A Proven
BI Implementation Methodology
built from the ground up
for the Insurance Industry

InEdge has developed an effective, proven, and forward-looking BI development methodology that is used to guide Insurance Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics projects from concept through to completion and beyond. The SMART eBI methodology has five distinct but overlapping project stages with agreed-upon goals and defined deliverables at each stage. It transforms current goals into measurable and achievable milestones, while leaving room for future development.

The five Business Intelligence project life cycle stages are a how-to-implement BI roadmap for a complete project. Each agile development stage is further subdivided into activities that must be done for a complete solution to be developed. The execution of certain activities can be done in parallel, whereas others must be performed in a sequential order.

The Five Stages

01 Exploration

Laying the groundwork for project acceptance, the exploration stage seeks to define the business, strategic, and tactical requirements for a successful Business Intelligence and Analytics initiative. By the end of this stage, project stakeholders have a clear understanding and are in agreement of its goals and benefits.

02 Elaboration

Based on requirements documented during the exploration stage, the high-level design of a solution is produced, risk factors are identified, and a project plan is prepared. Grounded in real-life experience and industry best practices, nothing is overlooked during this important planning stage that spells out the BI integration process.

03 Construction

This is a hands-on stage for all project team members, where regrouping of high-level activities, such as detailed analysis and design with component development, testing and integration, is performed. Fully tested deliverables are produced using an iterative and incremental approach.

04 Implementation

During this stage, user features are packaged into releases to be deployed in a production or “live” environment. The iterative approach allows for early delivery of selected components in a uniform and consistent manner.

05 Evolution

Business requirements are not static and strategies and technology evolve. Also, as user familiarity increases, more complex and pointed questions are asked about a system. For these reasons, the SMART eBI methodology plans from the start to measure performance, revisit requirements, and refresh all project components.

SMART eBI
Agile Project Sequence

An agile sequence of stages dictates all steps of the SMART eBI methodology; the sequence can be adapted according to the availability of resources and the business or technological context.

The SMART eBI methodology has evolved over many years and has been tested through many implementations of varying complexity. More and more, InEdge prospects and clients are expecting a high level of expertise from their business partners. Furthermore, a vast majority prefer dealing with a dedicated organization that believes in the power of a structured approach to Business Intelligence and Analytics projects. InEdge is convinced that it is essential to use a proven methodology like SMART eBI that is specific to Business Intelligence and Analytics projects.

The SMART eBI methodology continues to grow and evolve with new accepted best practices for Business Intelligence and Analytics initiatives.
It also adapts to new technology that is available at each of the data-to-information pipeline phases.