The roadmap plan must ensure that project leadership is established at the onset of a WebFOCUS deployment. Typically, it begins with the project sponsor who champions and funds the project, and whose role it is to resolve any conflicts that may impact its success. Project leadership, individually or as a group, is tasked with making strategic decisions, such as scheduling and delegating responsibilities. Approvals and signoff on implementation may also be part of the leadership.
Key staffing and leadership components include:
Project members should have an excellent grasp of requirements and technology. Within any organization, it is necessary to identify and mobilize leads for specific implementation processes and tasks.
Staffing |
Responsibilities |
---|---|
Project Sponsor |
Sponsors and funds the project. Resolves conflicts to ensure the success of the project. Determines deliverables and rollout production schedules. |
Project Leader |
Manages the project. Delegates responsibilities and tasks. |
System Administrators |
Manage the hardware and third-party software resources. Manage the operating systems and storage. Monitor resource utilization. |
Network Administrators |
Manage the network between servers and services. |
Application Administrators |
Manage web server and application server farms. Install third-party software, such as WebFOCUS. |
Database Administrators |
Manage the database servers including the tuning, monitoring of queries, connections, and resource utilization. |
Data or Subject Matter Experts |
Work closely with the developers constructing the reports because they understand the data model. They can provide valuable guidance on developing reports for maximum optimization, performance, and efficiency. |
WebFOCUS Administrators |
Manage the WebFOCUS BI platform. |
A well-defined project plan is crucial so that all project team members have the same expectations. The project plan should address the following:
It is important to involve the business user community in the project, since they will be the primary users of the application. The business users should specify data access and business rules requirements. There is little value in rolling out an application to users who were not given the opportunity to provide input, and then have that application fail to meet user expectations.
The experience, skill set, and quality of project team members is critical. Team members must be able to work collectively as a group. Project team members must have access to hardware, software, and system resources. For instance, database administrators must be on board to assist with database management systems.
Information Builders |