The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
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Develop a Plan Once you know your organization would like to implement an in-house data analytics solution, the next step is to identify requirements and limitations. The first question to ask is "What analyses need to be performed?" Some departments have a small number of reports that need to be created, whereas others utilize a wide array of reports and may not know what types of reports will need to be created in the future. To better understand the types of reports needed, identify the users and other stakeholders who will be involved with the analytics. Work with key stakeholders to determine what types of reports are required, what would be useful, and what is unnecessary. This information will go a long way toward determining what information the analytics solution should provide. In conjunction with the stakeholder analysis, someone should be responsible for inventorying the data the analytics solution will house. Key considerations are the source(s) of the data, the volume of existing data, how quickly that volume grows and the structure of the data. Consider how the system will be used over the next three to five years when performing the data assessment. Data volumes continue to increase, and, after analytics solutions are online, there is a tendency to add additional data sources. If there is a possibility that an additional data source will be integrated into the solution, include that in the data assessment. The pricing of analytics solutions is most often based on licenses, so a user assessment also needs to be performed. Consider how many analysts will need access to the system to create reports. If a fixed number of users is not identified, a more expensive enterprise license may be required, so identifying the critical users helps reduce costs. If the desired analytics solution has a Web-based reporting feature, determine if the reports may need to be shared outside of the company, and if so, with how many people. When determining your budget, begin with current pricing structures. Most solutions are sold based on licenses that are renewed annually. The budget should include annual license fees, as well as any user training or data conversion fees that may be required. An analytics solution can be shared across departments, so if another department will be making use of the software, Peer to Peer 9