Transparency

I enjoy reading Kevin Coupe's Morning News Beat - he provides insights into the retail industry, particularly grocery. He also has a column in Forbes discussing transparency in the food industry in relations to food labeling GMO products.

From a food point of view, I agree with him, but he makes me think about transparency in BI.  Too many report users have no idea where the reports come from or how definitions are made.  Questions exist about application of the metrics and incorporating report insights in decision making.

The standard answer is documentation - here's a data dictionary, here's the technical requirements, here's a huge pdf that answers all your questions (if you can find them).  Honestly, the true standard answer is nothing other than, "Oh, that's Fred's report - go ask him."

For my projects, I have a governance committee - a group of end-users who help figure out what's next for the reports to keep them actionable, relevant, and trustworthy.  But that transparency only goes so far.  Some of my clients even have user group meetings, which is fantastic - if people attend.

Kevin says:

"Don’t do it, and I have to ask why...  But keep fighting the calls for labeling, and you create uncertainty and mistrust."

He has a great point.  In today's world, in which content is ubiquitous, the absence of BI transparency in a single report is curious.  In previous work, Kevin has mentioned that food labels exist with QR codes in which you can scan it and see videos and explanation of the farms where the food came from.

Why can't we do the same thing for a report?  How can we do it with our existing tools? Why does it have to be so hard?  Is BI fighting the calls for report transparency?