A Descriptive Categorized Typology of Requisite Skills for Business Intelligence Professionals

Abstract

Business Intelligence (BI) is regarded by executives as a critical practice to adopt and invest in. The purpose of this research is to develop a categorized typology of skills required by BI professionals. A review of extant literature resulted in the identification of twenty three skills. The research aimed to validate these skills, and add additional skills to this typology based on the experiences of BI professionals within industry. These experiences were captured through interviews. Skills were then categorized by identifying commonalities across them. No additional skills were identified by the interviewed participants. A categorized typology of skills was developed which grouped the initial twenty three skills into seven higher order categories. The seven categories of skills were identified as: (1) Prepare data for subject matter expert (SME), analyst or other external party for further analysis; (2) Apply simulation modelling, statistical techniques and provide business insight; (3) Manage stakeholders and project and operational tasks; (4) Develop strategic long term BI roadmap that links to corporate strategy; (5) Understand business processes in order to effectively extract user requirements; (6) Design and code sustainable solutions; (7) Absorb and distribute knowledge.