Business

Intelligence
 Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit students will be able to:

LO1. Discuss business processes and the mechanisms used to support business
decision-making.

LO2. Compare the tools and technologies associated with business intelligence
functionality.

LO3. Demonstrate the use of business intelligence tools and technologies.

LO4. Discuss the impact of business intelligence tools and technologies for effective
decision-making purposes and the legal/regulatory context in which they are used.
Table of Contents
1. Data input and capture
2. Data processing/conversion and information
output
3. Tactical and operational decisions
4. The business process model
5. Business Intelligence functionality
6. Analyze and compare the system technologies
associated with business intelligence.
7. Application software, databases which are used
to collect and store intelligence
8. System used to manage, analyze and display
business intelligence to support the decision-
making process
9. The importance of reliable data
10. Impacts of reliable data in business
11. Management – Supporting decision-making,
Problem solving
12. Operational – Sales, Purchasing and Marketing
13. Support – Accounting, Technical supporting,
processes
14. Improving the efficiency of a business process –
Forecasting, decision making, predictive reasoning
What is data?
“ Factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for
reasoning, discussion, or calculation.”

Why do we need Data ????

• Improve people’s life
• Make informed decision
• Get the results you want
• Find solutions to the problem etc
DATA INPUT/ENTRY

• Input and storage of text and numbers from a document into an electronic system.

• Done by means of automated computer software or manual entry, depending on

the type of document.

• When data sources include handwriting, it gets trickier to utilize automated

processing methods.

• Handwritten data requires manual data entry which is more expensive and time
consuming than automated software.
DATA CAPTURE

• It is used mostly on data sources that contain basic response types.

• Question styles like multiple choice, “yes-no” and bubble circles are typically
processed via automated data capture.

• Printed responses aren’t included in data capture because not all automated
software is equipped to handle handwriting.  

• Once software mines the data it can export to a spreadsheet or other indexing
solution where it may be stored, shared, etc.  

• Data capture services produce quick turnaround times and tend to cost
significantly less because of the automated nature of the service.
DATA PROCESSING

• Manipulation of data by a computer.

• Data processing occurs when data is collected and translated into usable
information.

• It includes the conversion of raw data to machine-readable form, flow of data

through the CPU and memory to output devices, and formatting or transformation
of output. 

• Its usually performed by Data Scientists.

• Data processing needs to be done correctly, as it should not affect the end-product
or data output.

• The data processing starts with data in its raw form and converts into a more
readable format (graphs, documents etc.)
STAGES OF DATA PROCESSING

• Data collection - Data is pulled from available sources, including data lakes and
data warehouses.

• Data preparation - The stage at which raw data is cleaned up and organized for the
stage of data processing.

• Data input - The clean data is then entered into its destination and translated into
understandable language.

• Processing - Processing is done using machine learning algorithms, though the

process itself may vary slightly depending on the source of data being processed.

• Data output/interpretation -  It is translated, readable, and often in the form of

graphs, videos, images, plain text, etc.). 

• Data storage - After all of the data is processed, it is then stored for future use.
INFORMATION OUTPUT

• Any information that is processed by and sent out from a computer or other
electronic device is considered output.

• An example of output is anything viewed on your computer monitor screen, such

as the words you type on your keyboard.

• Without some type of output that a human could see, feel, or hear a human could
not interact with the computer.

• There are four basic types of output: audio output, graphics output, text output,

and video output.
DATA SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

• Basically, to protect programs and data in computers and communication systems

against unauthorized access, modification, destruction, disclosure or transfer

• It could be accidental or intentional by building physical arrangements and

software checks.

• It refers to an individual's or an organization's right to refuse or limit the collection

and use of data about illegal access.

• Data security necessitates system administrators constructing physical

arrangements and software checks to reduce unwanted access to systems.
DATA SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

Various methods that keeps data safe and secured:

1. Assuring the data's integrity.

2. Assuring the data's confidentiality.
3. Data loss or destruction should be avoided at all costs.

How can we Protect the Data?

• Backups

• Archival Storage

• Disposal of Data
BACKUPS

• Separate our data files in storage from extra copies of our data in physical or cloud
places.

• It is important to keep data secure, save it, and back it up on a regular basis.

• Data security will assist us in preventing-

 Accidental or malicious damage/modification to data.

 Theft of valuable information.
 Breach of confidentiality agreements and privacy laws.
 Premature release of data which can avoid intellectual properties claims.
 Release before data have been checked for authenticity and accuracy.
ARCHIVAL STORAGE

• Data archiving is the process of storing data in a secure location for long periods of
time.

• The information might be saved in a secure area and retrieved as needed.

• The archived data is still important to the company and may be needed in the
future.

• Data archives are also indexed and searchable, allowing files and parts of files to be
quickly identified and retrieved.

• Data archiving is a method of lowering primary data storage usage and associated
costs.
ARCHIVAL STORAGE

• Data archives has many different forms:

1. Archive material is stored online on disk systems, where it is easily accessible.

2. Using data archiving software, offline data storage copies archive data on tape or
other removable media.

3. Another option for archiving is cloud storage.

Example: Amazon Glacier
List to be considered for long term usefulness of our archives

1. Storage medium

2. Storage device

3. Revisiting old archives

4. Data usability

5. Selective archiving

6. Space considerations

7. Online vs. offline storage

DISPOSAL OF DATA

• The method of erasing data recorded on tapes, hard disks, and other electronic
media so that it is fully unreadable, unusable, and inaccessible for unlawful
reasons is known as data destruction or data disposal.

• It also assures that the company keeps data records for as long as they are
required.

• When they are no longer needed, properly eliminates them or disposes of them in
another manner, such as by transferring them to an archive service.
BENEFITS - DISPOSAL OF DATA

• It prevents the business from incurring needless storage expenditures by utilizing

office or server space to store records that are no longer required.

• Because there is less to search for, finding and retrieving information is easier and
faster.

CRITICAL HANDLING - DISPOSAL OF DATA

• The sheer size of a legacy record needs more attention.

• The functions are being transferred to another authority, and data records are
being disposed of as part of the transition.
SECURING - DISPOSAL OF DATA
• Eliminate access

• Destroy the data

• Destroy the device

• Keep the record of which system have been decommissioned

• Keep careful records

• Eliminate potential clues

• Keep systems secure until disposal

STRUCTURED DATA
• Structured data is data whose elements are addressable for effective analysis.

• It has been organized into a formatted repository that is typically a database.

• It concerns all data which can be stored in database SQL in a table with rows and
columns.

• They have relational keys and can easily be mapped into pre-designed fields.
Example: Relational data. 
SEMI - STRUCTURED DATA
• Semi-structured data is information that does not reside in a relational database
but that has some organizational properties that make it easier to analyze.

• With some processes, you can store them in the relation database (it could be very
hard for some kind of semi-structured data), but Semi-structured exist to ease
space. 
Example: XML data. 
Differences between Structured and Semi-structured Data
Properties Structured Data Semi-Structured Data
Technology Based on relational Based on
database table XML/RDF(Resource
description framework)
Transaction Matured transaction Transaction is adapted
Management and various from DBMS not
concurrency matured
techniques
Version management Versioning over tuples, Versioning over tuples
row, tables or graph is possible
Flexibility It is more flexible than
structured data but
It is schema dependent
less flexible than
and less flexible
unstructured data
Scalability It is very difficult to Its scaling is simpler
scale DB schema than structured data
Business Intelligence Decisions
• Tactical Decision:

 Tactical decisions occur with greater frequency (e.g., weekly or monthly) and fall
into the mid-management level.

 Often, they relate to the implementation of strategic decisions.

 Examples: product price changes, work schedules, departmental reorganization,

and similar activities.

 The impact of these types of decisions is medium regarding risk to the organization
and impact on profitability.
Business Intelligence Decisions
• Operational Decision:

 Operational decisions usually happen frequently (e.g., daily or hourly), relate to

day-to-day op­erations of the enterprise, and have a lesser impact on the
organization.

 Operational decisions determine the day-to-day profitability of the business, how

effectively it retains customers, or how well it manages risk.

Summarizing

•Strategic – Long-term, complex, made by senior managers;

•Tactical – Medium-term, less complex, made by mid-level managers;
•Operational – Day-to-day, simple, routine, made by junior managers.
Summarizing

 Strategic – Long-term, complex, made by senior managers;

 Tactical – Medium-term, less complex, made by mid-level managers;

 Operational – Day-to-day, simple, routine, made by junior managers.

Business Process Model
• Business process modeling (or) process modeling, is the analytical representation
or put simply an illustration of an organization’s business processes.

• Modeling processes is a critical component for effective business process

management.

• Process modeling software gives an analytical representation of 'as-is' processes in

an organization and contrasts it with 'to-be' processes for making them more
efficient.
Benefits Business Process Model
1.Improving Efficiency

2. Enforce Best-Practices & Standardization

3. Process Agility

4. Transparency
 
5. Beat the Competition 
Business Intelligence
• BI – refers to the technology and data infrastructure of an organization.

• BI’s main function is to support a company's decision-making process and to help

knowledge workers, such as managers and research analysts, make better and
faster decisions.

• BI has several related technologies and processes, including :

 Data Mining

 Process Analysis

 Performance benchmarking

 Descriptive analytics
Functionalities of Business Intelligence
• Analysis
• Reports
• Real-time monitoring
• Dashboards
• Scorecards
• Collaborative business intelligence
• Mobile business intelligence
• Advanced analytics and visualization
Applications of Business Intelligence Solutions
• Provides business insight, in time to deliver value

• Integration across the extended enterprise with role-based information availability

• Data delivered to support real-time decision making

• Knowledge management for a data driven company

Top Business Intelligence Tools
• Spreadsheets

• Software for reporting and query display

• Data visualization software

• Online Analytical Processing

• Digital dashboards

• Data mining

• Data warehousing

• Decision intelligence
Top Business Intelligence Tools
• Spreadsheets

• Software for reporting and query display

• Data visualization software

• Online Analytical Processing

• Digital dashboards

• Data mining

• Data warehousing

• Decision intelligence
Application Software
• It is a computer program that performs a specific function, be it educational,
personal, or business. It is also known as an end-user program or a productivity
program.

• Application software is developed to assist you with a particular process that may
be related to creativity, productivity, or better communication.

• It helps you in completing your tasks, be it jotting down notes, completing your
online research, setting an alarm, keeping an account log, or even playing games.

• They are specific in their functionalities and do the job that are designed to do.
Types of Application Software used for Business
• Word processors

• Graphics software

• Database software

• Spreadsheet software

• Presentation software

• Web browsers

• Enterprise software
Database software
• Database application software is used to create and manage a database.

• Also known as a DBMS (Database Management System), it helps you organize your
data.

• So, when you run an application, data is fetched from the database, modified, and
is stored back in the database.

• Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and IBM Db2 are
some of the popular databases.
Tools used for BI
• SAP Business Objects

• Datapine

• MicroStrategy

• SAS Business Intelligence

• Yellowfin BI

• Microsoft Power BI

• Tableau

• Oracle BI
Data Reliability
• Data reliability means that data is complete and accurate, and it is a crucial
foundation for building data trust across the organization.

• Ensuring data reliability is one of the main objectives of data integrity initiatives,

which are also used to maintain data security, data quality, and regulatory
compliance.

• With reliable data, business leaders can eliminate the guesswork when it comes to
making informed decisions.

• It is fuel that delivers trusted analytics and insights. 

Data Reliability Assessment
• Data reliability assessment, also referred to as trust assessment, is an important
process that can reveal problem areas about your data that you didn’t even know
existed. 

1.Validity 

2.Completeness 

3.Uniqueness 
Importance of Data Accuracy to Business
1. Data accuracy enables better decision making
2. Improved productivity
3. Data accuracy leads to lower cost
4. Improved marketing
5. Saves time
6. Improved customer satisfaction
7. Aids in compliance
Management
Management is a process of planning, decision making, organizing, leading,
motivation and controlling the human resources, financial, physical, and information
resources of an organization to reach its goals efficiently and effectively.

Features
1.Management is Associated with Group Efforts
2.Management is Purposeful
3.Management is Accomplished Through the Efforts of Others
4.Management is Goal-oriented
5.Management is Indispensable
6.Management is Intangible
7.Management can Ensure Better Life
Decision-making process
Management decision making

 It is a critical part of the management planning function.

 Understanding the unique nature of managerial decisions requires understanding

the types of decisions and the context for making those decisions.

 Decision making can be defined as selecting between alternative courses of action.

 Management decision making concerns the choices faced by managers within their
duties in the organization. 
Decision-making
They are classified into three parts:

•Strategic Decisions - These decisions establish the strategies and objectives of the
organization. These types of decisions generally occur at the highest levels of
organizational management.
•Tactical Decisions - Tactical decisions concern the tactics used to accomplish the
organizational objectives. Tactical decisions are primarily made by middle and front-
line managers.
•Operational Decisions - Operational decisions concern the methods for carrying out
the organization's delivery of value to customers. Operational decisions are primarily
made by middle and front-line managers.
Supporting decision-making
Decisions can be categorized based on the capacity of those making the decision.

•Organizational Decisions - An organizational decision is one that relates or affects

the organization. It is generally made by a manager or employee within their official
capacity. These decisions are often delegated to others.

•Personal Decisions - Personal decisions are those primarily affecting the individual -
though the decision may ultimately have an effect on the organization as a result of
its effect on the individual. These types of decisions are not made within a
professional capacity. These decisions are generally not delegated to others.
Decision-making
Problem solving process
Operations Management
 Concerned with the administration of business practices to maximize efficiency
within an organization.

 It involves planning, organizing and overseeing the organization’s processes to

balance revenues and costs and achieve the highest possible operating profit.

 Ensuring that the organization converts inputs such as materials, labor and
technology into outputs in an efficient manner.
Sales
A process that results in a transaction between two or more parties in which the
buyer receives the offering, and the seller gets something of value in return which is
usually money.

Sales is a process which results in this transaction.

•Buyer: The party or parties which make the purchase

•Seller: The party or parties that offer a product or service for sale.

Sales
Purchasing
 Purchasing is the first phase of Materials Management. 

 Purchasing is the organized acquisition of goods and services on behalf of the

buying entity.

 Purchasing activities are needed to ensure that needed items are obtained in a
timely manner and at a reasonable cost.

 A purchasing department is especially necessary in a manufacturing business,

where large amounts of raw materials and components must be obtained on a
recurring basis.
Purchasing Procedure
Marketing
 Marketing is the process of getting potential clients or customers interested in your
products and services.

 The keyword in this definition is "process". Marketing involves researching,

promoting, selling, and distributing your products or services.

 Marketing refers to activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or

selling of a product or service.

 Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers or

other businesses.

 Some marketing is done by affiliates on behalf of a company.

Accounting
 Accounting is the way a business keeps track of its operations.

 Accountants analyze the business finances so the owner can make better
decisions.

 This information is organized into reports that show the financial health of a
business.

 Accounting helps business owners meet their compliance obligations.

 It also helps them make smart decisions with their money.

Accounting
There are three key financial statements generated by your records.

•The income statement provides you with information about the profit and loss

•The balance sheet gives you a clear picture on the financial position of your
business on a particular date.

•The cash flow statement is a bridge between the income statement and balance
sheet and reports the cash generated and spent during a specific period of time.
Accounting Process
Technical supporting processes
 Technical support (often shortened to tech support) refers to services that entities
provide to users of technology products or services.

 In general, technical support provides help regarding specific problems with a

product or service, rather than providing training, provision or customization of the
product, or other support services.

 Most companies offer technical support for the services or products they sell, either
included in the cost or for an additional fee.

 Technical support may be delivered by phone, e-mail, live support software, live

chat or website, or other tools where users can log an incident.

 Larger organizations frequently have internal technical support available to their

staff for computer-related problems.
Improving efficiency of a business process
 Understand your existing process

 Set business goals

 Redesign the process

 Implement the improved process

 Monitor, measure and optimize the new process

Forecasting
 Forecasting is a technique that uses historical data as inputs to make informed
estimates that are predictive in determining the direction of future trends.

 Businesses utilize forecasting to determine how to allocate their budgets or plan for

anticipated expenses for an upcoming period of time.

 This is typically based on the projected demand for the goods and services offered.
Forecasting – Production process
Business forecasting can be used for?
•Strategic planning and decision-making (long-term planning)

•Finance and accounting (budgets and cost controls)

•Marketing (consumer behavior, life cycle management, pricing)

•Operations and supply chain (resource planning, production, logistics, inventory)

Forecasting process
•Qualitative Forecasting: Refers to the use of opinion or educated guesses in
developing forecasts.

•Quantitative Forecasting: Used to develop a future forecast using past data and,
often, statistical or mathematical models.
Predictive reasoning
 Predictive Reasoning Systems are meant to create as much value as possible in the
form of information, specifically by using predictions.

 The idea is that the result of this work will be used for future decisions and that
those decisions will be made by agents external to these systems. 
Predictive reasoning
Business Process Automation
 Business process automation is the use of technology to execute recurring tasks or
processes in a business where manual effort can be replaced.

 It is done to minimize costs, increase efficiency, and streamline processes.

Print run
 a print run of something such as a book or a newspaper is the number of copies of
it that are printed and published at one time.

Salary slips
 A payslip or a salary slip is an important document containing a detailed list about
the various components of your salary along with specific details of employment.
Whether this document is sent as a hardcopy or as an e-payslip via online modes,
all employees, irrespective of their working hours or contracts has the right to a
salary slip.
REFERENCES
• Boyer, J. (2010) Business Intelligence Strategy. MC Press (US).

• Jeston, J. and Nelis, J. (2014) Business Process Management. 3rd Ed. Routledge.

• Kolb, J. (2013) Business Intelligence in Plain Language: A practical guide to Data Mining and
Business Analytics. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

• Marr, B. (2015) Big Data: Using Smart Big Data, Analytics and Metrics to Make Better
Decisions and Improve Performance. 1st Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.