analysis was used to determine if there were underlying factors or themes in the data. Six factors were extracted by means of regression.
Factors are similar to 'themes' in qualitative data analysis. In factor analysis, all correlations between all the different items (1–25) are calculated and those that are highly correlated with each other are clustered together in a factor.
Six factors were extracted by means of regression and they related to the theoretical framework. These factors have been used for the thematic analysis as well.
The six factors identified via regression were:
- F1: Management support
- F2: User interface
- F2: System quality
- F4: Iterative development approach
- F5: Job relevance
- F6: User training.
Table 2 lists the questions for each identified factor and the associated themes and sub-themes.
|
Factor |
Q.No. |
Questions |
Theme and Sub-theme |
|
Fl: Management support |
Q19 |
Management actively promotes and supports SAP Bl. |
Social influence → Image |
|
Q18 |
Information culture is promoted within your directorate. |
Organisational factors → Information culture |
|
|
Q17 |
The organisation promotes information readiness. |
Organisational factors Organisational culture |
|
|
Q07 |
Management promotes the usage of SAP Bl. |
Organisational factors Management support |
|
|
F2: User interface |
Q15 |
The SAP Bl e-learning training is easy to find on the portal. |
Organisational factors User training |
|
Q04 |
Obtaining SAP Bl access is straightforward. |
System quality characteristics → Accessibility |
|
|
Q05 |
It is easy to navigate, search and retrieve information in the SAP Bl tool. |
System quality characteristics → User interface |
|
|
Q16 |
The SAP Bl e-learning training is effective. |
Organisational factors → User training |
|
|
Q14 |
The SAP Bl dashboards and reports are easy to understand. |
Organisational factors → User training |
|
|
F3: System quality |
Q06 |
SAP Bl will improve service delivery. |
Organisational factors → Focus on the customer |
|
Q01 |
You are comfortable in experimenting with new technology. |
Individual characteristics → Readiness for change |
|
|
Q02 |
SAP Bl information quality is trustworthy. |
System quality characteristics → System quality |
|
|
Q20 |
SAP Bl benefits the public sector. |
Macro-environment factors → Business sector |
|
|
Q03 |
The performance is good when executing SAP Bl reports and dashboards. |
System quality characteristics → System quality |
|
|
Q25 |
Analytics usage will improve if placed on an individual's performance management scorecard. |
Other |
|
|
F4: Iterative development approach |
Qll |
Your business requirements were adequately met in the newly developed report. |
Organisational factors Iterative development approach |
|
Q10 |
The turnaround times for the SAP Bl developments were satisfactory. |
Organisational factors → Iterative development approach |
|
|
Q24 |
The technical support for SAP Bl issues is good. |
Facilitating conditions |
|
|
F5: Job relevance |
Q23 |
You are required to use SAP Bl reporting as evidence for day-to-day business reporting activities. |
Social influence → Visibility |
|
Q22 |
You require the following reporting information to enable management decisions in HR, finance and KPI-related information. |
Behavioural belief and attitudes → Job relevance |
|
|
Q09 |
You have requested a SAP Bl (report or dashboard) to be developed for your specific business needs. |
Organisational factors → Iterative development approach |
|
|
Q21 |
SAP Bl provides your team with a competitive advantage. |
Macro-environment factors → Competitiveness of the environment |
|
|
F6: User training |
Q13 |
The SAP Bl classroom-based training was effective. |
Organisational factors → User training |
|
|
Q12 |
You have received SAP Bl classroom-based training. |
Organisational factors → User training |
|
|
Q08 |
The SAP Bl implementation team considered your input when rolling-out SAP Bl in 2006. |
Organisational factors → User participation in implementation |
|
KPI. kev oerformance indicators: SAP Bl. SAP business intelligence: F. factor: Q.No., Question number: Q., Question. |
|||
TABLE 2: Themes and sub-themes breakdown per factor.