PWPM Wiki

Business Intelligence Rollout Project Proposal

This is a practical guide to building a project proposal for a business intelligence rollout project — the document that pitches the project to decision-makers before it is approved, adapted to the realities of deploying BI dashboards and self-service analytics.

What a Project Proposal is

A project proposal is the document that pitches the project to decision-makers before it is approved. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Project Proposal. On a business intelligence rollout project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.

Why it matters for a Business Intelligence Rollout project

Business Intelligence Rollout projects live or die on deploying BI dashboards and self-service analytics. A well-built project proposal gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how business intelligence rollout projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.

What to include

  • Problem or opportunity
  • Proposed solution
  • Scope and approach
  • Cost and timeline
  • Expected benefits

Business Intelligence Rollout-specific considerations

Tailor the project proposal to the risks that most often derail business intelligence rollout projects:

  • Data trust and quality
  • Dashboard sprawl
  • User adoption

Example

On a real business intelligence rollout project, the project proposal would be shaped by deploying BI dashboards and self-service analytics. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — data trust and quality, dashboard sprawl, user adoption — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.