It’s obvious: data and Business intelligence (BI) are of major importance to gain insights and make well-informed decisions. When BI is implemented properly, it has the power to boost performance, profitability and passenger satisfaction. But how to start such a BI project? What are the pitfalls? And what do operators and authorities need to take into account?

Data strategy/ kick-off workshop
In this workshop we teach participants how to get from data to results. It will boost insights into what impact your data can have on your business. We discuss the data-revolution in public transport and the impact it has on the industry. We discuss how operators and authorities should act. And we will introduce the Business Intelligence Maturity Model, to define your current organisational intelligence versus desired. Also dos and don’ts, and best practices are discussed to create a solid foundation for a business case and for a hands-on strategy to unlock the value of your data.

SMART process mapping
Each BI project should start with a bird’s eye view of the key processes and its stakeholders. When analysing these processes, stakeholder expectations will be defined and translated into measurable requirements that will be input to the definition of ‘the voice of the customer’ and the selection of KPIs. A Lean Six Sigma tool we frequently use in this step is SIPOC, which stands for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs and Customers. It helps to define a solid process map that can be used throughout the life of your BI project.

KPIs & baseline definition
Business intelligence should enable employees to make better decisions faster. Therefore, Dashboards and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should be aligned with your goals and the voice of your internal and external customers. That is the objective in this service. But before these new KPIs are used and managed, the current status – the ‘baseline’ – needs to be calculated. This baseline will be used as the standard against which any improvement is measured.

BI project planning
Business intelligence can help operators and authorities to increase their intelligence and to improve service, profitability and customer satisfaction. A BI project is not easy though: 76% of all BI projects fail. In this step we develop an integrated BI project plan with a practical approach to create a data driven organisation, covering design, development, user acceptance, training, accountability etc. Methodologies that we use are: Lean Six Sigma/ DMAIC and the process of define, design, develop & deploy.

Good dashboards help to make better decisions faster: they support users in doing a better job. Effective designs are therefore user-centric, only displaying relevant indicators and targets. We help operators and authorities in designing effective KPIs, decision-support information and dashboards.

Accountability and User Adoption
A major condition for BI success is user adoption: if the business does not value the BI solution, a BI project is doomed to fail. That is why BI solutions need to be designed not just with the business in mind, but together with representatives from the business. Therefore, we carefully assign responsibilities – like BI sponsorship, KPI-ownership and process-ownership – to the business. Being responsible, the business will be involved in design, review and acceptance, ensuring the information and dashboards will be customized to their specific needs.

Business rules
After selecting indicators that support analysis and business improvement, the BI tool should calculate these indicators properly in order to make sure information is undisputed. Therefore, business rules need to be defined and accepted by all relevant stakeholders, connecting indicators and dimensions to available data sources and metrics. In this step we use our MDDS-matrix for robust indicator calculation.

Dashboard design
Decision-makers need to have access to the right information, at the right time. Therefore, we design and develop our dashboards in close cooperation with business users. They are put in the driver’s seat, making sure both information and visuals will fit their specific needs and responsibilities. By the end of this step, your organisation will have a Detailed Design Document with specifications for both your decision-making and our development.

To use information systems for monitoring, analysis and business improvement, new routines need to be deployed and managed. This will take time and hard work, especially in PT with all its routines.

Approach to embed initiative & accountability
Allocation of ownership will make sure business users take responsibility for the system, for their KPIs and for their ROI. Therefore, we support our clients in allocating ownership to KPIs, processes and the BI project in general, because accountability is crucial in achieving a data-driven organisation. Also we help our clients to support business users with creating a department that knows the business, BI and IT: the BICC (Business Intelligence Competence Center).

Training to master tooling, dashboards and functionality
When implementing an information system, users need to be trained to understand and use the information system. This will enable them to focus on achieving the expected impact. Therefore we have developed a training program with the following options:

• Kick-off, introduce and explain the information system
• Train users to master the functionalities in the system
• Train and manage advanced users to analyse and expand the system

Continuous improvement using Lean Six Sigma principles
Dashboards tell you how you have been performing. But by carefully analysing your indicators and processes you will be able to see how much better you can do tomorrow. These insights are the feedback a transit organisation needs each day to achieve continuous improvement. To get this done we offer consultancy based upon Lean Six Sigma principles. As a foundation, we use the DMAIC methodology: a hands-on roadmap for problem solving and process improvement. DMAIC is an acronym for five interconnected phases: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. By going through and repeating these phases, clients will be able to make good decisions on sound information. This will help to change and maintain new routines, and to ensure future actions are based on facts, rather than assumptions and opinions.

Advanced data analytics to get the max out of your data
To optimize the value of data, we also offer customized research and consultancy services. These services are all aimed at improvement though the use of data. We have – for instance – dealt with the following subjects:

• Elasticity & pricing strategies;
• Product & tariff simulations;
• Profitability analysis;
• Segmentation and profiling;
• Development of monitoring standards.If you need more information about our customized research and consultancy services, then please get in touch with us.