BI Development Process¶

★★★★★ Intermediate

The BI development process covers the full lifecycle from requirements gathering through stakeholder interviews, dashboard planning with wireframes, data exploration, building, iteration, and publishing. Following a structured process prevents the most common anti-pattern: building the wrong thing.

Key Facts¶

Real-world anti-pattern: "Just build something, we'll figure out details later" -> rework loops and unused dashboards
Invest 2 days in requirements to save 2 weeks of rework
Dashboard Map = wireframe + question-answer mapping, done before opening Tableau
Metrics registry = single source of truth for all metric definitions
BI analyst competency matrix: 4 levels (theoretical -> can teach others)
Visualization = information design + graphic design + UX + storytelling + tool proficiency

Patterns¶

BI Development Workflow¶

Requirements gathering - interview stakeholders, document questions and KPIs
Dashboard Map - wireframe the structure before touching Tableau
Data exploration - understand actual data structure, granularity, quirks
Data preparation - model joins, create calculated fields (on paper first)
Build MVP - minimum version, test with stakeholders
Iterate - refine based on feedback
Publish and document - publish to server, document data sources and metrics

Requirements Gathering Interview¶

Business questions: - What decisions does this dashboard help make? - How often is it used? (daily, weekly, monthly) - What actions follow from seeing the data? (investigate, escalate, do nothing)

Users: - Who are the users? (PMs, analysts, executives) - What is their Tableau/BI skill level? - Who is in the test group?

Data questions: - What data is available? (DWH tables, CSV files, CRM exports) - Is data clean or raw? Who prepared it? - Are there non-additive metrics? (require separate scale field, cannot just SUM) - Are there special data quirks? (e.g., "All Regions" row in region field needs filtering)

Timeline: - Deadline? MVP or full version?

Dashboard Map (Structure)¶

Plan before building. For each element, define: - Question the user is asking ("Which region is underperforming?") - Chart type that answers it best - Data fields needed - Filters that apply

Dashboard structure pattern:

Level 1: KPI summary (total state, one number per metric)
Level 2: Trend over time (improving or declining?)
Level 3: Breakdown by dimension (which segment drives the trend?)
Level 4: Detail/drill-down (individual records, anomalies)

Metrics Registry¶

A single source of truth for all business metric definitions:

Field	Example
Name	active_sellers
Business definition	Sellers with at least one listing in the period
SQL/formula	`COUNT(DISTINCT seller_id) WHERE adverts > 0`
Owner	Listings team
Data source	DWH table `listings.sellers`
Granularity	Daily, with scale field for weekly/monthly
Special notes	"All Regions" row must be excluded for totals

Without a registry: different dashboards show different numbers for the same metric because each analyst defined it differently.

Data Field Dictionary Example¶

For a listings dashboard: - execution_date - Date - region - Geographic region; note: "All Regions" row exists, filter when showing totals - scale - Data granularity (day/week/month); non-additive, must filter by scale, not sum - listers - Active sellers (those with at least one listing) - retention_7_days - % still active 7 days after first listing (only valid at day scale) - retention_28_days - % still active 28 days (only valid at day scale)

Stakeholder Communication¶

Anti-pattern: building in isolation, surprising stakeholders with "finished" work.

Better approach: - Show wireframe before building - Show draft at 50% completion - Weekly check-ins on large projects

Handling "just build something" requests: "If I build without understanding requirements, we'll likely rebuild it. 2 days in requirements = saves 2 weeks of rework."

Handling urgent timeline pressure: Agree on MVP scope: minimum viable dashboard that delivers value in available time.

BI Analyst Competency Assessment¶

5 visualization components: information design, graphic design, UX, storytelling, tool proficiency.

4-level competency scale: 1. Theoretical knowledge only 2. Can do with documentation/lookup 3. Knows nuances, has own examples 4. Can teach others

Self-assess against desired level to identify gaps.

Gotchas¶

Non-additive metrics (e.g., metrics stored with a "scale" field for day/week/month) cannot be summed - must filter by scale
Retention metrics may only be valid at day scale - check granularity before calculating
"All Regions" or similar aggregate rows in source data must be filtered out when showing totals, or you get double-counting
Peak load on BI servers is non-linear and unpredictable - one heavy report can consume 75% of server CPU
Current incomplete periods should be excluded or marked clearly to avoid misleading comparisons