CCW331 BUSINESS ANALYTICS LTPC

3003
Unit I : INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS ANALYTICS 9
Analytics and Data Science – Analytics Life Cycle – Types of Analytics – Business Problem
Definition – Data Collection – Data Preparation – Hypothesis Generation – Modeling –
Validation and Evaluation – Interpretation – Deployment and Iteration
Unit II : BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 9
Data Warehouses and Data Mart - Knowledge Management – Types of Decisions – Decision
Making Process - Decision Support Systems – Business Intelligence – OLAP –, Analytic
functions
Unit III : BUSINESS FORECASTING 9
Introduction to Business Forecasting and Predictive analytics - Logic and Data Driven
Models – Data Mining and Predictive Analysis Modeling – Machine Learning for Predictive
analytics
Unit IV : HR & SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYTICS 9
Human Resources – Planning and Recruitment – Training and Development - Supply chain
network - Planning Demand, Inventory and Supply – Logistics – Analytics applications in
HR & Supply Chain
Unit V :MARKETING & SALES ANALYTICS 9
Marketing Strategy, Marketing Mix, Customer Behavior – selling Process – Sales Planning –
Analytics applications in Marketing and Sales
Sl. No. Contents

1 Data Warehouses and Data Mart

2 Knowledge Management

3 Types of Decisions

4 Decision Making Process

5 Decision Support Systems

6 Business Intelligence

7 OLAP

8 Analytic functions
 UNIT - II BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
1. DATA WAREHOUSES AND DATA MART
• Business intelligence (BI) is all about turning an organization’s data into insights that can be
used to inform business decisions. BI analysts will use BI tools, software or services to
access and analyze datasets and translate their findings into reports, summaries, dashboards,
graphs, charts or maps.
• In recent years, the advent of modern data visualization and reporting tools has transformed
the discipline, empowering businesses to use big data insights to identify, develop and create
new business opportunities.
Business Intelligence Definition
• “a set of methodologies, processes, architectures and technologies that transform raw data
into meaningful and useful information”. This can then be “used to enable more effective
strategic, tactical and operational insights and decision-making”.
• This definition acknowledges that data cannot be effectively analyzed or used to generate
meaningful insights if it is poor quality.
• BI should not be confused with ‘business analytics’. Business intelligence is descriptAive
and uses metrics to generate clear snapshots of business performance. Meanwhile, business
analytics is predictive, and describes what organizations should do in future to generate
better outcomes.
Data Warehouse
• A Data Warehouse (DW) is a relational database that is designed for query and analysis
rather than transaction processing. It includes historical data derived from transaction data
from single and multiple sources.
• A Data Warehouse provides integrated, enterprise-wide, historical data and focuses
on providing support for decision-makers for data modeling and analysis.

• A Data Warehouse is a group of data specific to the entire organization, not only to a
particular group of users.
• It is not used for daily operations and transaction processing but used for making
decisions.

• A Data Warehouse can be viewed as a data system with the following attributes:
• It is a database designed for investigative tasks, using data from various
applications.
• It supports a relatively small number of clients with relatively long interactions.
• It includes current and historical data to provide a historical perspective of
information.
• Its usage is read-intensive.
• It contains a few large tables.
• "Data Warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated, and time-variant store of
information in support of management's decisions."
Subject-Oriented
A data warehouse target on the modeling and analysis of data for decision-makers.
Therefore, data warehouses typically provide a concise and straightforward view around a
particular subject, such as customer, product, or sales, instead of the global organization's
ongoing operations. This is done by excluding data that are not useful concerning the
subject and including all data needed by the users to understand the subject.
Integrated
A data warehouse integrates various heterogeneous data sources like RDBMS, flat files, and
online transaction records. It requires performing data cleaning and integration during data
warehousing to ensure consistency in naming conventions, attributes types, etc., among
different data sources.
Time-Variant
Historical information is kept in a data warehouse. For example, one can retrieve files from 3
months, 6 months, 12 months, or even previous data from a data warehouse. These variations
with a transactions system, where often only the most current file is kept.
Non-Volatile
The data warehouse is a physically separate data storage, which is transformed from the
source operational RDBMS. The operational updates of data do not occur in the data
warehouse, i.e., update, insert, and delete operations are not performed. It usually requires
only two procedures in data accessing: Initial loading of data and access to data.. Therefore,
the DW does not require transaction processing, recovery, and concurrency capabilities,
which allows for substantial speedup of data retrieval. Non-Volatile defines that once
entered into the warehouse, and data should not change.
 Goals of Data Warehousing
• To help reporting as well as analysis
• Maintain the organization's historical information
• Be the foundation for decision making.

• Data Mart
A Data Mart is a subset of a directorial information store, generally oriented to a specific
purpose or primary data subject which may be distributed to provide business needs. Data
Marts are analytical record stores designed to focus on particular business functions for a
specific community within an organization. Data marts are derived from subsets of data in a
data warehouse, though in the bottom- up data warehouse design methodology, the data
warehouse is created from the union of organizational data marts.
The fundamental use of a data mart is Business Intelligence (BI)
applications. BI is used to gather, store, access, and analyze record. It can be used by smaller
businesses to utilize the data they have accumulated since it is less expensive than
implementing a data warehouse.
Reasons for creating a data mart
• Creates collective data by a group of users
• Easy access to frequently needed data
• Ease of creation
• Improves end-user response time
• Lower cost than implementing a complete data warehouses
• Potential clients are more clearly defined than in a comprehensive data
warehouse
• It contains only essential business data and is less cluttered.

Types of Data Marts

• There are mainly two approaches to designing data marts. These approaches are
• Dependent Data Marts
• Independent Data Marts
• Dependent Data Marts
A dependent data mart is a logical subset of a physical subset of a higher data warehouse.
According to this technique, the data marts are treated as the subsets of a data warehouse. In
this technique, firstly a data warehouse is created from which further various data marts can
be created. These data mart are dependent on the data warehouse and extract the essential
record from it. In this technique, as the data warehouse creates the data mart; therefore,
there is no need for data mart integration. It is also known as a top-down approach.
Independent Data Marts
The second approach is Independent data marts (IDM) Here, firstly independent data marts
are created, and then a data warehouse is designed using these independent multiple data
marts. In this approach, as all the data marts are designed independently; therefore, the
integration of data marts is required. It is also termed as a bottom-up approach as the data
marts are integrated to develop a data warehouse. Other than these two categories, one
more type exists that is called "Hybrid Data Marts."
• Other than these two categories, one more type exists that is called "Hybrid Data Marts."
Hybrid Data Marts
• It allows us to combine input from sources other than a data warehouse. This could be
helpful for many situations; especially when Adhoc integrations are needed, such as after a
new group or product is added to the organizations.
Steps in Implementing a Data Mart
• The significant steps in implementing a data mart are to design the schema, construct the
physical storage, populate the data mart with data from source systems, access it to make
informed decisions and manage it over time. So, the steps are:
Designing
• The design step is the first in the data mart process. This phase covers all of the functions
from initiating the request for a data mart through gathering data about the requirements and
developing the logical and physical design of the data mart.
It involves the following tasks:
• Gathering the business and technical requirements
• Identifying data sources
• Selecting the appropriate subset of data
• Designing the logical and physical architecture of the data mart.
Constructing
• This step contains creating the physical database and logical structures associated with the
data mart to provide fast and efficient access to the data.
It involves the following tasks:
• Creating the physical database and logical structures such as tablespaces associated
with the data mart.
• creating the schema objects such as tables and indexes describe in the design step.
• Determining how best to set up the tables and access structures.
Populating
• This step includes all of the tasks related to the getting data from the source, cleaning it up,
modifying it to the right format and level of detail, and moving it into the data mart.
• It involves the following tasks:
• Mapping data sources to target data sources
• Extracting data
• Cleansing and transforming the information.
• Loading data into the data mart
 • Creating and storing metadata Accessing
• This step involves putting the data to use: querying the data, analyzing it, creating reports,
charts and graphs and publishing them.
It involves the following tasks:
• Set up and intermediate layer (Meta Layer) for the front-end tool to use. This layer translates
database operations and objects names into business conditions so that the end-clients can
interact with the data mart using words which relates to the business functions.
• Set up and manage database architectures like summarized tables which help queries
agree through the front-end tools execute rapidly and efficiently.
Managing
• This step contains managing the data mart over its lifetime. In this step,
management functions are performed as:
• Providing secure access to the data.
• Managing the growth of the data.
• Optimizing the system for better performance.
• Ensuring the availability of data event with system failures.
• Difference between Data Warehouse and Data Mart

Difference between Data Warehouse and Data Mart

 2. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
• The Connection Between Business Intelligence and Knowledge Management
• Information simply has to be accessible – gathering, managing and utilizing information
is an inevitable part of running any modern business.
• There are two information management technologies we use: Business Intelligence (BI)
and Knowledge Management (KM).
• However, terms information, data and knowledge are often used interchangeably, thus,
apart from being confused about each phrase, there is oftentimes much confusion around the
definitions of BI and KM. This calls for quick explanation.
• Business Intelligence (BI): Generally, BI is considered to be a set of tools and techniques
applied to gather data and transform it into information that can be used in business analysis
for the purposes of business development.
• Every company gathers, collects, or to say more accurately, deals with a large amounts of
data, including various business documents, emails, newspaper articles, web pages, reports,
contracts, technical journals and reviews, spreadsheets, graphs and charts and other relevant
sources of business data.
• BI technologies usually deal with large amounts of unstructured data via the use of data
warehousing and online analytical processing (OLAP).
• All these data needs to be organized and validated – prepared for business analytics. Thus,
“BI is about providing the right data at the right time to the right people so that they
can take the right decisions.”
• Knowledge Management can be defined in many ways as it spans many multi- disciplinary
approaches – content management, collaboration, the science of organizational behavior,
analyses like observation of trends and appearance of anomalies, clustering, classification,
summarization, taxonomy building and so on.
• This is probably one of the widely quoted definitions (Davenport, 1994), yet simple and to
the point:
• “Knowledge management is the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively using
knowledge.”
• KM refers to a set of techniques used to capture, share, and use the information available in
order to achieve business objectives and to aid in business decision making based on
business analytics.
• There has been immense growth in the domain of knowledge management in the last decade
and new applications and solutions that empower knowledge sharing and knowledge
management have appeared.
 Knowledge is a mix of contextual information, experiences, rules,
and values.
Richer, deeper, and more valuable. Consider
knowing –
What? - based upon assembling information and eventually applying it.
How? – applying knowledge leads to learning how to do something.
Why? – casual knowledge of why something occurs
 Tacit vs. Explicit Knowledge
Tacit knowledge is personal, context-specific and hard to formalize and communicate
– A [knowledge] developed and internalized by the knower over a long period of time . .
. incorporates so much accrued and embedded learning that its rules may be impossible
to separate from how an individual acts. ‘knowing how’

Explicit knowledge can be easily collected, organized and transferred through digital means.
– A theory of the world, conceived of as a set of all of the conceptual entities describing
classes of objects, relationships, processes, and behavioral norms. Often referred to as

‘knowing that’, or declarative knowledge.

Why Manage Knowledge?
Information and knowledge have become the fields in which businesses compete.
Several important factors include:
– Sharing Best Practice
– Globalization
– Rapid Change
– Downsizing
– Managing Information and Communication Overload – Knowledge Embedded in
Products
– Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Sharing Best Practices
• Sharing best practices means leveraging the knowledge gained by a subset of the
organization.
• Increasingly important in organizations who depend on applying their expertise
such as accounting, consulting and training firms.
• KM systems capture best practices to disseminate their experience within the firm
. • Problems often arise from employees who may be reluctant to share their
knowledge (managers must encourage and reward open sharing).

Globalization
Historically three factors, land, labor and capital were the key to economic success •
Knowledge has become a fourth factor. • Knowledge-based businesses can grow without
traditional land, labor, and capital requirements. • Key competitive factor will be how well
an organization acquires and applies knowledge
 • Other factors • Rapid change: firms must be nimble and adaptive to compete
• Downsizing: sometimes the wrong people get fired when creating a leaner
organization
• Managing Info and Comm Overload: data must be categorized in some manner if
it is to be useful rather than overwhelming
• Knowledge Embedded in Products: the intangibles that add the most value to goods and
services are becoming increasingly knowledge-based
• Sustainable Competitive Advantage: KM is the way to do this. Shorter
innovation life cycles keep companies ahead of the competition.
• Categorizing knowledge

Process knowledge – best practices, useful for increasing efficiency.

Factual knowledge – easy to document; basic information about people/things.
Catalog knowledge – know where things are; like directories of expertise.
Cultural knowledge – knowing how things get done politically and culturally.
KM involves four main processes
Generation – all activities that discover “new” knowledge.
Capture – all continuous processes of scanning, organizing, and packaging
knowledge after it has been generated.
Codification – the representation of knowledge in a manner that can be easily accessed
and transferred.
Transfer – transmitting knowledge from one person or group to another, and the
absorption of that knowledge.
• Knowledge Generation • Concerns the intentional activities of an organization to
acquire/create new knowledge. • Two primary ways are knowledge creation and knowledge
sharing. • Methods include: – Research and Development – Adaptation – Buy or Rent –
Shared Problem Solving – Communities of Practice
Knowledge capture takes into account the media to be used in the codification
process.
• The 3 main knowledge capture activities are:
• Scanning (gather “raw” information) – can be electronic or human.
• Organizing (move it into an acceptable form) – must be easy for all types
of users to access.
• Designing knowledge maps (providing a guide for navigating the
knowledge base)
• Designing Knowledge Maps
A knowledge map serves as both a guide to where knowledge exists in an organization and
an inventory of the knowledge assets available.
A knowledge map can consist of nothing more than a list of people, documents, and
databases telling employees where to go when they need help.
Provides access to resources that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to find

Knowledge Codification
Knowledge must be used or shared to be of value. • Codification puts the knowledge into a
form that makes it easy to find and use. • It is difficult to measure knowledge in discreet
units (since it changes over time). • Knowledge has a shelf life.
Knowledge must be used or shared to be of value. • Codification puts the knowledge into a
form that makes it easy to find and use. • It is difficult to measure knowledge in discreet
units (since it changes over time). • Knowledge has a shelf life
 • Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge Transfer describe four different modes of knowledge conversion
(transfer):
Socialization: from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge
Externalization: from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge
Combination: from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge
Internalization: from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge
• The Knowledge Management Process

Similarities and Differences between BI and KM

• Confusion between these two technologies comes from the fact that they deal with many
similar processes.
• Both business intelligence and knowledge management capture, collect, organize, analyze
and aggregate data in order to find the best solutions regarding business decision making
processes.

• Business intelligence goes as far back as the 19th century and the beginnings of
entrepreneurship. and it has been developing steadily over many years.
• BI enables organizations to integrate data across the enterprise, unlock the information and
empower knowledge worker to make better (and faster) decisions – it focuses on explicit
knowledge.
• However, KM deals with the creation of new knowledge and the dispersion of existing
knowledge throughout an organization – it encompasses both tacit and explicit knowledge,
thus, we can say that KM can influence the very nature of business intelligence.
3. TYPES OF DECISIONS
• Modern cloud-native organizations have constantly growing streams of raw data flowing
from every corner of the enterprise. Determining the impact this data has on business
performance can be an overwhelming task requiring teams of analysts. That’s where
employing business intelligence (BI) can help.
• By presenting current and historical data within a business context, the data insights
supplied by BI tools enable organizations to make smarter, more confident decisions that
provide strategic direction for years to come.
• Instead of relying on intuition and “gut feel,” companies can use BI to find new ways to
increase revenue, track performance, boost operational efficiency, identify market trends,
expose problems, and much, much more.
• Before we dig deeper into the primary types of decisions in business intelligence, let’s define
what we mean by decision-making in a business context and understand how business
intelligence factors into the process.
• Decision-making defined
• Simply put, decision-making is the process of deciding something, especially with a group of
people. From a business decision perspective, the aim is to achieve business objectives to
satisfy stakeholder requirements, needs, and expectations.
• For the decision to be effective, however, decision makers must forecast the outcome of each
option and determine which is best for a particular situation. That makes decision support
systems (DSS) like decision intelligence and business intelligence absolute essentials.
• Business intelligence refers to the technology tools and processes that enable businesses to
organize, analyze, and contextualize business data from around the company. Business
intelligence tools and decision-making transform raw data into meaningful and actionable
information.
• BI is the means through which organizations make smarter business decisions. While data
fuels the engine, integrating BI-related infrastructure like a data warehouse, dashboards,
reports, data discovery tools, and cloud data services make it possible to extract insights from
your data.
• The role of business intelligence
• Companies make big mistakes when they base business decisions on what they think will
happen instead of relying on facts.
Using BI and advanced analytics, organizations can extract crucial facts from the mountain
of data, transforming it into information companies can act on to make informed strategic
decisions. The result: improved business processes, operational efficiency, and business
productivity.
• Business intelligence decisions
• Business intelligence decisions typically fall into three categories: strategic, tactical, and
operational.
• An organization needs to gain a complete understanding of these types of decisions in
business intelligence to make better-informed decisions that lead to increased
customer retention, stakeholder satisfaction, operational efficiency, and revenue.
• The relationship between business intelligence and business analytics
• Business intelligence tells you what is currently happening and what happened in the past
to bring you to that state.
• On the other hand, business analytics is an umbrella term for predictive data analysis
techniques and prescriptive .
• Using business intelligence and analytics efficiently is the difference between
companies that succeed and those that fail in the modern environment.
• Three primary types of business intelligence decisions
• Business intelligence supports the three types of decision-making mentioned above:
strategic, tactical, and operational. Its frequency and organizational impact characterize each.
Strategic decisions
• Strategic decisions comprise the highest level of organizational business decisions and are
usually less frequent and made by the organization’s executives. Yet, their impact is
enormous and far-reaching.
• Some types of strategic decisions include selecting a particular market to penetrate, a
company to acquire, or whether to hire additional staff.
• Decisions made at this level usually involve significant expenditure. However, they are
generally non-repetitive in nature and are taken only after careful analysis and evaluation of
many alternatives.
Tactical decisions
• Tactical decisions (or semi structured 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 of tactical decisions include 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.
Operational decisions
• Operational decisions (or structured 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.
Answering a sales inquiry, approving a quotation, or calculating employee bonuses may be
examples of this decision type.
• You can summarize these types of decisions in business intelligence this way:

• 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
How to make the best decisions for your business
• How do you make the best business decisions? Some people trust intuition or gut feeling.
Others reach out to constituents and experts for advice. Still, others cede decision-making to
information systems and automation. However, the smartest business decisions are made by
those who look at the numbers.
• In a competitive business landscape, where agility, flexibility, and a real-time decision-
making process are critical and timely, accurate data analysis is more important than ever. In
that respect, relying on the types of decisions in business intelligence is non-negotiable. It is
required for long-standing success and market dominance.
4. DECISION MAKING PROCESS
• As a business owner, you need to make decisions that have a large impact on the success of
your business. You need to make decisions ranging from the small, such as what color your
company logo should be, to the larger, such as whether to expand your business. No matter
what your decision, it should be based on facts, not emotions.
• Decision-making is a crucial aspect of running a business. Whenever you decide what to do
next, a chain of events is triggered, which may eventually lead to the outcome you desire.
These events constitute the Decision-Making Process using predictive analytics
consulting.
5.
• The decision-making process is a term used to describe how a company gets to a point where
it can make the best decision for its company. This process is a way of thinking, a way of
seeing the world, and a method of arriving at what you believe are the best possible
decisions.
• From the day a company is founded, it is believed that each executive should also be a
manager in the right sense. It is believed that the executives should be able to take the right
action with the help of the appropriate decision-making process.
• And the best decision-making process is one that is not only efficient but also cost- effective.
• The decision-making process can be broken down into three steps:
1. Analysis of the current situation.
2. Presentation of the data to the manager, who can take the data and make a decision.
3. Applying the final decision.
• Most of us, or at least most of the people we know, love to take suggestions from others,
especially in matters of the heart or the pocket. Because of this, it is vital that we make
decisions with the best information possible to us. The more information a decision-maker
has, the better the decision, as the more information they have available to them, the more
informed their decision-making. This is maybe the reason why there are several versions of
those “decision-making processes”. Different situations need different processes to arrive at
a more favorable decision, with the demand and even the technology that we are in,
businesses taking the chance to be more efficient and cost-effective in every decision that
they take. And that is where business intelligence comes in .
 In order to make the best decisions, companies need to use tools to decipher their data and
better understand their customers. Business Intelligence (BI) is a set of tools used by
companies to analyze data using data analytics tools, gain valuable insights, and make better
and more informed decisions using Business Intelligence reports.
Since its early days, business intelligence has been a tool for decision-making. It’s a way to
ensure that managers and executives make better decisions so that businesses can run more
effectively. These decisions can range from basic operations like deciding how much to
produce to broader strategic considerations like deciding what products to sell.
• However, BI tools vary considerably in how they are designed, how they interact with other
applications, and how they are used. Ultimately, BI is about having access to the right
information at the right time.
THE EFFECTIVE STEPS IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS THAT USES
BI

Gathering information
• If you’re like most of us, you’re using spreadsheets and dashboards to visualize and present
data on the Web. But some businesses are turning to dashboards to make smart decisions that
improve operations, enhance employee satisfaction, process more data, and have greater
visibility into the bottom line.
Design and analyze
• Routinely encountering data requires a person to make decisions on how to process the data.
It can be viewed as a few steps involved in this process. First, it involves the analysis of data,
followed by the identification of the most appropriate decision- making model. The
implementation comes after the analysis of data. The data analysis process is then repeated,
and the model is altered based on the latest information or discoveries, if necessary.
Select and implement using ad hoc query, what-if, and forecasting.
• The importance of data in business is beyond dispute. But, the problem is that most companies
are not making the most of the information available to them. What they have is not necessarily
the right data and is not being put to its best use. Ad hoc queries, what-if scenarios, and
forecasting are particularly effective tools for uncovering hidden information. It can influence
risk and make decisions. Ad-hoc query, What-If, and Forecasting are three terms used in
business intelligence to help make decisions.
Do evaluations using the vital tools.
• Effective decision-making is critical to business success. The good news is that business
intelligence tools can help you make better decisions. Using dashboards and reports can help
you identify key performance indicators, make comparisons between data sets. Also, identify
opportunities to improve your business. If you have any experience managing a business, you
know that these vital tools are a necessity, providing you with the information you need to make
business decisions. These tools can be used for assessing your performance, motivating staff,
and improving the customer experience.
Separate the components that are not related.
• At one point in time, every decision we make appears to have little connection to anything else.
This is because we are able to separate decisions into distinctly different components, such as
the sales forecast, the profit, the hiring policy, and so on. The trick is to recognize that these
components are inseparable. Moreover, a decision made without the sales forecast is like an
engine without the air. You get nowhere.
• . A decision made without a profit is like an engine without fuel. You get nowhere. A
decision made without a hiring policy is like an engine without the air. You get nowhere
Increase the coherence.
• Business intelligence is a technology that extracts and analyzes historical data to help
organizations make better decisions. It is a key asset for businesses that use it to gain value from
all their data and to make better decisions on how to spend their resources.
• There is a trend among different organizations in today’s world to adopt the use of Business
Intelligence. The use of business intelligence in these organizations helps in making
decisions faster and more effectively. With the help of business intelligence, organizations
can keep track of their processes. Moreover, the performance of their business, and the
consumption of resources and get insights into the organization’s current situation. Business
intelligence solutions help in making more effective decisions.

6. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

• Broadly speaking, a decision support system (DSS) is an analytics software program used to
gather and analyze data to inform decision making. There are many different types of
decision support systems, from modern business intelligence which uses AI and machine
learning to suggest insights and analyses for humans to perform, to model-based DSS
systems which use predefined criteria to perform automated calculations and deliver best-
case decisions. For all types, DSS is used in timely problem solving to improve efficiency
and streamline operations, planning and company management.
Traditional vs Modern DSS
• Traditional DSS: Historically, DSS and BI tools relied on preconfigured, historical data
with no ability to drive real-time decisions and action. With this approach, decisions are
made based on the past.
• Modern DSS: New tools and processes allow for “active intelligence”, a state of continuous
intelligence with an end-to-end analytics data pipeline delivering real- time, up-to-date
information designed to trigger immediate insights and actions.
DSS Characteristics: 3 Key Elements
• Prior to decision support systems, organizational leaders relied heavily on a combination of
their experience and professional training, and applied those to thoughtful use of the
advanced insights generated by a data analytics platform. Decision support systems
systematize that by taking organizational data, analyzing it, and presenting it for use in
company decision making.
 This DSS approach enables powerful augmented analytics or modeling to make analysis
recommendations and game play the outcomes of different scenarios. By varying
considerations, outcomes can be more accurately predicted and business decisions made
based on the best available information. In this way, DSS supports both predictive and
prescriptive analytics.
• Three key elements that characterize a decision support system framework are model
management, organizational data (your knowledge base) and user interface. Let’s briefly
explore each.
• Model Management: To make effective decisions, especially those made on an ongoing
basis, it’s crucial for companies to develop key performance indicators (KPI’s) from which
to evaluate performance against goals, and measure improvements over time. These KPI’s
then form the decision criteria for the information models used to guide decision making.
Having models provides the backbone of consistency every business needs to sustain
success. Models can be leveraged by formally coded rules in DSS or prescriptive analytics
software or by analysis using a BI platform.
• Organizational Data or Knowledge Base: Before any DSS can be used, raw data must be
transformed into clean, accurate, and up-to-date information. The graphic below illustrates
how different types of data are combined, cleaned and transformed into standardized
formats. The data is then stored in a repository such as a data lake or data warehouse using a
governed data catalog.
• User Interface: You’ve stared at enough dense tables of numbers to appreciate why it’s so
necessary to have a more digestible and user-friendly way to consume data. A user interface,
complete with digital dashboards, tables, graphs, widgets or other tools to present
information, enables users to better interact with, view, and use the data at their disposal.
Categories of decision support systems
1. Data-driven DSS
A data-driven DSS gives users access to a large amount of internal and external data. This
DSS will query a database using the web, an external server or a company's mainframe. It
relies on data mining to provide patterns and information about the data being assessed.
 Users rely on data-driven decision support systems to make decisions about businesses,
inventories and products.
Managers might find data-driven decision support systems most helpful when analyzing
current and historical data to report on the conditions of a department or the business.
CEOs, managers and staff might use a data-driven DSS.

Software examples of a data-driven DSS include:

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
File drawer systems
Executive information systems
Computer-based databases with query systems

2. Model-driven DSS
A model-driven DSS allows a user to analyze and manipulate specific models of data, such
as statistics, finances or scheduling.
These decision support systems are specific to the type of model the user wants to interact
with and typically offer less data than other DSS types.
They analyze scenarios and data to allow the user to manipulate a model, such as creating a
work schedule. They might use simple analysis tools or complex statistics, depending on the
model's purpose and the user's needs.
Managers, staff and third parties who interact with a business might use a model-
driven DSS.
Software examples of a model-driven DSS include:
Scheduling software
Financial modeling
Decision analysis modeling
Optimization software
3.Knowledge-driven DSS
With a knowledge-driven DSS, a knowledge-management system monitors
continually updated data about an organization to support decisions.
The DSS uses diagnosis, prediction, interpretation and classification to recommend actions
consistent with the business.
A knowledge-driven DSS can be helpful to managers because it performs tasks faster than a
human might. They can also help consumers decide which products and services to buy. This
kind of DSS often relies on a data-mining component.
Managers, staff and external users, such as customers, might use a knowledge- driven
DSS.
Software examples of a knowledge-driven DSS include:
Software that identifies new or current customers who might be interested in products
Product selection software
4. Document-driven DSS
A document-driven DSS retrieves unstructured information from a variety of electronic
sources. It searches web pages, documents in databases and other information based on a
user's search terms to gather relevant information.
A document-driven DSS might be specific to a business' private files or as broad as a
common internet search engine.
Anyone using a database's search function or an internet search engine is using a document-
driven DSS.
Software examples of a document-driven DSS include:
Search engines
Database search software
Article databases with search functions
5. Communication-driven DSS
A communication-driven DSS uses tools to support communication and
collaboration.
Email is an example of a communication-driven DSS. This type of DSS includes share tools
that allow multiple people to work on a project at once and software that allows for digital
communication between people.
 It improves a shared project's efficiency and effectiveness and can help facilitate
meetings and conversations.
Internal team members, virtual business meeting hosts and online chat and video meeting
software users can benefit from a communication-driven DSS.
A communication-driven DSS might also be called a group DSS. A communication- driven
DSS focuses on communication and collaboration, while a group DSS helps groups
streamline the decision-making process.
A communication-driven DSS, for example, might help two people who work for the same
company on different shifts share documents. It might also allow employees on opposite
sides of the country to meet virtually to view a shared file.
Software examples of a communication-driven DSS include:
Chat and instant messaging services
Collaboration software, such as document sharing and editing software
Email
6. Intelligent DSS
Any DSS with artificial intelligence in its design is an example of intelligent DSS (IDSS).
Within an IDSS, AI does data mining and processing to filter through large datasets. An
IDSS is designed to offer similar services to a human consultant. They're programmed to
identify patterns and trends to guide decision-making. They can also resolve problems and
analyze solutions. AI components add advantages, such as fuzzy logic and machine learning,
to a DSS.
Managers, diagnosticians and other decision-makers might use an IDSS.
Software examples of an intelligent DSS include:
Smart manufacturing systems
Medical diagnostic systems
7. Manual DSS
A manual DSS relies on individuals instead of computers to support decision- making. A
group of experts analyzes the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of their
organization or project.
A manual DSS is much slower than a computer-based DSS, but certain types of
analysis still need a human eye at every step.
Economists, executives and managers might use a manual DSS.
Examples of manual DSS include:
Cost-benefit analyses
Decision matrixes
8. Hybrid DSS
A hybrid DSS combines parts of multiple DSS types to create a complex outcome. Large
issues in industries such as finance and health care might require the tools of multiple
decision support systems, such as a knowledge-driven DSS and a data-driven DSS.
A hybrid DSS might use additional software to help these components work together.
Sometimes a human analyzes and combines the results of each DSS.
A hybrid DSS might also describe a system in which a human works with a DSS to extract
and manipulate data. Medical professionals, financial decision-makers and researchers might
use a hybrid DSS.
Software examples of a hybrid DSS include:
Risk assessment
Clinical DSS
Web-based DSS
Decision Support System Examples.
GPS route planning.
Crop-planning.
Clinical DSS
Components of a decision support system
DSS database. The database draws on a variety of sources, including data internal to the
organization, data generated by applications, and external data purchased from third parties
or mined from the Internet. The size of the DSS database will vary based on need, from a
small, standalone system to a large data warehouse.
DSS software system. The software system is built on a model (including decision context
and user criteria).
Statistical models. These models are used to establish relationships between events
and factors related to that event. For example, they could be used to analyze sales in
relation to location or weather.
Sensitivity analysis models. These models are used for “what-if” analysis.

Optimization analysis models. These models are used to find the optimum value for a
target variable in relation to other variables.
Forecasting models. These include regression models, time series analysis,
and other models used to analyze business conditions and make plans.
Backward analysis sensitivity models. Sometimes called goal-seeking analysis, these
models set a target value for a particular variable and then determine the values other
variables need to hit to meet that target value.
DSS user interface. Dashboards and other user interfaces that allow users to interact with
and view results.
7. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
• Business intelligence combines business analytics, data mining, data visualization, data tools
and infrastructure, and best practices to help organizations make more data-driven decisions.

Techniques Used In Business Intelligence

1. Data Visualization
When data is stored as a set or matrix of numbers, it is precise but difficult to interpret.
When looking at more than one dimension of the data, this becomes even harder. Creating
charts, graphics or dashboards from the data makes it much easier for people to understand
and interpret.
2. Data Mining
Data mining is a computer supported method to reveal previously unknown or unnoticed
relations among data entities. Data mining techniques are used in a myriad of ways, for
example:
 In retail: shopping basket analysis can examine products consumers buy together
in order to better promote other products
In banking: using an automated risk assessment based on historical data to evaluate
whether a customer is likely to pay back a loan
In insurance: mining behavioral and historical data to detect fraud
In health: analysis of complications and common diseases may help to
reduce risk

3. Reporting
One area where BI tools commonly help business users is by designing, scheduling and
generating reports, for example regular performance, sales or marketing reports.
Reports output by BI tools efficiently gather and present information to support the
management, planning and decision making process.
Once the report is designed it can be automatically run at set intervals and sent to a
predefined distribution list so key people can see regularly updated numbers.

4. Time-Series Analysis And Predictive Techniques

Nearly all data warehouses and all enterprise data have a time dimension. For example,
product sales, phone calls, patient hospitalizations, etc. Time-series analysis can reveal
changes in user behavior over time, relationships between sales of different products, or
changes in sales figures based on marketing promotions.
Historic data can also be used to extrapolate and try to predict future trends, outcomes or
financial results.
5. Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
OLAP is best known for the OLAP-cubes which provide a visualization of
multidimensional data.
OLAP cubes display dimensions on the cube edges (e.g. time, product, customer type,
customer age etc.).
The values in the cube represent the measured facts (e.g. value of contracts, number of
sold products etc.).
The user can navigate through OLAP cubes using drill-up, -down and -across features.
The drill-up functionality enables the user to easily zoom out to more coarse-grained details.
Conversely, drill-down displays the information with more details.
Finally, drilling-across means that the user can navigate to another OLAP cube to see the
relations on another dimension(s). All the functionality is provided in real-time.
6. Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis uses mathematic foundations to qualify the significance and reliability
of the observed relations.
The most interesting features are distribution analysis, confidence intervals (for example
for changes in user behaviours, etc).
Statistical analysis is used for devising and analyzing the results from data mining.

The Necessary BI Skills

1. Data Analysis: Most BI skills and intelligence analyst-related skills are about using data
to make better decisions. You need to be good at examining many different sources of data
and then making accurate conclusions about them.
2. Problem-solving: BI isn’t just about analyzing data; it’s also about creating business
strategies and solving real-world business problems with that data. For example, you could
be the one to extract actionable insights from specific retail KPIs that need to be visualized
and presented during a meeting.
3. Specific industry knowledge: While some of this can and will be learned on the job, you
need to have a solid grasp of the industry’s dynamics, particularly the areas of the field that
you’re looking to work in. Over time, you’ll want to become an expert in your industry as
this will increase your ability to connect data with business problem-solving.
4. Communication skills: In addition to acquiring intelligence analyst-related skills, you’ll
need to be able to communicate your findings effectively to the other professionals you’ll
be working with. To some extent, if you work in back-end BI, you won’t need to
communicate quite as much. However, if you work in the front- end, you’ll be responsible
for communicating technical concepts to non-technical people. This kind of role requires
excellent communication skills.
5. Data visualization: Expanding on the point above, in order to ensure good communication
you will also need to have data visualization skills. Visualizations are the best tools to
make trends and general insights understandable. Being able to clearly see how the data
changes in time is what makes it possible to extract relevant conclusions from it. For this
purpose, you should be able to differentiate between various charts and report types as well
as understand when and how to use them to benefit the BI process.
6. Advanced vision and attention to detail: By its very nature, business intelligence is
incredibly detail-oriented. As a BI analyst or developer, you'll often work with the smallest
fragment of information with the objective of turning it into actionable insight. You will
need a great deal of forward-thinking vision and the ability to pay very close attention to
detail to succeed in the fast-paced world of BI.
7. Statistical analysis: Statistical knowledge is another important skill especially if you want
to become a BI analyst. Understanding various statistical components such as mean,
median, range, variance, and others, can enable you to go deeper into the data and extract
relevant conclusions from it.
8. Programming knowledge: On a more technical side of things, having programming
language knowledge can also be a very valuable skill when it comes to pursuing a career in
BI. Many solutions require the use of different programming languages to perform
advanced analysis such as R, Python, Javascript, just to name a few, and knowing them
can significantly enhance your skillset.
9. Technical notion: Our next BI skill is not fundamental, but it can certainly make you a
more complete and prepared professional. Business intelligence is an industry that highly
relies on technology and having a technical notion of how to manage these technologies
can be a plus. With this, we do not mean that you need to know how to use every tool in
the market, but understanding how these technologies can work to your advantage.
10. Business acumen: To thrive in a business intelligence career, you will need to possess a
swift ability to understand your company’s business model and how to tailor your efforts
to not only gain maximum value from your key performance indicators (and the KPI
management process) but also make strategic decisions that will help your organization
succeed on a continual basis.

Benefits of business intelligence

• Data clarity Increased efficiency
• Better customer experience
• Improved employee satisfaction
How to develop a business intelligence strategy
• A BI strategy is your blueprint for success. You’ll need to decide how data is used, gather
key roles, and define responsibilities in the initial phases. It may sound simple at a high
level; however, starting with business goals is your key to success.
 How to create a BI strategy from the ground up:
• Know your business strategy and goals.
• Identify key stakeholders.
• Choose a sponsor from your key stakeholders.
• Choose your BI platform and tools.
• Create a BI team.
• Define your scope.
• Prepare your data infrastructure.
• Define your goals and roadmap.
• Advantages of BI include:
• Data visibility
• Accurate reports
• Streamlined processes
• Disadvantages of BI include:
• Initial cost
• User resistance
• Data skills gap
7. OLAP
OLAP is an acronym for Online Analytical Processing. OLAP performs multidimensional
analysis of business data and provides the capability for complex calculations, trend analysis,
and sophisticated data modeling.
OLAP offers five key benefits:
• Business-focused multidimensional data
• Business-focused calculations
• Trustworthy data and calculations
• Speed-of-thought analysis
• Flexible, self-service reporting
Characteristics of OLAP:
It defines which the system targeted to deliver the most feedback to the client within
about five seconds, with the elementary analysis taking no more than one second and
very few taking more than 20 seconds.
 Analysis
It defines which the method can cope with any business logic and statistical analysis
that is relevant for the function and the user, keep it easy enough for the target client.
Although some preprogramming may be needed we do not think it acceptable if all
Share
It defines which the system tools all the security requirements for understanding and, if
multiple write connection is needed, concurrent update location at an appropriated
level, not all functions need customer to write data back, but for the increasing number
which does, the system should be able to manage multiple updates in a timely, secure
manner.
Multidimensional
This is the basic requirement. OLAP system must provide a multidimensional
conceptual view of the data, including full support for hierarchies, as this is certainly
the most logical method to analyze business and organizations.
Information
The system should be able to hold all the data needed by the applications.
Data sparsity should be handled in an efficient manner.
• OLAP Operations in the Multidimensional Data Model
Roll-Up
The roll-up operation (also known as drill-up or aggregation operation) performs
aggregation on a data cube, by climbing down concept hierarchies, i.e., dimension reduction.
Roll-up is like zooming-out on the data cubes.
When a roll-up is performed by dimensions reduction, one or more dimensions are removed
from the cube.
Drill-Down
The drill-down operation (also called roll-down) is the reverse operation of roll-up. Drill-
down is like zooming-in on the data cube. It navigates from less detailed record to more
detailed data. Drill-down can be performed by either stepping down a concept hierarchy for
a dimension or adding additional dimensions.
Figure shows a drill-down operation performed on the dimension time by stepping down a
concept hierarchy which is defined as day, month, quarter, and year. Drill-down appears by
descending the time hierarchy from the level of the quarter to a more detailed level of the
month.
Slice
A slice is a subset of the cubes corresponding to a single value for one or more members of
the dimension.
For example, a slice operation is executed when the customer wants a selection on one
dimension of a three-dimensional cube resulting in a two-dimensional site. So, the Slice
operations perform a selection on one dimension of the given cube, thus resulting in a
subcube.

Dice
The dice operation describes a sub cube by operating a selection on two or more
dimension.
Pivot
The pivot operation is also called a rotation. Pivot is a visualization operations which rotates the
data axes in view to provide an alternative presentation of the data. It may contain swapping the
rows and columns or moving one of the row-dimensions into the column dimensions.

Difference between OLTP and OLAP

OLTP (On-Line Transaction Processing) is featured by a large number of short on-line
transactions (INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE).
The primary significance of OLTP operations is put on very rapid query processing,
maintaining record integrity in multi-access environments, and effectiveness consistent
 by the number of transactions per second.
In the OLTP database, there is an accurate and current record, and schema used to save
transactional database is the entity model (usually 3NF).
OLAP (On-line Analytical Processing) is represented by a relatively
low volume of transactions.
Queries are very difficult and involve aggregations. For OLAP operations, response
time is an effectiveness measure. OLAP applications are generally used by Data
Mining techniques. In OLAP database there is aggregated, historical information,
stored in multi-dimensional schemas (generally star schema).

8
 Types of OLAP

Relational OLAP (ROLAP) Server

These are intermediate servers which stand in between a relational back-end server and user
frontend tools.
They use a relational or extended-relational DBMS to save and handle warehouse data, and
OLAP middleware to provide missing pieces.
ROLAP servers contain optimization for each DBMS back end, implementation of
aggregation navigation logic, and additional tools and services.
ROLAP technology tends to have higher scalability than MOLAP technology.
ROLAP systems work primarily from the data that resides in a relational database, where the
base data and dimension tables are stored as relational tables. This model permits the
multidimensional analysis of data.
This technique relies on manipulating the data stored in the relational database to give the
presence of traditional OLAP's slicing and dicing functionality. In essence, each method of
slicing and dicing is equivalent to adding a "WHERE" clause in the SQL statement.
Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP) Server
A MOLAP system is based on a native logical model that directly supports multidimensional
data and operations. Data are stored physically into multidimensional arrays, and positional
techniques are used to access them.
One of the significant distinctions of MOLAP against a ROLAP is that data are summarized
and are stored in an optimized format in a multidimensional cube, instead of in a relational
database. In MOLAP model, data are structured into proprietary formats by client's reporting
requirements with the calculations pre-generated on the cubes.

Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP) Server

HOLAP incorporates the best features of MOLAP and ROLAP into a single architecture.
HOLAP systems save more substantial quantities of detailed data in the relational tables
while the aggregations are stored in the pre-calculated cubes. HOLAP also can drill through
from the cube down to the relational tables for delineated data. The Microsoft SQL Server
2000 provides a hybrid OLAP server.
1. Relational Online Analytical Processing (ROLAP) : ROLAP servers are
placed between relational backend server and client front-end tools. It uses relational or
extended DBMS to store and manage warehouse data. ROLAP has basically 3 main
components: Database Server, ROLAP server, and Front-end tool.
Advantages of ROLAP –
ROLAP is used for handle the large amount of data.
ROLAP tools don’t use pre-calculated data cubes.
Data can be stored efficiently.
ROLAP can leverage functionalities inherent in the relational database.
Disadvantages of ROLAP –
Performance of ROLAP can be slow.
In ROALP, difficult to maintain aggregate tables.
Limited by SQL functionalities.

2. Multidimensional Online Analytical Processing (MOLAP) : MOLAP does not uses

relational database to storage. It stores in optimized multidimensional array storage. The
storage utilization may be low With multidimensional data stores. Many MOLAP server
handle dense and sparse data sets by using two levels of data storage representation. MOLAP
has 3 components : Database Server, MOLAP server, and Front-end tool.
Advantages of MOLAP –
MOLAP is basically used for complex calculations.
MOLAP is optimal for operation such as slice and dice.
MOLAP allows fastest indexing to the pre-computed summarized data.
Disadvantages of MOLAP –
MOLAP can’t handle large amount of data.
In MOLAP, Requires additional investment.
Without re-aggregation, difficult to change dimension.

3. Hybrid Online Analytical Processing (HOLAP) :

Hybrid is a combination of both ROLAP and MOLAP. It offers functionalities of both
ROLAP and as well as MOLAP like faster computation of MOLAP and higher scalability of
ROLAP. The aggregations are stored separately in MOLAP store. Its server allows storing the
large data volumes of detailed information.
Advantages of HOLAP –
HOLAP provides the functionalities of both MOLAP and
ROLAP. HOLAP provides fast access at all levels of
aggregation.
Disadvantages of HOLAP –
HOLAP architecture is very complex to understand because it
supports both MOLAP and ROLAP.
OLAP offers five key benefits:
Business-focused multidimensional data
Business-focused calculations
Trustworthy data and calculations
Speed-of-thought analysis
Flexible, self-service reporting
Advantages
Business-centered multidimensional information.
Business-centered figuring’s.
Dependable information and figuring’s.
Speed-of-thought examination.
Adaptable, self-administration detailing.
Disadvantages
Pre-demonstrating is an absolute necessity. As to business information, the traditional
OLAP tools don't take into consideration quick investigation without pre-
demonstrating.
Extraordinary reliance on IT.
Helpless calculation capacity.
Shy Interactive examination capacity.
Slow in responding.
Theoretical model.
Extraordinary, expected danger.
8.ANALYTIC FUNCTIONS
Analytical functions are one of the most popular tools among BI/Data analysts for
performing complex data analysis. These functions perform computations over multiple
rows and return the multiple rows as well.
analytic_function_name([argument_list])
OVER (
[PARTITION BY partition_expression,…]
[ORDER BY sort_expression, … [ASC|DESC]])There are three parts to this syntax,
namely function, partition by and order by.
analytic_function_name: name of the function — like RANK(), SUM(), FIRST(), etc
partition_expression: column/expression on the basis of which the partition or window
frames have to be created
sort_expression: column/expression on the basis of which the rows in the partition will be
sorted
Trendline definition is a function that fits a linear or exponential model and returns the fitted
values or model. The numeric_expr represents the Y value for the trend. The series (time
columns) represent the X value.
Syntax:

TRENDLINE(numeric_expr, ([series]) BY ([partitionBy]), model_type, result_type)

numeric_expr represents the data to the trend. This is the Y-axis, usually a measure
column.
series is the X-axis is a list of numerics or time dimension attribute columns.
partitionBY is a list of dimension attribute columns that are in the view but not on the
X-axis.
model_type is one of the following (‘LINEAR’, ‘EXPONENTIAL’).
result_type is one of the following (‘VALUE’, ‘MODEL’). ‘VALUE‘ will return all the
regression Y values given X in the fit. ‘MODEL’ will return all the parameters in a
JSON format string.
TRENDLINE((Sales),(Order Date) BY (Product Sub Category), 'LINEAR', 'VALUE')
numeric_expr = Sales
series = Order Date (Time dimension)
partitionBy = Product Sub Category
model_type = LINEAR
result_type = VALUE
CLUSTER((dimension_expr1 , ... dimension_exprN), (expr1, ... exprN),
output_column_name, options, [runtime_binded_options])
dimension_expr represents the list of dimensions, e.g., (productID, companyID), to be
clustered.
expr represents the list of dimension attributes or measures to be used to
cluster the dimension_expr.
 output_column_name is the output column. The valid values are ‘clusterId’, ‘clusterName’,
‘clusterDescription’, ‘clusterSize’, ‘distanceFromCenter’, ‘centers’.
options mean the string list of name=value pairs separated by ‘;’. The value can include
%1 … %N, specified using runtime_binded_options.
runtime_binded_options is an optional comma-separated list of run-time binded columns or
literal expressions.
OUTLIER((dimension_expr1 , ... dimension_exprN), (expr1, .. exprN),
output_column_name, options, [runtime_binded_options]))])
dimension_expr indicates a list of dimensions.
expr represents a list of dimension attributes or measures to find outlier.
output_column_name indicates the output column name. Valid values are 'isOutlier'
and 'distance'.
options indicates a string list of name/value pairs separated by a semi-colon
(;). The value can include %1 ... %N, which can be specified
using runtime_binded_options.
runtime_binded_options is an option comma separated list (,) of run-time binded
columns and or literal expressions.
REGR(y_axis_measure_expr, (x_axis_expr), (category_expr1, ..., category_exprN),
output_column_name, options, [runtime_binded_options])
1. What do you understand by Business Intelligence? (CO3, K1)
The term Business Intelligence refers to a collective meaning, including technologies, tools,
applications, practices for the data collection, and providing those data to the users, especially to
help in running the business or a part of it.
2. What are the primary objectives of Business Intelligence? (CO3,K3) The
primary objectives of Business Intelligence are:
• Business Intelligence is leverage to make the following enterprise-level decisions.
• Business Intelligence helps in identifying the wrong tracks and approaches of a business.
• Business Intelligence can cluster the data for analysis and then compile them to
monitor corrective actions.
• Business Intelligence is also useful for determining whether a company is executing
as per plan.
• Identification and extraction of trends and insights from business are possible using Business
Intelligence tools.
3. Define the term Data Warehousing? (CO3,K1)
• Data Warehousing is the repository system used to analyze and report data from various
heterogeneous sources and forms. These data will be available from the oracle database, SQL
Server, Postgres, or a simple excel sheet. The warehouse uses one central mechanism called the
repository, through which the business analyst can fetch all historical reports associated with that
data.
4. Mention some characteristics of the Data warehouse(CO3,K2)
• A data warehouse is a separate database responsible for storing historical
information records and is kept separate from an operational database.
• Processed and analyzed data from a data warehouse helps make top management strategic
and tactical decisions based on the analysis.
Analyzing data in the data warehouse helps the business analysts and users see the current
business trends.
• The data warehouse is also responsible for consolidating historical data analysis.
5. What are the popular Business Intelligence (BI) tools used by Business Analysts?
(CO3,k2)
• Microsoft BI
• Cognos
• MicroStrategy
• Tableau
• SAS
• Business Objects
• OBIEE
• Hyperion

6. How will you implement a BI system in your professional approach? (CO3,k3)

• There are three steps to implement a BI system:
• Extract the raw data from the corporate database. The data might be available across
various heterogeneous databases.
• Then, the data is cleaned to put them in the data-warehouse by linking the table and forming
the data cubes.
• Lastly, using BI systems, business analysts can extract business insights, request ad-hoc reports,
analyze those clean datasets, and predict the business decisions.

7. How will you define OLAP (Online Analytical Processing? (Co3,k2)

• OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) is a technological concept applied in various BI
tools and applications that helps in executing complex analytical calculations. OLAP
analyzes the trends, performs intricate calculations (like aggregation, summation, count,
average,min, max), and carries out sophisticated data modeling in a BI system. OLAP
systems’ primary objective is to diminish the response time of queries and improve the
effectiveness of the calculated reports.

8. What are the key advantages of using BI systems? (Co3,k2)

• The key advantages of using BI systems are:
• It helps boost productivity and makes it possible to create a business report with just
a single click.
• It also helps increase the visibility of the data analysis and possibly identify those
areas that demand attention.
 • As per the organization’s goals, the BI system sets the accountability.
• BI systems automate several tasks by offering predictive analysis, benchmarking,
modeling figures, and statistical calculations using different methodologies.

9. Mention two disadvantages of Business Intelligence Systems. (Co3,k3)

• The two disadvantages of Business Intelligence Systems are:
• The BI systems are costly, so using them for small and medium scale
enterprises will prove expensive.
• Implementing BI systems for the data warehouse is complicated. Hence, the
complexity of using it is another drawback of it.

10. What are the Trends in Business Intelligence? (Co3,k2)

• Organisations are now seeking ways to develop Business Intelligence for
enhanced business processes. Here are some of the emerging trends:
• Self-Service Business Intelligence
• Artificial Intelligence
• Increased automation

11. What are the Business Intelligence Processes? (Co3,k2)

• The processes that can be expected from Business Intelligence are:
• Data mining – this is the use of databases, statistics and machine learning to discover
trend patterns.
• Data visualisation – data is represented as charts, graphs and histograms.
• Visual analysis – using storytelling to communicate data insights.
• Reporting – data analysis is shared for effective decision-making.
• Performance metrics / benchmarking – when performance data is compared to
historical data to track performance goals.
• Descriptive analytics – preliminary data analysis determines what has happened in the
past.
• Querying – BI will provide relevant data-specific information requested.
• Statistical analysis – when descriptive analytics’ results are analysed to understand trends.
12. What is The Difference Between Business Intelligence and Analytics? (Co3,k2)
Data is an incredibly valuable business tool and both Business Intelligence and business
analytics are hinged on this data. While analytics is a sub-set of BI, both are effectively
data management solutions which analyse business data for usable insights.

13. What is a dashboard in a data warehouse? (Co3,k2)

The dashboard is nothing but the arrangement of all the reports and graphs on one page. It
is nothing but the collection of reports in a different format that has the same functionality
display on the same page.
14. What Are The Types Of Hierarchy? (Co3,k23
• There are two types of hierarchies:
• Default hierarchy: It contains the dimension objects in the order in which they
are presented in the class.
• Custom hierarchy: A custom hierarchy is created from default hierarchy.

15. What Are The Data Mining Technologies? (Co3,k1)

• Statistics
• Cluster Analysis
• Neural Network
• Data visualization
• Decision Trees

16. What is Data Mart? (Co3,k1)

Data Mart is a subset of a directorial information store, generally oriented to a
specific purpose or primary data subject which may be distributed to provide business
needs.
Data Marts are analytical record stores designed to focus on particular business functions
for a specific community within an organization.

17. List Reasons for creating a data mart (Co3,k1)

Creates collective data by a group of users
Easy access to frequently needed data
Ease of creation
 Improves end-user response time
Lower cost than implementing a complete data warehouses
Potential clients are more clearly defined than in a comprehensive data
warehouse
It contains only essential business data and is less cluttered.

18. What is meant by Dependent Data Marts (Co3,k1)

A dependent data marts is a logical subset of a physical subset of a higher data warehouse.
According to this technique, the data marts are treated as the subsets of a data warehouse. In
this technique, firstly a data warehouse is created from which further various data
marts can be created.

19. What is meant by Independent Data Marts (Co3,k1)

The firstly independent data marts are created, and then a data warehouse is designed using
these independent multiple data marts. In this approach, as all the data marts are designed
independently
20. Compare Dependent and Independent Data Marts. (Co3,k3)
Dependent Data Marts
A dependent data marts is a logical subset of a physical subset of a higher data warehouse.
According to this technique, the data marts are treated as the subsets of a data warehouse.
In this technique, firstly a data warehouse is created from which further various data
marts can be created. These data mart are dependent on the data warehouse and extract
the essential record from it. In this technique, as the data warehouse creates the data mart;
therefore, there is no need for data mart integration. It is also known as a top-down
approach.

Independent Data Marts

The second approach is Independent data marts (IDM) Here, firstly independent data
marts are created, and then a data warehouse is designed using these independent
multiple data marts. In this approach, as all the data marts are designed independently;
therefore, the integration of data marts is required. It is also termed as a bottom-up
approach.
21. Define Hybrid Data Marts (Co3,k1)
It allows us to combine input from sources other than a data warehouse. This could be
helpful for many situations; especially when Adhoc integrations are needed, such as after a
new group or product is added to the organizations.
22. Define Knowledge Management (Co3,k1)
Knowledge Management (KM) is defined as the processes needed to generate, capture,
codify and transfer knowledge across the organization to achieve competitive advantage
23. Compare Tacit and Explicit Knowledge (Co3,k1)
24. List reasons for knowledge management. (Co3,k1)

25. List three steps of decision-making process. (Co3,k1)

1. Analysis of the current situation.
2. Presentation of the data to the manager, who can take the data and make a
decision.
3. Applying the final decision.

26. What is a functional analyst?

The functional consultant has to understand the modules they are implementing and the set
up and configuration options available; the key skill is being able to map the requirements
of the customer to the capabilities of the ERP system
27. How to categories the knowledge in Knowledge Management (Co3,k1)
Process knowledge – best practices, useful for increasing efficiency.
Factual knowledge – easy to document; basic information about people/things.
Catalog knowledge – know where things are; like directories of expertise.
Cultural knowledge – knowing how things get done politically and culturally.
Part-B Questions

Q. Questions CO K Level
No. Level
1 Discuss about Data Warehouses and Data Mart in CO3 K2
Detail
2 Explain in how Knowledge Management support in BI? CO3 K3

3 Discuss types of decisions of BI in Detail CO3 K2

4 Explain Decision Making Process of BI with an example. CO3 K2

5 Illustrate Decision Support Systems (DSS) of BI . CO3 K3

6. Explain how OLAP supports in BI CO3 K2

7. Explain BI working process in details CO3 K3

8. Explain in detail Analytic functions involved I BI CO3 k3

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No.
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1. Discuss about how business Intelligence concepts helped in education domain ?
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their Significance In Business Management