MIS 587, in my opinion, has several components to it such as statistics, analytics, business intelligence and processes, and economics, finance, accounting, and marketing.
Business Intelligence & Big Data Business
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At the beginning of this class, we were introduced to Big Data Business, concerns about big data and what big data really means and what big data is used for in recent years and what it will be used for in years to come. During week 1, I learned a lot about Business Intelligence (BI), its benefits and usefulness of Predictive Analysis, Data Mining, web and Data Analytics, Reporting, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and its life cycle. Prior to the first week, I had taken other classes that are similar and had used some predictive tools. I wasn’t aware of the vast information in Data Analytics and Business Intelligence. Week 1 was very informative and helped prepare for what was expected in this class.
During week 1, I realized there is a difference between structured and unstructured data. Unstructured data, which I would associate more facts, information, pictures, basically everything else that does not fit into rows and columns such as social media and our everyday data and records, being collected and used for analysis is remarkable. I have a new reality of what data is truly about.
Data Warehouse Design Cycle, Balance Scorecard, Dimensional Star Schema Design
Image by Dalby, J.
We covered Data Warehouse Design Cycle, Balance Scorecard, Dimensional Star Schema Design during the first weeks. What stood out most to me during week 2 was the Star Schema dimensional design mainly because I had worked with other databases and they seem so complex compared to the Star Schema. The Star Schema basically derives its name from its appearance, it looks like a star. Related dimensions are grouped together in tables that store the facts in the fact table[i]. It is important to understand Data Warehouse Design and dimensional modeling, Fact Data and ETL process in order to fully understand Star Schema as they all come into play together. We also discussed Balance Score Cards, this to me was one of the business parts of this course. Balance Score Card entailed four aspects of performance measures which are (1) How do customers see us? (customer perspective) (2) What must we excel at? (internal perspective), (3) Can we continue to improve and create value? (innovation and learning perspective), and (4) How do we look to shareholders? (financial perspective) [ii]. The Balance scorecard allows strategic measures to financial measures and views the performance of organizations.
My take on this class is that a dashboard must be simple yet provide enough information for the user. As explained in the class, a dashboard must be (1) simple and easy to communicate, (2) provide summaries and exceptions, (3) fewer distractions, (4) enables quick recommendations of problems, (5) appropriate widgets and (6) recommendation for specific actions. [iii].
Web Analytics and Google Analytics
Web Analytics and Google Analytics were covered in this class and I have to admit that this was one of the most challenging, yet one of the most interesting of all the topics covered in this class. Prior to this, I had no idea what Google Analytics was about and I have now asked my Company to make use of it for marketing purposes. Google Analytics is more of a marketing tool that allows tracking of websites. During the week that we covered Google Analytics, I looked for a company I could use and ended up using Google merchandize. However, in the future, I may be conducting analysis for the Company I work for.
Here are a few things I took away from learning Web Analytics and Google Analytics. I understand now that one can track, collect and analyze internet data to improve business and internet website usage. We covered the use of Web Analytics which are mainly (1) set goals, (2) measure (3) report, (4) optimize and (5) analyze. In web analytics, it is also important to understand the 5Ws (who, why, where, when and what). I was able to use data from Google Merchandise to determine important KPIs. It was interesting working on marketing channel, geographic overview, revenue, etc.
Data Visualization/Gephi/Tableau: Before I go into Gephi, I would like to acknowledge the fact that Tableau was also used in one of our assignments and, I thought it was fabulous and easy to navigate tool for visualization.
However, the last week of this class was focused on Network Visualization, using Gephi. Gephi is quite interesting and produces some amazing graphs. I spent a lot of time on it and there is still a lot to explore in Gephi. I focused more on the graphical layout such as Geo Layout, Fruchterman Reingold, Label Adjust and Noverlap for my assignment and they were beautiful, although I have seen a lot more graph kinds online, I am yet to find out others.
Network Visualization uses nodes and edges to visualize complex relationships. Entities and things are usually represented in nodes while their connections are represented as edges or lines. Network visualization can help provide an understanding of networks by using graphs and diagrams that connect nodes, although it typically may not tell the complete story of a network, it will give a lot of information needed to provide a conclusion.
Overall, this was an amazing class, I have learned so much in such a few weeks. It was overwhelming for me for a couple of reasons, I am taking two classes at a time, and also expecting a baby in a few days.
I wish you all the best!
References:
[i] Zentut (n.d). Star Schema. Retrieved from https://www.zentut.com/data-warehouse/star-schema/
[ii] Kaplan R.S and Norton, D. (1992). The Balance Scorecard, Measures that Drive performance. Havard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1992/01/the-balanced-scorecard-measures-that-drive-performance-2
[iii] Ram, S (n.d) Class Notes – MIS 587, Business Intelligent Design and Its Use for Analysis. Lecture 8.
