Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics and truck accident claims
    How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
    7 Min Read
    predictive analytics for interior designers
    Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
    8 Min Read
    image fx (67)
    Improving LinkedIn Ad Strategies with Data Analytics
    9 Min Read
    big data and remote work
    Data Helps Speech-Language Pathologists Deliver Better Results
    6 Min Read
    data driven insights
    How Data-Driven Insights Are Addressing Gaps in Patient Communication and Equity
    8 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Business Intelligence? Yes Minister!
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Business Intelligence > Business Intelligence? Yes Minister!
Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence? Yes Minister!

sisense
sisense
4 Min Read
SHARE

I recently watched an episode of the classic BBC series ‘Yes, Minister’.

In this episode, the minister asked his assistant, Bernard, to inquire about a new hospital where there are supposedly no patients and a ridiculous amount of administrative staff. Bernard conducts some research and returns to the minister with his results.

Here’s a short transcript:

Bernard– You asked me to find out about an alleged empty hospital in north London.

More Read

SiSense dashboard winner
Making Tough Decisions
Lyza – Supporting Collaborative Process in Decision Making
Proven Strategies for Utilizing A Hybrid Cloud To Revolutionize Your Business
Decentralized AI Training: 4 Leading Dataset Solutions For Your Business

I recently watched an episode of the classic BBC series ‘Yes, Minister’.

In this episode, the minister asked his assistant, Bernard, to inquire about a new hospital where there are supposedly no patients and a ridiculous amount of administrative staff. Bernard conducts some research and returns to the minister with his results.

Here’s a short transcript:

Bernard– You asked me to find out about an alleged empty hospital in north London.

Minister– Oh, yes.
Bernard– Well, in fact there are *only* 342 administrative staff in the new St. Edwards hospital. The other 170 are porters, cleaners, laundry workers, gardeners, cooks and so forth.
Minister– And how many medical staff?
Bernard– Oh, none of those.
Minister– None??
Bernard– No.
Minister– Bernard, we are talking about St. Edwards’s hospital, aren’t we?
Bernard– Yes, it’s brand new. It was completed 15 months ago and is fully staffed. But unfortunately at that time there were government cutbacks and consequently there was no money left for medical services.
Minister– A brand new hospital with over 500 non-medical staff and no patients??
Bernard– Oh, there is one patient, sir.
Minister– One?
Bernard– Yes. The deputy chief administrator fell over a piece of scaffolding and broke his leg
Minister– Oh god. Thank heavens I wasn’t asked about this in The House. Why hasn’t it got out?
Bernard– Well actually I think it’s being contrived to keep looking like a building site and so far no one realized it’s operational.
Minister– I think I better go and have a look at this before the opposition does.
This episode (‘The Compassionate Society’, 1981) is hilarious. But how is it relevant to business intelligence?
Well, think that instead of a conversation between a minister and his assistant about a new hospital, this conversation is actually between a CEO and his CIO regarding an ongoing business intelligence project.
You’ve got yourself a conversation which is still happening more often than not in BI projects, 30 years later.
A business intelligence solution without users is like a hospital without patients. It provides work for IT/implementers/consultants (=administrative staff) but it is of no use to the business users (=patients) for whom the BI solution (=hospital) is actually intended.
Spending too much upfront and going into long development cycles only to find out your ultimate customers – the business users – won’t actually use it is a sure-fire way of making a bad investment, running out of budget and getting laughed at by the BBC. You don’t want that, do you?
TAGGED:business intelligence solutionSiSense
Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

data analytics and truck accident claims
How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
Analytics Big Data Exclusive
predictive analytics for interior designers
Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
Analytics Exclusive Predictive Analytics
big data and cybercrime
Stopping Lateral Movement in a Data-Heavy, Edge-First World
Big Data Exclusive
AI and data mining
What the Rise of AI Web Scrapers Means for Data Teams
Artificial Intelligence Big Data Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

10 Don’ts for Delivering Mobile Business Intelligence

14 Min Read

Connection Cloud: Realizing Value from Proliferating Siloed Data Stores and BI

7 Min Read
legal repercussion with big data
Big DataBusiness RulesData ManagementPolicy and Governance

New Legal And Ethical Challenges Of Big Data

7 Min Read

Top 14 Business Intelligence predictions for 2012

30 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai chatbot
The Art of Conversation: Enhancing Chatbots with Advanced AI Prompts
Chatbots
AI chatbots
AI Chatbots Can Help Retailers Convert Live Broadcast Viewers into Sales!
Chatbots

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?