Business Intelligence Tracy Hartley Zack Johnson Marissa Mc

Business Intelligence Tracy Hartley Zack Johnson Marissa Mc. Gee

What Is Business Intelligence? • A set of concepts and methods to improve business decision-making by using fact based support systems. • In other words, business intelligence is created from computer software that analyzes company data and creates useful reports that make the decision-making process more effective and efficient. Data BI Program Wikipedia, encyclopedia Information Reports

History… • Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” • One should have full knowledge of one’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as full knowledge of one’s enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. • Before the Information Age • Businesses struggled with the up keep of information and storage. • The process was slow and often ineffective. • Modern Business • Technology has allowed for more effective and efficient systems. • Up to the minute data and analysis.

Basic Components of Any BI Program • Data warehouse: a database that holds business information from many sources in the enterprise, covering all aspects of the company’s processes, products and customers (Stair, 219) • Data mart: Subsets of a data warehouse that bring data to small and medium-sized businesses as well as the different departments of larger businesses (Stair, 221)

Data Mining • An automated analysis that looks for patterns and relationships in data warehouses. • Computer software that requires the user’s trust to find all of the valid relationships needed. • Bottom-up analysis that creates hypothesis and predictions.

OLAP • Online Analytical Processing • Creates reports using the data warehouses • A top-down analysis that requires user created queries to match information and determine relationships. • Requires a high level of user skills and understanding of the system.

Key Differences between Data Mining and OLAP • Data mining takes the data and finds relationships despite the user’s assumptions. • OLAP finds relationships in the data according to the user’s assumption.

The Five Stages of BI • Data Sourcing • Data Analysis • Situation Awareness • Risk Analysis • Decision Support

Data Sourcing • Extracts data from different areas • • Memos Reports E-mails Photos • Data is collected through • Database queries • Web searches

Data Analysis • Search through the data to find that which is relevant to the company’s needs. • Also known as data mining • Can be in the form of current or future trends.

Situational Awareness • Any irrelevant information is discarded and the relevant information is set in the context of the business and its environment. • Applying the information to the problem.

Risk Assessment • Decisions are made in terms of what actions should be taken and when. • Analyze the current and future risks associated with our decisions. • Weigh the costs and benefits of making the decisions.

Decision Support • Apply the information you need in an appropriate time frame and manner.

The Many Types of BI DATA • Data mining • Data warehouse • DSS • EIS • GIS • MIS • OLAP • Text mining KNOWLEDGE • Experience

Designing/Implementing • Questions to ask • Risk assessment • Who uses BI? • Companies/software

Assessments to be Made by the Company Before Implementing a BI Program • Assess short- and long-term goals. • Set tangible goals with deadlines and expectations • Assess the current method of collecting business intelligence • Determine strengths and weaknesses • Is current method effective for achieving goals?

Assessments to be Made by the Company Before Implementing a BI Program • Determine the financial consequences associated with a new BI program • Work with companies, such as IBM, to adequately determine the needs of the company. • Costs include more than just the software… • • • Set-up Employee training Updating the system Personnel Maintenance

Assessments to be Made by the Company Before Implementing a BI Program • Identify who is going to pay for the program. • Determine any risks outside of cost that might arise from a new BI program • Address possible benefits. • Both quantitative and qualitative internal and external to the company. • Weigh the costs and benefits

Assessments to be Made by the Company Before Implementing a BI Program • Set up a system of metrics and measurements to analyze results. • Benchmark against other companies. • Evaluate system on a regular basis to allow for any corrections that need to be made.

Companies That Provide BI Programs • IBM • Offers both software and hardware • Provides components of BI programs and entire systems • Banking, Criminal, Retail and Insurance are some of the industries IBM offers support to • SAP • Oracle

Applications • Sales • Pricing • Profit margins • Which products are being purchased • Consumer behavior • Which customers are buying what, when. • What factors effect purchasing behavior • Competitive Intelligence • What our competitors doing that we could/should be doing? • Do we have a competitive advantage? • Counter Intelligence

Boscov’s Department Store • 40 stores in Pensylvania, New York, New Jersey, Deleware, Maryland Virginia • Family owned company. • Upper level management includes 206 employees

Doscov’s Department Store • Problem: Only able to provide weekly sales reports. • Insufficient for employees to keep the shelves adequately stocked with the right products • Unable to meet some customers’ immediate needs. • Goal: Wanted to keep their company growing and provided more up-to-date reports.

Boscov’s Department Store • Solution: IBM DB 2 Universal Database for z/O • Provides buyers with mission-critical business intelligence on sales performance • Optimize performance of the data warehouse and the queries that buyers depend on to make important business decisions.

Boscov’s Department Store • Results: Able to provide current and accurate daily sales information • Making better sales decisions and provide better products and services for its customers.

Safeway Club Card • Means for company to track sales per customer. • Allows Safeway to target profitable and discourage nonprofitable customers • Can track purchasing trends • Better idea of what products sell the best in different locations • Charge different prices for clients for different floor location

General Problems/Shortfalls • Supply chain value • Can not predict everything • Weather • Human error • Any other examples you can think of? • Important to determine if it is faster to get information from BI and make adjustments according to things you cannot predict!!