Business

 Analytics  (MIS171)  Summary  

Notes
Topic 1 Revision Notes
Business Analytics:

Definition:
-“Process  of  transforming  data  into  actions  through  analysis  and  insights  in  the  context  of  organisational  
decision  making  and  problem  solving”
-It is the use of data, information technology, statistical analysis, quantitative methods, and
mathematical or computer-based models to help managers gain an improved insight about their
business operations and make better, fact-based decisions
-Supported by various tools such as Microsoft excel, and other software packages

Importance of Analytics:
-Data, facts and analysis aid decision making, and that the decisions made on them are better than
those made through gut instinct
-Decision making today is even more complicated, due to overwhelming data and information
-There is a strong relationship of use of analytics and profitability and revenye

Evolution of Business Analytics:

-Modern evolution of analytics began with the introduction of computers, as they provided the ability to
store and analyze data easily.

Three major components of business analytics:

1. Descriptive Analysis -Most commonly used and most well understood type of analytics
(WANT TO KNOW -Use data to understand past and present performance to make important
ABOUT PAST) decisions
-Summarizes data into meaningful charts and reports
2. Predictive Analysis -Analyzes past performance in an effort to predict the future by examining
(WANT TO KNOW historical data, detecting patterns or relationships in these data
ABOUT FUTURE) -Techniques include: regression and forecasting
3. Prescriptive Analysis -Uses optimization to identify the best alternative to minimize or maximize
(MAKING DECISIONS- some objective
OPTIMIZATION) -Addresses questions such as:
•How much should we produce to maximize profit?
•What is the best way of shipping goods from our factory to minimize costs?
What is Statistics?

Statistics definition:
-“Statistics  relates  to  the  collection,  analysis,  interpretation,  and  presentation  of  data”
-Statistical methods are used to:
•Summarize a collection of data
•Draw inferences about an entire population
•Make predictions or forecasts
-Statistics is also the study of variation in data

-Descriptive VS. Inferential statistics:

1. Descriptive statistics: -Are tabular, graphical, and numerical measures used to summarize data
2. Inferential statistics: -The process of using data obtained from a sample to make estimates and
test claims about the characteristics of a population

Variables:
-Characteristics of items or individuals
-EG. Gender, field of study, money in wallet, time spent in shower each day
-It is essential that all variables have an operational definition: which is defines how a variable is to be
measured, otherwise confusion can occur.

Data:
-Observed characteristics of items of individuals.

Populations:
-A collection of all members of a group being investigated
-Two factors need to be specified when defining a population:
•1. The entity (EG. People or motor vehicles)
•2. The boundary

Sample:
-The portion of the population selected for analysis
-EG. Ten full time students selected for a focus group

Parameter:
-A numerical measure of some population characteristic
-EG. The average amount spent by all customers at the local shopping centre last weekend

Statistic:
-A numerical measure that describes a characteristic of a sample
-EG. The average amount spent by the 30 customers completing the market research survey

Data sources:

Four important sources of data:

-Data distributed by an organisation or an individual
-A designed experience
-A survey
-An observational study (such as a focus group)

Primary and Secondary sources:

Primary sources: -When the data collector is the one using the data for analysis
-EG. Internal company records, business transactions, customer market surveys
Secondary sources: -When another organisation or individual has collected the data that is used for
analysis by an organisation or individual
-EG. Government and commercial sources, online research

Types of Data:

*BIG DATA* (Data deluge):

-Many companies have massive amounts of data at their disposal
-This data deluge is a result of:
•Automatic data collection
•Electronic instrumentation
•Online transactional processing
-There is growing recognition of the untapped value in these data bases
-Data is produced in great volumes, in a variety of forms, and is produced very quickly=BIG DATA

1. Categorical data (Qualitative data):

-Labels or names used to identify attributes of each entity
-Can be recorded in either numeric or nonnumeric formats
-EG.  ‘Yes  or  no’,  ‘male  or  female’  answers
-Usually counted or expressed as a portion or a percentage

2. Numerical data (Quantitative data):

-Take numbers as their observed responses
-Numerical data can be converted to categorical data. EG Salary can be converted into
low/medium/high. However you cannot convert categorical data back to numerical data
-There are two types of numerical data:

Discrete: -If measuring how many (Whole numbers)

Continuous: -If measuring how much (Decimal places)

Scales of Measurement:

Categorical Measurements
Nominal: -A classification of categorical data that implies no ranking
-EG. Favorite soft drink, gender
Ordinal: -Scale of measurement where values are assigned by ranking
-EG.  Rating  customers  service  as  ‘very  good,  good,  average,  or  poor’
Numerical Measurements
Interval: -A ranking of numerical data where differences are meaningful but there is no true zero
point
-EG. Shoe sizes 9, 9.5, 10
Ratio: -A ranking of numerical data where differences between measurements involve a true zero
point
-EG. Length, weight, age, salary measurements

Two Broad Types of Data:

Cross-sectional data: “Relates  to  a  group  of  items  or  individuals  at  a  given  point  of  time”
Time ordered (time series) data: “Relates  to  a  particular  entity  or  situation  at  different  points  of  time”  

Topic 2 Revision Notes

-“Provide  a  relative  measure  of  the  distance  an  observation  is  from  the  mean  (in  terms  of  standard  
deviations)”  

-As a general rule a Z score above +3 or below -3 is considered an outlier

-EG. A Z score of 2 means that a value is 2 SDs away from the mean

The Chebyshev Rule (for any data set):

-At least 75% of the data values must be within Z=2 Standard deviations of the mean
-At least 89% of the data values must be within Z=3 Standard deviations of the mean
-At least 94% of the data values must be within Z=4 Standard deviations of the mean

The Empirical Rule (for a data set that is bell-shaped):

-Approx 68% of the data values lie within Z=1 Standard deviations of the mean
-Approx 95% of the data values lie within Z=2 Standard deviations of the mean
-Approx 99.7% of the data values lie within Z=3 Standard deviations of the mean
(ONLY WORKS FOR SYMMETRICAL DATA)

4. Measures of Variability:

WORST MEASURE OF VARIABILITY (starting at range) BEST MEASURE OF VARIABILITY (through to coefficient of variation)
1. Distance Measures:

Range: -“Difference  between  largest  and  smallest  data  values”  

=Max – Min
Interquartile -“Difference  between  the  third  quartile  and  the  first  quartile”  
Range (IQR): =Q3 – Q1
-It is the range for the middle 50% of the data

2. Average Variation:
-Measure the average scatter around the mean. That is how larger values fluctuate above it and how
smaller values are distributed below it.

Variance -Expressed in square units

(S2):
Standard -“Estimate  of  the  average  deviation  of  individual  values  away  from  the  mean”
deviation -SD is preferred over S2 because it maintains the original unit
(S): -𝑆(𝜎) = √𝑆

3. Relative Variation:

Coefficient -“Indicates  how  large  the  standard  deviation  is  in  relation  to  the  mean”  
of Variation:
-Useful for comparing variability between data sets in different units
-EG. Relative to the mean, the package volume is more variable than the package weight

Summary:
-The more spread out the data: the larger the range + IQR + SD
-The more concentrated or similar the data: the smaller the range+ IQR + SD
-If the value are the same: the range + IQR + SD will be zero
-No measure of variation can ever be negative

5. Shape:

Symmetrical Data (normal distribution):