There are times in business intelligence work when you reach a proverbial fork in the road. One path is easier but leads to less insight; the other is a little harder and might take more effort but the return could be a home run.

One of these times is when you want to model a business-critical process, but the data available only covers a small part of the overall process.  And suddenly you’ve got Dennis Hopper in your ear saying “Pop quiz hotshot…what do you do?” (for the younger generation this is a reference from the movie ‘Speed’).  Okay, maybe you’re not a young Keanu Reeves and maybe your problem isn’t as dire as keeping a bus going 50mph so the onboard bomb won’t go off; but even if it doesn’t seem it, this is a big moment and deserves extra consideration.  It’s not hard to guess that despite being business-critical, these processes often get passed over if the available data is severely limited.  

At ConradBI, we suggest the best way forward is actually a hybrid.  First, build out the model for all the data.  You have to work under the assumption it will all be available at some point; so that when it’s available, you can immediately plug it in and begin delivering insight.  In the meantime, use the value that can be derived from modeling the minimal data you have to advocate for starting to collect the remainder of the data. In other words, use one to lift the other.  And maybe in the end you get your cake and eat it too…or in our Speed analogy, maybe you won’t have to eventually jump a 15-ton bus (critical business decision) over a 50-foot missing section of interchange highway (your missing data).  It’s unlikely it will turn out as well as it did in the movie.

To that end, the ConradBI team are specialists at maximizing insight from minimal data, advocating for better data, and we’re pretty good at filling in the gaps so you don’t have to jump the bus – your decisions can just “cruise” on down the highway.  When you need us, we’re here.