Build a unified BI game plan: 3 steps to move beyond silos

From chaos to clarity

Likely, you will recognize the signs of a divided BI strategy: dueling metrics, frustrated teams, and a lack of trust in the data. The problem is clear, but the path forward can seem overwhelming. Where do you even begin the process of unifying enterprise reporting and self-service?

Don't think of it as a massive, all-at-once overhaul. Think of it as a strategic project. This gameplan offers a practical, three-step approach to start breaking down the silos and building a smarter BI strategy.

Step 1: Conduct a BI Audit to Find Your "Bedrock"

You can't unify what you don't understand. The first step is to map your current analytics landscape with two key goals in mind:

• Identify your "Crown Jewels": Which reports are absolutely mission-critical? Your audited financial statements, key operational summaries, regulatory reports. These are the assets that are already heavily governed and trusted. This is your enterprise reporting bedrock.

• Map the "Desire Paths": Which self-service dashboards are the most used, even if they're not officially sanctioned? Where are business users flocking for answers? This shows you where the most urgent demand for data agility lies.

The goal of this audit is to identify the single most valuable, high-demand area where your "Crown Jewel" reports and your user's "Desire Path" dashboards are in conflict.

Step 2: Build a Bridge, Not a Wall, with a Pilot Project

Instead of trying to boil the ocean, pick one high-impact area to build your first proof-of-concept. The conflict between Sales and Finance on revenue reporting is a classic and perfect place to start.

Your mission is to build a bridge between these two worlds.

• The foundation: Using ibi™ WebFOCUS®, work with both teams to create a single, governed data model that contains the certified business logic for calculating revenue—one that Finance approves and Sales understands.

• The two views: From this single foundation, create two outputs. First, the pixel-perfect, certified financial report that Finance needs. Second, a new, interactive self-service dashboard in WebFOCUS® Designer that the sales team can use to filter, drill down, and explore.

By running both the rigid report and the flexible dashboard from the same source, you prove that you can have both trust and agility. You’ve just built your first bridge.

Step 3: Evangelize Success and Empower "Data Champions"

Technology alone doesn't solve the problem, people do. The success of your pilot project is now your most powerful internal marketing tool.

• Find your champions: Identify the power users and managers from the Sales and Finance teams who were part of the pilot. They have now experienced the "before and after" and are your most credible advocates.

• Show, don't tell: Arm your new "Data Champions" to evangelize the success. Have them co-host a lunch-and-learn to demonstrate the new unified dashboard to other departments. Record a short video of them explaining how it eliminated friction in their weekly meetings.

• Create a community: Use the momentum to start a BI "Center of Excellence" or a simple Slack channel where users can share successes and ask questions. This shifts the culture from top-down mandates to peer-to-peer learning and support.

Your path forward

The gap between your siloed enterprise reports and your dynamic self-service dashboards can seem vast, but bridging it is more achievable than you think. It begins not with a massive technical migration, but with a focused strategy: identify your most critical data assets, prove the value of unification with a single, high-impact win, and empower your people to champion a new, collaborative way of working. This is how you move beyond the silos—not through force, but by building a community of trust that transforms your organization into a true data-driven powerhouse.