Business Intelligence:
Effective Decision Making
Bellevue College
Linda Rumans
IT Instructor, Business Division Bellevue College
Current Status
Mountains of Data
What do I do???
How do I increase sales????
How do I make my product better???
Business Users
Mountains of Data
From Operational Systems
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)
– Sales/Order
– Inventory
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Web Sites
– Orders
– Click-stream
…
Mountains of Data
Organizations have lots of data
Data is not in a form that is useful to decision-makers
– Not easy to review
– Not informative nor insightful
Today’s Information Flow
Business in 90’s invested in transactional systems:
– Supply Chain Management (SCM)
– Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
– Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
– Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP)
– Finance (budget, forecasting and reporting)
Proliferation of Data
SCM MRP
CRM Finance
Operations
Sales Procure- Finance
ment
Silos of data by functional area
Transaction Layer
Reporting Layer
Data from Disparate Sources
Region: A Region: B
Div 2 Div 1
Sales
Sales Sales Sales
Silos of data within large organizations
Transaction Layer
Reporting Layer
Business Intelligence
Business is now investing in Business Intelligence
Business Intelligence is about making effective business decisions
What is BI?
The process by which an organization
manages large amounts of data, extracting pertinent information, and turning that
information into knowledge upon which actions can be taken.
What is BI?
Business intelligence (BI) is a broad category of application programs and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions.
BI
Involves PEOPLE and Technology Involves using a rational approach to management
Involves a continuous cycle of measurement, adjustment & re-measurement
The BI Cycle
BI
start
Reasons for BI
BI enables organizations to make well informed business decisions and gain competitive advantage.
BI enables organizations to use information to quickly and constantly respond to changes.
Benefits of BI
Improved performance based upon timely and accurate information
Elimination of guesswork Expedited decision making Early visibility of changes:
– Customer buying patterns
– Supply chain activity
– Financial arrangements
Benefits of BI
“Single Version of the truth”
Accurate, timely data available to all levels of the organization
To Note:
Although we call it Business Intelligence, the concepts and techniques are applicable to almost any organization including those in health care, biotech, education,
government …
BI Activities
BI applications include the activities of:
• decision support,
• query and reporting,
• online analytical processing (OLAP),
• statistical analysis,
• forecasting, and
• data mining.
BI Users
There are many different users who can benefit from business intelligence
– Executives
– Business Decision Makers
– Information Workers
– Line Workers
– Analysts
BI Solutions-
How to make it happen
Two main components:
– Data Consolidation and Storage
– Data Retrieval, Analysis and Presentation
BI Curriculum
Multi-Dimensional Analysis Data Warehousing
Data Mining
Dimensional Modeling Data Visualization
The Problem
Mountains of Data Business People
GAP How do I increase
sales????
How do I make my product better???
How do I retain customers?
Bridging the Gap
Need data storage structures to facilitate fast analysis of huge volumes of data
Need software to provide access to the data, allow flexible manipulation, and provide
meaningful presentation
Data Storage Structures
Multi-Dimensional Databases
Cubes
Multi-Dimensional Databases
Measures
– Any quantitative expression
– Some are designated as Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
– Appropriate to the business process.
Dimensions
– How we describe the measures:
Product/Customer/Region/Time
– These are the “By’s
– “What were our Customer Sales by Product Line by Region by Quarter for the past two years?”.
Logical Structure
Multi-Dimensional Databases (Cubes)
ODS ODS ODS
Data Warehouse Multi-Dimensional Database (Cube)
* ODS = Operational Data Store
Relational Database Programs Business Intelligence Programs
Multi-Dimensional Databases
Multi-Dimensional Database (Cube)
Software Applications
Multi-Dimensional Database
(Cube) Business
Person
Business Person
Business Person
Reporting Applications
Analytic
Applications
Score Cards Dashboards
Analytics
Reporting Applications
– Limited user interaction
– Fulfill a significant portion of an organization’s information needs
Analytic Applications
– Allow users to visualize and explore data following their train of thought
– Extensive interactivity
Analytic Application
Summary
Students learn to:
– Create multi-dimensional databases
– Create professional quality reports
– Use analytics to provide in-depth data analysis
Data Warehousing
Designing a Data Warehouse
Data Warehouse Topics
Decision Support Systems
– history
Requirements Gathering
– Where data located, owners, definition, how often updated
Data Analysis
– Determine for table structures
Data Warehouse
ETL Processes &
Deliverables
– Cleaning & Conforming
Valid, missing Address, gender
– Schemas
Dimension Tables Fact Tables
Data Consolidation & Storage
CRM MRP
SCM Finance
Transaction Layer
Shared Data Layer
Data Warehouse
Customers Sales Procurement Suppliers Operations Finance
Shared Reporting
Operations and financial information is shared across the organization from same core data
Data Warehouses
ODS* ODS ODS
Data Warehouse
Multi-Dimensional Database (Cube)
*ODS = Operational Data Store
How is data consolidated?
This is difficult!!!!!
– Data is often spread across multiple systems, stored in different formats, and may even be localized for different countries
Transforming Data
Data must be transformed for consistency and meaning
– Transformations may be as simple as copying columns or may be incredibly complex
– Common transformations include:
Hard-coded changes (‘T’ to 1)
Looking up values in a table (mapping a customer number across disparate systems)
Inserting dummy records and mapping them to unknowns (inserting an ‘Unknown’ customer)
Cleansing Data
Data must be cleansed to be meaningful
– All companies have “bad” data in their systems
– Data may be missing
– Data may be inconsistent
– Data may be wrong
Data Warehouses
ETL (extract, transform and load) processes are needed to create data warehouses
– This is an arduous and technical process that can account for a large percentage of a BI project
cost!!!!
Data Mining
Data Mining
The process of identifying patterns in data
Goes beyond simple querying of the database Goes beyond multi-dimensional database
queries as well
Data Mining
Data Mining works for problems like:
– Develop a general profile for credit card customers
…
– Differentiate individuals who are poor credit risks
…
– Determine what characteristics differentiate male
& female investors.
Data Mining vs. Data Query
Use data query if you already almost know what you are looking for.
Use data mining to find regularities in data that are not obvious.
Data Mining Applications
Fraud detection
Targeted Marketing Risk Management Business Analysis
Origins of Data Mining
Mathematics
– Statistics
– Numerical Analysis
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Computer Science
– Data Storage and Manipulation
How does Data Mining work?
Uses induction-based learning:
The process of forming general concept
definitions by observing specific examples of concepts to be learned.
How does Data Mining work?
What-Cha-Ma-Call-Its NOT What-Cha-Ma-Call-Its
How does Data Mining work?
Which of these are What-Cha-Ma-Call-Its?
Data Mining Process
List of Customers:
-some bicycle buyers -some not
Data Mining
Software Model
List of Prospective Buyers Model List of Likely Buyers
Overview of Mining Strategies
Note: This representation is over-simplified and data mining strategies are continually being invented.
More on our Curriculum
Skills
Written communication Problem Solving
– Analytical
– Troubleshooting
Software
– Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
– SQL Server BI Development Studio
– SQL Server Reporting Services
– Pro Clarity
Delivery Methods
Online: Distance Education, reaches wider market
Telecourse: tremendous effort to create, but once created easy to deliver
– Televised, DVDs, online for homework, exams
Hybrid: Meet once a week, the rest online On campus: evenings only
Delivery Methods
Use of Camtasia for
– Software demonstrations
– PowerPoint lectures
Pod casting
Certificates
Business Intelligence Analyst (5 classes)
– Multi-dimensional analysis, data warehousing, data mining, statistics, general business
– 2 quarters full-time/ 3 quarters part-time
Business Intelligence Developer (4 additional classes)
– Dimensional modeling, data visualization, multi- dimensional II, data warehousing II (more
programming with SQL Server)
Web site: www.bcc.ctc.edu/bi
Certificates
Relational Database Analyst (6 classes)
– SA & D, programming, reporting, spreadsheets, db theory
– 2 quarters full-time/ 3 quarters part-time
Relational Database Developer (3 additional classes)
– Programming, SQL, group processes
Web site: www.bcc.ctc.edu/bi
Jobs
Business Analyst Data Analyst
Functional Analyst Marketing Analyst
Jobs
Report Developer Data Modeler
ETL Developer Data Architect
Data Warehouse Designer Data Warehouse Developer
Data Warehouse Administrator Database Administrator
Jobs
Business Intelligence Consultant Business Intelligence Developer Business Intelligence Analyst
Business Intelligence Project Team Member
Jobs
One of the fastest growing segments of IT Less likely to be outsourced
May exist in business units rather than IT
Knowledge/understanding of the organization is key