Implementation of Goals – Ep. 285

If your Power BI roadmap feels like a never-ending list of asks, it’s usually not a tooling problem—it’s a goal problem. Without clear goals, everything looks like a priority and “progress” becomes whatever got shipped last.

In this episode, Mike, Tommy, and Seth discuss Microsoft’s implementation planning guidance for deciding BI goals and priorities: how to write goals that actually drive decisions, how to choose measures that won’t backfire, and how to prioritize work so your BI program compounds over time.

News & Announcements

• Power BI implementation planning: decide on the BI goals and priorities (Step 4) — The Microsoft guidance the team reviews to separate goals from work items and keep priorities defensible.
• Submit a topic idea (Explicit Measures Podcast) — Send questions, scenarios, and episode ideas for future episodes.
• PowerBI.tips Podcast — Subscribe to the show and catch past episodes.
• Power BI Theme Generator — Create a consistent look-and-feel for reports without hand-tuning colors and fonts every time.

Main Discussion

Goals are how you make tradeoffs. They force clarity on what the BI program is optimizing for (speed, accuracy, self-service, governance, reuse, adoption) and they prevent the team from accidentally measuring the wrong thing.

Key takeaways:

• Write goals in ‘decision’ language: if you can’t name the decision a report enables, it’s not a goal—it’s an output.
• Make measures behavior-safe: choose metrics that encourage the right actions (and won’t be gamed or misread).
• Prioritize with constraints, not vibes: time-sensitive deadlines, compliance, migrations, and capacity limits should shape the order of work.
• Assign ownership: every goal needs a business owner and a technical owner, otherwise it becomes a slogan.
• Separate ‘now’ from ‘next’: ship near-term value while protecting long-term foundations (data model, definitions, documentation).
• Prefer compounding work: prioritize deliverables that create reusable datasets, patterns, and standards—not one-off hero reports.
• Review priorities on a cadence: revisit goals regularly as business conditions change so the backlog stays aligned.

Looking Forward

The fastest way to speed up delivery is to get ruthless about goals—because clear priorities remove more work than any performance tweak ever will.

Episode Transcript

0:29 good morning everyone and welcome back to the explicit measures podcast good morning and happy Tuesday to to everyone there it is just makes me feel better when I hear that now I I’ve been hearing this now for three years and if I don’t hear that on a Tuesday it’s a little sad Tommy’s got that as his ringtone on his phone now oh that’s a text message oh a text when when it tweets you awesome so we’re going to jump in today for our topic we’re starting a

0:59 today for our topic we’re starting a little bit early meetings and things have pushed our timing around here a little bit so apologize for starting a bit early we hope you can jump in and watch at 1. 5 speeed catch up if you’d like but we’re starting a bit early today and the last couple of weeks we’ve been going through Microsoft documentation around the bi strategy planning it’s basically a large article around things you should think about strategically to get your team on board and dire the right way working on powerbi things and we’ve loved this article it’s been really really effective I think it’s there’s a lot of

1:29 effective I think it’s there’s a lot of great points here that we have discovered and found are very useful when thinking around your strategic planning we’re on section four of this so we’re moving down to decide on the bi goals and priorities so everything I feel like has been leading up to this moment like it’s a lot of these other things are good things to think about good things to consider but like at the end of the day what value are you bringing back to the business and I feel like this is that this is that portion

1:59 like this is that this is that portion of the section of the the conversation here what are the goals how do you align on these things a lot of pressure no pressure let’s jump on it I’ll put the link here in the chat window as well Tommy kick us off with some just initial thoughts and kick off the conversation here yeah you you are right though this is really the Crux of strategic planning there’s there’s two other articles we’re going to dive in tactical solution but we’ve assembled a working team we focused on identifying the right people we’ve done workshops to

2:31 the right people we’ve done workshops to understand the pains the needs the requirements of the of the team and the Departments and we’ve done our assessments so that all needs to go down to now what are we going to do about that what are the priorities and what is the work going to be done by the data team the business intelligence team where are we gonna focus our time and H more importantly how are we going to measure and gauge if we are successful or not as a bi team and as a data culture to implementation of

3:07 powerbi yeah let’s go into like this is a really good section I really like this idea of being able to pick on your different priorities and what you find is valuable and I think this really does align to what Executives want to hear I think if if I’m an executive and mean I think if if I’m an executive and I’m working with someone who’s doing powerbi I think this is very F like this is after you’ve done all the research after you got all the strategy planning as you to understand what data is important what processes are important what what where is the waste where’s the not waste what’s what does our business need this I think this is this

3:39 business need this I think this is this is something you have to you you grab on to like I’m here to to drive more Revenue I’m here to make this data more accessible to our users I think these are these should should be very tangible deliverables back to the business agreed this is all of the all the nuts and bolts like very granular conversation right that come out of these workshops that you have to disseminate like separate and bucket into the the movers the actions and the

4:11 into the the movers the actions and the things that you think are going to move the company in different directions right and this is the rollup of those I think the output of everything that you’re drumming up into easily digestible pieces so I things I feel like and again I’ve had a number of conversations with organizations showing up to powerbi and I’m just going to speak on some of like clear strategic priorities that I’ve seen people need in organizations and I think there are some needs

4:41 and I think there are some needs organizations understand they they need and then there are needs under organizations do not understand they need like for example many organizations will come in and say we need report Builders I think a lot of organizations are comfortable saying do you understand how to build reports and so there’s a lot of emphasis from companies focusing on the report building side of things however what they really need is they need planning for how are you going to organize your workspaces how do you identify an owner

5:12 workspaces how do you identify an owner or a data Steward of that workspace when there’s a problem with that workspace or the data coming into that workspace who owns that another thing that is not as clearly considered here is the data modeling skill set because a lot of times we we walk into organizations there’s a lot of SQL developers there but there’s not a lot of data modelers there and so there’s this to me there’s always this mindset of oh we just do it like this in SQL we’ll do a many to many join here and we’ll have this table look

5:43 join here and we’ll have this table look like this or we’ll leave a lot of Dimension pieces inside or we’ll have factual elements inside our Dimension tables and and it works the parbi will render the report but it’s not efficient and it it doesn’t always do what you want and sometimes you get mixed results so I feel like the the skills or the Strategic goals you need to work on in organizations that they don’t understand are more help around modeling more help around Dax education more help around organization and

6:13 more help around organization and planning to know how to release things a lot of people will just oh we’re just sharing through the workspaces okay is that really what you want so maybe it was the coffee that was

6:25 want so maybe it was the coffee that was maybe an extra little kick this morning but but I but but I so I’m feeling a little feisty this morning but I got a few hot takes but Mike if people are saying that I don’t think that aligns with strategic goals that may be a goal but let’s say in the realm of the documentation we’re looking at and I’m looking at there’s a there’s a area here of examples of strategic goals that sounds more like the way to get to a goal not necessarily the goal itself and I I agree with you I

6:55 the goal itself and I I agree with you I think a lot of times organizations Miss what what the goal really needs to be where where they have a means to an end and they think that’s the end so I’ll give you example you’re saying we need more data modelers right well that sounds more like an operational goal or a tactical goal it doesn’t sound like something strategic for the business why would that not be strategic I can I step in here one second go ahead I want to do two things one which is reset all of our

7:27 one which is reset all of our expectations because it it screwed up my thinking this morning again okay the first is that when I think about organization objectives and goals yeah they’re in the framework of ogsm or okrs this article flips that so let’s remember when we say goals and priorities those are objectives those are the highest level and then objectives are the action items or the key results sure so one that screwed me

7:58 key results sure so one that screwed me up because I was like yeah this is how it goes and I was like wait a minute like okay well let’s align on there okay the goal is the high level I think Mike what you’re I I agree with Tommy but I think you’re on the still both on the right track right I think the goal here would be to skill people up like that’s that’s the go say yes you want you want you have to raise the bar of the individuals that are going to be taking on this work and that’s part of a leveling thing here yes right so so what you outlined could be the key result

8:28 you outlined could be the key result like there correct I’m prob going skills yes there’ss all our goal is that we’re going to raise the bar internally as an organization to to this other point I think this is where the the rubber meets the road right from the standpoint that you’re going to have a lot of granular information from business units right and you H have to butt that up against the evaluations that you’ve done related to either Microsoft’s like leveling

8:59 to either Microsoft’s like leveling right on the business unit as well as the organization right and I think this is where it’s like you you quickly identify okay we’re at level 200 our objective for people to Mike’s Point would be let’s get to 300 and what is 300 look like well 300 looks like our people can do these things and that’s the hold on a second objective right yes yes or goal yeah I I was giving examples that were probably

9:29 was giving examples that were probably too detailed but you’re right the goal the goal is your team needs more skills your team and I’m looking down at the examples of bi strategy goals right a better clear content ownership and structure that’s that’s part of what I was describing right the organization of the workspaces how are you going to distribute things what does the app look like usually companies aren’t using the full effectiveness of powerbi in those areas they’re just sharing what they have have yeah ahead I was to say

10:02 they have have yeah ahead I was to say there there’s two aspects there too Seth you bring up the okrs and I I I’m I find it wanting in the article that there is no okr framework here only because Microsoft literally created Microsoft Viva goals and I think last year we were talking about they had a whole adoption on okrs and a white paper on it and setting up your organization for that I feel like I would have liked to see that here the other side of love to see that here like this the fact that I’m I’m like confusing goals and objectives

10:33 like confusing goals and objectives because they’re they seem to be flip-flopped in here yeah I think is is something that could be improved and I no I agree because if you look at the Viva goals documentation the first half is about setting up your organization for okr it’s not about the technology yeah so it makes sense especially speak the same languages yeah right like we’re creating we’re creating confusion from people who are engaged in those efforts right with having to mentally shift it’s like choosing the wrong visual right I

11:03 like choosing the wrong visual right I can make it make I can make it work but it just it doesn’t feel right it doesn’t make sense that’s a really good point and I have to think more about it right and I so I I would love to bring that to the from here thinking about okrs and how they trickle down the other side of the coin is one of the big notes right at the beginning while the working team shall be involved in clarifying and documenting goals and priorities it’s not responsible for defining them the executive sponsor and the equivalent

11:33 executive sponsor and the equivalent decision makers make these decisions not even make they own those decisions like it is their responsibility to own the responsibility of making those decisions and everyone else Falls in line and executes because they have the the authority to decide and allocate resources so that’s a big Point too because what’s your knowledge of your executive sponsor this is this is to me a follow the money Trail right executive sponsors have the pocketbook to hire move people around and put them

12:05 to hire move people around and put them on the right tasks right if you’re going to go down and to talk to some of these examples right if you’re going to do a better understanding and build better monitoring around your in your governance that’s going to cost money and time it’s going to take you away from building new reports you’re going to have to figure out what does that solution look like for your company how do you understand and what is your security stance on what do we need to know as an organization on how people are using your tenant and that’s a lot of companies Microsoft has given you apis to do it but there’s a lot of work you need to do to get a solution that monitors things in place I

12:38 solution that monitors things in place I think more importantly as I think about this from the realm of the sponsor that’s a lot of responsibility to getting the assessment right because

12:48 getting the assessment right because that’s really what’s going to be relay to the executive sponsor right and again you’re not expecting them to know data modeling you’re not expecting them to understand maybe data culture but not all the ins and outs so the way you present the assessment and the way you’re presenting the needs is need to be really I think well documented but also well communicated on what you see if we’re the liaz on if we’re the in between to say hey this is what we found this is where we think we

13:19 what we found this is where we think we need to spend our time because again their their seats on the line agree with that one yeah I gota I’ve got to backup through here we’ve we’ve talked about this a long time and and in different areas there notes like this though though still still raise a level of confusion to me around how the recommendations being made in some cases presume that

13:49 being made in some cases presume that these resources already exist and then say that well they have to be allocated like there’s already in order to do all these workshops across all the business units you’ve already had to have allocated at least the working team time right like and maybe it’s maybe it’s a delineation of that but it’s like are they do I have them or do I not have them like these are just existing resources we’re going to repurpose for these other goals and objectives because in order for me to pull this information together I’m already saying this is this

14:19 together I’m already saying this is this should be an initiative because I’m spending time doing these workshops unless I’m just like assuming that this is going to take more time than it would right like how quickly do you think you could spool up a workshop flip through all this stuff and and throw out goals and objectives is this a fast rapid process well a really good point I’m going to going to say I’m going to say there are certain

14:49 say I’m going to say there are certain things that I that as a consultant we know that are more important than others right there are other things of this like you look at all the all the different technical areas there are 14 technical areas to assess you could get 14 areas to say what level of skill set are you and if you have multiple business units you might have 14 areas times numbers of business units on their technical skills as level as well so I think this is based on what I’m seeing here this is a multiple meeting

15:19 seeing here this is a multiple meeting type exercise there’s there’s multiple weeks of time collecting this data together this is a big initiative and and I think my again we talked about the consultant being internal but from the internal side you also have to really get it proved or you gotta get the value of doing this worth worthwhile well yeah I suppose I suppose there’s there’s there is a difference from the standpoint of okay you’ve convinced somebody to say yes we need to do this

15:51 somebody to say yes we need to do this analysis we need to understand what the landscape looks like and based on the landscape and what what you uncover then we’ll go decide what things we’re really going to tackle because the action plans and the Tactical part that we’ll talk about in in terms of the the next segments all cover the we’re we’re going to go we’re going to go fix a bunch of stuff and that takes more than just this group to go do that because it’s six to eight people right so that makes sense

16:21 eight people right so that makes sense okay yeah Speaking of meetings Mike that’s actually a really great segue where it says conduct an alignment session and the alignment session is the final meeting for each business area so now you’ve just added again if you had 14 business groups yes apparently there’s another 14 business groups where each in alignment involves key stakeholders and the sponsor made by the working team and to make sure there’s achieved consensus which is a lot easier to say than the actual meeting itself oh

16:51 to say than the actual meeting itself oh 100% agree with that one I’m also to some degree thinking like there’s there’s in my mind there’s like some chart that’s popping out of this okay here’s here’s the person who’s essentially paying for the bi initiatives here are the different teams we are integrating with who are their executive leads or their representatives that are sponsors ormes you’re writing that down right you’re getting everyone to buy in you’re going through meetings with these multiple teams and saying okay great here’s our main objective our main objective is to scale up our people here’s what we’re

17:21 scale up our people here’s what we’re going to do to that our main objective is going to be we’re going to create clear content ownership standards here’s what those are going to look like Hey we’re going to have a a governance plan here’s what it looks like and how you play with that like a lot of these things are being like these are good these are really good things to have but there’s just a lot of technical pieces that are going to be here question does the stakeholder I’m thinking about this so like let’s say the the ownership one right and I’m planing a scenario out in my head and I want to see what you guys think the stakeholders involved in the

17:53 think the stakeholders involved in the assessment in the workshops for a particular business department let’s say at the end of this the set the goal is we need to improve our data ownership and our ownership of the data does that stakeholder then carry through throughout the course of that project or is that someone else do you assign someone else because you’re now asking a lot of a particular business person to want do all these assessments but then two there’s a lot of carry through because again it has to be carried through there’s responsibility on the

18:24 through there’s responsibility on the business team too and I think you I think you’re you’re looking at I don’t know what’s in place already at your organization right this there could be a lot of different things right you these these different business units could be buying Tableau they could be using something from click they could just be going to salesforce. com and using whatever reporting they have coming out of that system right the the initiatives you’re talking about are spanning multiple teams and potentially the data that this business unit needs may come from a different team it may

18:54 may come from a different team it may come from Central it it may come from other teams that they’re trying to share data across cost I really think this is just a linning of expectations so to your point right Tommy like it’s I think the goal here would be is we realize you’re using only Excel

19:09 we realize you’re using only Excel for most of your analysis that’s how when I look at business units today that’s the business side is doing a lot of that we step in and we say okay here’s this new tool called powerbi in order to get powerbi and to turn it on here’s the checklist of things we’re going to start doing and I think this is an opportunity strategically is to say as we open up powerbi someone needs to have some thought around here is how there’s a plan to be able to take

19:40 how there’s a plan to be able to take data from different teams and say when I give it to you in a data set or these Central data sets are handed to you and you build reports on them at that point in time you are responsible for the ownership of that data so I I don’t know how to answer your question directly Tommy I think I think the answer is it it’s a partnership between that unit and what central team is doing for bi it’s a it’s got to be a partnership both teams got to do stuff you’re right and I think I asked the question because I think that’s not emphasized as much as I think it’s going

20:10 emphasized as much as I think it’s going to be in the real world of the buyin that’s required here and that we’re talking about from each business group yeah the amount of resources and time yeah and I think Tommy you make a really good point and but it it could vary depending on what the goal is right or or what are the things that need to get fixed yeah but I would I would argue that as those discussions are happening and we’re rolling these up into objectives and goals across the board

20:41 objectives and goals across the board and that’s being presented at executive leadership levels there needs to be a percentage of time like based on the stakeholder right it’s Pro the stakeholder that’s having these conversations is likely some of the going to going to have some skin in the game right so if it’s like hey this is a major initiative around people training yeah I’m I’m sucking 30% of this person’s time and that has to be like it’s not just a bi work or

21:11 like it’s not just a bi work or engineering work thing in many cases it’s what is what is the percentage of time you’re taking away from this business unit and what’s the value ad for for them so I I agree I think that’s represented on a high level in these though like if from a a resource resource breakdown in in a general sense yeah and I I’m glad that in the documentation goes in that order because then that really showcases how important those right people picking the

21:42 important those right people picking the right people why that’s the first step here in the strategic planning because no matter what goals you have those people are going to be essential to making sure that actually gets carried through you may have the best goals in the world the world or you may also have goals that are too lofty that are not capable of your business either what what I haven’t found in this article which is interesting is how how do you juggle the the challenge here would be there’s an assumption that there’s an executive sponsor and say a b business

22:14 sponsor and say a b business intelligence leader that’s that’s engaging in all of these conversations so quite the task to roll it all up together but then you roll it all up together but then maybe they aren’t the the fin know maybe they aren’t the the fin decision makers but they probably are as far as like objective like laying out like what are the biggest movers and shakers across the organization and that’s also one of the reasons why there has to be a final executive like presentation or approval process because

22:45 presentation or approval process because they have to prioritize which of these across the organization is most important because depending on how many organizational units you have they all have a priority one right but if you’re creating 12 to 18th month road map off of this which you likely are how many of those objectives are actually going to get tackled which bods back to my last point I think in the the previous Tuesday or one of the Tuesdays is these are business units just because

23:16 these are business units just because they have the problem now doesn’t mean they’re going to have it in the future right so like with EV with every 12 to 18 month road map and typically I’m used to 12 like after month six it’s a it’s it’s the wild west man like it is highly likely highly likely priorities are going to change in the second half of the Year depending on what company you work for so unless you’re a giant company where things move very slowly as far as like those kinds of strategies the vast majority of time like I think

23:46 the vast majority of time like I think six months is is the window and with business it’s almost less I think like if you’re not in the quarter and you’re not fixing things are you really going to have the same problem right like are they going to find solutions that are around you probably right also too the sponsorship good luck saying yeah we’ll get this done in about 18 months right so like I think that 12 to 18 months that’s really that’s incredibly long unless there’s just I incredibly long unless there’s just and that’s not to say the business

24:17 mean and that’s not to say the business isn’t doing what it’s doing no and in many cases maybe it’s they have a process and they’re getting the data they need the the the LEL up is how do we make that better quality more efficient Etc and that’s why we’re going through some work efforts so that that business unit isn’t a week behind right or isn’t doing all this manual work or like the benefits are still going to be there and maybe that’s

24:47 still going to be there and maybe that’s more of the structure of thing we’re talking about as opposed to I don’t have data you you need to give me a report thing so when it comes to that the time frame and I love to hear guys as how you guys have approached this in the past but some of the ways that I’ve run goal planning and at least saying like hey we have this long-term goal but we have like the lwh hang I would always put together the low hanging fruit three months six months and then 12 month would be I don’t say

25:17 and then 12 month would be I don’t say more lofty but the tangible ones were going to be the ones going to be done low as like what can we do right now what are the ones that are near the next three months what are the next six months and that’s usually has been the most successful for me for buying for agreement and getting one on the same

25:32 agreement and getting one on the same page is there a framework that you put together because I don’t see that starting with 12 months as being the most successful what have you guys done for you guys have some goals and priorities for your team or client and putting that together that makes it tangible and acceptable to the to the stakeholders I think I think it’s I think it’s unreasonable to F to think you’re going to be able to knock out all of these things all at once yeah I think organizations don’t have enough people to focus on all these like all the goals

26:03 to focus on all these like all the goals that need to be done day one a lot and also depending on your maturity of your organization some of the stuff may already be in place it’s just done with a different tool so there is there’s sometimes I find there’s like okay we already have governance policies you already have who can have data who can’t we already have policies around how you’re going to handle self-service or not but usually what happens is you’re coming from this mindset of you’re adopting power Pi so therefore I have an existing tool structure that is known to me and my team understands so a lot of this is

26:34 team understands so a lot of this is just make sure you educate on okay what are the differences between your old world and the new world how do we do what is the workspace and how does licensing work and why don’t I need a premium for everything can I just use premium per user instead of Pros like what does that mean so there’s a lot of like just I think general knowledge leveling up but then once you have that it’s going to be really strategic around okay especially when you’re beginning this it’s it’s a lot around getting

27:05 this it’s it’s a lot around getting quick wins that prove this thing makes value once you get a couple of those in place then you’re off to the races and then you can start doing more of these larger larger initiatives so some some companies do and I think this is talked about in other articles inside the the parbi adoption road map you can do all your strategic planning up front and then you can be done with that and then you can Implement everything so a huge amount of Discovery and then implement or you can take you just turn on power

27:37 or you can take you just turn on power pii and let people just do what they want to do and then come back and try and figure out okay what do people make and then govern it apply the strategic planning or what I think is is the best solution is do a little bit of strategic planning Implement something do a little bit more strategic planning and then Implement so I like this idea of having shorter cycles of quick win goals or thinking through what what are the what are the areas that we feel we’re most deficient in let’s focus on those for a quarter and then let’s come back let’s reevaluate how do we do

28:09 come back let’s reevaluate how do we do is there is there adjustments needed to those goals what other goals can we pick up there could be big objectives here but to your point Seth a lot of people pivot quickly because the needs of the business change fast and the questions you had yesterday aren’t going to be the questions you have tomorrow of your data so you’re going to have to be nimble yeah and maybe in this process it’s also very worth noting which of those volatile things in the business unit are ones that have a are time sensitive

28:41 ones that have a are time sensitive right and I agree with Mike right like there there’s a lot in the business side it’s just like it it changes quite a bit depends on what the objectives of that particular business unit are I think overall I agree with Mike in in aspects of of some of his description some as Microsoft would say it some of the higher level goals right so we’re talking objectives that we’re trying to accomplish are I think can be Standalone and achievable

29:12 think can be Standalone and achievable within a quarter time frame or hopefully some are not and for the ones that are not I think that’s where the framework or the level Microsoft levels are off framework of a matrix to show you data culture or literacy there are plenty of them out there that give you that direction like I want to hit this long term no the organization isn’t going to say yeah 100% you now have all these resources for six months to go

29:43 these resources for six months to go tackle that that doesn’t mean as leaders that we let it go and it’s not important I think where what I’ve done is you break it down into the steps of how you get there and each step has an act able result that adds incremental value in some ways I I I do this with enhancement of systems too right because if if we’re thinking thinking long-term or we identify a potential problem in how a model was built you

30:13 problem in how a model was built you problem in how a model was built in many cases maybe you’re forced know in many cases maybe you’re forced to implement something that it works but over time is going to degrade and maybe it’s Tech that but but you’re also looking at Performance Tuning there could be five steps that I start interjecting into work cycles that like incrementally get me there and two months later boom all of a sudden I realize all the work of of that end result and I think to to some degree that’s more of a finite example of what

30:43 that’s more of a finite example of what we’re trying to do on a strategic level as well because you’re trying to hit the multiple different aspects of an organization and its needs and and part of that like in in those matrixes and the one I I use a lot is data Camp right is you’re you’re touching on multiple different aspects it’s not just reporting it’s it an encompassing kind reporting it’s it an encompassing strategy involves where we at with of strategy involves where we at with our infrastructure to Mike’s Point a lot

31:13 our infrastructure to Mike’s Point a lot where are we at with people training skill sets like yes how are you maximizing the value of your team that has all this knowledge by creating little mini mes across the organization right that’s that’s where organizations get really power tools I want to jump in real quick talk about your Co talk about your costs at that level like what is your most is in a bi team what is your most expensive cost it’s probably your people frankly so that is that is the most

31:43 frankly so that is that is the most expensive thing you own because you have to pay salaries and if you have multiple people that’s a lot of money that that’s a great point to invest in because that’s the most it gives you the best bang for your buck sorry I didn’t mean

31:55 bang for your buck sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt there but I just feel like there’s like a a point around that it’s like that’s the biggest investment you’re making yeah and I other other areas right so you processes e tons of efficiency process we know we can fix we can fix manual process across the organization EAS it’s like one of the go-tos exactly there are organizational level UPS right that you want to do and then one that I think we all F firmly have a solid standing on is the tools and fabric just opens that up further I

32:25 and fabric just opens that up further I think in the future but powerbi certain does from the standpoint that we have a very powerful tool that allows us to interact with many different data source transform develop calculations create reporting do all this for people in such a way that like they can get a pretty pretty decent like pretty far down the path before they need assistance but you also have to be able to support them right and that’s part of the that’s part of the people problem so

32:55 the that’s part of the people problem so I I know we’re getting near time but I have a hot take statement that I would like to myself end on at least my big Point here I want to see if you guys agree or disagree and I’m going to hyperfocus on something Mike said proves its value which oh like when I sometimes when I hear this I I don’t think people really understand the meaning of this but in the spirit of okrs where every objective can be proved success as measured by something with that statement my hot take statement is every

33:26 statement my hot take statement is every single of the Strategic bi goals must have some actual measurable success points data points that have been defined beforehand no matter what they are absolute measuring points on this one is you’re asking for what are the what are the critical measuring points that you need to be thinking about I’m asking would you agree with that statement that no matter what strategic goal or or let’s say objective is in place there must be measurable data data

33:57 place there must be measurable data data points to prove its value to prove its success wherever possible that’s good it’s easy to say it’s easy it’s easy to say we need to educate our team it’s easy to say we need to improve our governance it’s easy to say we need better decision-making capabilities to quantify those things is much more difficult to align yourself on

34:27 much more difficult to align yourself on right so and and that’s to your point right I’m not trying to give these items lip service I’m trying to say like they are very important but you really have to think about what are the best ways to start using data to support those decisions and and one of the things I will I’ll right away any organization who’s running with powerbi if you do not have a monitoring solution in place that is not the standard Microsoft stuff the Microsoft stuff will give you you get you started if there’s

34:58 give you you get you started if there’s a short-term solution problem or issue yes you can jump in there but to to your point Tommy a lot of the metrics that we talk about come with a more robust data monitoring solution activities logs catalog information scanner API connecting to the active directory and getting all the groups and attaching them to people security governance like how are we Distributing things all of those really good metrics are of the health the system are you using

35:28 health the system are you using effectively is coming from monitoring so I can’t stress enough like whenever I talk with talk with companies all this a lot of this stuff hinges on do you have good monitoring in place you can’t measure any of these things you can say them but you can’t measure them without some monitoring on on place so I would agree Tommy Tommy like you you want to have concrete data point to to watch the numbers go up or numbers go down for that matter number of support tickets go down or you number of support tickets go down or number of people using or viewing

35:59 know number of people using or viewing reports should be going up but to get to that data points you have to first be thinking about we’re going to need to invest time and money to get a solution that does proper monitoring so we can really communicate the successes we’re trying to trying to measure all right I know we’re a little bit at time here we’ve got some people who got to run to meetings here so let’s just do some final thoughts we’ll do a quick wrap up here Tommy a couple final final thoughts here I’ll make it short I I think hopefully as we go through Tactical solution this has been a great summary but that we

36:29 been a great summary but that we really talk about how do we measure the success here in these sections you need to really focus on proving the value to the book The Go proving the value to the business by refining these goals and objectives right you’re going to be creating a story and a road map that that expresses the needs that that we have to fix within your organization and that’s that’s something that either makes it or breaks it in the executive level because that’s where you get all your your funding and resources expect

37:01 your your funding and resources expect to shift your priorities based on the business goals though yep I’d say Pick Quick wins don’t try and do everything at once you will be overwhelmed so pick things are the most urgent start with them and plan to review and re-evaluate over time because your objectives will change with that we really appreciate your listenership please recommend this to someone else we appreciate you listening to our podcast and hopefully this added some value to your day Tommy where else can you find the podcast I’ll make it short you can find us on Apple Spotify wherever get

37:31 find us on Apple Spotify wherever get your podcast make sure to subscribe leave a rating help us out a ton do you have a question idea or something else head over to powerbi tips podcast leave your name and a great question join us live every Tuesday and Thursday where to find us A. M out here cheers everyone that was great Tommy have a good time we’ll see you next

38:18 [Music] you

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