UNIT 1

Question 1

Data silo

Answer 1

Data silos are information “stocks” managed by a specific sector, which is kept isolated from the other company systems. A collection of data held by one group that is not easily or fully accessible by other groups in the same organization.

This happens when collaborators choose, for example, to save information on devices or platforms used exclusively by their team, instead of uploading it to a network or other unified directory.

Data silos store big data in various file formats, from emails, to raw data, that have not yet been processed and analyzed.

Question 2

Some reasons why this (data silos) may happen in a company:

Answer 2

Cultural: Competition or animosity between departments can cause those employees to keep data from each other, rather than working together.

Structural: Especially in large organizations, data silos can exist because a hierarchy separated by many levels of management and highly specialized staff.

Technological: Applications might not be used, or even designed, to cross-reference or add to each other. Or one department may simply not have access to a valuable app from another department because it was not purchased for their specific day-to-day tasks.

In recent years the applications of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data have become key factors in the strategy of many companies. Data offers companies the possibility to analyze their actions, learn from them and even predict and plan for the future.

–> It is necessary to break down data silos and unify information to make the most of its analytical and predictive potential

Question 3

Marketing

Answer 3

• where you develop your target market

- website, social, D&B, 3rd party marketing tool –> integration to maintain target group information

Question 4

CRM

Answer 4

• where you develop opportunities and customers

- IoT, social, D&B, Vertical solutions–> integration to enrich existing data

Question 5

Why is it so important to share data in companies?

Answer 5

1. Data silos  limit the global view of data: prevent relevant data from being shared. Each department’s analysis is limited by its own view. How can you find hidden opportunities for operational cost savings, for example, if operations and cost data aren’t consolidated?
2. Data silos  threaten  data integrity: If the same information is often stored in different databases, it may cause inconsistencies between departmental data. As data ages, it can become less accurate, and therefore, less useful. For example, if medical data on the same patient is stored in different systems, this data can become out of sync over time.
    
3. Data silos  waste resources: The same information is stored in different places, and when users download data into their personal or group storage, resources suffer. Having data into one source frees up precious storage and avoid paying for buying and maintaining storage that may not be needed.
4. Data silos  discourage collaborative work: Data-driven organizations are embracing collaboration as a powerful tool to find and leverage new insights. In order to encourage collaboration, departments need a way to share their data.

Question 6

Data warehouse

Answer 6

A Data Warehouse is an electronic store where a company or organization generally maintains a large amount of information.

The data in a data warehouse must be:

• Stored securely
• Reliably
• Easily retrieved
• Easily managed.

Question 7

Data warehouse (2)

Answer 7

It is a large database, normally measured in gigabytes (billions of characters) or terabytes (billions of letters), which collects information from multiple sources and whose activity is focused on decision-making, that is, in the analysis of information instead of capturing it.

It is important that the company has a single Data Warehouse: Thus, the members of the organization will be able to access the same source of information organized according to conventions determined by the management.

It serves to help analyze the data collected by the company in order to improve its performance.

Question 8

Data warehousing- definition

Answer 8

Data Warehousing(DW) is a process for collecting and managing data from varied sources to provide meaningful business insights. Typically used to connect and analyze business data from heterogeneous sources. The data warehouse is the core of the BI system which is built for data analysis and reporting.

Question 9

ETL: Extract-Transform-Load

Answer 9

Is a process responsible for extracting data from source systems and placing it in a data warehouse. ETL software extracts data, transforms inconsistent data values, cleans “bad” data, filters data, and loads data into a destination data warehouse. Designing and maintaining the ETL process is often considered one of the most difficult and resource-intensive parts of a data warehouse project.

Question 10

ETL involves the following tasks:

Answer 10

Data extraction: obtaining the information from the different sources of origin, both internal and external, including database systems and applications.

Transformation: it is the filtering, cleaning, purification, homogenization and grouping of information, using rules or lookup tables or by combining the data with other data.

Loading: is the process of writing the data to the warehouse.

Question 11

Some of these most used ETL tools are:

Answer 11

• Oracle Warehouse Builder
• IBM Websphere DataStage
• Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)

Question 12

Metadata

Answer 12

The data that is used to represent other data. For example, the index of a book serves as a metadata for the contents in the book.

Question 13

Summary data

Answer 13

Statistical records and reports derived from data on individuals.

Question 14

Raw data

Answer 14

Unprocessed data

Question 15

Relational database

Answer 15

It is a type of database that stores and provides access to data points that are related to one another. It uses a structure that allows us to identify and access data in relation to another piece of data in the database. Often, data in a relational database is organized into tables.

Question 16

RDBMS

Answer 16

Relational Database Management System:

It is a collection of programs and capabilities that enable IT teams and others to create, update, administer and otherwise interact with a relational database using Structured Query Language (SQL) to access the database

Question 17

Most important RDBMS softwares:

Answer 17

Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle Database
MySQL
IBM DB2
Postgre SQL
Microsoft Access

Question 18

SQL: Structured Query Language

Answer 18

SQL is a programming language that enables programmers to work with that data. It’s a language that allows communication with databases in order to manage all the data they contain.

The main purpose of SQL is to interact with the relational database in which data is stored in tabular form.

Question 19

KPI

Answer 19

Key performance indicator

Are performance metrics that measure specific goals for businesses across all sectors. They can define the direction of a business, provide essential feedback and help organize individuals, teams, projects or entire businesses to optimize performance.

• Many KPIs are used by most companies, such as profitability or the number of customers.
• Others are specific to some specific sectors, such as the evolution of the body temperature of patients in a hospital.
• Each business must know its key indicators and monitor and analyze them.

Question 20

KPI main characteristics

Answer 20

1. Relevant: Indicators should be relevant to the organization.
2. Clear definition: A performance indicator should have a clear definition in order to ensure consistent collection and fair comparison.
3. Easy to understand and to use: described in terms that the users of the information will understand.
4. Comparable: Indicators should ideally be comparable on a consistent basis both between organizations and over time.
5. Cost effective: Balance the cost of collecting information with its usefulness. Where possible, an indicator should be based on information already available and linked to existing data collection activity.
6. Allow innovation: Should ideally be constructed to allow innovations like alternative methods, systems or procedures to improve service delivery.
7. Statistically valid: Indicators should be statistically valid.
8. Timely: The KPI should be based on data that are available within a reasonable time scale.
9. Verifiable: The indicator should be based on robust data collection systems, and it should be possible for managers to verify the accuracy of information and the consistency

Question 21

Common things Key Performance Indicators might track are:

Answer 21

• Revenue(including average profits, total revenue, and new customers)
• Employment statistics(Including employee turnover, employee performance, and vacancies)
• Customer service(Including average call time, efficiency and customer satisfaction)
• Marketing(Including sales generation and overall effectiveness)
• Efficiency(Including overall efficiency, departmental processes and individual efficiency)

Question 22

KPI

High indicators

Answer 22

High indicators might measure the overallperformance of a business(profits). They are focus on the entire company or activity.

Question 23

KPI

Low indicators

Answer 23

Low indicators might measure a variable of a specific product or output of a specific department.

Question 24

KPI examples

Answer 24

1. The status of existing customers
2. The number of new customers acquired
3. Customer attrition
4. Customers segmented by profitability or demographics variables
5. The amount of waiting time for delivery of customer orders
6. The length of time for stock-outs

Question 25

KPI vs Metrics

Answer 25

All KPIs are metrics but not all metrics are KPIs. A metric is a measurement, but a KPI adds context

Question 26

Metric

Answer 26

A standard of measurement

• number of customers
• number of sales per salesman
• total revenue

Question 27

KPI (vs metrics)

Answer 27

Adds substance and weight to detail

When you put them in context of a particular organization or industry like a tool for making decisions

Question 28

How to set the goals for a company using KPIs

Answer 28

SMART

Specific
Measurable
Attainable 
Realistic
Time-bound

Question 29

Key steps inn the KPI process

Answer 29

1. Identify
2. Create
3. Evaluate
4. Change
5. Assess

Question 30

Dashboard

Answer 30

A business intelligence dashboard, or BI dashboard, is adata visualizationand analysistool that displays on one screen the status ofkey performance indicators (KPIs) and other important business metrics and data points for an organization, department, team or process.

Dashboards are an integral component of mostBIsoftware platforms and are widely used to deliver analytics information to business executives and workers.