Great principles like Clausewitz‘s “concentration of resources” and Vilfredo Pareto‘s “80/20 rule” are obvious once they are pointed out.
For years I’ve been surprised to discover organisations and business units that weren’t analysing the basics. There are the obvious top-level items, like revenue targets, that ought to be informed by predictive analytics. But there is also a generic level below that one, like tracking every estimate anyone makes and comparing them to actuals (spoiler: the quicker and more pressure put on the estimate, the worse it is when made by a human.)
I’ve tried to find a comprehensive list. At one point I thought it was in Kimball‘s The Data Warehouse Toolkit. I’ve just finished reading The Multidimensional Manager, which lays out 24 subject areas for analysis. Some of these areas, like Supplier Scorecard or Capacity Management, won’t apply to every organisation. But most, do. Every organisation should have a Core Competence Inventory of its staff and a Customer Service Delivery analysis.
If you’re a Business Intelligence programme manager, or an executive looking for better outcomes, you should use The Multidimensional Manager as a check list of standard analyses. I know that I will.
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