TRIPLE I COMMERCE ACADEMY

CMA INTER
BUSINESS DATA ANALYTICS
Total Marks: 50
Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Multiple choice questions (5*1 = 5 Marks)

1. The descriptive data may be deciphered as

a) May be deciphered in the form of qualitative information
b) May be deciphered in the form of quantitative information
c) May be deciphered in the form of information from informal sources
d) All of the above
2. Data represented in the form of picture is termed as
a) Graphic data
b) Qualitative data
c) Quantitative data
d) All of the above
3. Which of the following is/are the reason for digitization
a) Helps in work processing
b) Requires less physical storage space
c) Digitized records may be accessed by more than one person simultaneously
d) All of the above

4. To make the data turn into user friendly information, it should go one/more of following
core steps
a) Collection of data
b) Organising the data
c) Data processing
d) All of the above

5. Data science plays an important role in

a) Risk analytics
b) Customer data management
c) Consumer analytics
d) All of the above

State True or False (4*1 = 4 Marks)

6. Improves classification and indexing for documents, this helps in retrieval of the records.
True
7. Data is not a source of information - False
8. One of largest digitization project taken up in India is ‘Unique Identification number’
(UID) or ‘Aadhar’ - True
9. When these ‘information’ is used for solving a problem, we may it’s the use of knowledge
- True
10. The history of DP can be divided into three phases as a result of technological
advancements. Explain (3 Marks)
Solution:
Manual DP: Manual DP involves processing data without much assistance from machines.
Prior to the phase of mechanical DP only small-scale data processing was possible using
manual efforts. However, in some special cases Manual DP is still in use today, and it is
typically due to the data’s difficulty in digitization or inability to be read by machines, like
in the case of retrieving data from outdated texts or documents.
Mechanical DP: Mechanical DP processes data using mechanical (not modern
computers) tools and technologies. This phase began in 1890 (Bohme et al., 1991) when
a system made up of intricate punch card machines was installed by the US Bureau of the
Census in order to assist in compiling the findings of a recent national population census.
Use of mechanical DP made it quicker and easier to search and compute the data than
manual process.
Electronic DP: And finally, the electronic DP replaced the other two that resulted fall in
mistakes and rising productivity. Data processing is being done electronically using
computers and other cutting-edge electronics. It is now widely used in industry, research
institutions and academia.

11. Explain Risk Analytics and Real Time Analytics (3 Marks)

Solution:
Risk analytics: Business inevitably involves risk, particularly in the financial industry. It
is crucial to determine the risk factor before making any decisions. For example, a better
method for defending the business against potential cybersecurity risks is risk analytics,
which is determined through data science. Given that a large portion of a company’s risk-
related data is “unstructured,” its analysis without data science methods can be
challenging and prone to human mistake.
The importance of the loss and the regularity of its recurrence can aid in highlighting the
precise regions that represent the maximum threat, allowing for the future avoidance of
similar circumstances. Once a danger has been recognised, it may be prioritised and its
recurrence closely watched.
Machine learning algorithms can look through historical transactions and general
information to help banks analyse each customer’s reliability and trustworthiness and
determine the relative risk of accepting or lending to them.
Similar to this, transaction data may be used to create a dynamic, real-time risk
assessment model that responds immediately to any new transactions or modifications
to client data.
Real time analytics: Prior to significant advances in Data Engineering (Airflow, Spark,
and Cloud solutions), all data was historical in nature. Data engineers would discover
significance in numbers that were days, weeks, months, or even years old since that was
the only accessible information.
It was processed in batches, which meant that no analysis could be performed until a
batch of data had been gathered within a predetermined timescale. Consequently, any
conclusions drawn from this data were possibly invalid.
With technological advancement and improved hardware, real-time analytics are now
available, as Data Engineering, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Business Intelligence
work together to provide the optimal user experience. Thanks to dynamic data pipelines,
data streams, and a speedier data transmission between source and analyzer, businesses
 can now respond quickly to consumer interactions. With real-time analysis, there are no
delays in establishing a customer’s worth to an organisation, and credit ratings and
transactions are far more precise.

12. Steps for effective data classification (3 Marks)

Solution:
a) Understanding the current setup: Taking a comprehensive look at the location of
the organisation’s current data and any applicable legislation is likely the best
beginning point for successfully classifying data. Before one classifies data, one
must know what data he is having.
b) Creation of a data classification policy: Without adequate policy, maintaining
compliance with data protection standards in an organisation is practically
difficult. Priority number one should be the creation of a policy.
c) Prioritize and organize data: Now that a data classification policy is in place, it is
time to categorise the data. Based on the sensitivity and privacy of the data, the
optimal method to be chosen for tagging it.

13. What are the five basic principles of data ethics that a business organization should
follow? (5 Marks)
Solution:
(i) Regarding ownership: The first principle is that ownership of any personal
information belongs to the person. It is unlawful and unethical to collect someone’s
personal data without their consent. The consent may be obtained through digital
privacy policies or signed agreements or by asking the users to agree with terms and
conditions. It is always advisable to ask for permission beforehand to avoid future legal
and ethical complications. In case of financial data, some data may be sensitive in
nature. Prior permission must be obtained before using the financial data for further
analysis.
(ii) Regarding transparency: Maintaining transparency is important while gathering
data. The objective with which the company is collecting user’s data should be known
to the user. For example is the company is using cookies to track the online behaviour
of the user, it should be mentioned to the user through a written policy that cookies
would be used for tracking user’s online behaviour and the collected data will be stored
in a secure database to train an algorithm to enhance user experience. After reading
the policy, the user may decide to accept or not to accept the policy. Similarly, while
collecting the financial data from clients, it should be clearly mentioned that for which
purpose the data should be used.
(iii) Regarding privacy: As the user may allow to collect, store and analyze the personally
identifiable information (PII), that does not imply it should be made publicly available.
For companies, it is mandatory to publish some financial information to public e.g.
through annual reports. However, there may be many confidential information, which
if falls on a wrong hand may create problems and financial loss. To protect privacy of
data, a data security process should be in place. This may include file encryption and
dual authentication password etc. The possibility of breach of data privacy may also be
done through de- identifying a dataset.
(iv) Regarding intention: The intension of data analysis should never be making profits out
of others weaknesses or for hurting others. Collecting data which is unnecessary for
analysis should be avoided and it’s unethical.
 (v) Regarding outcomes: In some cases, even if the intentions are good, the result of data
analysis may inadvertently hurt the clients and data providers. This is called disparate
impact, which is unethical.

14. What is discrete distribution. Explain (5 Marks)

Solution:
Discrete distributions: A discrete distribution that results from countable data and has a
finite number of potential values. In addition, discrete distributions may be displayed in
tables, and the values of the random variable can be counted. Example: rolling dice,
selecting a specific amount of heads, etc. Following are the discrete distributions of
various types:
(i) Binomial distributions: The binomial distribution quantifies the chance of
obtaining a specific number of successes or failures each experiment. Binomial
distribution applies to attributes that are categorised into two mutually exclusive
and exhaustive classes, such as number of successes/failures and number of
acceptances/rejections.
Example: When tossing a coin: The likelihood of a coin falling on its head is one-
half and the probability of a coin landing on its tail is one-half.
(ii) Poisson distribution: The Poisson distribution is the discrete probability
distribution that quantifies the chance of a certain number of events occurring in
a given time period, where the events occur in a well-defined order.
Poisson distribution applies to attributes that can potentially take on huge values,
but in practise take on tiny ones.
Example: Number of flaws, mistakes, accidents, absentees etc.
(iii) Hypergeometric distribution: The hypergeometric distribution is a discrete
distribution that assesses the chance of a certain number of successes in (n) trials,
without replacement, from a sufficiently large population (N). Specifically,
sampling without replacement.
The hypergeometric distribution is comparable to the binomial distribution; the
primary distinction between the two is that the chance of success is not the same
for all trials in the binomial distribution but it is in the hypergeometric
distribution.
(iv)Geometric distribution: The geometric distribution is a discrete distribution
that assesses the probability of the occurrence of the first success. A possible
extension is the negative binomial distribution.
Example: A marketing representative from an advertising firm chooses hockey
players from several institutions at random till he discovers an Olympic
participant.

15. What is Data Cleaning? Explain its benefits. (5 Marks)

Solution:
Data cleaning is the process of correcting or deleting inaccurate, corrupted, improperly
formatted, duplicate, or insufficient data from a dataset. When several data sources are
combined, there are numerous chances for data duplication and mis-labelling. Incorrect
data renders outcomes and algorithms untrustworthy, despite their apparent accuracy.
There is no, one definitive method for prescribing the precise phases of the data cleaning
procedure, as the methods differ from dataset to dataset. However, it is essential to build
 a template for your data cleaning process so that you can be certain you are always doing
the steps correctly.
Data cleaning is different from data transformation. Data cleaning is the process of
removing irrelevant data from a dataset. The process of changing data from one format or
structure to another is known as data transformation. Transformation procedures are
sometimes known as data wrangling or data munging, since they map and change “raw”
data into another format for warehousing and analysis.
Ultimately, having clean data would boost overall productivity and provide with the
greatest quality information for decision-making. Benefits include:
(i) Error correction when numerous data sources are involved.
(ii) Fewer mistakes result in happier customers and less irritated workers.
(iii) Capability to map the many functions and planned uses of your data.
(iv) Monitoring mistakes and improving reporting to determine where errors are
originating can make it easier to repair inaccurate or damaged data in future applications.
(v) Using data cleaning technologies will result in more effective corporate
procedures and speedier decision-making.

16. Mr. Arjun is working as data analyst with Manoj Enterprises Limited. He was invited by an
educational institute to deliver a lecture on data analysis. He was told that the participants
would be fresh graduates, who would like get a glimpse of the emerging field of ‘data
analysis’. He was planning for the lecture and is thinking of the concepts to be covered
during the lecture. In your opinion, which are the fundamental concepts that Arjun should
cover in his lecture. (5 Marks)
Solution:
While addressing the fresh candidates, Arjun may focus on explaining the basic concepts
on data analysis. He may initiate the discussion with a brief introduction on ‘data’. He may
discuss with examples, how mere data is not useful for decision making. Next, he may move
to discussion of link among data, information and knowledge. The participants should get
a clear idea about the formation of knowledge using ‘raw’ data as resource.
Once the basic concepts about data, information and knowledge is clear in the minds of
participants, Arjun may describe the various types of data e.g. numerical data, descriptive
data and graphical data. He may explain the concepts with some real-life examples.
Further, he may also discuss another way of looking at data e.g. ordinal scale, ratio scale
etc.
How the data analysis is particularly useful for finance and accounting functions may be
discussed next. The difference between quantitative and qualitative data can be discussed
next with help of few practical examples.
However, the key question is how the raw data may be transformed into useful
information?
To explore the answer to this question, Arjun may discuss the six steps to be followed for
transforming data into information.
The ultimate objective of adopting so much pain is to generate quality decisions. This is a
subjective area. Arjun may seek inputs from participants and discuss various ways of
generating relevant and useful decisions by exploring raw data.
During this entire process of quality decision making, one should not forget the ethical
aspects. Arjun should convey the importance of adopting ethical practices in data analysis.
At the end, Arjun may end the conversation with a thanking note.
17. The entire process of digitization may be segregated into six phases. Explain
(6 Marks)
Solution:
Large institution takes up digitization projects with meticulous planning and execution.
The entire process of digitization may be segregated into six phases:

Phase 1: Justification of the proposed digitization project

At the very initiation of the digitization project, the accrual benefit of the project needs to
be identified. Also need to compute the cost aspect of the project and the assessment of
availability of resources. Risk assessment is an important part project assessment. For the
resources that may be facing quick destruction may be required an early digitization.
Most importantly, the expected value generation through digitization should be
expressed in clear terms.

Phase 2: Assessment
In any institutions, all records are never digitized. The data that requires digitization is to
be decided on the basis of content and context. Some data may be digitized in a
consolidated format, and some in detailed format. The files, tables, documents, expected
future use etc are to be accessed and evaluated for the assessment.
The hardware and software requirements for digitization is also assessed at this stage.
The human resource requirement for executing the digitization project is also planned.
The risk assessment at this level e.g. possibilities of natural disasters, and/or cyber
attacks etc also need to be completed.

Phase 3: Planning
Successful execution of digitization project needs meticulous planning. There are several
stages for planning e.g. selection of digitization approach, Project documentation,
Resources management, Technical specifications, and Risk management.
The institution may decide to complete the digitization in-house or alternatively by an
outsourced agency. It may also be done on-demand or in batches.

Phase 4: Digitization activities

Upon the completion of assessment and planning phase, the digitization activities start.
The Wisconsin Historical Society developed a six-phase process viz. Planning, Capture,
Primary quality control, Editing, Secondary quality control, and storage and management.
The planning schedule is prepared at the fist stage, calibration of hardware/software and
scanning etc is done next. A primary quality check is done on the output to check the
reliability. Cropping, colour correction, assigning Metadata etc is done at the editing stage.
A final check of quality is done on randomly selected samples. And finally, user copies are
created, and uploaded to dedicated storage space, after doing file validation.

Phase 5: Processes in the care of records

Once the digitization of records is complete, there are few additional requirements arise
which may be linked to administration of records. The permission for accession of data,
intellectual control (over data), classification (if necessary), and upkeeping and
maintenance of data are few additional requirements for data management.
 Phase 6: Evaluation
Once the digitization project is updated and implemented, the final phase should be a
systematic determination of the project’s merit, worth and significant using objective
criteria. The primary purpose is to enable reflection and assist identify changes that
would improve future digitization processes.

18. To make the data turn into user friendly information, it should go through six core steps.
Explain (6 Marks)
Solution:
(i) Collection of data: The collection of data may be done with standardized systems
in place. Appropriate software and hardware may be used for this purpose.
Appointment of trained staff also plays an important role in collecting accurate
and relevant data.
(ii) Organising the data: The raw data needs to be organized in an appropriate
manner to generate relevant information. The data may be grouped, arranged in
a manner that create useful information for the target user groups.
(iii) Data processing: At this step, data needs to be cleaned to remove the
unnecessary elements. If any data point is missing or not available, that also need
to be addressed. The options available for presentation format for the data also
need to be decided.
(iv) Integration of data: Data integration is the process of combining data from
various sources into a single, unified form. This step include creation of data
network sources, a master server and users accessing the data from master
server. Data integration eventually enables the analytics tools to produce
effective, actionable business intelligence.
(v) Data reporting: Data reporting stage involves translating the data into a
consumable format to make it accessible by the users. For example, for a business
firm, they should be able to provide summarized financial information e.g.
revenue, net profit etc. The objective is, a user, who wants to understand the
financial position of the company should get the relevant and accurate
information.
(vi) Data utilization: At this ultimate step, data is being utilized to back corporate
activities and enhance operational efficiencies and productivity for the growth of
business. This makes the corporate decision making really ‘data driven’.