Functional Business Area Tools As A Source Of “Lessons Learned”

Cognos.com Tip: Business function areas (information, finance, human resources, etc.) certainly benefit from data mining and manipulation in business intelligence applications. Additionally, analytical processes contribute materially to analysis of the information to facilitate planning, forecasting, and decision-making. What else can management garner from enterprise planning and decision support tools? A key benefit from such functional business decision support areas is the ability for gaining insights from historical information, even from negative experiences, such as failed projects. By seeing what was successful across many different projects, campaigns, and initiatives leaders can avoid future mistakes and resource misallocations. This information is a form of an informational “sweet spot” and helps to manage expectations across teams, sponsors, and stakeholders. Decision makers and functional managers can avoid cost overruns, missed deadlines, and substandard quality deliverables. Beyond avoiding the adverse financial implications of failed projects, it also helps to avoid any potential impact on company reputation and credibility.