Business Analytics

Unit 1 Introduction to Business Analytics

Business analytics: definition, evolution, nature, scope; the business analytics model; link between strategy
and business analytics; moving ahead with analytics.
Unit 2: Types of Business Analytics
Types of business analytics: descriptive analytics, diagnostic analytics, predictive analytics and prescriptive
analytics
Unit 3: Digital Data and Data Warehouse
Digital data: definition, sources, types: Structured data, Unstructured data and Semi-structured data; Multi-
dimensional data operations; Data warehouse; architecture; ETL; Introduction to data quality.
Unit 4: Business analytics in Practice
Business analytics in practice; financial analytics, Human resource analytics, Marketing analytics,
Analytics for Government and Non- profits. Applications of analytics in industries: Telecom, Retail,
Healthcare.
Question Paper Pattern
End Semester Examination: 70 marks
Section A: 7 out of 10 questions – 2 marks each = 14 marks
Section B: 4 out of 6 questions – 5 marks each = 20 marks
Section C: 3 out 5 questions – 12 marks each = 36 marks

Business Analytics – Question Bank

Unit 1
1. What is business analytics?
2. Discuss the Importance of Business Analytics.
3. Explain the Business Analytics Applications.
4. Explain the Nature of Business Analytics
5. Explain the Components of Business Analytics
6. Discuss the evolution of business analytics.
7. What is DSS?
8. Define the term Data Visualization
9. Discuss the applications of Business Analytics
10. Difference between Business Strategy and Business Analytics.
11. Discuss the Business analytics Models.
12. Examine the Business Analysis Models.
13. Briefly analyze the terms OLTP and OLAP.
14. Define Data warehouse. And its characteristics.
Unit 2
1. What is Descriptive Analytics?
2. Discuss the Descriptive analytics process.
3. What is Diagnostic Analytics?
4. Explain the Three Diagnostic Analytics Categories.
5. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Descriptive Analytics.
6. Differences between Diagnostic Analytics and Descriptive Analytics.
7. Explain the types of Business Analytics.
 8. What is Predictive analytics?
9. What are the types of Predictive Analytical Models?
10. Define Prescriptive Analytics.
11. Discuss the 4 types of Data analytics.
Unit 3
1. What is Digital Data?
2. Explain the Sources of Digital Data.
3. Explain the types of Digital Data.
4. Discuss the Characteristics of a data structure.
5. Explain the Sources of Structured Data.
6. Explain the Characteristics of Unstructured Data.
7. Describe the sources, advantages and Disadvantages of Unstructured Data.
8. Define Semi Structured Data and its Benefits.
9. Define Data warehouse and its Benefits.
10. What is Data Quality?
11. Discuss the various dimensions of Data Quality.
12. What are the characteristics of data quality?
13. Analyse the ETL Process in Data Warehouse and its Benefits.

Unit 4
1. Define Financial Analytics.
2. Discuss the importance of financial analytics.
3. Explain the types of financial analytics.
4. List out the software programs used in financial analytics.
5. What is HR analytics?
6. Discuss the Pros and Cons of HR analytics.
7. How can HR Analytics be used by organizations?
8. Explain the process of HR analytics.
9. Discuss Marketing analytics.
10. How Organizations using Marketing Analytics – Process / Steps?
11. Discuss the challenges of Marketing Analytics.
12. Explain the applications of business analytics in the industry.
13. Briefly discuss the Analytics for Government and Nonprofit.
BUSINESS
ANALYTICS
WHAT MAKES BUSINESS DECISIONS COMPLICATED
TODAY?

• Overwhelming amount of data

• Exponential growth of data
• Difficult to understand
• Need
• Affordability and accessability
1-3

WHAT IS BUSINESS ANALYTICS?

Analytics is the use of:

data,
information technology,
statistical analysis,
quantitative methods, and
mathematical or computer-based models
to help managers gain improved insight about their business operations and
make better, fact-based decisions.
• Business Analytics is a process of gathering, analyzing and drawing valuable conclusions
from the vast amount of data available.
1-1

WHAT IS BUSINESS ANALYTICS?

Importance of Business Analytics

 There is a strong relationship of BA with:
- profitability of businesses
- revenue of businesses
- shareholder return
 BA enhances understanding of data
 BA is vital for businesses to remain competitive
 BA enables creation of informative reports
 Business analytics is a methodology or tool to make a sound commercial decision.
 Facilitates better understanding of available primary and secondary data, which again affect
operational efficiency of several departments.
 Provides a competitive advantage to companies
 Converts available data into valuable information.
1-3

Business Analytics Applications

 Management of customer relationships
 Financial and marketing activities
 Supply chain management
 Human resource planning
EXAMPLES OF APPLICATIONS

• Pricing :
 setting prices for consumer and industrial goods, government contracts, and maintenance
contracts

• Customer segmentation
 identifying and targeting key customer groups in retail, insurance, and credit card industries
CONTD…

• Merchandising
 determining brands to buy, quantities, and allocations

• Location
 finding the best location for bank branches and ATMs, or where to service industrial equipment

• Social Media
 understand trends and customer perceptions; assist marketing managers and product designers
CONTD…

• Enhance customer experience

• Make informed decisions
• Reduce employee turnover
• Improve efficiency
• Identify frauds
• Cut manufacturing costs
• Make the most of your investment improved advertising
• Better product management
• Accelerate through uncertainty
• Conduct a competitor analysis
• Tackle problems
NATURE OF BA

 Make use of big data

 Analyze mistakes
 Accurate business decisions
 Comprehensive look into the future
 Easy to use & Implement
1-2

REAL TIME EXAMPLES OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS

• OTT Platforms
• Amazon
COMPONENTS OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS

• Data aggregation
• Data mining
• Association and sequence identification
• Text mining
• Forecasting
• Predictive analytics
• Optimization
• Data Visualisation
EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS

• BA in the 1800sThe need to stay ahead

• BA in the late 1800s The Advent of Scientific Management
• BA in the early 1900sThe Transformation of the Manufacturing Industry
• BA in the 1950sThe first hard drive disk by IBM
• BA in the late 1900sThe Emergence of Business Intelligence
EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS

• Business intelligence (1960 s) –collection, management, analysis and reporting of data

 Ability to store and analyse data
 “How many units did we sell last month? ”
 “What products did customers buy and how much? ”
 “How many credit transactions are completed today? ”

• Information Systems (a modern discipline of BI)


• Statistics –
 richer understanding of data beyond Business Intelligence
 Summarising + finding unknown and interesting relationships
 Includes basic tools of description, exploration, estimating and
inference
 Advanced tools like Regression, Forecast and Data Mining)
• Operations research/Management science
 Using math/computer “model” to analyze and find solution of
complex decision problems
 Modeling and optimization techniques for translating real
problems into mathematics, spreadsheets or computer
languages and using them to find the best or optimal
solution and decisions
DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

• Decision support systems (BI + ORMS) – create analytical based computer systems to
support decision making
• Data management
 Databases for storing data
 Input, retrieve, update and manipulate the data

• Model management
 Stat tools and management science models for building, manipulate, analyse and solve models

• Communication management
 Provides an Interface for user to interact with data
DSS APPLICATIONS

• Pension fund management

• Portfolio management
• Work shift scheduling
• Global manufacturing and facility location
• Blood distribution
• Water pollution control
• Classroom assignment
• Library management etc…
EVOLUTION
CONTD….
A VISUAL PERSPECTIVE OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS
• Modern Business analytics is an integration of BI/IS, Statistcis, and modelling and
optimisation
• data mining is focused on better understanding characteristics and patterns among
variables in large databases using a variety of statistical and analytical tools.
• Many standard statistical tools, such as data summarization, PivotTables, correlation and
regression analysis, and other techniques are used extensively in data mining.
• Simulation and Risk analytics helps to examine the impact of uncertainty in the estimates
and their interaction on the output variable
• They use spreadsheet models and statistical analysis like Monte Carlo simulation.
• What if analysis uses spreadsheet and models for data manipulation
• How specific combinations of inputs affect the model outputs
• Assessment of sensitivity of models with input changes and provide better insight for making
decision
VISUALIZATION

• Visualizing data and results of analyses provide a way of easily communicating data at all
levels of a business
• reveal surprising patterns and relationships.
APPLICATION OF VISUALIZATION TOOLS

• Software such as IBM's Cognos system exploits data visualization for query and reporting,
data analysis, dashboard presentations, and scorecards linking strategy to operations.
• The Cincinnati Zoo, for example, has used this on an iPad to display hourly, daily, and monthly
reports of attendance, food and retail location revenues and sales, and other metrics for
prediction and marketing strategies.
• ARAMARK corporation developed visual "interactive simulators" to display the results of
multivariate regression models on dials similar to those on an automobile dashboard, while
allowing users to manipulate independent variables using simple sliders.
• UPS uses telematics to capture vehicle data and display them to help make decisions to
improve efficiency and performance
 Applications of Business Analytics

Starting with the basic definition of Business Analytics, “it is the study and exploration of statistical data, the
formation of predictive models, deployment of the optimized technique, and communication of obtained
output to business partners, customers, and other executives for the different business issues”.

Big data is used up to the maximum extent through qualitative and quantitative techniques to get desired
business modeling and decision-making.
 TELECOM

The telecommunication industry provides televisions, telephone, Internet and cable access to people all over the world. Telecom jobs include engineers,
sales people, customer service representatives, and installers. ... Some telecom jobs involve satellite communication.

The application of data analytics in the telecom industry must meet the specific needs of a telecom company. A one size fits all approach to data analytics
cannot work when an industry is so specialized. A data analytics system for a telecom company must be capable of being personalized for each users
unique tasks.

Telecom Data Analytics Applications Require Ease of Use

The telecom industry moves at the speed of innovation. A cumbersome system will not allow users to manipulate data, analyses it, and send it to those
who can act on it. Therefore, an easy-to-deploy, easy-to-use solution is essential for the application of data analytics in the telecom industry.

To Upsell, Telecom Companies Need Customer Analysis

Because telecom businesses need to upsell and cross-sell services to their customers, their data analytics solution must be able to show insights on which
customers will be likely to buy which additional services. Necto Telecom, the leading data analytics for telecommunications and media service providers,
can accomplish these tasks handily.
 TELECOM

Telecoms Need Centralized Analytics

With a centralized solution, all the companys departments will have access to all of the data, based on permissions previously set by IT thus making this a
governed and secure solution. Key performance indicators (KPIs) will show up across the board so the entire team can contribute to the solution of challenges
that arise. Necto Telecom centralizes all the data analysis so that companies can collaborate to solve problems faster.

Consolidating All of Telecoms Data Allows Faster Decisions

To leapfrog over past performance and its competitors, a telecom service provider needs to analyze all the steps in the sales and billing process. When call
centers, case management, ordering and billing are all in the same system, managers can make faster decisions on customer complaints, tweaks to the process,
and other situations that arise.

Marketing and Lead Management Need Insights to Succeed

A data analytics platform that allows a companys marketing team and its sales team to track insights into conversions and leads can give both teams the recipe
for success. With the collaboration that Necto Telecom allows, the telecom service providers marketing team will know which strategies converted lookers into
qualified leads, and the sales team will be able to know which leads resulted in sales.
 What is Retail Data Analytics?

Retail analytics is the process of using big data to optimize pricing, supply chain movement, and improve customer
loyalty. Big data describes a large volume of data that is used to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially
relating to human behavior and interactions.

Historically, it has been defined by three key factors: volume, velocity, and variety. For the retail industry, big data
means a greater understanding of consumer shopping habits and how to attract new customers. Big data analytics in
retail enables companies to create customer recommendations based on their purchase history, resulting in
personalized shopping experiences and improved customer service. These super-sized data sets also help with
forecasting trends and making strategic decisions based on market analysis.
Predicting Spending
Amazon uses customer data to recommend items for you based on your past searches and purchases. They
generated 29 percent of sales through their recommendations engine which analyzes more than 150 million
accounts. This has led to big profits for the ecommerce giant.

Personalizing Customer Experience

For retailers, big data can create opportunities to provide better customer experiences. Costco uses their
transaction data collection to keep customers healthy. When a California fruit packing company warned
Costco about the possibility of listeria contamination in fruits like peaches and plums, Costco was able to
email specific customers who had purchased the items affected by the contamination instead of a blanket
email to their lists.

Forecasting Demand in Retail

In addition to big data, some algorithms analyze social media and web browsing trends to predict the next
big thing in the retail market. Perhaps one of the most interesting data points for forecasting demand is the
weather. Brands like Walgreens and Pantene worked with the Weather Channel to account for weather
patterns in order to customize product recommendations for consumers. Walgreens and Pantene
anticipated increases in humidity--a time when women would be seeking anti-frizz products--and served up
ads and in-store promotions to drive sales. The purchase of Pantene products at Walgreens increased by 10
percent over two months and Walgreens saw a 4 percent sales lift across the hair care category during that
same period. Retail forecasting and retail projections are used to properly allocate their resources the most
effectively throughout different parts of the year.
 Medical Methodology

In the medical or healthcare department, the Business analyst makes predictions about the stock of medicine
available in the hospital or medical store, the shipment of medicines in the local market, predictions related to
disease, impacts of different medicines on same diseases, appointment and availability of doctor, arranging
slots for patients, to a medicine available for cure.

For example, allotment of free slots to the patient considering the doctor’s working hours, duties of working
staff in the hospital, etc.

Production of medicines can also be optimized by the business analyst. He proposes the strategies regarding
production costs of medicines, areas of production and stock available, low cost, and high yield preparation
methods.
Disaster planning : Both natural and manmade disasters will put tremendous pressure on the health care systems in
that area. During a disaster, the demand for a particular service will increase way beyond its capacity. For example,
during a flu outbreak, demand for ventilators will increase. Knowing the real-time location and availability of such
facilities will be very helpful for the authorities in managing such disasters. Using data analytics, it is also possible to
predict the outbreaks of some diseases and thus putting the authorities in a better position to manage it.

Patient Flow: Healthcare is a time critical service and data analytics plays a crucial role in ensuring smooth patient
flow and reducing waiting period. Predicting patient surge will help the authorities take the necessary step to reduce
patient waiting time thereby giving timely treatment.

Cost and Effectiveness : Data analytics can be used to compare the cost and effectiveness of treatments, public
policies etc. Organizations can use cost and outcome data to check the effectiveness of medicines and stop
prescribing medicines that are not effective.

Effective resource management: Location tracking technologies like RFIDs are used to provide real-time
management, identification, and tracking of instruments within an organization. Along with tracking instruments,
now such technologies are increasingly being used to track and manage patients and staffs. Data from such services
can be used to improve patient care, resource utilization, and staff management.
 Link between Strategy and Business Analytics

Starting a new business requires careful planning to maximize the chances of success. Many

small businesses are unable to make profit and fail within the first few years of operation.

The terms "business strategy" and "business model" describe related concepts that are key to

the processes of planning and managing a business.

Business Strategy

1. The term "business strategy" describes the methods a business uses achieve its mission and

objectives. A business' mission encompasses its overall purpose, core values and long-term

goals. A grocery store might have the mission of making profit while providing the best food

to customers, minimizing its impact on the environment and promoting strength in the local

economy. The company's strategy might involve buying products from local food producers,

encouraging customers to bring their own grocery bags, advertising in local newspapers and

buying recycled product packaging materials. A business’ strategy includes how it deals with

the opportunities and threats it faces.

Business Model

1. A company's business model describes the basic means by which it creates value, delivers

value to consumers and collects revenue from customers to make a profit. Business models

can vary greatly from one company to another. A local grocery store's business model might

involve buying food at wholesale prices and selling it to end consumers at a higher price to

make profit. A website might have a business model based on providing video content to

customers and generating revenue through advertisements placed on the site.

How They Are Related

1. A company's business model is a part of its business' overall strategy: It is the nuts and bolts

behind how the company plans to achieve its goals, such as making a profit. A company can

change its business model over time as a part of its profit-making strategy. For example, if

website does not make enough revenue from advertisements to make profit, managers might

decide implement a new business model, such as selling T-shirts and other goods though an

online store, as a strategy to boost profit.

Business Plan

1. Determining a company's mission, objectives, strategy and business model are all important

steps in the process of creating new business and can help managers form a business plan. A

business plan is a document that acts as a blueprint for how the business plans to operate and

achieve profitability.

The Differences Between a Business Plan & Business Model

Every successful business starts with a concept, a plan and a product or service that customers

are willing to pay money to obtain. Business strategies are never conducted in a vacuum,

however, and for a business to be successful, there must be a business plan and a business

model generated. These two terms are unfortunately used interchangeably, but in reality, they

are two very different documents that cannot exist without one another. It is essential that a

business owner understand the use of a business model vs a business plan.

Business Plan vs. Business Model

At its simplest, a business plan is a written description of the future of a business. It's a

document that not only gets a business concept on paper but also outlines the people and

steps that will be involved to lead the business to success. The business plan is where you
discuss the industry and the need for a particular product or service, the business structure

and how you will achieve success.

The business plan also talks about the market in which the business will operate, lays out the

competition and what the plans are to position the business as a leader. Lastly, the business

plan lays out the ever-important financial plan, discussing things such as income and cash

flow, loans and obligations and when and how investors can expect to see a return.

A business model, on the other hand, is a business's rationale and plan for making a profit. If

the business plan is a road map that describes how much profit the business intends to make

in a given period of time, the business model is the skeleton that explains how that money

will be made. A model covers everything from how a company is valued within an industry

to how it will interact with suppliers, clients and partners to generate profits.

There are several different kinds of business models. A software company, for instance,

might be based on a subscription model, which generates revenue from customers that renew

subscriptions annually for a license to use the software. An example of an accessories model

would be a razor company or computer printer company that guarantees future income

through the sale of razor blades and printer cartridges.

Interdependence

While it's true that a business plan and business model are two separate documents, the reality

is that the business plan cannot live without the business model. While a business plan can

describe the structure of a business's financial goals, the business model explains how the

money will flow - from customer generation to marketing to sales, and finally, to customer

retention. The business model must have room to grow and adapt. Consequently, if the

business model changes, so must the business plan.

The Need to Adapt and Change

One of the most prominent examples of a business model changing is currently occurring in

the computer software industry. About 10 years ago, the way to purchase software programs

was to go to the store and buy a CD-ROM to download the application and license to your

computer. Today, the advent of cloud-based subscription services makes it possible for

customers to download software and renew licenses remotely over the internet.

This transition to the Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription model has caused many

businesses to change their plans. Companies affected by this shift include computer

companies that no longer need to build machines with CD-ROM drives in them and software

companies that no longer need to make or sell software in physical form.

As a result, software companies have had to change their business plans, including costs and

infrastructure costs for cloud storage and bandwidth, as well as maintain a cloud operations

team 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These ongoing efforts can increase costs and reduce

margins, but they're a necessary adaptation to changing customer needs and market

technology with the new business model.

What is Business Analysis Model?
A business analysis model is a method of outlining the steps that a business should take
to complete a particular process. This helps to improve process efficiency and also
ensure an organization complies with industry regulations.

The main purpose of business analysis models is to provide the best business solutions
that will boost the growth of business organizations across the world.

Here is a list of the top 10 business analysis model;

1. Business Process Modelling

2. User Stories
3. SWOT Analysis
4. Brainstorming
5. MOST Analysis
6. Use Case Modelling
7. CATWOE Analysis
8. Business Model Analysis
9. PESTLE Analysis
10. Requirement Analysis

Now, let’s have a look at a brief explanation of each of these business models.

1. Business Process Modelling:

Business Process Modelling (BPM) is a business analysis tool that shows the graphical
representation of an organization’s workflow to improve business processes. Business
analyst professionals must have undergone business analyst training to be able to use
this model effectively.
This is a business framework that deals with process design, strategic planning, technical
analysis of complex business solutions, and business model analysis.

Business Process Modelling is depicted with a diagram that shows two notions;

• Unified Modelling Language Activity Diagram (UML Activity Diagram)

• Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
These notions involve business process reengineering described by an organized
workflow. The business process reengineering consists of identifying business processes,
succession planning, update as-is, and employee engagement.

Business Process Modelling is one of the best BA techniques used in the industry.

2. User Stories:
User Stories is a modern-day business analysis model that deals with designing, data
gathering, requirements solutions, and project development. This is a major method
used in agile modeling for collecting business requirements from product end-users to
provide the best solution for business growth.

A major advantage of this business analysis model is the fact that it helps BA
professionals with in-depth business analyst training to analyze requirements from user
perspectives. This ensures that the outcome of the analysis is highly effective and user-
focused. The need for iteration in business analysis is a major reason why this model is
applied for business solutions.

You can learn more about the User Stories business analysis model if you enroll in
business analyst certification online. This is a program that trains business analysts on
how to apply the best business analyst techniques for their practice.

3. SWOT Analysis:
SWOT Analysis is one of the best business analysis models in the BA field. It is a basic
fundamental tool that especially evaluates the weakness and strength of a business and
also identifies the sets of opportunities that can make a business grow while identifying
possible threats too. So, the word “SWOT” is an acronym.

Here is a break down of the meaning of “SWOT”:

• S – Strength (High Integrity and Excellent Product Service)

• W – Weakness (Poor Brand Image and Financial Deficiency)
• O – Opportunities (Target Audience Shift and Political Support)
• T – Threats (Economic Trends, Funding Changes and Market Trends)

Business stakeholders make use of this business analysis model to make strategic
decisions that will push an organization towards achieving its business targets. It is a
model that helps them maximize business opportunities and capitalize on the strengths
of a business while limiting negative impacts caused by threats and business weakness.
SWOT Analysis is a four-grid strategic technique that can be used at any enterprise-level
for developing business strategies.

4. Brainstorming:
This business analysis technique helps to generate business ideas, analyze business
challenges while designing possible solutions to solve those challenges.

This is a group problem-solving technique applied in an organization where every

member of a team contributes various ideas that will help the company’s growth.

While group brainstorming tends to be more applicable in big organizations, BA

professionals also recommend independent brainstorming as it helps to conclude within
a less period. This technique involves creative thinking which suggests new ideas and
business approaches that will be of great benefit.
Brainstorming is a very popular technique used amongst certified business analysts that
has done business analyst certification online at some point in time.
5. MOST Analysis:
This is a very powerful business analysis model that deals with the analysis of what an
organization does and how business plans can be used to attain business goals. It is a
technique that guides business analyst professionals on what to do to maintain a
strategic business alignment. The business analyst course they must have studied will
make them understand the purpose of an organization.

MOST Analysis has four major elements namely;

• M – Mission (The main purpose of an organization)

• O – Objective (Major goals that help achieve an organization’s mission)
• S – Strategy (Options available to achieve an organization’s objective)
• T – Tactics (How an organization strategy is taken into action)

This business analysis framework is a highly structured technique that is strictly followed
by professionals at all levels of an organization. This is simply because it ensures an
organization does not lose focus on its ability and mission statement.
6. Use Case Modelling:
Use Case Modelling is one of the best business analysis modeling techniques used by
business analysts across the world. It involves the pictorial illustration of how business
functions are meant to work within a system through user interactions.

This system is known as the “TimeSheet Management System”. This technique is mainly
applied during the design phase of a software development project. This is simply
because it helps professionals in their business analyst training career to transform
business requirements into highly functional specifications.
The primary components of Use Case Modelling are;

• System: The outline of the UML diagram

• Use Case: The functionalities executed under the TSM process
• Actors: The human-like user associated with use case functionality
• Association: An actor’s interaction with the system via use cases
• Stereotypes: The relationship between use cases
7. CATWOE Analysis:
CATWOE is a business analysis model that is concerned with the analysis of what a
particular business setup is trying to achieve. It focuses on business goals by figuring out
how business targets can be reached. It is a form of generic thinking process that
identifies business challenges and how the profound solutions will impact such business
and those associated with the business.

The acronym CATWOE means;

• C – Clients (The major beneficiaries of a business)

• A – Actors (The major players of a business process)
• T – Transformation (The transformation process of a system)
• W – World View (The business impact and bigger picture)
• O – Owner (The owner of a business and their impact)
• E – Environmental Constraints (How constraints impact business solutions)

So, the CATWOE business analysis model focuses on key areas of dilemma and how
invented solutions can impact an organization as a whole. This helps BAs to prioritize
important aspects of business growth that will please stakeholders.

8. Business Model Analysis:

Business Model Analysis is included on this list because it helps business analysts to
understand every factor associated with the business of an organization. These factors
include company policies, process techniques, and market approaches.

This model allows for a better understanding of what a business is all about and what
needs to be done to make it successful. For instance, it ensures a company is offering
good value to its customers and clients. It identifies the cost needed to provide value
offering and also ensures an organization’s revenue model is stable.

Furthermore, the product design cost, cost of production, marketing strategy, and
company revenue management is better handled with business model analysis.

9. PESTLE Analysis:
PESTLE Analysis is a business analysis model that takes care of environmental factors
affecting business growth. These environmental factors mainly influence business
decisions during strategic planning and the best way to ensure that one arrives at a final
business decision is to apply the PESTLE Analysis technique.

The environmental factors make up the acronym PESTLE which are;

• P – Political (Government Body, Initiatives and Policies)

• E – Economic (Labor, Energy Cost, and Inflation Rates.)
• S – Social (Education, Lifestyle, Population, Media, and Culture.)
• T – Technological (Information, Technology, and Communication.)
• L – Legal (Government Law, Standards, and Regulations.)
• E – Environmental (Waste, Weather, Pollution, and Recycling.)

Enrolling in business analyst training will give you more knowledge about this business
analysis model. A business analyst can use PESTLE Analysis to analyze the environmental
factors where an organization operates while they identify how the factors will affect
business performance soon.

10. Requirement Analysis:

This business analysis model is a major part of a project lifecycle and it is applied when
business stakeholders propose business solutions. This final BA technique on the list
involves business analysts conducting special interviews to identify and understand
business requirements. This interview process involves;
• Questions
• Captures
• Interprets
• Workshops

It is very important to carry out proper requirement analysis to attain an effective and
efficient software project development. It is very crucial.

Conclusion
In conclusion, all the business analysis models listed in this guide are excellent business
analysis techniques that should be in every business analyst toolbox.

A business analyst should be dedicated to investigating and evaluating business

problems discovered by clients and stakeholders. When a business analyst does that, he
or she is expected to suggest possible solutions that will be effective.

The best way to make this happen is by making use of business analysis models.

These BA models will make the practice of business analysis an enjoyable and successful
one. A certified business analyst must be able to apply each of these models for business
solutions in any organization they find themselves.

One of the basic things you’ll learn when you enroll for a business analyst course online
is the introduction to some of the best business analysis models. This vital aspect of
business analyst training should be handled with sincere interest. To learn more about
business analysis as a profession, ensure you acquire business analysis certification
online whenever it’s convenient for you.
 Chapter 3
Introduction to “Fundamentals of Business Analytics”
OLTP and OLAP RN Prasad and Seema Acharya
Copyright  2011 Wiley India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Content of this presentation has been
taken from Book
“Fundamentals of Business
Analytics”
RN Prasad and Seema Acharya
Published by Wiley India Pvt. Ltd.

and it will always be the copyright of the

authors of the book and publisher only.
 OLTP Understanding
Online Transaction Processing
Consider a point-of-sale (POS) system in a supermarket store. You have picked
a bar of chocolate and await your chance in the queue for getting it billed. The
cashier scans the chocolate bar's bar code. Consequent to the scanning of the bar
code, some activities take place in the background —
the database is accessed;
the price and product information is retrieved and displayed on the computer screen;
the cashier feeds in the quantity purchased;
the application then computes the total, generates the bill, and prints it. You pay the cash and
leave.
The application has just added a record of your purchase in its database. This
was an On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) system designed to support on-
line transactions and query processing.
 In other words, the POS of the supermarket store was an OLTP system.
OLTP Understanding
OLTP systems refer to a class of systems that manage transaction-oriented
applications.
These applications are mainly concerned with the entry, storage, and retrieval
of data.
They are designed to cover most of the day-to-day operations of an
organization such as purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, payroll, accounting,
etc.
OLTP systems are characterized by a large number of short on-line
transactions such as INSERT (a record of final purchase by a customer was
added to the database), UPDATE (the price of a product has been raised from
Rs10 to Rs10.5), and DELETE (a product has gone out of demand and therefore
the store removes it from the shelf as well as from its database).
Almost all industries today (including airlines, mail-order, supermarkets,
banking, etc.) use OLTP systems to record transactional data. The data captured
by OLTP systems is usually stored in commercial relational databases. For
example, the database of a supermarket store consists of the following tables to
store the data about its transactions, products, employees, inventory supplies,
Like Transactions, ProductMaster, EmployeeDetails,
InventorySupplies,Suppliers, etc.
Online Transactional Processing
(OLTP)
Traditional database application is focused on
Online Transactional Processing (OLTP),
– Short, simple queries and frequent updates
involving a relatively small number of tuples e.g.,
recording sales at cash-registers, selling airline
tickets.
 OLTP
(ONLINE TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM)

• Used for transaction oriented applications

• Used by lower level employee

• Quick updates and retrievals

• Many users accessing the same data

• Users are not technical persons

• Response rate is very fast

• Single transaction (one application) at a time

 OLTP
(ONLINE TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM)

• Stores routine data

• Follows client server model
• Applications
– Banks
– Retail stores
– Airline reservation
 OLTP
(ONLINE TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM)

User gets
instant update
on the account
balance after
withdrawing
the money
 TRANSACTIONS
• Single event that changes something
• Different types of transactions
– Customer orders
– Receipts
– Invoices
– Payments

• Processing of transactions include storage and

editing of data
– When transaction is completed then the records of an
organization are changed
 TRANSACTIONS

INSERT
INSERT UPDATE
UPDATE RETRIEVE
RETRIEVE

INSERT INSERT
UPDATE UPDATE
RETRIEVE RETRIEVE
TRANSACTIONS
Cash at
register
gone up

Inventory
of video
game gone
down

Ordering of
new video
game for
the store
 OLTP Segmentation
• They can be segmented into:
– Real-time Transaction Processing
– Batch Processing
Real-time Transaction processing
• Multiple users can fetch the information
• Very fast response rate
• Transactions processed immediately
• Everything is processed in real time
 Batch Processing
• Where information is required in batch
• Offline access to information
• Presorting (sequence) is applied
• Takes time to process information

Day
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 .......... 30

Monthly
purchase of
Retail Store
 Characteristics of OLTP Model
• Online connectivity
• LAN,WAN

• Availability
– Available 24 hours a day

• Response rate
– Rapid response rate
– Load balancing by prioritizing the transactions
 Characteristics of OLTP Model
• Cost
– Cost of transactions is less
• Update facility
– Less lock periods
– Instant updates
– Use the full potential of hardware and software
 Limitations of Relational Models
• Create and maintain large number of tables
for the voluminous data
• For new functionalities, new tables are added
• Unstructured data cannot be stored in
relational databases
• Very difficult to manage the data with
common denominator (keys)
Answer a Quick Question

According to your understanding,

what are some of the queries that OLTP systems can process?
Queries that an OLTP System can Process

• Search for a particular customer’s record.

• Retrieve the product description and unit price of a particular product.
• Filter all products with a unit price equal to or above Rs. 25.
• Filter all products supplied by a particular supplier.
• Search and display the record of a particular supplier.
Advantages and Challenges of an OLTP System

Advantages of an OLTP System

• Simplicity – It is designed typically for use by clerks, cashiers, clients, etc.
• Efficiency – It allows its users to read, write and delete data quickly.
• Fast query processing – It responds to user actions immediately and also
supports transaction processing on demand.

Challenges of an OLTP System

• Security – An OLTP system requires concurrency control (locking) and
recovery mechanisms (logging).
• OLTP system data content not suitable for decision making – A typical
OLTP system manages the current data within an enterprise/organization.
This current data is far too detailed to be easily used for decision making.
The Queries that OLTP Cannot Answer

• The super market store is deciding on introducing a new product. The key
questions they are debating are: “Which product should they introduce?”
and “Should it be specific to a few customer segments?”

• The super market store is looking at offering some discount on their year-
end sale. The questions here are: “How much discount should they offer?”
and “Should it be different discounts for different customer segments?”
• The supermarket is looking at rewarding its most consistent salesperson.
The question here is:“How to zero in on its most consistent salesperson
(consistent on several parameters)?All the queries stated above have more
to do with analysis than simple reporting”
• Ideally these queries are not meant to be solved by an OLTP system.
 OLAP - Online Analytical Processing
OLAP differs from traditional databases in the way data is conceptualized
and stored.
In OLAP data is held in the dimensional form rather than the relational
form.
OLAP’s life blood is multi-dimensional data.
OLAP tools are based on the multi-dimensional data model. The multi-
dimensional data model views data in the form of a data cube.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) is a technology that is used to
organize large business databases and support business intelligence.
OLAP databases are divided into one or more cubes. The cubes are
designed in such a way that creating and viewing reports become easy.
OLAP databases are divided into one or more cubes, and each cube is
organized and designed by a cube administrator to fit the way that you
retrieve and analyze data so that it is easier to create and use the PivotTable
reports and PivotChart reports that you need.
 OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)
• OLAP is a category of software that allows users to analyze
information from multiple database systems at the same time. It
is a technology that enables analysts to extract and view business
data from different points of view
• Analysts frequently need to group, aggregate and join data.
These operations in relational databases are resource intensive.
With OLAP, data can be pre-calculated and pre-aggregated,
making analysis faster.
• Provides multidimensional view of data
• Used for analysis of data
• Data can be viewed from different perspectives
• Determine why data appears the way it does
• Drill down approach is used to further dig down deep into the
data
 OLAP - Example
 Let us consider the data of a supermarket store, “AllGoods” store, for the
year “2001”.
 This data as captured by the OLTP system is under the following column
headings: Section, Product-CategoryName, YearQuarter, and SalesAmount.
We have a total of 32 records/rows.
 The Section column can have one value from amongst “Men”, “Women”,
“Kid”, and “Infant”.
 The ProductCategory Name column can have either the value
“Accessories” or the value “Clothing”.
 The YearQuarter column can have one value from amongst “Q1”, “Q2”,
“Q3”, and “Q4”.
 The SalesAmount column record the sales figures for each Section,
ProductCategory Name, and Year Quarter.
OLAP - Example
 Characteristics of OLAP

• Multidimensional analysis

• Support for complex queries

• Advanced database support

– Support large databases
– Access different data sources
– Access aggregated data and detailed data
 Characteristics of OLAP
• Easy-to-use End-user interface
– Easy to use graphical interfaces
– Familiar interfaces with previous data analysis
tools
• Client-Server Architecture
– Provides flexibility
– Can be used on different computers
– More machines can be added
One Dimensional
Consider the table shown in the earlier slide - It displays “AllGoods” store’s
sales data by Section, which is one-dimensional .
Figure 3.4 shows data in two dimensions (horizontal and vertical), in
OLAP it is considered to be one dimension as we are looking at the
SalesAmount from one particular perspective, i.e. by Section.

Table 3.5 presents the sales data of the “AllGoods” stores by

ProductCategoryName. This data is again in one dimension
as we are looking at the SalesAmount from one particular
perspective, ie.ProductCategoryName.
Table 3.6 presents the“AllGoods” sales data by yet another
dimension, i.e. YearQuarter. However, this data is yet another
example of one-dimensional data as we are looking at the
SalesAmount from one particular perspective, i.e. by
YearQuarter.
Two Dimensional
One-dimensional data was easy. What if, the requirement was to view Company’s data
by calendar quarters and product categories? Here, two-dimensional data comes into
play. The two-dimensional depiction of data allows one the liberty to think about
dimensions as a kind of coordinate system.
Table 3.7 gives you a clear idea of the two-dimensional data. In this table, two
dimensions (YearQuarters and ProductCategoryName) have been combined.

In Table 3.7, data has been plotted along two dimensions as we can now look at the
SalesAmount from two perspectives, i.e. by YearQuarter and ProductCategoryName. The
calendar quarters have been listed along the vertical axis and the product categories have been
listed across the horizontal axis. Each unique pair of values of these two dimensions
corresponds to a single point of SalesAmount data. For example, the Accessories sales for Q2
add up to $9680.00 whereas the Clothing sales for the same quarter total up to $12366.00.
Their sales figures correspond to a single point of SalesAmount data, i.e. $22046.
Three Dimensional
What if the company’s analyst wishes to view the data — all of it — along all the three
dimensions (Year-Quarter, ProductCategoryName, and Section) and all on the same table
at the same time? For this theanalyst needs a three-dimensional view of data as arranged
in Table 3.8. In this table, one can now look atthe data by all the three dimensions/
perspectives, i.e. Section, ProductCategoryName, YearQuarter. If theanalyst wants to
look for the section which recorded maximum Accessories sales in Q2, then by giving
aquick glance to Table 3.8, he can conclude that it is the Kid section.
Can we go beyond Three Dimensional?
Well, if the question is “Can you go beyond the third dimension?” the answer is
YES!
If at all there is any constraint, it is because of the limits of your software. But if
the question is “Should you go beyond the third dimension?” we will say it is
entirely on what data has been captured by your operational transactional systems
and what kind of queries you wish your OLAP system to respond to.
Now that we understand multi-dimensional data, it is time to look at the
functionalities and characteristics of an OLAP system. OLAP systems are
characterized by a low volume of transactions that involve very complex queries.
Some typical applications of OLAP are: budgeting, sales forecasting, sales
reporting, business process manage
Example: Assume a financial analyst reports that the sales by the company have
gone up. The next question is “Which Section is most responsible for this
increase?” The answer to this question is usually followed by a barrage of
questions such as “Which store in this Section is most responsible for the
increase?” or “Which particular product category or categories registered the
maximum incréase?” The answers to these are provided by multidimensional
analysis or OLAP;
Can we go beyond Three Dimensional?
Let us go back to our example of a company’s
(“AllGoods”) sales data viewed along three dimensions:
Section, ProductCategoryName, and YearQuarter.
Given below are a set of queries, related to example,
that a typical OLAP system is capable of responding to:
•What will be the future sales trend for “Accessories” in the “Kid’s” Section?
•Given the customers buying pattern, will it be profitable to launch product
“XYZ” in the “Kid's” Section?
• What impact will a 5% increase in the price of produces have on the
customers?
Advantages of an OLAP System

• Multi-dimensional data representation.

• Consistency of information.

• “What if ” analysis.

• Provides a single platform for all information and business needs –

planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting and analysis.

• Fast and interactive ad hoc exploration.

Answer a Quick Question

According to your understanding,

what are some of the queries that OLAP systems can process?
OLTP vs. OLAP
OLTP OLAP
Online Transaction Processing Online Analytical Processing
Focus Data in Data out
Source of data Operational/Transactional Data Data extracted from various
operational data sources,
transformed and loaded into the
data warehouse
Purpose of data Manage (control and execute) basic Assists in planning, budgeting,
business tasks forecasting and decision making
Data contents Current data. Far too detailed – not Historical data. Has support for
suitable for decision making summarization and aggregation.
Stores and manages data at
various levels of granularity,
thereby suitable for decision
making
Inserts and updates Very frequent updates and inserts Periodic updates to refresh the
data warehouse
Queries Simple queries, often returning fewer Often complex queries involving
records aggregations
Processing speed Usually returns fast Queries usually take a long time
(several hours) to execute and
return
Access Field level access Typically aggregated access to
data of business interest
OLTP vs. OLAP

OLTP OLAP
Online Transaction Processing Online Analytical Processing
Database Design Typically normalized tables. OLTP Typically de-normalized tables; uses
system adopts ER (Entity Relationship) star or snowflake schema
model
Operations Read/Write Mostly read
Backup and Recovery Regular backups of operational data are Instead of regular backups, data
mandatory. Requires concurrency control warehouse is refreshed periodically
(locking) and recovery mechanisms using data from operational data
(logging) sources
Joins Many Few

Derived data and aggregates Rare Common

Data Structures Complex Multi-dimensional
Few Sample Queries  Search & locate student(s)  Which courses have productivity
 Print student scores impact on-the-job?
 Filter students above 90% marks  How much training is needed on
future technologies for non-
linear growth in BI?
 Why consider investing in DSS
experience lab?
Sr.No. Data Warehouse (OLAP) Operational Database (OLTP)

1 Involves historical processing of information. Involves day-to-day processing.

2 OLAP systems are used by knowledge workers such as executives, OLTP systems are used by clerks, DBAs, or
managers and analysts. database professionals.

3 Useful in analyzing the business. Useful in running the business.

4 It focuses on Information out. It focuses on Data in.

5 Based on Star Schema, Snowflake, Schema and Fact Constellation Based on Entity Relationship Model.
Schema.

7 Provides summarized and consolidated data. Provides primitive and highly detailed
data.

8 Provides summarized and multidimensional view of data. Provides detailed and flat relational view
of data.

9 Number or users is in hundreds. Number of users is in thousands.

10 Number of records accessed is in millions. Number of records accessed is in tens.

11 Database size is from 100 GB to 1 TB Database size is from 100 MB to 1 GB.

12 Highly flexible. Provides high performance.

OLAP Cube
Data Warehouse Models
and OLAP Operations
Data Warehouse Architecture

CS 336 40
 Decision Support
• Information technology to help the
knowledge worker (executive, manager,
analyst) make faster & better decisions
– “What were the sales volumes by region and product category for
the last year?”
– “How did the share price of comp. manufacturers correlate with
quarterly profits over the past 10 years?”
– “Which orders should we fill to maximize revenues?”

• On-line analytical processing (OLAP) is an

element of decision support systems (DSS)

CS 336 41
Three-Tier Decision Support Systems
• Warehouse database server
– Almost always a relational DBMS, rarely flat files
• OLAP servers
– Relational OLAP (ROLAP): extended relational DBMS that maps
operations on multidimensional data to standard relational
operators
– Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP): special-purpose server that
directly implements multidimensional data and operations
• Clients
– Query and reporting tools
– Analysis tools
– Data mining tools
CS 336 42
 The Complete Decision Support
System
Information Sources Data Warehouse OLAP Servers Clients
Server (Tier 2) (Tier 3)
(Tier 1)
e.g., MOLAP
Semistructured Analysis
Sources
Data
Warehouse serve

extract Query/Reporting
transform
load serve
refresh
etc. e.g., ROLAP
Operational
DB’s Data Mining
serve

Data Marts
CS 336 43
 Data Warehouse vs. Data Marts
• Enterprise warehouse: collects all information about
subjects (customers,products,sales,assets,
personnel) that span the entire organization
– Requires extensive business modeling (may take years to design
and build)
• Data Marts: Departmental subsets that focus on selected
subjects
– Marketing data mart: customer, product, sales
– Faster roll out, but complex integration in the long run
• Virtual warehouse: views over operational dbs
– Materialize sel. summary views for efficient query processing
– Easy to build but require excess capability on operat. db servers
CS 336 44
 Approaches to OLAP Servers
• Relational DBMS as Warehouse Servers
• Two possibilities for OLAP servers
• (1) Relational OLAP (ROLAP)
– Relational and specialized relational DBMS to
store and manage warehouse data
– OLAP middleware to support missing pieces
• (2) Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP)
– Array-based storage structures
– Direct access to array data structures
CS 336 45
 OLAP Server: Query Engine
Requirements
• Aggregates (maintenance and querying)
– Decide what to precompute and when
• Query language to support multidimensional
operations
– Standard SQL falls short
• Scalable query processing
– Data intensive and data selective queries

CS 336 46
 OLAP for Decision Support
• OLAP = Online Analytical Processing
• Support (almost) ad-hoc querying for business analyst
• Think in terms of spreadsheets
– View sales data by geography, time, or product
• Extend spreadsheet analysis model to work with
warehouse data
– Large data sets
– Semantically enriched to understand business terms
– Combine interactive queries with reporting functions
• Multidimensional view of data is the foundation of
OLAP
– Data model, operations, etc.
CS 336 47
 Warehouse Models & Operators
• Data Models
– relations
– stars & snowflakes
– cubes
• Operators
– slice & dice
– roll-up, drill down
– pivoting
– other
CS 336 48
 Multi-Dimensional Data
• Measures - numerical data being tracked
• Dimensions - business parameters that define a
transaction
• Example: Analyst may want to view sales data
(measure) by geography, by time, and by product
(dimensions)
• Dimensional modeling is a technique for
structuring data around the business concepts
• ER models describe “entities” and “relationships”
• Dimensional models describe “measures” and
“dimensions”
CS 336 49
 The Multi-Dimensional Model
“Sales by product line over the past six months”
“Sales by store between 1990 and 1995”
Store Info Key columns joining fact table
to dimension tables Numerical Measures

Prod Code Time Code Store Code Sales Qty

Fact table for

Product Info
measures

Dimension tables Time Info

...
CS 336 50
 Dimensional Modeling

• Dimensions are organized into hierarchies

– E.g., Time dimension: days  weeks  quarters
– E.g., Product dimension: product  product line  brand
• Dimensions have attributes

CS 336 51
 Dimension Hierarchies
Store Dimension Product Dimension

Total Total

Region Manufacturer

District Brand

Stores Products

CS 336 52
 ROLAP: Dimensional Modeling
Using Relational DBMS
• Special schema design: star, snowflake
• Special indexes: bitmap, multi-table join
• Special tuning: maximize query throughput
• Proven technology (relational model,
DBMS), tend to outperform specialized
MDDB especially on large data sets
• Products
– IBM DB2, Oracle, Sybase IQ, RedBrick, Informix

CS 336 53
 MOLAP: Dimensional Modeling
Using the Multi Dimensional Model
• MDDB: a special-purpose data model
• Facts stored in multi-dimensional arrays
• Dimensions used to index array
• Sometimes on top of relational DB
• Products
– Pilot, Arbor Essbase, Gentia

CS 336 54
Star Schema (in RDBMS)

CS 336 55
Star Schema Example

CS 336 56
Star
Schema
with Sample
Data

CS 336 57
 The “Classic” Star Schema
Store Dimension Fact Table
 A single fact table, with
Time Dimension
STORE KEY STORE KEY
PERIOD KEY
detail and summary data
Store Description PRODUCT KEY
Period Desc
City
State
PERIOD KEY
Dollars
Year  Fact table primary key has
District ID Quarter
District Desc.
Region_ID
Units
Price
Month
Day
only one key column per
Region Desc.
Regional Mgr.
Level
Product Dimension Current Flag
Resolution dimension
PRODUCT KEY Sequence
Product Desc.
Brand  Each key is generated
Color
Size
Manufacturer
Level
 Each dimension is a single
table, highly denormalized

Benefits: Easy to understand, easy to define hierarchies, reduces # of physical joins,

low maintenance, very simple metadata
Drawbacks: Summary data in the fact table yields poorer performance for summary
levels, huge dimension tables a problem
CS 336 58
 The “Classic” Star Schema
Store Dimension Fact Table Time Dimension The biggest drawback: dimension
STORE KEY STORE KEY
Store Description PRODUCT KEY
PERIOD KEY tables must carry a level indicator for
Period Desc
City
State
PERIOD KEY
Year every record and every query must
Dollars
District ID
District Desc.
Units
Quarter
Month
use it. In the example below, without
Price
Region_ID
Region Desc.
Day
Current Flag
the level constraint, keys for all stores
Product Dimension
Regional Mgr.
Level PRODUCT KEY
Resolution in the NORTH region, including
Sequence
Product Desc. aggregates for region and district will
Brand
Color be pulled from the fact table, resulting
Size
Manufacturer in error.
Level

Example:
Select A.STORE_KEY, A.PERIOD_KEY, A.dollars from Level is needed
Fact_Table A whenever aggregates
where A.STORE_KEY in (select STORE_KEY are stored with detail
from Store_Dimension B facts.
where region = “North” and Level = 2)
and etc...CS 336 59
 The “Level” Problem
• Level is a problem because because it causes
potential for error. If the query builder, human
or program, forgets about it, perfectly
reasonable looking WRONG answers can occur.
• One alternative: the FACT CONSTELLATION
model...

CS 336 60
 The “Fact Constellation” Schema
Store Dimension Fact Table Time Dimension
STORE KEY STORE KEY
PERIOD KEY
Store Description PRODUCT KEY
City PERIOD KEY Period Desc
State Year
Dollars Quarter
District ID
Units
District Desc. Month
Price
Region_ID Day
Region Desc. Current Flag
Regional Mgr.
Product Dimension
Sequence
PRODUCT KEY
Product Desc.
Brand District Fact Table
Color
Region Fact Table
Size District_ID
Manufacturer Region_ID
PRODUCT_KEY
PRODUCT_KEY
PERIOD_KEY PERIOD_KEY
Dollars
Dollars
Units Units
Price Price

CS 336 61
 The “Fact Constellation” Schema
Store Dimension Fact Table Time Dimension
STORE KEY STORE KEY
PRODUCT KEY
PERIOD KEY In the Fact Constellations,
Store Description
City
State
PERIOD KEY
Dollars
Period Desc
Year aggregate tables are
District ID Quarter
District Desc.
Region_ID
Units
Price
Month
Day
created
Region Desc.
Product Dimension
Regional Mgr.
PRODUCT KEY
Sequence separately from the detail,
Current Flag

Product Desc.
BrandDist rict Fact Table therefor
Color
Size District_ID
Manufacturer
PRODUCT_KEY
it is impossible to pick up,
Region Fact Table
Region_ID
PRODUCT_KEY
PERIOD_KEY
Dollars
for PERIOD_KEY
Dollars
Units
Price example, Store detail when
Units
Price

querying
the District Fact Table.
Major Advantage: No need for the “Level” indicator in the dimension tables,
since no aggregated data is stored with lower-level detail

Disadvantage: Dimension tables are still very large in some cases, which can
slow performance; front-end must be able to detect existence of aggregate
facts, which requires more extensive metadata
CS 336 62
 Another Alternative to “Level”
• Fact Constellation is a good alternative to the
Star, but when dimensions have very high
cardinality, the sub-selects in the dimension
tables can be a source of delay.
• An alternative is to normalize the dimension
tables by attribute level, with each smaller
dimension table pointing to an appropriate
aggregated fact table, the “Snowflake Schema”
...
CS 336 63
 The “Snowflake” Schema
Store Dimension
STORE KEY District_ID Region_ID
Store Description District Desc. Region Desc.
City Region_ID Regional Mgr.
State
District ID
District Desc.
Region_ID
Region Desc.
Regional Mgr.
Store Fact Table District Fact Table RegionFact Table
Region_ID
STORE KEY District_ID
PRODUCT_KEY
PRODUCT_KEY PERIOD_KEY
PRODUCT KEY PERIOD_KEY Dollars
PERIOD KEY Dollars Units
Units Price
Dollars Price
Units
Price

CS 336 64
 The “Snowflake” Schema
Store Dimension
• No LEVEL in dimension tables
STORE KEY District_ID Region_ID
Store Description
City
District Desc.
Region_ID
Region Desc.
Regional Mgr.
• Dimension tables are normalized by
State
District ID
decomposing at the attribute level
District Desc.
Region_ID • Each dimension table has one key for
Region Desc.
Regional Mgr.
Store Fact Table District Fact Table
District_ID
RegionFact Table
Region_ID
each level of the dimensionís hierarchy
STORE KEY PRODUCT_KEY
PRODUCT_KEY
PRODUCT KEY
PERIOD KEY
PERIOD_KEY
Dollars
PERIOD_KEY
Dollars
Units
• The lowest level key joins the
Dollars
Units
Price
Price
dimension table to both the fact table
Units
Price and the lower level attribute table

How does it work? The best way is for the query to be built by understanding which
summary levels exist, and finding the proper snowflaked attribute tables,
constraining there for keys, then selecting from the fact table.

CS 336 65
 The “Snowflake” Schema
Store Dimension
• Additional features: The original Store
STORE KEY District_ID Region_ID
Store Description District Desc. Region Desc. Dimension table, completely de-
City Region_ID Regional Mgr.
State normalized, is kept intact, since certain
District ID
District Desc.
Region_ID
queries can benefit by its all-
Region Desc.
Regional Mgr.
Store Fact Table District Fact Table RegionFact Table encompassing content.
District_ID Region_ID
STORE KEY
PRODUCT KEY
PRODUCT_KEY
PERIOD_KEY
PRODUCT_KEY
PERIOD_KEY
Dollars
• In practice, start with a Star Schema
PERIOD KEY Dollars
Units
Units
Price and create the “snowflakes” with
Dollars Price
Units queries. This eliminates the need to
Price
create separate extracts for each table,
and referential integrity is inherited
from the dimension table.

Advantage: Best performance when queries involve aggregation

Disadvantage: Complicated maintenance and metadata, explosion in the number

of tables in the database CS 336 66
 Advantages of ROLAP
Dimensional Modeling
• Define complex, multi-dimensional data with
simple model
• Reduces the number of joins a query has to
process
• Allows the data warehouse to evolve with rel.
low maintenance
• HOWEVER! Star schema and relational DBMS
are not the magic solution
– Query optimization is still problematic
CS 336 67
 Aggregates
 Add up amounts for day 1
 In SQL: SELECT sum(amt) FROM SALE
WHERE date = 1

sale prodId storeId date amt

p1 s1 1 12
p2 s1 1 11
p1 s3 1 50 81
p2 s2 1 8
p1 s1 2 44
p1 s2 2 4

CS 336 68
 Aggregates
 Add up amounts by day
 In SQL: SELECT date, sum(amt) FROM SALE
GROUP BY date

sale prodId storeId date amt

p1 s1 1 12
p2 s1 1 11 ans date sum
p1 s3 1 50 1 81
p2 s2 1 8 2 48
p1 s1 2 44
p1 s2 2 4

CS 336 69
 Another Example
 Add up amounts by day, product
 In SQL: SELECT date, sum(amt) FROM SALE
GROUP BY date, prodId
sale prodId storeId date amt
p1 s1 1 12 sale prodId date amt
p2 s1 1 11 p1 1 62
p1 s3 1 50 p2 1 19
p2 s2 1 8
p1 s1 2 44 p1 2 48
p1 s2 2 4

rollup

drill-down

CS 336 70
 Aggregates
• Operators: sum, count, max, min,
median, ave
• “Having” clause
• Using dimension hierarchy
– average by region (within store)
– maximum by month (within date)

CS 336 71
 ROLAP vs. MOLAP
• ROLAP:
Relational On-Line Analytical Processing
• MOLAP:
Multi-Dimensional On-Line Analytical
Processing

CS 336 72
 The MOLAP Cube

Fact table view:

Multi-dimensional cube:

sale prodId storeId amt

p1 s1 12 s1 s2 s3
p2 s1 11 p1 12 50
p1 s3 50 p2 11 8
p2 s2 8

dimensions = 2

CS 336 73
 3-D Cube
Fact table view: Multi-dimensional cube:

sale prodId storeId date amt

p1 s1 1 12
p2 s1 1 11 s1 s2 s3
day 2
p1 s3 1 50 p1 44 4
p2 s2 1 8 p2 s1 s2 s3
p1 s1 2 44 day 1
p1 12 50
p1 s2 2 4 p2 11 8

dimensions = 3

CS 336 74
 Example
roll-up to region
Dimensions:
NY
SF
Time, Product, Store
roll-up to brand
LA
Attributes:
10
Product (upc, price, …)
Juice
Product

34
Store …
Milk
56 …
Coke
Cream 32 Hierarchies:
Soap 12 Product  Brand  …
Bread 56 roll-up to week Day  Week  Quarter
M T W Th F S S
Store  Region 
Country
Time
56 units of bread sold in LA on M

CS 336 75
 Cube Aggregation: Roll-up
Example: computing sums
s1 s2 s3
day 2 ...
p1 44 4
p2 s1 s2 s3
day 1
p1 12 50
p2 11 8

s1 s2 s3
sum 67 12 50
s1 s2 s3
p1 56 4 50
p2 11 8 129

rollup sum
p1 110
p2 19
drill-down

CS 336 76
 Cube Operators for Roll-up

s1 s2 s3
day 2 ...
p1 44 4
p2 s1 s2 s3
day 1
p1 12 50
p2 11 8 sale(s1,*,*)

s1 s2 s3
sum 67 12 50
s1 s2 s3
p1 56 4 50
p2 11 8 129

sum
sale(s2,p2,*) p1 110
p2 19 sale(*,*,*)

CS 336 77
 Extended Cube

* s1 s2 s3 *
p1 56 4 50 110
p2 11 8 19
day 2 *
s1 67
s2 12
s3 *50 129
p1 44 4 48
p2
s1 s2 s3 * sale(*,p2,*)
day 1 * 44 4 48
p1 12 50 62
p2 11 8 19
* 23 8 50 81

CS 336 78
 Aggregation Using Hierarchies

s1 s2 s3 store
day 2
p1 44 4
p2 s1 s2 s3
day 1
p1 12 50 region
p2 11 8

country

region A region B
p1 56 54
p2 11 8
(store s1 in Region A;
stores s2, s3 in Region B)

CS 336 79
 Slicing
s1 s2 s3
day 2
p1 44 4
p2 s1 s2 s3
day 1
p1 12 50
p2 11 8

TIME = day 1

s1 s2 s3
p1 12 50
p2 11 8

CS 336 80
Slicing & Sales
($ millions)
Products Time
Pivoting Store s1 Electronics
d1
$5.2
d2

Toys $1.9
Clothing $2.3
Cosmetics $1.1
Store s2 Electronics $8.9
Toys $0.75
Clothing $4.6
Cosmetics $1.5
Sales
($ millions)
Products d1
Store s1 Store s2
Store s1 Electronics $5.2 $8.9
Toys $1.9 $0.75
Clothing $2.3 $4.6
Cosmetics $1.1 $1.5
Store s2 Electronics
Toys
Clothing
CS 336 81
 Summary of Operations
• Aggregation (roll-up)
– aggregate (summarize) data to the next higher dimension
element
– e.g., total sales by city, year  total sales by region, year
• Navigation to detailed data (drill-down)
• Selection (slice) defines a subcube
– e.g., sales where city =‘Gainesville’ and date = ‘1/15/90’
• Calculation and ranking
– e.g., top 3% of cities by average income
• Visualization operations (e.g., Pivot)
• Time functions
– e.g., time average
CS 336 82
 Query & Analysis Tools
• Query Building
• Report Writers (comparisons, growth, graphs,…)
• Spreadsheet Systems
• Web Interfaces
• Data Mining

CS 336 83
 MOLAP, ROLAP, HOLAP
• MOLAP
– Multidimensional OLAP
• ROLAP
– Relational OLAP
• HOLAP
– Hybrid OLAP
 MOLAP
• Uses multidimensional approach to solve a
problem
• Directly stores the information in cubes
• Used in SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services)
 ROLAP
• Relational databases are used to store the
data
• Translates OLAP queries to appropriate SQL
statements
• Data created by OLTP is directly used
Do it Exercise

Study the Data models for OLTP and OLAP systems

Hint: ER modeling, Star and Snowflake Schema
 The raw data
Car_sales table

For analysis, raw data often needs to be summarized

 OLAP:example
 Example: find what kinds of cars are popular?
sales(make, color, size, num_sold) (slightly summarized data)
where make can be Toyota, Nissan, Holden, Ford etc
colors are white, red, silver
size can be small, medium, large.

 Attributes such as num_sold are called measure attributes, since they can be
used to measure some value, and can be aggregated.
 Attributes like make, color, size are called dimension attributes, since they
define the dimensions on which measure attributes are viewed.
Data that can be modeled as dimension attributes and measure attributes are
called multi-dimensional data.
Dimension Hierarchies
 Cross Tabs and Data Cubes
 OLAP systems allow analyst to view different summaries of the data.
 The following table can be derived from
sales(make, color, size, num_sold)
Relational representation
make color num_sold
Cross-tab or pivot table Toyota white 8
Toyota red 35
WHITE RED SILVER TOTAL Toyota silver 10
TOYOTA 8 35 10 53 Toyota all 53
Nissan white 20
NISSAN 20 10 5 35 Nissan red 10
HOLDEN 14 7 28 49 Nissan silver 5
Nissan all 35
FORD 20 2 5 27 Holden white 14
TOTAL 62 54 48 164 Holden red 7
Holden silver 28
Holden all 49
Ford white 20
Ford red 2
Ford silver 5
Ford all 27
all white 62
all red 54
all silver 48
all all 164
 Data Cubes
The generalization of a cross tab, which is 2-dimensional, to n
dimensions can be visualized as a n-dimensional cube, called
the data cube.

white
color

red

silver

all
 MOLAP vs ROLAP
 OLAP systems can use multi-dimensional array to store data cubes, called
multidimensional OLAP systems (MOLAP) .
 Alternatively, they can stored data as relations in relational databases, called
relational OLAP systems (ROLAP).
 ROLAP
 The main relation, which relates dimensions to measures, is called the fact table.
 e.g., sales(prod_id, date, shop_id, num_sold)
 Very large, accumulation of facts such as sales
 Each dimension can have additional attributes and an associated dimensional
table.
 E.g., product(prod_id, price, color)
prod_id is a foreign key of sales
shops(shop_id, location, manager)

 Dimension data are smaller, generally static

 The Star Schema
 In a ROLAP system, relations are often stored with star schemas
 A star schema consists of the fact table and one or more dimension tables.
Dimension tables are usually not normalized, why?
 A typical query often involves a join of the fact table and the dimension tables.

sales

prod_id
prod_id
date
Price
shop_id
color
num_sold shop_id
Location
manager
 The Star Schema
Dimension tables are not in 3NF
 The snowflake schema
A variation of the star schema where the
dimension tables are normalized.
 Fact constellation
A set of fact tables that share some dimension
tables
 OLAP Queries
 A common operation is to aggregate a measure over one or more dimensions, e.g.,
 find total/average sales for a product.
 find total sales in each city/state/month etc
 find top 2 products by total sales
 Roll-up: moving from finer granularity to coarser granularity by means of
aggregation.
 E.g., given total sales for each city, find total sales for each state.
 Drill-down: The inverse of roll-up
 Pivoting: aggregate on selected dimensions
 Slicing and dicing:
 E.g., from the data cube find the cross-tab on Model and Color for medium
cars . The cross-tab can be viewed as a slice of the data cube.
 Query Processing Issues
 Expensive aggregations are common
 Pre-compute all aggregates? Maybe infeasible!
 Materialized views can help.
 Which views to materialize?
 given a query and some materialized views, can we use the views to answer
the query? How?
 How frequently should we refresh the views to make them consistent with the
underlying tables?
 What indexes should one use?
 SQL:1999 Extended Aggregations*
Example 1
Select make, color, size, sum(number) from sales
group by cube(make, color, size)
Calculates 8 groupings:
(make, color, size), (make, color), (make, size), …., ().

Example 2
Select make, color, sum(number) from sales
Group by rollup(make, color, size)

Calculates 4 groupings:
(make, color, size), (make, color), (make), ().
Examples in Oracle: Rollup
Oracle Rollup Example
OLTP and OLAP
Should OLAP be Performed Directly
on Operational Databases?

• OLTP systems support multiple concurrent transactions. Therefore the

OLTP systems have support for concurrency control (locking) and recovery
mechanisms (logging).

• An OLAP system on the other hand requires mostly a read only access to
data records for summarization and aggregation. If concurrency control and
recovery mechanisms are applied for such OLAP operations, it will
severely impact the throughput of an OLAP system.
OLAP Operations on Multi-dimensional Data

• Slice
• Dice
• Roll-up
• Drill down
• Drill through
• Drill across
• Pivot/Rotate
Do It Exercise

Hands on practice on the various OLAP operations on multi-dimensional data.

Hint: Provide the participants with a sample data sheet (Excel sheet) and
ask them to demonstrate their understanding of the various OLAP
operations on multi-dimensional data.
 Data Warehouse
 A repository of information gathered from multiple sources, stored under a unified
schema, usually at a single site .
 Data may be augmented with additional attributes, such as timestamp, and
summary information.
 Data are stored for a long time, permitting access to historical data.
 Interactive response times expected for complex queries; ad-hoc updates
uncommon.
 Building Data Warehouse
Issues:
– Semantic integration: When getting data from
multiple sources, must eliminate mismatches, e.g.,
different currencies.
– Heterogeneous sources: must access data from a
variety of source formats.
– Load, refresh, purge: Must load data, periodically
refresh it, and purge too old or useless data
– Metadata management: Must keep track of
source, loading time, etc.
Elements of data warehouse EIS/DSS
Apps

4
Data
Data
Replication &
Cleansing Metadata
1
Information
Operational Data Informational Directory
Database

3
 Elements of data warehouse
 Data Replication Manager
 copying & distribution of data across databases
• data that needs to be copied, source/destination, frequency, data
transforms
• refresh copy entire source, propagate changes only
 all external data is transformed & cleansed before adding to warehouse
 Informational Database
 database that stores data copied from multiple sources by data replication
manager

 Information Directory
 metadata manager - collects metadata from databases on network
 EIS/DSS tools
 SQL based query tools
 some vendors use extended SQL
 Query/Reporting tools
 Formulate queries without (extended) SQL or other languages
 Result displayed as table, graph, report,
 Spreadsheet systems
 Web interfaces
 Vendor-specific tools
 Oracle Discoverer:
• http://www.oracle.com/tools/disc/index.html
 Column stores
A recently proposed data storage method that
allows more efficient aggregation queries in
data warehouses
stores data as columns rather than as rows.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Column-
oriented_DBMS.
OLAP in BI
Answer a Quick Question

Will using BI/Analytics in conjunction with ERP systems prove

advantageous to the enterprise? Why?
Leveraging ERP Data Using Analytics

ERP provides several business benefits, here we enumerate the top three:

1. Consistency and reliability of data across the various units of the

organization.
2. Streamlining the transactional process.
3. A few basic reports to serve the operational (day-to-day) needs.

In short ERP systems are adept at capturing, storing and moving the data
across the various units smoothly.

It is however inept at serving the analytical and reporting needs of the

organization.
DETAILED
EXPLANATION OF
SCENARIO 1 & 2
SCENARIO 1 : NO FORMAL LINK BETWEEN STRATEGY AND BA

• Detailed explanation
• when developing their strategy, companies often focus on the most visible aspects
• Involvement of Primary functions and supportive functions
• Support functions interpret business strategy in their daily activities
• No uncoordinated entities, but rather acase of a filter exist between them.
• A filter may exist because it is primarily the individual processes’ owners, on an ad hoc
basis, and not the strategy that defines which information is to be generated by the BA
function.
• BA function prioritizesits tasks according to what best serves the daily target achievement of the
company
• the BA function tasks are performed based on the driving force of different users requesting
information
• Reporting - Development of more or less authorized reports with inconsistent presentations of the
business that they are describing.
• Quality of BA will typically be an assessment of how quickly a question is answered and how
well founded the answer is.
• Other reasons-right conditions simply do not exist.
SCENARIO 2-BA SUPPORTS STRATEGY AT A
FUNCTIONAL LEVEL - DETAILED VIEW
• Adapted information strategy
• BA function is a reactive element, solely employedin connection with the monitoring of whether the defined targets of
the strategy are achieved. (diagram given in next slide)
• Recipients are individual departments, no feedback to the strategic level provided by the BA function.
• The BA function supportscompany performance reporting and processes proactively, but only reactively in terms of how
it supports the strategy creation processes.
• formalized dialogue between individual functions andBA, but the relation to the strategy function is formalized as a
monologue, from strategy to BA function.
• In terms of the quality of BA in such an organization, it’s importantto be good at defining targets based on strategy.
• the BA function is technically competent when it comes to operationalizing these targets via reports and making those
reports both accessible to users and full of the most updated information possible.
• Based on a strategy development process, individual departments define a number of specific
requirements, or targets, they are to achieve.
• It will then be up to the individual functions—with various degrees of autonomy—to decide how
they are going to achieve the given targets.
TARGET REQUIREMENTS-SMART APPROACH

• Specific
• Measureable
• agreed
• Realistic
• Timebound
Business Analytics - Types

Unit 2
 Descriptive Analytics
• Meaning
• Descriptive analytics is the analysis of historical data using two key methods –
data aggregation and data mining - which are used to uncover trends and
patterns.
• Descriptive analytics is the process of using current and historical data to
identify trends and relationships. It's sometimes called the simplest form of
data analysis because it describes trends and relationships but doesn't dig
deeper.
 Descriptive Analytics
• Meaning
• Descriptive analytics is a commonly used form of data analysis whereby
historical data is collected, organised and then presented in a way that is
easily understood. Descriptive analytics is focused only on what has already
happened in a business and, unlike other methods of analysis, it is not used to
draw inferences or predictions from its findings.
 Descriptive Analytics
• How it works?
• Descriptive analytics uses two key methods, data aggregation and data
mining (also known as data discovery), to discover historical data.
• Data aggregation is the process of collecting and organising data to
create manageable data sets. These data sets are then used in the data mining
phase where patterns, trends and meaning are identified and then presented in
an understandable way.
 Descriptive Analytics
• How it works? - Conti….
• Descriptive analytics process – steps
• Business metrics are decided.
• First, metrics are created that will effectively evaluate performance against
business goals, such as improving operational efficiency or increasing revenue.
• The success of descriptive analytics heavily relies on KPI (key performance
indicator) governance.
• ‘Without governance,’ ‘there may not be consensus regarding what the data means,
thus guaranteeing analytics a marginal role in decision making.’
 Descriptive Analytics
•How it works? - Conti….

• Descriptive analytics process – steps

• The data required is identified.

• Data is sourced from repositories such as reports and databases.

• ‘To measure accurately against KPIs,’ ‘companies must catalogue and

prepare the correct data sources to extract the needed data and calculate

metrics based on the current state of the business.

 Descriptive Analytics

•How it works? - Conti….

• Descriptive analytics process – steps

•The data is collected and prepared.

• Data preparation – depublication, transformation and cleansing, for example

– takes place before the analysis stage and is a critical step to ensure accuracy;

it is also one of the most time-consuming steps for the analyst.

 Descriptive Analytics

•How it works? - Conti….

• Descriptive analytics process – steps

• The data is analysed.

• Summary statistics, clustering, pattern tracking and regression analysis are

used to find patterns in the data and measure performance.

 Descriptive Analytics

•How it works? - Conti….

• Descriptive analytics process – steps

• The data is presented.

• Finally, charts and graphs are used to present findings in a way that non-

analytics experts can understand.

 Descriptive Analytics
•How it used?
• The following kinds of data can all be summarized using descriptive
analytics:
•Financial statements
•Surveys
•Social media engagement
•Website traffic
•Scientific findings
•Weather reports
•Traffic data
Business Analytics - Types

Unit 2
 Descriptive Analytics
• Examples of Descriptive Analytics
• 1. Traffic and Engagement Reports
•One example of descriptive analytics is reporting.
•If one organization tracks engagement in the form of social media analytics or web
traffic, then they are already using descriptive analytics.
•These reports are created by taking raw data—generated when users interact with
your website, advertisements, or social media content—and using it to compare
current metrics to historical metrics and visualize trends.
 Descriptive Analytics
• Examples of Descriptive Analytics
• 1. Traffic and Engagement Reports – Conti…
•For example, Mr.Paul responsible for reporting on which media channels drive the
most traffic to the product page of his company’s website.
•Using descriptive analytics, he can analyze the page’s traffic data to determine the
number of users from each source.
• He may decide to take it one step further and compare traffic source data to
historical data from the same sources.
• This can enable him to update his team on movement; for instance, highlighting
that traffic from paid advertisements increased 20 percent year over year.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
•2. Financial Statement Analysis
•Financial statements are periodic reports that detail financial information about a
business and, together, give a holistic view of a company’s financial health.
•There are several types of financial statements, including the balance sheet, income
statement, cash flow statement, and statement of shareholders’ equity. Each caters to
a specific audience and conveys different information about a company’s finances.
•Financial statement analysis can be done in three primary ways: vertical,
horizontal, and ratio.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
•2. Financial Statement Analysis – Conti…
•Vertical analysis involves reading a statement from top to bottom and
comparing each item to those above and below it. This helps determine
relationships between variables. For instance, if each line item is a percentage
of the total, comparing them can provide insight into which are taking up
larger and smaller percentages of the whole.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
•2. Financial Statement Analysis – Conti…
•Horizontal analysis involves reading a statement from left to right and
comparing each item to itself from a previous period. This type of analysis
determines change over time.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics

•2. Financial Statement Analysis – Conti…

• Ratio analysis involves comparing one section of a report to another based

on their relationships to the whole. This directly compares items across

periods, as well as your company’s ratios to the industry’s to gauge whether

yours is over- or underperforming.

 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
•3. Demand Trends
•Descriptive analytics can also be used to identify trends in customer
preference and behavior and make assumptions about the demand for specific
products or services.
•Streaming provider Netflix’s trend identification provides an excellent use
case for descriptive analytics. Netflix’s team—which has a track record of
being heavily data-driven—gathers data on users’ in-platform behavior.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
•3. Demand Trends – Conti…
•They analyze this data to determine which TV series and movies are trending
at any given time and list trending titles in a section of the platform’s home
screen.
•Not only does this data allow Netflix users to see what’s popular—and thus,
what they might enjoy watching—but it allows the Netflix team to know
which types of media, themes, and actors are especially favored at a certain
time.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
•3. Demand Trends – Conti…
• This can drive decision-making about future original content creation,
contracts with existing production companies, marketing, and retargeting
campaigns.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
• 4. Aggregated Survey Results
•Descriptive analytics is also useful in market research. When it comes time to
glean insights from survey and focus group data, descriptive analytics can
help identify relationships between variables and trends.
•For instance, Mr.Paul may conduct a survey and identify that as respondents’
age increases, so does their likelihood to purchase his product.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
• 4. Aggregated Survey Results – Conti…
• If he have conducted this survey multiple times over several years,
descriptive analytics can tell him if this age-purchase correlation has always
existed or if it was something that only occurred this year.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
• 5. Progress to Goals
• Descriptive analytics can be applied to track progress to goals.
• Reporting on progress toward key performance indicators (KPIs) can help
one team understand if efforts are on track or if adjustments need to be made.
•For example, if one organization aims to reach 500,000 monthly unique page
views, they can use traffic data to communicate how they are tracking toward
it.
 Descriptive Analytics
•Examples of Descriptive Analytics
• 5. Progress to Goals – Conti…
• Perhaps halfway through the month, they are at 200,000 unique page views.
• This would be underperforming because they had like to be halfway to their
goal at that point—at 250,000 unique page views.
• This descriptive analysis of their team’s progress can allow further analysis
to examine what can be done differently to improve traffic numbers and get
back on track to hit your KPI.
Business Analytics - Types

Unit 2
 Diagnostic Analytics
• Meaning
• Diagnostic analytics is a form of advanced analytics that examines data
or content to answer the question, “Why did it happen?”
• It is characterized by techniques such as drill-down, data discovery, data
mining and correlations.
•Diagnostic analytics is the process of using data to determine the causes of
trends and correlations between variables.
•It can be viewed as a logical next step after using descriptive analytics to
identify trends.
 Diagnostic Analytics
• Importance of Diagnostic Analytics
• Every company can benefit from gaining a better understanding of its business
performance in order to replicate its success and fix any problems.
• Diagnostic analytics helps companies better understand the internal and external
factors that affect its outcomes.
• It paints a more comprehensive picture of each situation, which helps businesses
make better decisions. For example, if the company determines that a specific online
marketing campaign is responsible for higher sales of a key product, it can direct
more resources to that campaign and create similar campaigns for other products.
 Diagnostic Analytics
• How Does Diagnostic Analytics Work?
•Diagnostic analytics uses a variety of techniques to provide insights into the
causes of trends. These include:
•Data drilling: Drilling down into a dataset can reveal more detailed
information about which aspects of the data are driving the observed trends.
For example, analysts may drill down into national sales data to determine
whether specific regions, customers or retail channels are responsible for
increased sales growth.
 Diagnostic Analytics
• How Does Diagnostic Analytics Work? – Conti…
•Data mining hunts through large volumes of data to find patterns and
associations within the data. For example, data mining might reveal the most
common factors associated with a rise in insurance claims. Data mining can
be conducted manually or automatically with machine learning technology.
 Diagnostic Analytics
• How Does Diagnostic Analytics Work? – Conti…
•Correlation analysis examines how strongly different variables are linked to
each other. For example, sales of ice cream and refrigerated soda may soar on
hot days.
 Diagnostic Analytics
•Three Diagnostic Analytics Categories
•The diagnostic analytics process of determining the root cause of a problem
or trend typically comprises three primary stages.
•Identify anomalies: Trends or anomalies highlighted by descriptive analysis
may require diagnostic analytics if the cause isn’t immediately obvious. In
addition, it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether the results of
descriptive analysis really show a new trend, especially if there’s a lot of
natural variability in the data. In those cases, statistical analysis can help to
determine whether the results actually represent a departure from the norm.
 Diagnostic Analytics
•Three Diagnostic Analytics Categories – Conti…
•Discovery: The next step is to look for data that explains the anomalies: data
discovery.
• That may involve gathering external data as well as drilling into internal
data. For example, searching external data might reveal changes in supply
chains, new regulatory requirements, a shifting competitive landscape or
weather patterns that are associated with the anomalous data.
 Diagnostic Analytics
• Three Diagnostic Analytics Categories – Conti…
• Causal relationships: Further investigation can provide insights into
whether the associations in the data point to the true cause of the anomaly.
• The fact that two events correlate doesn’t necessarily mean one causes the
other.
• Deeper examination of the data associated with the sales increase can
indicate which factor or factors were the most likely cause.
Business Analytics - Types

Unit 2
 Descriptive Analytics - Advantages
• Presents otherwise complex data in an easily digestible format.
• Provides a direct measure of the incidence of key data points.
• Is inexpensive and only requires basic mathematical skills to carry out.
• Is faster to carry out, especially with help from tools like Python or MS
Excel.
• Relies on data that organizations already have access to, meaning there’s no
need to source additional data.
• Looks at a complete population (rather than data sampling), making it
considerably more accurate than inferential statistics.
 Descriptive Analytics - Disadvantages
• We can summarize data sets we have access to, but these may not tell a
complete story.
• We cannot use descriptive analytics to test a hypothesis or understand why
data present the way they do.
• We cannot use descriptive analytics to predict what may happen in the
future.
• We cannot generalize your findings to a broader population.
• Descriptive analytics tells us nothing about the data collection methodology,
meaning the data set may include errors.
 Diagnostic Analytics - Advantages
• Understanding the causes of business outcomes is critical to a company’s
ability to grow and learn from mistakes.
• Diagnostic analytics lets companies zero in on the factors that drive success
or cause failure, including contributing factors that may not be obvious at first
glance.
• Diagnostic analytics can help to in still a data-driven analytical culture
throughout the business.
 Diagnostic Analytics – Advantages – Conti..
• When business leaders understand that the company has the tools to
investigate the cause of problems, they’re more likely to use diagnostic
analytics in their decision-making.
• For example, if a problem in on-time deliveries is identified and
further supply chain analysis reveals disruptions and unpredictable lead times,
managers may choose to increase the inventory on hand to meet customer
demand.
 Diagnostic Analytics - Disadvantages
• A drawback of diagnostic analytics is that it focuses on historical data; it can
only help businesses understand why events happened in the past.
• In addition, further investigation may be needed to determine whether the
correlations revealed by diagnostic analytics really show cause and effect.
• To look into the future, businesses need to use other analytic techniques,
such as predictive analytics, which examines the potential future impact of
trends and events, and prescriptive analytics, which suggests actions
businesses can take to influence the outcome of those future trends.
Diagnostic Analytics - Comparison
 UNIT 2

TYPES OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS

TYPES OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS
III. PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS
 Predictive Analytics
Meaning
The term predictive analytics refers to the use of statistics and modeling techniques to
make predictions about future outcomes and performance.
Predictive analytics looks at current and historical data patterns to determine if those
patterns are likely to emerge again. This allows businesses and investors to adjust
where they use their resources to take advantage of possible future events.
Predictive analysis can also be used to improve operational efficiencies and reduce
risk
Understanding Predictive Analytics

• Predictive analytics is a form of technology that makes predictions

about certain unknowns in the future. It draws on a series of
techniques to make these determinations, including artificial
intelligence (AI), data mining, machine learning, modeling, and
statistics.
• For instance, data mining involves the analysis of large sets of data to
detect patterns from it. Text analysis does the same, except for large
blocks of text.
Predictive models are used for all kinds of applications, including:

• Weather forecasts
• Creating video games
• Translating voice to text for mobile phone messaging
• Customer service
• Investment portfolio development
Uses of Predictive Analytics

• Forecasting
• Credit
• Underwriting
• Marketing
 Predictive Analytics vs. Machine Learning
A common misconception is that predictive analytics and machine learning
are the same things.
• Predictive Analytics help us understand possible future occurrences by
analyzing the past. At its core, predictive analytics includes a series of
statistical techniques (including machine learning, predictive modeling,
and data mining) and uses statistics (both historical and current) to
estimate, or predict, future outcomes.
 Predictive Analytics vs. Machine Learning
• Machine Learning, on the other hand, is a subfield of computer science
that, as per the 1959 definition by Arthur Samuel (an American pioneer
in the field of computer gaming and artificial intelligence) means "the
programming of a digital computer to behave in a way which, if done by
human beings or animals, would be described as involving the process of
learning."
Types of Predictive Analytical Models
1. Decision Trees
2. Regression
3. Neural Networks
1. Decision Trees

• If you want to understand what leads to someone's decisions, then you

may find decision trees useful. This type of model places data into
different sections based on certain variables, such as price or market
capitalization. Just as the name implies, it looks like a tree with
individual branches and leaves. Branches indicate the choices
available while individual leaves represent a particular decision.
• Decision trees are the simplest models because they're easy to
understand and dissect. They're also very useful when you need to
make a decision in a short period of time.
2. Regression

This is the model that is used the most in statistical analysis. Use it
when you want to determine patterns in large sets of data and when
there's a linear relationship between the inputs. This method works by
figuring out a formula, which represents the relationship between all the
inputs found in the dataset. For example, you can use regression to
figure out how price and other key factors can shape the performance of
a security.
3. Neural Networks

Neural networks were developed as a form of predictive analytics by

imitating the way the human brain works. This model can deal with
complex data relationships using artificial intelligence and pattern
recognition. Use it if you have several hurdles that you need to
overcome like when you have too much data on hand, when you don't
have the formula you need to help you find a relationship between the
inputs and outputs in your dataset, or when you need to make
predictions rather than come up with explanations.
How Businesses Can Use Predictive Analytics

• Predictive analysis can be used in a number of different applications.

Businesses can capitalize on models to help advance their interests and
improve their operations. Predictive models are frequently used by
businesses to help improve their customer service and outreach.
• Executives and business owners can take advantage of this kind of
statistical analysis to determine customer behavior. For instance, the owner
of a business can use predictive techniques to identify and target regular
customers who could defect and go to a competitor.
• Predictive analytics plays a key role in advertising and marketing.
Companies can use models to determine which customers are likely to
respond positively to marketing and sales campaigns. Business owners can
save money by targeting customers who will respond positively rather than
doing blanket campaigns.
Benefits of Predictive Analytics

• There are numerous benefits to using predictive analysis. As mentioned

above, using this type of analysis can help entities when you need to make
predictions about outcomes when there are no other (and obvious) answers
available.
• Investors, financial professionals, and business leaders are able to use
models to help reduce risk. For instance, an investor and their advisor can
use certain models to help craft an investment portfolio with minimal risk to
the investor by taking certain factors into consideration, such as age, capital,
and goals.
• There is a significant impact to cost reduction when models are used.
Businesses can determine the likelihood of success or failure of a product
before it launches. Or they can set aside capital for production
improvements by using predictive techniques before the manufacturing
process begins.
Criticism of Predictive Analytics

• The use of predictive analytics has been criticized and, in some cases,
legally restricted due to perceived inequities in its outcomes. Most
commonly, this involves predictive models that result in statistical
discrimination against racial or ethnic groups in areas such as credit
scoring, home lending, employment, or risk of criminal behavior.
• A famous example of this is the (now illegal) practice of redlining in
home lending by banks. Regardless of whether the predictions drawn
from the use of such analytics are accurate, their use is generally
frowned upon, and data that explicitly include information such as a
person's race are now often excluded from predictive analytics.
IV. Prescriptive Analytics

• Prescriptive analytics is a type of data analytics—the use of

technology to help businesses make better decisions through the
analysis of raw data. Specifically, prescriptive analytics factors
information about possible situations or scenarios, available resources,
past performance, and current performance, and suggests a course of
action or strategy. It can be used to make decisions on any time
horizon, from immediate to long term.
• The opposite of prescriptive analytics is descriptive analytics, which
examines decisions and outcomes after the fact.
How Prescriptive Analytics Works

Prescriptive analytics relies on artificial intelligence techniques, such as

machine learning the ability of a computer program, without additional
human input, to understand and advance from the data it acquires, adapting
all the while. Machine learning makes it possible to process a tremendous
amount of data available today. As new or additional data becomes available,
computer programs adjust automatically to make use of it, in a process that is
much faster and more comprehensive than human capabilities could manage.
Prescriptive analytics works with another type of data analytics, predictive
analytics, which involves the use of statistics and modeling to determine
future performance, based on current and historical data. However, it goes
further: Using the predictive analytics' estimation of what is likely to happen,
it recommends what future course to take.
Examples of Prescriptive Analytics

• Numerous types of data-intensive businesses and government agencies

can benefit from using prescriptive analytics, including those in the
financial services and health care sectors, where the cost of human
error is high.
• Prescriptive analytics could be used to evaluate whether a local fire
department should require residents to evacuate a particular area when
a wildfire is burning nearby. It could also be used to predict whether
an article on a particular topic will be popular with readers based on
data about searches and social shares for related topics. Another use
could be to adjust a worker training program in real-time based on
how the worker is responding to each lesson.
 What is Digital Data

1. Information created and stored in a computer mediated environment that can potentially be transmitted as
discrete information signals over the internet, and may be subsequently processed and/or stored for a range of
known and unforeseen purposes. Learn more in: Ethical Benefits and Drawbacks of Digitally Informed Consent
2. The term of digital data is a binary format of information. The computer is converted into some machine-
readable digital format. Learn more in: Threats and Security Issues in Smart City Devices
3. Any data that is produced, collected, stored, and transmitted as a natural result of digitization. Learn more in: An
Evaluation on Turkey Within the Scope of Digital Transformation
4. The information generated by any digital device is called digital data. Learn more in: A New Framework for
Politics, Law, and Government in the Digital Era: A Judge-Based Political System
5. Digital data is any information created by a digital device. Learn more in: Right to Correct Information in the
Cyber World
What Does Digital Data Mean?

• Digital data is data that represents other forms of data using specific
machine language systems that can be interpreted by various technologies.
The most fundamental of these systems is a binary system, which simply
stores complex audio, video or text information in a series of binary
characters, traditionally ones and zeros, or "on" and "off" values.
• One of the biggest strengths of digital data is that all sorts of very complex
analog input can be represented with the binary system. Along with
smaller microprocessors and larger data storage centers, this model of
information capture has helped parties like businesses and government
agencies to explore new frontiers of data collection and to represent more
impressive simulations through a digital interface.
 Digital data sources
Digital data comes from many different sources.
You can look at external sources, where the data is usually aggregated and
talks about broad customer segments. The insights are usually about broad
and general online behaviours.
Your internal sources of data are usually more specific. You can often drill
down to an individual customer level, and specific interactions you have with
them. You can aggregate these up to create broad insights and use these to
create more personalised customer experiences.
 Digital data from external sources

This guide will focus on the free sources you can use to capture digital
data. Do note however, there are also paid sources like Similar Web you can
use if the free sources don’t meet your needs.
Most of the big online players like Google, Facebook and Amazon make some
of their digital data available for free. Sharing data encourages you to use their
platform more often, especially for online advertising.
In general Google is the most generous and helpful when it comes to sharing
digital data. They’re a good place to start as you try to look for online trends
and business opportunities.
 Google Trends

• Google Trends lets you track the popularity of search topics

and keywords. You use these to generate ideas in all sorts of areas.
See for example our article on finding customer needs through search
trends.
• It’s a very flexible tool and lets you analyse search data. You can filter
by different countries and time frames for example. It gives you the
specific words people search on, and lets you compare those to other
search terms.
 Google Ads Keyword Research

• Google Ads Keyword Research tool is another very useful digital data
source from Google. It lets you dig deeper into specific paid search
volumes on keywords than you can with Google Trends.
• You use these insights to drive your SEO and paid search in
your digital media plan.
Facebook Audience Insights

• Googles’s not the only sources of external digital data though. Facebook
give you access to their data when you book advertising with them.
• You have to set up a Business Account to access their Audience
Insights tool. This gives you access to lots of digital data about what is
happening on Facebook.
• You can filter by country, age, gender and interests to learn more about
your potential target audience.
• So in this example, we’ve taken the total population of Facebook users in
Australia.
• And we can see which brands in different types of categories are the most
popular by likes.
Amazon Best Sellers

• Sales data on online shopping channels is usually harder to source

than search and media data.
• You can usually only access sales data if you have a direct business
account with the retailer such as being an Amazon merchant. (See
our online retailers guide for more on this).
• But there are other tools you can use to get insights about e-
Commerce. For example, you can use the Search function on online
retail sites to identify Best Sellers.
• Here, we’ve looked at the fitness category on Amazon for example.
We can see that 4 of the top 10 bestsellers in that category were
fitness band products.
 What Is Structured Data?

Structured data exists in a format created to be captured, stored,

organized and analyzed. It’s neatly organized for easy access. If
structured data was an office it would contain many file cabinets that
are efficiently set up, clearly labeled and easy to access. For that reason,
structured data brings inherent benefits when dealing high volumes of
information.
Where Does Structured Data Come From?

• The term structured data is often associated with relational database

management systems, which date back to 1970 and a mathematical theory
developed by Edgar Codd at IBM’s San Jose Research Laboratory. Codd’s
model organizes data into one or more tables (also known as relations) of
columns and rows. A few years later, fellow IBMers Donald D. Chamberlin
and Raymond Boyce designed the structured query language (SQL), which
is used with the vast major of relational databases.
• To create a structured data standard for web-based application, email
messages and forms of internet content, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and
Yandex created Schema.org, an open community. Schema.org says its
vocabulary includes encodings such as RDFa (an HTML5 extension used in
both the head and body sections of the HTML page), Microdata (an open
HTML specification used to include structured data in HTML content) and
JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data).
 Characteristics of a data structure

There are three main characteristics:

• Correctness
• Time complexity
• Space complexity
Sources of Structured Data

• SQL Database
• Spreadsheets
• Censors
• Medical Devices
• Online Forms
• Point of Sales System
• Web and Server Logs
 What is Unstructured Data?

Unstructured data is the data which does not conforms to a data model
and has no easily identifiable structure such that it can not be used by a
computer program easily. Unstructured data is not organised in a pre-
defined manner or does not have a pre-defined data model, thus it is
not a good fit for a mainstream relational database.
Characteristics of Unstructured Data:
• Data neither conforms to a data model nor has any structure.
• Data can not be stored in the form of rows and columns as in
Databases
• Data does not follows any semantic or rules
• Data lacks any particular format or sequence
• Data has no easily identifiable structure
• Due to lack of identifiable structure, it can not used by computer
programs easily
Sources of Unstructured Data:

• Web pages
• Images (JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc.)
• Videos
• Memos
• Reports
• Word documents and PowerPoint presentations
• Surveys
Advantages of Unstructured Data:
• Its supports the data which lacks a proper format or sequence
• The data is not constrained by a fixed schema
• Very Flexible due to absence of schema.
• Data is portable
• It is very scalable
• It can deal easily with the heterogeneity of sources.
• These type of data have a variety of business intelligence and
analytics applications.
Disadvantages Of Unstructured data:

• It is difficult to store and manage unstructured data due to lack of

schema and structure
• Indexing the data is difficult and error prone due to unclear structure
and not having pre-defined attributes. Due to which search results
are not very accurate.
• Ensuring security to data is difficult task.
Problems faced in storing unstructured data:
• It requires a lot of storage space to store unstructured data.
• It is difficult to store videos, images, audios, etc.
• Due to unclear structure, operations like update, delete and search is
very difficult.
• Storage cost is high as compared to structured data
• Indexing the unstructured data is difficult
Possible solution for storing Unstructured
data:

• Unstructured data can be converted to easily manageable formats

• using Content addressable storage system (CAS) to store unstructured
data.
It stores data based on their metadata and a unique name is assigned
to every object stored in it.The object is retrieved based on content
not its location.
• Unstructured data can be stored in XML format.
• Unstructured data can be stored in RDBMS which supports BLOBs
 What is semi-structured data?

Semi-structured data is a type of data that combines features of both

structured data and unstructured data. Structured data refers to data
that is quantitative and has an organizational structure understandable
to both machines and humans. Unstructured data, however, does not
have a structural framework and consists of non-numerical data that
computers can't interpret on their own.
Examples of semi-structured data

• Email
• HTML
• Online images and videos
• Electronic data interchange
Benefits of semi-structured data

• Manages different data types and formats

• Easy to scale
• Highly storable and portable
Challenges of semi-structured data

• More challenging to analyze

• Higher cost of storage
• Dependence of data on a schema
 What is a data warehouse?

A data warehouse, or “enterprise data warehouse” (EDW), is a central

repository system in which businesses store valuable information, such
as customer and sales data, for analytics and reporting purposes.
Data warehouse benefits
• Data warehouses provide many benefits to businesses. Some of the most
common benefits include:
• Provide a stable, centralized repository for large amounts of historical data
• Improve business processes and decision making with actionable insights
• Increase a business’s overall return on investment (ROI)
• Improve data quality
• Enhance BI performance and capabilities by drawing on multiple sources
• Provide access to historical data business-wide
• Use AI and machine learning to improve business analytics
Data warehouse example

• Health care
• Banking
• Retail
Key Characteristics of Data Warehouse

• Subject-Oriented
• Integrated
• Non-Volatile
• Time-Variant
Database vs. Data Warehouse

• Although a data warehouse and a traditional database share some

similarities, they need not be the same idea. The main difference is
that in a database, data is collected for multiple transactional
purposes. However, in a data warehouse, data is collected on an
extensive scale to perform analytics. Databases provide real-time
data, while warehouses store data to be accessed for big analytical
queries.
• Data warehouse is an example of an OLAP system or an online
database query answering system. OLTP is an online database
modifying system, for example, ATM. Learn more about the OLTP vs.
OLAP differences.
Benefits of Data Warehouse

• Improved data consistency

• Better business decisions
• Easier access to enterprise data for end-users
• Better documentation of data
• Reduced computer costs and higher productivity
• Enabling end-users to ask ad-hoc queries or reports without deterring
the performance of operational systems
• Collection of related data from various sources into a place
 What is Data Quality?

In simple terms, data quality tells us how reliable a particular set of data
is and whether or not it will be good enough for a user to employ in
decision-making. This quality is often measured by degrees.
Data Quality Dimensions

• Accuracy
• Completeness
• Consistency
• Timeliness
• Uniqueness
• Validity
How Do You Improve Data Quality?

• Data Governance
• Data Profiling
• Data Matching
• Data Quality Reporting
• Master Data Management (MDM)
• Customer Data Integration (CDI)
• Product Information Management (PIM)
• Digital Asset Management (DAM)
What are the characteristics of data quality?

• Accuracy
• Availability
• Completeness
• Completeness
• Relevance
• Reliability
• Timeliness
 ETL Process in Data Warehouse

ETL is a process in Data Warehousing and it stands

for Extract, Transform and Load. It is a process in which an ETL tool
extracts the data from various data source systems, transforms it in the
staging area, and then finally, loads it into the Data Warehouse system.
step of the ETL process in-depth
• Extraction:
• Transformation:
• Loading:
The Technical Aspects of ETL and ELT

• Ensure accurate logging

• Flexibility to work with diverse sources of structured and
unstructured data
• Stability and reliability
• Designing an alert system
• Strategies to speed up the flow of data
• Growth flexibility
• Support for incremental loading
Benefits of ETL Tools

• Scalability
• Simplicity
• Out-of-the-box
• Compliance
• Long-term costs
Introduction to Multidimensional Data Model

Multidimensional Data Model can be defined as a method for arranging

the data in the database, with better structuring and organization of the
contents in the database. Unlike a system with one dimension such as a
list, the Multidimensional Data Model can have two or three dimensions
of items from the database system. It is typically used in the
organizations for drawing out Analytical results and generation of
reports, which can be used as the main source for imperative decision-
making processes. This model is typically applied to systems that
operate with OLAP techniques (Online Analytical Processing).
How does Multidimensional Data Model work?

• Congregating the requirements from the client:

• Categorizing the various modules of the system:
• Spotting the various dimensions based on which the system needs
to be designed:
• Drafting the real-time dimensions and the corresponding properties:
• Discovering the facts from the already listed dimensions and their
properties:
• Constructing the Schema to place the data, with respect to the
information gathered from the above steps:
Advantages

• Multi-Dimensional Data Models are workable on complex systems and

applications, unlike the simple one-dimensional database systems.
• The Modularity in this type of Database is an encouragement for projects
with lower bandwidth for maintenance staff.
• Overall, organizational capacity and structural definition of the Multi-
Dimensional Data Models aids in holding cleaner and reliable data in the
database.
• Clearly defined construction of the data placements makes it
uncomplicated, in situations like one team constructs the database,
another team works on it and some other team works on the maintenance.
It serves as a self –learning system if and when required.
• As the system is fresh and free of junk, the efficiency of the data and
performance of the database system is found to be advanced & elevated.
Disadvantages

• As the Multi-Dimensional Data Model handles complex systems,

these types of databases are typically complex in nature.
• Being a complex system means the contents of the database are huge
in the amount as well. This makes the system to be highly risky when
there is a security breach.
• When the system caches due to the operations on the Multi-
Dimensional Data Model, the performance of the system is affected
greatly.
• Though the end product in a Multi-Dimensional Data Model is
advantageous, the path to achieving it is intricate most of the time.
 Digital data from internal resources

External data helps you build a picture of the category and your target
audience. But, it can only take you so far. You can only access what
those sources give you. And the data is shared. Anyone can access it.
If you want data that’s unique to your brand and customers, you need to
look at internal sources. You set this up, so you’ve a lot more control
over what data you capture.
 Google Analytics

• One of the first jobs you do when setting up a website is to attach Google
Analytics to it.
• Google Analytics is an online tool that measures and tracks what people do when
they visit websites. It’s a vital tool to understand what works and what doesn’t on
your website.
• This understanding helps you set and track key digital objectives and measures.
• Google Analytics is an aggregated data source. It doesn’t identify individual
visitors. But it does show what visitors as a whole do on your site. So, you’re able
to look at common patterns of behaviours.
• For example, Google Analytics can tell you how many visitors come to your site.
But not just that, it can tell you what time of day they came, down to the last
minute. It can identify which cities or countries they were in and what type of
device and browser they used.
 Acquisition

• Acquisition tells you how customers found their way to your website. Did they
click through from your social or SEO activities for example? Or was it a link from
another site?
• You initiate this by placing “tags” into your digital media campaigns.
• These are small pieces of code, which send a notification to Google Analytics
when a specific action happens. For example, someone clicking on the advert.
• You use this data to evaluate the impact of your advertising and your media
choices. You understand what works and what doesn’t based on how customers
interact (or don’t).
• In simple terms, the data tells you to do more of what works. And less of what
doesn’t.
• You should check your acquisition data regularly. In some cases, that could be
daily. In others, monthly can be OK. But the insights it gives you help you optimise
your digital media. You get more bang for your buck when you use this data.
 Behaviour

• he Behaviour section on Google Analytics lets you know what

customers do when they land on your site. There are some key
metrics you should review regularly. These include bounce rate, pages
/ session and average session duration.
 Bounce rate

• Bounce rate is the percentage of people who land on a page but then have
no interaction with the page. They ‘bounce’ off the page and off the site.
• You generally want customers to interact with the page. For example, you
use calls to action like click a link, view a video, download a file and so
on. If lots of customers don’t interact with a page (i.e. it has a high bounce
rate), it suggests something’s wrong in the set-up of the page.
• Bounce rates vary from site to site and from category to category. But as a
rule of thumb, a bounce rate over 60% is usually cause for concern.
Anything under 30% is usually good. And anywhere between 30% to 60% is
the ‘norm’. You can make it better, but it’s not a disaster.
 Pages / session

• The pages / session metric is helpful if your site is designed to be an information

guide. Or where you want people to read a wide range of content. The average
session duration is similar. This data is often used to measure sites where the
objective is to build customer relationships. (rather than being an overt “sales”
driven site).
• Both metrics help measure customer engagement. And they often correlate
closely with future brand (sales) choice.
• With online store sites however, the measures might show more of a problem. If
your objective is more conversion (i.e. sales) driven, you want customers to find
the right products quickly. You want it to be fast and easy for them to buy. High
numbers in pages / session and session duration may show products are hard to
find. Or that something’s wrong with the site navigation.
• So, you need to have the context of your site in mind when analysing these
numbers. Again, you should check the performance of your behavioural digital
data on a regular basis. Use it to adjust your website activity accordingly.
 Conversion

• The final section in Google Analytics is Conversion. Here you can set
up specific events or goals to track. These are specific actions
customers do on your website, which you want to measure.
• These can be as simple as recording a sale on your e-commerce site.
But they could also be more complex. For example, people who
viewed a page or added the product to their cart, but then didn’t buy.
• They don’t always have to be sales conversions. They could be any call
to action. Reading a specific page. Spending a set amount of time on
the site. Downloading a specific tool. Registering for email updates.
These would all be examples of conversion goals.
 One-to-one internal data

• Beyond Google Analytics, you can also capture specific one-to-one

individual data through your website.
• Most commonly this would happen through a CRM system.
• We cover how CRM is set up and the role it plays in your business in
our guide to marketing technology. We also have a separate article
on B2B CRM, as it’s particularly useful when dealing with professional
customers.
• But the types of data you capture through a CRM system need to be
carefully monitored. You need to think about the number of
individual’s data you will capture and how much and what type of
data you will capture about that individual.
 CRM and email

• omething like an email newsletter for example might only require the
capture of an email address. But you may also want to
capture when the registration happened. For example, so you could
tie it back to a campaign that tried to drive registrations.
• And while an email address is helpful, if you can start to add more
digital data to that email address, you can start to pull out much
richer insights.
 CRM and e-Commerce

• For example, where you have your own e-Commerce store and details of a
consumer who buys from you, you will by nature of the transaction capture a
higher level of detail about the customer. Their name, their shipping and billing
address and what and when they shopped with you.
• As we cover in our set-up your own store guide, you’d most likely use a third
party payment gateway to manage their credit card details. But nonetheless,
there’ll still be a large amount of digital data you’ll have about the online
shopper.
• This CRM and e-Commerce data is extremely valuable to build up your level of
insight about customers, and helps you build more loyalty with them. .
• It helps you offer them better, more personalised and relevant experiences. But
it also comes with challenges from a legal and IT point of view, in terms of how
you set-up and manage this data.
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Financial Analytics

• Financial analytics is the creation of ad hoc analysis to answer specific

business questions and forecast possible future financial scenarios.
• The goal of financial analytics is to shape the strategy for business through
reliable, factual insight rather than intuition.
• By offering detailed views of companies' financial data, financial analytics
provides the tools for firms to gain deep knowledge of key trends and take
action to improve their performance.
Financial Analytics

• Financial analytics affects all parts of a business and is crucial in helping

companies predict and plan for the future. Financial analytics involves using
massive amounts of financial and other relevant data to identify patterns to
make predictions, such as what a customer might buy or how long an
employee's tenure might be.
Financial Analytics

• Meaning
• Financial analysis refers to an assessment of the viability, stability, and
profitability of a business, sub-business or project.
• It is performed by professionals who prepare reports using ratios and other
techniques, that make use of information taken from financial statements and
other reports.
Financial Analytics

• Meaning
• Financial analysis refers to the process of evaluating businesses, projects,
budgets and other finance-related entities to determine the stability, solvency,
liquidity or profitability of an organization.
Financial Analytics - Importance
• Financial analytics can help companies determine the risks they face, how to
enhance and extend the business processes that make them run more
effectively, and whether organizations' investments are focused on the right
areas.
• Advanced analytics and its ability to leverage big data will enable
organizations to rethink their strategies for solving problems and supporting
business decisions.
Financial Analytics – Importance – conti…
• Analytics can also help companies examine the profitability of products
across various sales channels and customers, which market segments will add
more profit to the business and what could have an impact on the business in
the future.
•Continuous visibility into financial and operational performance will help
with more than just decision-making; it will also increase visibility regarding
the processes that support those decisions.
Financial Analytics – Importance – conti…
• Another plus is the potential for improved electronic linkage of records
across the supply chain so that data will only need to be entered once.
• Despite the promise of financial analytics, business experts from the
academic and corporate worlds warn against automating bad processes. They
note that the processes that provide financial insights based on historical data
are often disconnected and leave serious data gaps. Poor-quality data can hurt
business performance and lead to incomplete or inaccurate customer or
prospect data, ineffective marketing and communications efforts, increased
spending and bad decisions.
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Financial Analysis - Types
• Horizontal analysis
•It refers to the side-by-side comparison of an organization's financial
performance for consecutive reporting periods.
•The aim is to determine major shifts in the data. Later, this information
could be applied to a more detailed analysis of financial results.
Financial Analysis - Types
• Vertical analysis
•It pertains to the proportional analysis of a financial statement. Each line
item on a financial statement is listed as a percentage of another item.
• For example, every line item on an income statement is provided as a
percentage of gross sales, while every line item on a balance sheet is given as
a percentage of total assets.
Financial Analysis - Types
• Short-term analysis
•It provides a detailed review of working capital, involving the calculation of
turnover rates for accounts receivable, inventory and accounts payable.
•Any differences from the long-term average turnover rate should be studied
further because working capital is a significant user of cash.
Financial Analysis - Types
• Multi-company comparison
•It entails tallying and comparing major financial ratios of two organizations,
usually in the same industry sector.
•The aim is to determine the companies' relative financial strengths and
weaknesses.
Financial Analysis - Types
• Industry comparison
•It contrasts the results of a specific business and the average results of an
entire industry.
•The purpose is to determine any unusual results in comparison to the
industry average.
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Financial Analytics – Key Types
• Predictive sales analytics
• It may include the use of correlation analysis or past trends to forecast
corporate sales.
Financial Analytics – Key Types
• Client profitability analytics
• It helps differentiate between clients who make money for a company and
those who don't.
Financial Analytics – Key Types
• Product profitability analytics
• It entails assessing each product individually, rather than establishing
profitability overall at a company.
Financial Analytics – Key Types
• Cash-flow analytics
• It employs real-time indicators, including the working capital ratio and cash
conversion cycle, and may include tools such as regression analysis to predict
cash flow.
Financial Analytics – Key Types
• Value-driven analytics
• It assesses a business' value drivers, or the key "levers" the organization
needs to pull to achieve its goals.
Financial Analytics – Key Types
• Shareholder value analytics
• It is used to tally the value of a company by examining the returns it
provides to shareholders, is used concurrently with profit and revenue
analytics.
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Software Programs
• As the way information is now collected and analyzed presents a significant
shift -- along with new challenges -- software can help reduce the complexity.
• Financial analysis software can speed up the creation of reports and present
the data in an executive dashboard, a graphical presentation that is easier to
read and interpret than a series of spreadsheets with pivot tables.
Software Programs
• Oracle Financial Analytics
• The modular component of Oracle's integrated family of business
intelligence software applications.
• Enables insight into the general ledger, provides visibility into performance
against budget and the way staffing costs and employee or supplier
performance affects revenue and customer satisfaction.
Software Programs
• SAP ERP Financial Analytics
• It helps organizations define financial goals, develop business plans and
monitor costs and revenue during execution.
Software Programs
• SAS Business Analytics
• It provides an integrated environment for data mining, text mining,
simulation and predictive modeling.
• It is a mathematical model that predicts future outcomes as well as
descriptive modeling, a mathematical model that describes historical events
and the relationships that created them.
Software Programs
• IBM Cognos Finance -- provides out of the box data analysis capabilities
for sales, supply chain procurement and workforce management functions.
• NetSuite -- provides financial dashboards, reporting and analytic functions
that allow personal key performance indicators to be monitored in real time.
• MATLAB -- allows developers to interface with programs developed in
different languages, which makes it possible to harness the unique strengths
of each language for various purposes.
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Human Resource Analytics

• HR analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing Human Resource

(HR) data in order to improve an organization’s workforce performance.
• The process can also be referred to as talent analytics, people analytics, or
even workforce analytics.
• This method of data analysis takes data that is routinely collected by HR and
correlates it to HR and organizational objectives.
Human Resource Analytics – Why needed ?
•What patterns can be revealed in employee turnover?
•How long does it take to hire employees?
•What amount of investment is needed to get employees up to a fully
productive speed?
•Which of our employees are most likely to leave within the year?
•Are learning and development initiatives having an impact on employee
performance?
Human Resource Analytics - Pros
• More accurate decision-making can be had thanks to a data-driven
approach, which reduces the need for organizations to rely on intuition or
guess-work in decision-making.
• Strategies to improve retention can be developed thanks to a deeper
understanding of the reasons employees leave or stay with an organization.
• Employee engagement can be improved by analyzing data about employee
behavior, such as how they work with co-workers and customers, and
determining how processes and environment can be fine-tuned.
Human Resource Analytics - Pros
• Recruitment and hiring can be better tailored to the organization’s actual
skillset needs by analyzing and comparing the data of current employees and
potential candidates.
• Trends and patterns in HR data can lend itself to forecasting via predictive
analytics, enabling organizations to be proactive in maintaining a productive
workforce.
Human Resource Analytics - Cons
• Many HR departments lack the statistical and analytical skillset to work
with large datasets.
•Different management and reporting systems within the organization can
make it difficult to aggregate and compare data.
•Access to quality data can be an issue for some organizations who do not
have up-to-date systems.
•Organizations need access to good quality analytical and reporting software
that can utilize the data collected.
Human Resource Analytics - Cons
• Many HR departments lack the statistical and analytical skillset to work
with large datasets.
•Different management and reporting systems within the organization can
make it difficult to aggregate and compare data.
•Access to quality data can be an issue for some organizations who do not
have up-to-date systems.
•Organizations need access to good quality analytical and reporting software
that can utilize the data collected.
•Monitoring and collecting a greater amount of data with new technologies
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Human Resource Analytics
• How can HR Analytics be used by organizations?
•1. Turnover
•When employees quit, there is often no real understanding of why.
•There may be collected reports or data on individual situations, but no way
of knowing whether there is an overarching reason or trend for the turnover.
•With turnover being costly in terms of lost time and profit, organizations
need this insight to prevent turnover from becoming an on-going problem.
Human Resource Analytics
• How can HR Analytics be used by organizations?
• 1. Turnover - HR Analytics can:
• Collect and analyze past data on turnover to identify trends and patterns
indicating why employees quit.
• Collect data on employee behavior, such as productivity and engagement, to
better understand the status of current employees.
• Correlate both types of data to understand the factors that lead to turnover.
• Help create a predictive model to better track and flag employees who may
fall into the identified pattern associated with employees that have quit.
Human Resource Analytics
• How can HR Analytics be used by organizations?
• 1. Turnover - HR Analytics can:
• Develop strategies and make decisions that will improve the work
environment and engagement levels.
• Identify patterns of employee engagement, employee satisfaction and
performance.
Human Resource Analytics
•How can HR Analytics be used by organizations?
•2. Recruitment
•Organizations are seeking candidates that not only have the right skills, but
also the right attributes that match with the organization’s work culture and
performance needs.
•Sifting through hundreds or thousands of resumes and basing a recruitment
decision on basic information is limiting, more so when potential candidates
can be overlooked. For example, one company may discover that creativity is
a better indicator of success than related work experience.
Human Resource Analytics
•How can HR Analytics be used by organizations?
•2. Recruitment - HR Analytics can:
•Enable fast, automated collection of candidate data from multiple sources.
•Gain deep insight into candidates by considering extensive variables, like
developmental opportunities and cultural fit.
•Identify candidates with attributes that are comparable to the top-performing
employees in the organization.
Human Resource Analytics
•How can HR Analytics be used by organizations?
•2. Recruitment - HR Analytics can:
• Provide metrics on how long it takes to hire for specific roles within the
organization, enabling departments to be more prepared and informed when
the need to hire arises.
• Provide historical data pertaining to periods of over-hiring and under-hiring,
enabling organizations to develop better long-term hiring plans.
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Human Resource Analytics - Process
•To gain the problem-solving insights that HR Analytics promises, data must
first be collected.
•The data then needs to be monitored and measured against other data, such
as historical information, norms or averages.
•This helps identify trends or patterns. It is at this point that the results can
be analyzed at the analytical stage.
•The final step is to apply insight to organizational decisions.
Human Resource Analytics - Process
• Collecting data
• Collecting and tracking high-quality data is the first vital component of HR
analytics.
•The data needs to be easily obtainable and capable of being integrated into a
reporting system. The data can come from HR systems already in place,
learning & development systems, or from new data-collecting methods like
cloud-based systems, mobile devices and even wearable technology.
Human Resource Analytics - Process
• Collecting data - What kind of data is collected?
• Employee profiles, performance
• Data on high-performers, data on low-performers
• Salary and promotion history
• Demographic data
• On-boarding, training
• Engagement, retention
• Turnover, absenteeism
Human Resource Analytics - Process
• Measurement
• At the measurement stage, the data begins a process of continuous
measurement and comparison, also known as HR metrics.
• HR analytics compares collected data against historical norms and
organizational standards. The process cannot rely on a single snapshot of
data, but instead requires a continuous feed of data over time.
• The data also needs a comparison baseline. For example, how does an
organization know what is an acceptable absentee range if it is not first
defined?
Human Resource Analytics - Process
• Analysis
• The analytical stage reviews the results from metric reporting to identify
trends and patterns that may have an organizational impact.
• There are different analytical methods used, depending on the outcome
desired.
• Examples of Analytics:
• Time to hire
• Turnover
• Absenteeism
Human Resource Analytics - Process
•Application
•Once metrics are analyzed, the findings are used as actionable insight for
organizational decision-making.
• Examples of Analytics:
• Time to hire
• Turnover
• Absenteeism
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Marketing Analytics
• Marketing analytics is the use of data to evaluate the effectiveness and
success of marketing activities.
• Marketing analytics benefits both marketers and consumers. This analysis
allows marketers to achieve higher ROI on marketing investments by
understanding what is successful in driving either conversions, brand
awareness, or both.
• Analytics also ensures that consumers see a greater number of targeted,
personalized ads that speak to their specific needs and interests, rather than
mass communications that tend to annoy.
Marketing Analytics
• How Organizations Use Marketing Analytics
• Product Intelligence
•Product intelligence involves taking a deep dive into the brand’s products as
well as analyzing how those products stack up within the market. Typically
done by speaking to consumers, polling target audiences or engaging them
with surveys, organizations can better understand the differentiators and
competitive advantages of their products. From there, teams can better align
products to the unique consumer interests and problems that help drive
conversions.
Marketing Analytics
• How Organizations Use Marketing Analytics
• Customer Trends and Preferences
•Analytics can tell a lot about your consumers. What messaging / creative
resonates with them? Which products are they buying and which have they
researched in the past? Which ads are leading to conversions and which are
ignored?
Marketing Analytics
• How Organizations Use Marketing Analytics
• Product Development Trends
• Analytics can also offer insight into the types of product features consumers
want.
• Marketing teams can pass this information on to product development for
future iterations.
Marketing Analytics
• How Organizations Use Marketing Analytics
• Customer Support
•Analytics also helps uncover areas of the buyer’s journey that could be
simplified or improved. Where are your clients struggling? Are there ways
you can simplify your product or make the check-out process easier?
Marketing Analytics
• How Organizations Use Marketing Analytics
• Messaging and Media
•Data analysis can determine where marketers choose to display messages for
particular consumers. This has become especially important due to the sheer
number of channels. In addition to traditional marketing channels such as
print, television and broadcast, marketers must also know which digital
channels and social media networks consumers prefer.
Marketing Analytics
• How Organizations Use Marketing Analytics
• Competition
•How do your marketing efforts compare with the competition? How can you
close that gap if there is one? Are there opportunities your competitors are
capitalizing on that you may have missed?
Marketing Analytics
• How Organizations Use Marketing Analytics
• Predict Future Results
•If you have a thorough understanding of why a campaign worked, you’ll be
able to apply that knowledge to future campaigns for increased ROI.
 Unit 4

Business Analytics in Practice

Marketing Analytics Challenges
• Data Quantity:
• Big data emerged during the digital age, enabling marketing teams to record
every consumer click, impression and view.
• However this quantity of data is irrelevant if it cannot be structured and
analyzed for insights that allow for in-campaign optimizations.
• This has left marketers grappling with how to best organize data to evaluate
its meaning.
• In fact, research shows that experienced data scientists spend the majority of
their time wrangling and formatting data, rather than analyzing it.
 Marketing Analytics Challenges
• Data Quality:
• Not only is there a problem in terms of the vast information organizations must sift
through, but this data is often viewed as unreliable.
• According to Forrester, 21 percent of respondents’ media budgets were wasted due to poor
data quality. This means one dollar out of every 5 dollars was not being utilized effectively.
• Over the course of a year, these dollars can add up, resulting in $1.2 million dollars and
$16.5 million dollars of wasted budget for mid-size and enterprise level firms.
• Organizations need a process to maintain data quality, so that employees can leverage
accurate information to make the right decisions.
Marketing Analytics Challenges
• Selecting Attribution Models:
• Determining the model that provides the right insights can be tricky.
• For example, media mix modeling and multi-touch attribution offer entirely
different insights – aggregate campaign-focused data and person-level
consumer data respectively.
• The models that marketers choose will dictate the types of insights they
receive.
• Engagement analysis across so many channels can create confusion when
it’s time to choose the right model.
Marketing Analytics Challenges
• Correlating Data:
• In this same vein, because marketers are collecting data from so many
different sources, they must find a way to normalize it to make it comparable.
• It’s especially challenging comparing online and offline engagements, as
they are typically measured by different attribution models.
• This is where unified marketing measurement and marketing analytics
platforms demonstrate true value, organizing data from disparate sources.
 Unit 4
Business Analytics
APPLICATIONS OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS IN THE INDUSTRY

Business analytics uses sorting, collating, processing, and studying data through
iterative methodologies and statistical models to generate meaningful and business-
relevant insights. These insights help organisations in solving business problems and
increase their revenue, efficiency, and productivity.

Business analytics helps companies make better-informed decisions regarding their

finances, daily operations, and many other aspects of their organisation. It’s a highly
versatile domain and finds applications in multiple industries.
12 Industries Using Business Analytics
Business analytics is being leveraged in most commercial sectors and industries, the following applications are the
most common.
1. Energy and Fuel
2. Agriculture
3. Government and Public Sector
4. Healthcare
5. Finance
6. Education
7. Entertainment and Media
8. Retail Trading
9. Logistics
10. Marketing
11. Human Resources
12. Transport
 1. Energy and Fuel

Many firms involved in energy

management use data analysis
applications in areas such as smart-grid
management, energy distribution,
energy optimization, and automation
building for other utility-based firms.
 2. Agriculture
• There are many advanced technologies and methods such as
big data and business analytics in agriculture.
• Farmers can use business analytics to understand which
factors influence their crops’ growth and accordingly
prepare for the next season.
• Business analytics and data science can help farmers
manage their tools and machines while optimising their
performance depending on their requirements and generated
data.
• A prominent US agricultural company, John Deere, has
started offering many data-based services to their farmers to
help them make better-informed decisions and enhance their
agricultural progress.
• Companies and buyers of these crops also employ business
analytics to optimise their warehousing, storage, and
transportation of raw materials.
 3. Government and Public Sector

• Governments all across the world have started using business

analytics and data to enhance their operations. For example, the
central government has established the CEDA (Centre of
Excellence for Data Analytics) to help government organisations
to generate insights for their data.
• CEDA helps government organisations define their analytic
requirements, build the required analytics solutions, integrate
departmental data silos and process big data as per the
department’s requirements.
 4. Healthcare

Applications of data analytics in healthcare can be utilized to

channel enormous measures of information in seconds to discover
treatment choices or answers for various illnesses. This won’t just
give precise arrangements dependent on recorded data yet may
likewise give accurate answers for exceptional worries for specific
patients.
 5. Finance

The finance sector is probably the biggest

business analytics user. There are numerous
applications of business analytics and big data
in the finance industry. Business analytics
helps finance companies in evaluating
potential investments and determine their
risk/reward.
 6. Education
Education companies use business analytics
to optimise their courseware and learning
methodologies. Business analytics helps them
generate valuable insights to improve their
teaching methods and enhance their learning
experiences.
Large schools and colleges have started
leveraging business analytics to optimise bus
routes and improve enterprise management
(inventory management, decision-making,
etc.).
 7. Entertainment and Media
Netflix, Amazon Prime, and many other
streaming platforms use business analytics
and big data to optimise user experiences.
They gather data from their millions of users
and analyse it to personalise their
recommendations and make their user’s
interaction with the platform more enjoyable.
 8. Retail Trading
• The most notable use of business analytics in the retail sector
is E-commerce. Major E-commerce companies, such as
Amazon, employ business analytics to personalise user
recommendations and, as a result, enhance their sales.
• Personalised recommendations help in increasing sales as
users find the products they need much easily and quickly.
Apart from personalisation, business analytics helps retail
companies understand which products sell the highest and
why they should optimise other products accordingly. For
example, a particular product might be selling more because
of its placement in the store, so they can switch their location
with another product that might be selling less.
 9. Logistics
There are different logistic companies like DHL, FedEx, etc that use data analytics to manage their overall operations. Using the applications of data analytics,
they can figure out the best shipping routes, and approximate delivery times, and also can track the real-time status of goods that are dispatched using GPS
trackers. Data Analytics has made online shopping easier and more demandable.
 10. Marketing
Organisations use business analytics to test out
different marketing methods and find the one
which offers optimal results. It helps them identify
the marketing implementations with the highest
ROI (Return on Investment), which allows them to
make future promotion plans accordingly.
For example, A/B testing is a prevalent analytics
implementation where a company uses two
versions of a landing page (or another promotional
aspect) and sees which one performs better. Then,
the company would remove the landing page that
performed poorly and only uses the one which
offered the best results.
 11. Human Resources
Human resources professionals, such as HR
managers and talent acquisition specialists, use
business analytics to enhance their recruitment
processes. HR companies have numerous
candidates and clients. Through data analytics,
they can go through their candidates’ profiles
quickly and efficiently.
Apart from HR companies, HR professionals in
other industries use business analytics to predict
and improve their employee retention rate and
make decisions accordingly. Business analytics
helps companies in making major HR-related
decisions regarding payroll, recruitment, etc.
12. Transport
Data Analytics can also help to optimize the
buyer’s experience in the travels by
recording the information from social media.
It also helps travel companies fix their
packages and boost the personalized travel
experience as per the data collected.
For Example During the Wedding season or
the Holiday season, the transport facilities
are prepared to accommodate the heavy
number of passengers travelling from one
place to another using prediction tools and
techniques.
 Analytics for Government and Nonprofit
Government Agencies
• Government agencies and other nonprofits have used analytics to drive out inefficiencies and increase the effectiveness and accountability of
programs.
• The use of analytics in government is becoming pervasive in everything from elections to tax collections.
• For example: the New York State Department has worked with IBM to use prescriptive analytics in the development of a more effective approach
to tax collection. The result was an increase in collections from delinquent payers of $83 million over two years.
• The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has used data mining to identify patterns that distinguish questionable annual personal income tax fillings.
• In one application, the IRS combines its data on individual taxpayers with data, received from banks, on mortgages payments made by those
taxpayers.
• When taxpayers report a mortgage payment that is unrealistically high relative to their reported taxable income, they are flagged as possible
under-reporters of taxable income.
• The filing is then further scrutinized and may trigger an audit.
Nonprofit Agencies
• Nonprofit agencies have used analytics to ensure their effectiveness and accountability to their donors and clients.
• The CRS mission is to provide relief for the victims of both natural and human-made disasters and to help people in need around the world
through its health, educational, and agricultural programs.
• CRS uses an analytical spreadsheet model to assist in the allocation of its annual budget based on the impact that its various relief efforts and
programs will have in different countries.