Our long search has come to an end... we have new office space!  We will be moving just a hop, skip and a jump away from where we are now and our entire team will be back under the same roof.  As soon as we can, we'll be posting photos of the construction progress.  For details, what follows is our press release about the new office.

Jelecos, Data Media Solutions, and Heimes Resources are pleased to announce their new and expanded office space. The owners recently signed a lease for the 450 building at Regency.

In 2005, the companies wrote a growth plan and leased office space accordingly. Fortunately, exponential growth has required the companies to lease multiple office spaces across the city.

The owners of the three companies attribute their success and growth to both hiring incredible talent and enforcing their employee motto; “Faith - Self - Family - Work.”

Their philanthropic involvement in the Omaha community has included work for the American Red Cross, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, United Way, Special Olympics, and the YWCA, just to name a few. Jeff Wilke a partner in all three companies states, “Tim Schmad told me years ago that the most successful companies in Omaha are the ones who are able to evolve into the total fabric of our community and thus we strive for that reputation.”

This new location will allow for all Jelecos, Data Media Solutions and Heimes Resource employees to collaborate again under one roof.

In addition to adding new space for all of the companies employees, the 450 building offers a unique, sophisticated and contemporary design featuring a 4 story atrium with skylights and a 40-foot waterfall.

The companies anticipate an August 1 moving date.

Jelecos, a technology consulting and services firm has been honored by INC magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States and named a Top 25 Company in Business Excellence by the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

Data Media Solutions provides custom IT procurement solutions for their clients. Focusing on superior customer service, this woman-owned company has served Omaha and all of the mid-west since 1999.

Heimes Resources, an IT staffing company, is the newest addition to the family of companies. Heimes Resources specializes in placing executive IT professionals in both short-term and permanent positions.

Last week I went to the MicroStrategy World conference in Las Vegas.   It was a jam-packed full two days of learning and networking.  It was also my first time in Las Vegas as an adult.  Truly, there were a lot of new experiences for me!

The kick-off general session began with a Gwen Stefani impersonator who fooled most of us in the audience into thinking she was the real thing.  We should have known, we were in Vegas, after all!  

I spent most of my time in the technical sessions learning more about Intelligence Server and administrative components like Integrity Manager and Enterprise Manager; in the evenings we explored Las Vegas in all its glory and exchanged notes on what we had learned that day.

I love going to conferences.  I think it’s because I love to learn and am always looking for ways to improve the work I do with my clients.  After any conference I have a long list of new things to try and I feel rejuvenated and excited to get back to work to put all my new found knowledge to use!   This conference had an added benefit in that MicroStrategy just released a new version of their software and each session was focused on showing all the cool new stuff it can do!  It helped me expand my knowledge and showed me how to take advantage of the new features.   Of course, I also gambled $2 and came out ahead $1.37 – but I had to spend $1.99 on a package of band-aids for all the blisters I attained while walking down the Strip…. But I still think I came home a winner!

There seems to be a lot of activity on the BI front these days.  As the world emerges from its recession darkness, BI is there to welcome it with open arms.   BI bloggers all over the blogosphere are making predictions for the new year and touting their top 10 trends and predictions for 2010; most of them share common advancements:  cloud BI tools, improved analysis and advanced visualization.

I’ve been glancing through these articles and started to consider what the future might look like in a sci-fi world.  So, taking these three advancements into account, this is my vision of Sci-Fi BI.

Cloud BI tools exploded into the market in 2009.  They combine the appeal of getting data out there quickly with a visual dashboard that contains the results of the analysis.  Dashboards contain all the classic elements of gauges, bar graphs, pie charts and the like, with some cool Flash widgets that make a dashboard super cool.  In a sci-fi world, this concept would be taken to the next level.

Let’s consider the advancement of data visualization over the past few years; I recently wrote a blog about a few of my favorite data visualizations.  Using tools like Adobe Air or Microsoft Silverlight allows for a more flexible and dynamic visualization application.   In the sci-fi world, data would be continuously added to a database/data warehouse or, even better, read directly from transactional systems; analytical tools would process the data and feed its results to a free-standing or web-based visualization application.  This application would be accessible through your computer or your smart phone; or a big screen in Times Square.  

The visualizations that you would be presented with would go way beyond the pie charts and gauges of a typical dashboard today.  Your business intelligence would be presented like a news ticker complete with advanced visualizations, and, at any time, you could glance at the images and get a feel at that moment for what’s happening at your business.   The tools might even “ding” you when something significant happens and you could immediately see what’s afoot.  Imagine your BI reporting in the same way news is reported.  You could even have a full-time analyst that adds BREAKING NEWS tickers.  

That’s how I see sci-fi BI.  I’ll finish with a J.G. Ballard quote “Everything is becoming science fiction. From the margins of an almost invisible literature has sprung the intact reality of the 20th century.”

Your dashboard design needs to be simple and clean with a focus on the data.   Your challenge is to display all the required information on a single screen in a way that can be instantly digested and with minimal distractions.  The idea is that the less the business user has to think, the better your dashboard design.  

There are a lot of theories about the layout of dashboards, but there are no hard and fast rules.  The basic tenet is that a dashboard needs to be customized for its purpose, well organized, concise and free of distractions.  There are some elements that need to be considered:  

• Windows:  If you have  too many windows the mind can’t focus on any one of them.  Generally good dashboard designers don’t use more than 6 windows in a 3 x 3 symmetrical layout.  The windows should be equally sized to be the least distracting.
• Widgets:  The widgets you use need to make sense based on the data it’s representing and be easy to read and understand.  If you have animation it should be controlled by the business user rather than run automatically or in a continuous loop.
• Colors:  The color scheme should be neutral and if you’re conveying information with color, check it out in black and white:  10% of us are color-blind and different monitors render colors differently

It's a good idea to perform user testing to be sure the dashboard is user friendly, particularly if you have a lot of interactions.  Finally, make certain you get input from your business users; they know what they need and like.

Metrics for a dashboard are tied to a target or have an acceptable range.  Reporting on them in a dashboard then generally expresses how they differ from the target and where they fall for an acceptable range.  These metrics are designed to instantly tell the business user where they stand on a goal, plan or problem resolution.  To select the metrics, you should start with the event that is your dashboard focus.  Working through the event takes you on a path through the data and eventually you’ll find the metrics that support your dashboard focus.  The business users know these processes better than anyone and need to be heavily involved.  You can help them by starting a dialog and prompting them to answer some key questions.

Questions to ask:

• What is the business question that needs answered?
• Why is this question important/necessary?
• Who creates the data, what is the process?
• What action or decision can be made with this information?
• At what granularity do you need this data in order to take that action or make that decision?

After working through these questions, a set of metrics will emerge.   You’ll also be able to determine how the data needs to be presented—a percentage, a specific value or simply a thumbs up or down.  Keep in mind that the metrics you choose need to have the following characteristics:

• Easy to understand
• Relevant
• Provide context
• Lead to positive action

Finally, they need to be tied to a target or a range.  You may need to collect data for a while before the optimum target or range is determined.  Review your metrics every few months to be certain they are still relevant.