INTRODUCTION TO

DATA ANALYSIS

•Today, more and more companies are realizing how

crucial data analysis is for their operations. Data and
content generation has rapidly increased over the
last few years and there is an urgent need to convert
raw data into a comprehensive format to gain
insights, predict trends and help in the business
decision making process. Modern tools have the
computing and analytical capabilities needed to help
transform any business while allowing it to take the
lead over its competitors.
Data is gathered from various sources related to your area of specialisation. Once the
data is collected, it is then reviewed and analyzed to get to a conclusion or form some
sort of finding.
In terms of business, data analysis plays a major role when it comes to making decisions
that involve some sort of risk or uncertainty. The data gathered and then reviewed to
help decision makers mitigate the risk for a certain decision.

Methods of Data Analysis

• Qualitative Analysis
• Quantitative Analysis
Qualitative Data Analysis:
The data obtained through this method consists of words, pictures, symbols and observations.
This type of analysis refers to the procedures and processes that are utilized for the analysis of
data to provide some level of understanding, explanation or interpretation.
Unlike the quantitative analysis, no statistical approaches are used to collect and analyze this
data. There are a variety of approaches to collecting this type of data and interpreting it. Some
of the most commonly used methods are:
•Content Analysis: It is used to analyze verbal or behavioral data. This data can consist of
documents or communication artifacts like texts in various formats, pictures or audios/videos.
•Narrative Analysis: This one is the most commonly used as it involves analyzing data that
comes from a variety of sources including field notes, surveys, diaries, interviews and other
written forms. It involves reformulating the stories given by people based on their experiences
and in different contexts.
•Grounded Theory: This method involves the development of causal explanations of a single
phenomenon from the study of one or more cases. If further cases are studied, then the
explanations are altered until the researchers arrive at a statement that fits all of the cases.
There are more methods of Qualitative Analysis like Conversation Analysis and Discourse
Analysis, but the above-mentioned ones are the most common methods.
Quantitative Data Analysis:
As the name suggests, the quantitative analysis is used for the quantification of data which allows the
generalization of the results obtained from a sample to a population of interest.
Simply put, statistical methods of data analysis are used to collect raw data and transform it into numerical
data. Some of the methods that fall under that Quantitative Analysis are:
•Mean: Also known as the average, Mean is the most basic method of analyzing data where the sum of a
numbers’ list is divided by the number of items on that list. It is useful in determining the overall trend of
something.
•Hypothesis Testing: Majorly used in business research and is done to assess if a certain theory or
hypothesis for a population or data set is true.
•Sample Size Determination: When doing research on a large population like workforce for your company,
small sample size is taken and then analyzed, and the results are considered almost same for every member
of the population.
OTHER TYPES OF DATA ANALYTICS
 BUSINESS INTELLIGENT

Business intelligence systems combine operational data with analytical tools to present

complex and competitive information to planners and decision makers. The objective is to
improve the timeliness and quality of inputs to the decision process.

The most important types of business intelligence tool features and functionality are:

•Dashboards.
•Visualizations.
•Reporting.
•Predictive Analytics.
•Data Mining.(finding data pattern,correlation within large data sets to predict outcome)
•OLAP.
•Drill-Down.
Examples of business intelligence?
Sales, marketing, finance and operations departments use business intelligence. Tasks
include quantitative analysis, measuring performance against business goals, gleaning
customer insights and sharing data to identify new opportunitie

Business intelligence systems combine operational data with analytical tools to present

complex and competitive information to planners and decision makers. The objective is
to improve the timeliness and quality of inputs to the decision process
Business intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process for analyzing data and presenting useful
information to help executives, managers and other end users make informed business decisions.
The potential benefits of using BI tools include accelerating and improving decision-making,
optimizing internal business processes, increasing operational efficiency, driving new revenues and
gaining competitive advantage over business rivals. BI systems can also help companies identify
market trends and spot business problems that need to be addressed. In short, BI technologies allow
a business to view their operations, past, present and future.
BI technologies handle large amounts of data to help identify, develop and otherwise create new
strategic business opportunities. Identifying new opportunities and implementing an effective
strategy based on insights can provide businesses with competitive market advantage and long-term
profitability.
BI is most effective when it combines data derived from the market in which a company operates (external
data) with data from company sources internal to the business such as financial and operations data (internal
data). When combined, external and internal data can provide a complete picture which, in effect, creates an
“intelligence” that cannot be derived from any singular set of data. Business intelligence
tools empower organizations to gain insight into new markets, to assess demand and suitability of products
and services for different market segments and to gauge the impact of marketing efforts.
•Business Process Management. Performance metrics and benchmarking inform business leaders of progress
towards business goals. BI tools can help a business boost internal productivity by focusing their efforts on what
is important.
•Decision Making. BI analytics such as data mining and statistical analysis quantify processes for a business to
make the best decisions. BI can help a business identify areas to cut costs or how to distribute budget allocations.
•Business Planning. Businesses can use BI data to develop both short term goals and long term strategy.
Businesses can gain insight into their customers and market trends, allowing them to make decisions about
current and future operations, products, goods or services.
•Collaboration. BI can facilitate collaboration both inside and outside the business by enabling data
sharing and electronic data interchange. Many businesses use BI tools to communicate with suppliers, reducing
lead times and inventory levels. By sharing data among partners, each business has up-to-the-minute information
on everything from delivery times to price changes.
 MICROSFT SELF SERVICE BI

What Is Self-Service BI?

•Self-service BI is a trend with a somewhat vague definition. ...
•Modification of Reports and Dashboards. ...
•Creation of Ad Hoc Reports and Dashboards. ...
•Integration of Private, Local Data. ...
•Modification or Creation of D
 BUILDING BLOCKS OF POWER BI

Visualizations: In the world of Power BI, a visualization can be referred to as a visual

representation of data. This representation can be in the form of a chart, graph, map, or any other
interesting thing that you create to represent your data. Power BI has a good number of
visualizations that can help you represent your data in creative ways. The image below shows a few
of the visualizations that are present in Power BI.
Datasets: A dataset is a collection of data that is used by Power BI to create visualizations. Simply
put, it is the data behind the chart, graph or map in your report. For example, if you have a chart that
displays the number of products sold in each month of the year, the data used to produce that chart is
known as the dataset. The data in a dataset does not have to come from a single source. It can be a
filtered collection of data which you combined from multiple different sources to produce a unique
collection that can be used in Power BI. With the impressive number of connectors included in Power
BI, you can get data from wherever it is – Excel, Salesforce, Twitter, Oracle, SQL Server etc. – and
bring it into your dataset.
Reports: In the world of Power BI, a report is a collection of visualizations that appear together
on one or multiple pages. Reports help you arrange your visualizations in a way that tells the story
of your data, just the way you want it. For example, if you want to show the sales of your
company’s products within the different regions of your country, you can have a report comprised
of a number of charts (pie, line or bar charts), maps and graphs that display the information you
want to pass across.
Dashboards: In the world of Power BI, a dashboard is a collection of visualizations on a single
page, which you can share with others. While it is visually similar to a report, a dashboard has
to fit on a single page and can be shared with other users who will be able to interact with the
data presented in the dashboard. If you create a dashboard and share it with the sales head for
example, he or she should be able to interact with it and view new information different from
the one which is clearly visible on the dashboard, based on the data present.
 POWER BI TOOLS

Power BI Desktop: Power BI Desktop is an elegant end-to-end solution for building analytics. It has all the
capabilities to quickly connect, shape, visualize, and share data insights through Power BI. This desktop
application is easy to use and designed to save valuable time and effort by simplifying the process of getting your
data ready for analysis. Power BI Desktop puts visual analytics at your fingertips with intuitive report authoring.
You can drag-and drop content to place them exactly where you want them on the flexible and fluid canvas
Power BI Service: This is a cloud based service that you subscribe to. It enables you create and publish
your Power BI reports. You can share the reports from this service with other people who can either view
them within the service or in the mobile app.