Chapter 4

Question 1

General usage of data and finance

New technologies

Answer 1

Give access to significantly greater volume to data.

Give access a broader range of data based financial and non-financial, but all of which can be valuable in making financial decisions.

Question 2

 Decision-making

Three levels of decision-making

Answer 2

Strategic – links to acronym in the finance function – high-level next 10 years.

Tactical – links to advise/apply in the finance function – medium term.

Operational – links to advise apply in the finance function – day to day

Question 3

Monetising data

Answer 3

Creating and obtaining value from digital assets 

Question 4

Examples of how data monetisation can be used in a retail business

Answer 4

Target customers with personalise offers

Reduce stockholding and waste

Inform overall product lines – assortments

Develop its product offering – if you like, this, you might also like…

Question 5

Discovery, capture storage of data (assemble)

Finances involvement

Answer 5

What data should be captured?

The cost of capturing the data

Combining different sources of data to make informed decisions

Analysis and communication (finances, traditional role).

Question 6

ETL – extraction transformation and loading

– definition

Answer 6

A process where multiple sources of information I taken and loaded into a data warehouse

Question 7

Data, extraction

Definition

Answer 7

Taking data from a variety of sources

Question 8

Data transformation

Definition

Answer 8

The processing of data into a storage format for querying an analysis – cleansing and standardising

Question 9

Data loading

Definition

Answer 9

 Insertion of data into the final target database

Question 10

Data engineer

Definition

Answer 10

An IT literate who creates the link between the sources of data and the data warehouse

Question 11

Data mining

Answer 11

The process of discovering patterns in large set of data – through software or automation

Question 12

Finances role in ETL systems

Answer 12

Knowing what data needs to be extracted, and how it can be transformed

Usefulness of information

Cost benefit analysis.

Communication.

Question 13

Hadloop

Definition

Answer 13

Network of computers to solve problems.

It works by breaking task down and sharing them across servers, allowing processes to running parallel, and therefore speeding up the process it.

Question 14

HDFS (hadloop distribute file system)

Answer 14

The part of the system that breaks the tasks into chunks and distributes them

Question 15

Map reduce framework

Answer 15

The part of hadloop, which coordinates the distributed processing of the data to achieve the outcome (summarise) 

Question 16

Business intelligence

Definition

Answer 16

The technical architecture of systems, that extract, assemble, store, and access data to provide reports and analysis

The use of software to combine business, analytics, data, mining data, visualisation data, tools, and infrastructure and best practices to help organisations to make more data driven decisions 

Question 17

Finance function’s role in business intelligence

Answer 17

Consider the potential for BI in the organisation.

Champion appropriate BI projects.

Continue to report and monitor and pass information.

Begin to provide forward-looking analysis based on financial and non-financial information

Take on decision support roles in partnership with other departments.

Question 18

Data modelling

Definition

Answer 18

Consideration of an organisations data storage that allows it to be stored/retrieved in efficient and effective way

How it is stored

Question 19

Data manipulation

Definition

Answer 19

The process of making data easier to read

Question 20

Data analysis

Definition

Answer 20

Evaluation of data to create information that is valuable in making decisions 

Question 21

The three levels of data modelling

Answer 21

Conceptual – practical – i.e. what data is needed

Logical – technical – how will the date be held unused

Physical – systematic – how will the data be maintained

Question 22

Management of the components of Big data

The role of the finance function

4vs

Answer 22

Volume - the finance function as well placed to Paetner IT, in terms of which data is legally required

Variety – given finances interface with multiple stakeholders. Well placed to advise on what variety of data might be useful in facilitating, decision-making and adding value

Veracity – with its strong, ethical credentials finance as well place to be involved in checking data

Velocity – ensuring decisions are made and appropriate time frames

Question 23

How do use of data analytics can add value to the finance function?

Answer 23

 Provide information to its stakeholders which is more timely and more accurate.

How to improve business performance by combining financial and non-financial data.

Question 24

Decision support system

Answer 24

Computer systems designed to store and analyse data relevant organisational decision-making. 

Is often used for scenario planning.