Differences between business intelligence in Government and Industry
Business intelligence (BI) consists of practices and software that enable the collection, analysis, and presentation of data to support business decision making. ‘Business’ here has a very broad meaning; it covers government operations and mission support, as well as non-government, public- and private-sector needs.
Businesses in both the government and non-government sectors often use BI tools and processes for similar tasks and in similar conditions. However, there are also many tasks and conditions that differ, sometimes markedly. For example, both sectors use BI in human resources management, in budgeting and planning, for financial analysis, and in customer support. However, where industry concerns itself with sales, marketing, and profitability, government BI focuses on mission support, program performance management, policy, and public welfare.
Government and private sector business analysis concerns
The differences in concerns and required outcomes — and the implications in each sector’s choice of BI tools and other information technologies — can be significant. BI tools and processes designed and developed for industry applications are therefore not always the best choice for government.
This technical note, the first in a planned series, covers the application of BI tools and methods in government. It explores government’s special needs and concerns and highlights advantages that BI tools specifically designed for government can deliver. These advantages include support for self-service business intelligence. Self-service BI empowers government workers to meet mission goals and enables stakeholders, including the public, to benefit directly from government information.
Support for self-service BI is a key element in government BI best practices. Later technical notes in the series will further explore the self-service BI topic.
Best Practices BI Approach in Government
The term ‘best practices’ describes a set of repeatable procedures that has been proven to efficiently and effectively lead to optimal results in a particular business domain or for a particular business problem. Best practices are derived from a combination of theory and experience, often involving systematic study and synthesis of practices in use at organizations recognized as leaders in their fields.
Where industry might put Return on Investment (ROI) forward as the prime indicator of best practices success, government is motivated more by mission success, by performance measures such as Return on Time, and by customer satisfaction. There is no single, monolithic success indicator.
That President Obama’s mobile devices have special security capabilities illustrates just one area where government concerns differ from those of the broad market, for a spectrum of information technologies and for BI in particular.
When determining best practice success in government, it is helpful to first consider the widely industry-adopted Balanced Scorecard approach to success, with its financial, customer, internal process, and innovation and learning perspectives. Similarly, multiple factors indicate and contribute to government BI success. Of these, the main element underlying the government-adopted success factors is user and stakeholder empowerment due to self-service BI capabilities.
This technical note relies on best practices analysis to government business intelligence. The analysis looks at the following government best-practices dimensions:
- BI software and applications
- government-specific BI concerns
- BI tools and best practices goals
- empowering stakeholders
- designing for change.
BI Software Tools, Trends, and their Real-World Applications
BI Software Tools
The business intelligence category of software encompasses a variety of tools ranging from end-user applications to software-development toolkits. Most tools are available in comprehensive suites as well as individual components.
The principal data analysis and presentation components of BI software tools are:
- reports
- spreadsheets
- interactive, exploratory analysis and visualization
- dashboards
- portals and mash-ups.
Data mining — applying statistical and machine-learning techniques to create predictive or explanatory models — is also sometimes placed in the list of functionality for BI tools.
These functions are complemented by functionality from other software, for example data integration and fusion, data profiling and cleansing, ETL (extract, transform, and load), data warehousing and data marts, enterprise functions such as master data management (MDM) and data governance, and semantic analysis.
Emerging BI Trends
A number of trends common to both industry and government are coming into play. They are helping to make BI ‘pervasive’ and to fulfill the promises made by BI vendors of ‘BI for the masses’. Trends include moves by industry and government to implement, where appropriate:
- operational and embedded BI
- real-time BI
- mobile, geo-aware, and social BI.
To explain these trends: Where BI had previously been applied only in the analysis of historical data collected in data warehouses and data marts, operational and embedded BI bring BI functions to the ‘front line,’ to everyday, line-of-business applications.
Operational BI provides monitoring and alerting capabilities, and it may provide the ability to react in real-time, with low analytical ‘latency’ to current (and not just historical) conditions. BI with low analytical latency, where results are returned near-instantaneously whether involving historical or operational data or both, is termed real-time BI.
Examples of applications that are taking up the trend to integrate real-time BI include: fraud and regulatory compliance, risk management, media monitoring, intelligence, law enforcement, and online business applications. These applications have been promoted to real-time execution, and they take advantage of modern data systems architectures to run against fresh, up-to-the-moment data.
A complementary trend is mobile BI, which delivers business information to mobile devices in an appropriate, usable form. This information might, in some instances, be geo-aware, tailored for the user’s geographic location. Given the U.S. president is the first with a Blackberry, and given the explosive growth of location-sensitive social networking and social media, the emerging field of mobile and geo-aware social BI is likely to experience explosive growth.
Applications in Industry and Government
As noted, BI tools and practices have been widely applied in areas of concern to both government and industry — notably human-resources management, budgeting and planning, financial analysis, and customer support. They have also been applied in areas of concern primarily to industry — notably sales, marketing, product design, and management for profitability.
The issue for government arises in adapting software and methods that were created for industry to government-specific needs. Every major commercial BI tool has been developed for industry. Each has been designed to answer industry-specific concerns and to industry-specific standards, sometimes at the expense of government needs.
Special Government BI Considerations
Government runs by rules that differ from those of industry. Civil society entrusts government officials at all levels with deep and broad authority to look after public goods and needs. This authority implies responsibilities and accountabilities that do not encumber most private sector workers.
Government employees are therefore answerable not only for achievements but also for adherence to rules and defined procedures. The ‘How’ of working in government often matters as much as the ‘What’ that is done.
The special How of government IT, reflecting best practices, includes the following.
Budgetary and procedural constraints |
Government spending, whether for discretionary purposes or for ongoing commitments or entitlements, is authorized by political processes. Appropriations are based on agency mission costs rather than, as in industry, based on being in proportion to anticipated revenues or desired profits. |
Mission alignment |
Work practices and work products are linked directly to mission-required outputs, not to profit. Work is conducted in conformance with policies, regulations and defined operating procedures. Supporting IT systems, for BI and for routine operations alike, are similarly mission-aligned and procedurally compliant. |
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BI is a key tool in turning measurements into actionable information to support performance management and optimization. Because government operations across the board are information and knowledge based, data and data analysis play a critical role in both ensuring mission alignment and accomplishing the mission tasks themselves. Best practices dictate to:
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Attention to customer service, usability, usefulness, and accessibility |
Government information is generated and consumed by three broad classes of stakeholders: government workers in internal operations, researchers and policy makers, and the public. Each class receives appropriate customer service so they get timely access to the information resources and tools they need. Information and resources are both useful and usable, and require no explanation. Accessibility is a special sort of usability that is incumbent on government. To the greatest extent feasible, information and information tools must accommodate persons with disabilities. |
Accuracy, security, and responsible stewardship |
Government conducts, facilitates, and regulates the public's business and is further entrusted with stewardship of public assets. Accuracy and security needs may be more than a requirement; for government, they are often a statutory mandate. Further, government must retain important public information to meet archival and other future needs. Paramount attention must be paid to accuracy in data collection, analysis, and communications. Equal attention must be paid to protecting confidential information, whether it be financial, tax, medical, law enforcement and judicial, intelligence, or census records. |
Efficiency, effectiveness, and timeliness |
Government can mitigate the impact of the taxes and fees that fund its operations by operating efficiently and effectively, and by minimizing waste, fraud, and abuse. Not coincidentally, these are again areas where BI adds critical value. They are also areas facilitated by collaboration and by data sharing and linkage, and by the elimination of unnecessary and outmoded barriers to responsiveness. |
Transparency and accountability |
The public ‘owns’ government and expects operations to be transparent to the greatest degree possible. They also expect operations to be conducted according to openly defined and debated procedures, even when activities or data must be classified for security or confidentiality reasons. IT systems, including for government BI, adhere to applicable standards and recognized, proven methods where feasible. |
Best Practices for Government BI
Business intelligence facilitates mission performance and procedural compliance. BI is essential in effectively carrying out information-centric government operations. It is part and parcel of a well conceived response to special government considerations.
Best practices point to government preference for BI tools designed with government needs in mind rather than blind adoption of tools designed for industry without regard for government requirements. Given the responsibilities and accountability entrusted to government workers and policy makers, and given public information needs, best practices also call for empowering the range of government stakeholders.
Required BI Software Capabilities
Because the commercial market drives the design of mainstream Business Intelligence (BI) tools, when determining appropriate government BI software we need to focus on points where government needs diverge from industry needs. So, translating BI-related needs into capabilities, we see that government BI tools should:
- protect confidentiality, be accessible, and meet security and platform standards
- support research, production, and data archival
- provide auditability including traceback of data movements and transformations
- implement trustworthy, reliable, standard methods with allowance for innovation. Supplier experience and capabilities count
- offer needed performance, capacity, and scalability
- protect government investment via reliability and maturity and also a clear, sensible development roadmap.
Business Intelligence Tools for Specialized Statistical Use
Statistics are produced, published, and consumed by people in all levels of government, from local government to state and national governments, and even beyond to international agencies. The production, internal use, and dissemination of statistics are tasks carried out in a number of areas including:
- a broad array of government agencies
- specialized statistical bureaus sections of government ministries and departments that study and report on matters their parent organizations are responsible for.
Therefore BI-tool suitability for government statistical tasks merits particular focus by solution architects and BI evaluators. The tools need to support:
- integration with survey design and management tools
- facilities for browsing, searching, and publishing statistical metadata and administrative records
- computation, use, and delivery of measures associated with sample-based surveys such as weights, standard errors, and confidence intervals
- specialized algorithms and methods (for example the Balance of Payments system of accounts)
- standard and specialized classification schemes (for example NAICS), data structures (for example ISO 11179 for metadata registries), and interchange formats (for example SDMX)
- record linkage and data fusion
- multiple languages for user interfaces and for statistical metadata.
Requirements that may apply for a government BI tool
Empowering Stakeholders
A final government BI best practices approach to consider is empowerment of internal, inter-governmental, and public stakeholders. Empowerment may take the form of self-service or centralized BI, depending on business goals.
Government BI best practices call for delivering information and capabilities that are appropriate for the user’s analytical needs, capabilities, and business goals. The mode of delivering the information and capabilities may be via the Web, mobile devices, and installed software in any of a broad variety of presentation styles.
A segmentation exercise allows us to ensure that each type of stakeholder has access to required information, tools, and resources. It helps answer the question, Who needs what BI information / capabilities, in what form, and for what purposes? It helps us understand the Who in order to better deliver the business intelligence How. We put forward four segmentation dimensions — stakeholders (Who), information types (What), goals (Why), and BI functions (How) — in a fashion that summarizes points made in this technical note:
Who — Stakeholders
- Internal government users: executives, line managers and staff, program office, inspectors, auditors, customer service.
- Inter-governmental users. These are the policy makers and information consumers in agencies other than the agency that collected, produced, or has custodianship of the data.
- Agency customers and the public, which includes all kinds of businesses.
What — Information Types
Internal government users are responsible for:
- operations and analysis of operational performance
- transactions
- mission-related data and statistics
- management of capital assets
- personnel functions
- customer support.
Outside governmental stakeholders and the public consume data and statistics produced by internal operations.
Why — Goals
Government uses BI in the name of:
- effective, efficient operations
- quality customer support and service
- oversight, transparency, and accountability
- response to procedural mandates
- filling information and intelligence needs.
How — BI Functions
BI functions include reporting, analysis, predictive analytics, investigative analytics, monitoring and alerting, and data integration/fusion.
Design for Change, for the Future
Strength in Design
Design is both the blueprint of a system and the steps undertaken to create it. Strong design in both senses is imperative. It is a best practice. Information-systems design must not only accommodate change, it must anticipate and embrace change — in government’s mission, in government’s methods, and in the supporting technologies. For business intelligence, providing analytical capabilities that help us understand where we've been, where we are, and where we are going, will be an important government tool in designing for change, for the future.
BI Helps Shape the Future
A new term has emerged from the web of social media, digital natives, referring to individuals who have grown up with computers, e-mail and the Web, mobile devices, and similar technologies. Digital natives rely on information technologies without hesitation. They live much of their lives online and electronically in ways that transcend conventional geographic, language, and social boundaries.
The popularity and vibrancy of social networking affirms expectations of the continued explosive growth in digital society. As technical capabilities and expectations continue to develop, government BI best practices must keep pace, adapting to evolving conditions, needs, goals, and capabilities.
Best practices entail continuous improvement and involve design for change. Government, including through the use of BI and other analytical technology, has an opportunity to shape change.
Conclusion: Implementing Government BI Best Practices
Implementing government BI best practices can be summarized as follows:
- Start by assessing your organization's current BI tools capabilities.
- Gain an understanding of the role that government-focused BI software and processes can play in bridging the gap between where you are and where you'd like to be.
- Evaluate special considerations that apply at your organization, linked to your agency's stakeholders, information resources, and goals.
- Rationalize your tool choices in light of these considerations, and do anticipate the natural evolution in mission, technology, and conditions that every public-sector organization faces.
This structured, best practices approach will help your organization obtain the greatest benefits from business intelligence technologies and practices. It will help you respond to current needs and it will help you shape change and not just react to it.
Government that applies government-focused BI operates efficiently, effectively, and responsively is a government that all agencies should work to create.
About
STR Technical Note series
This is the first is a planned series of technical notes, sponsored by Space-Time Research, on Self-Service Business Intelligence for Government.
Space-Time Research
Space-Time Research (www.spacetimeresearch.com) provides EASIER, FASTER, SAFER, and cost-effective solutions for government education, welfare, transportation, tourism, health, criminology, and homeland security departments internationally. STR is the vendor of choice for the world’s most advanced National Statistics Offices.
STR creates partnerships with customers and with providers of complementary solutions, technology, and services for customers. Offering speedy and successful implementation, professional services, and support, Space-Time Research is recognized and respected as a global provider of business intelligence solutions.
Seth Grimes, Alta Plana Corporation
Technical Note author, Seth Grimes, is a business intelligence, data warehousing, and decision systems expert. He founded Washington DC based consultancy Alta Plana Corporation (www.altaplana.com) in 1997. He has over twenty-five years experience designing, developing, and supporting data management and analysis systems for government agencies including the US Navy, Department of Transportation, State Department, Internal Revenue Service, Census Bureau, and NASA, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the International Monetary Fund.
Mr. Grimes is also Contributing Editor at IntelligentEnterprise.com, a Business Intelligence Network channel expert, an instructor for The Data Warehousing Institute, and founding chair of the Text Analytics Summit. He writes and speaks on information-systems strategy, data management and analysis systems, industry trends, and emerging analytical technologies. He is also a team recipient of the U.S. Vice President's Hammer Award for Reinventing Government for his work on the U.S. Census Bureau's American FactFinder system.
Download the Government Business Inteligence Best Practices - Technical Note written by Seth Grimes, Alta Plana Corporation. A4 Letter
© 2009 Space-Time Research Pty Ltd and Alta Plana Corporation