CHAPTER 8 ( Accessing Organizational Information – Data Warehouse )

8.1  Describe the roles and purposes of data warehouses and data marts in an organization

8.2  Compare the multidimensional nature of data warehouses (and data marts) with the two-dimensional nature of databases

8.3  Identify the importance of ensuring the cleanliness of information throughout an organization

8.4  Explain the relationship between business intelligence and a data warehouse

History of Data Warehousing

v In the 1990’s executives became less concerned with the day-to-day business operations and more concerned with overall business functions

v The data warehouse provided the ability to support decision making without disrupting the day-to-day operations, because:

§Operational information is mainly current – does not include the history for better decision making

§Issue of quality information

§Without information history, it is difficult to tell how and why things change over time

v Data warehouse – a logical collection of information – gathered from many different operational databases – that supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks

v The primary purpose of a data warehouse is to combined information throughout an organization into a single repository for decision-making purposes – data warehouse support only analytical processing

v Extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) – a process that extracts information from internal and external databases, transforms the information using a common set of enterprise definitions, and loads the information into a data warehouse

v Data warehouse  then send subsets of the information to data mart

v Data mart – contains a subset of data warehouse information

Multidimensional Analysis
and Data Mining 

v Data mining – the process of analyzing data to extract information not offered by the raw data alone. Also known as "knowledge discovery" – computer-assisted tools and techniques for sifting through and analyzing vast data stores in order to find trends, patterns, and correlations that can guide decision making and increase understanding.

v To perform data mining users need data-mining tools

§Data-mining tool – uses a variety of techniques to find patterns and relationships in large volumes of information.

Eg: retailers can use knowledge of these patterns to improve the placement of items in the layout of a mail-order catalog page or Web page

Information Cleansing or Scrubbing 

v An organization must maintain high-quality data in the data warehouse

v Information cleansing or scrubbing – a process that weeds out and fixes or discards inconsistent, incorrect, or incomplete information

v Occur during ETL process and second on the information once if is in the data warehouse

Business Intelligence

v Business intelligence – refers to applications and technologies that are used to gather, provide access, analyze data, and information to support decision making effort.

v these systems will illustrate business intelligence in the areas of customer profiling, customer support, market research, market segmentation, product profitability, statistical analysis, and inventory and distribution analysis to name a few

CHAPTER 7 ( Storing Organizational Information )

7.1  Define the fundamental concepts of the relational database model

7.2  Evaluate the advantages of the relational database model

7.3    Compare relational integrity constraints and business-critical integrity constraints

7.4  Describe the benefits of a data driven Web site

7.5    Describe the two primary methods for integrating information across multiple databases

Relational Database Fundamentals

v Information is everywhere in an organization

v Information is stored in databases

Database – maintains information about various types of objects (inventory), events (transactions), people (employees), and places (warehouses)

v Database models include:

§Hierarchical database model – information is organized into a tree-like structure (using parent/child relationships) in such a way that it cannot have too many relationships

§Network database model – a flexible way of representing objects and their relationships

§Relational database model – stores information in the form of logically related two-dimensional tables

v Entity – a person, place, thing, transaction, or event about which information is stored

v Primary keys and foreign keys identify the various entity classes (tables) in the database

§ Primary key – a field (or group of fields) that uniquely identifies a given entity in a table

§ Foreign key – a primary key of one table that appears an attribute in another table and acts to provide a logical relationship among the two tables

Relational Database Advantages

v Database advantages from a business perspective include\

§Increased flexibility

§Increased scalability and performance

§Reduced information redundancy

§Increased information integrity (quality)

§Increased information security

Increased Flexibility

v A well-designed database should:\§Handle changes quickly and easily

§Provide users with different views

§Have only one physical view

•Physical view – deals with the physical storage of information on a storage device

§Have multiple logical views

•Logical view – focuses on how users logically access information

Increased Scalability and Performance

v A database must scale to meet increased demand,  while maintaining acceptable performance levels

§ Scalability – refers to how well a system can adapt to increased demands

§ Performance – measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction

Reduced Information Redundancy

v Databases reduce information redundancy

§ Redundancy – the duplication of information or storing the same information in multiple places

v Inconsistency is one of the primary problems with redundant information

Increase Information Integrity (Quality)

v Information integrity – measures the quality of information

v Integrity constraint – rules that help ensure the quality of information

§Relational integrity constraint

§Business-critical integrity constraint

Increased Information Security

v Information is an organizational asset and must be protected

v Databases offer several security features including:

§Password – provides authentication of the user

§Access level – determines who has access to the different types of information

§Access control – determines types of user access, such as read-only access

Data-Driven Web Site Business Advantages

v Development

v Content Management

v Future Expandability

v Minimizing Human Error

v Cutting Production and Update Costs

v More Efficient

v Improved Stability

Integrating Information
among Multiple Databases

v Integration – allows separate systems to communicate directly with each other

§Forward integration – takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to all downstream systems and processes

§Backward integration – takes information entered into a given system and sends it automatically to all upstream systems and processes

CHAPTER 6 ( VALUING ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION )

6.1  Describe the broad levels, formats,               and granularities of information

6.2   Differentiate between transactional   and analytical information

6.3  List, describe, and provide an example   of each of the five characteristics of   high quality information

6.4  Assess the impact of low quality   information on an organization and   the   benefits of high quality information on an   organization

ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

v Employees must be able to obtain and analyze the Information is everywhere in an organization

v many different levels, formats, and granularities of organizational information to make decisions

v  Successfully collecting, compiling, sorting, and analyzing information can provide tremendous insight into how an organization is performing

The Value of Timely Information 

v Timeliness is an aspect of information that depends on the situation

§ Real-time information – immediate, up-to-date information

§ Real-time system – provides real-time information in response to query requests

The Value of Quality Information

v  Business decisions are only as good as the quality of the information used to make the decisions

v  You never want to find yourself using technology to help you make a bad decision faster

»Characteristics of high-quality information include:

»Accuracy

»Completeness

»Consistency

»Uniqueness

»Timeliness

Understanding the Costs of
Poor Information

v  The four primary sources of low quality information include:

1.Online customers intentionally enter inaccurate information to protect their privacy

2.Information from different systems have different entry standards and formats

3.Call center operators enter abbreviated or erroneous information by accident or to save time

4.Third party and external information contains inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and errors

»Potential business effects resulting from low quality information include:

»Inability to accurately track customers

»Difficulty identifying valuable customers

»Inability to identify selling opportunities

»Marketing to none Existent customers

»Difficulty tracking revenue due to inaccurate invoices

»Inability to build strong customer relationships

Understanding the Benefits of
Good Information

v High quality information can significantly improve the chances of making a good decision

v Good decisions can directly impact an organization's bottom line

 

CHAPTER 4 ( Measuring the Success of Strategic Initiatives )

4.1  Compare efficiency IT metrics and effectiveness IT metrics

4.2  List and describe five common types of efficiency IT metrics

4.3  List and describe four types of effectiveness IT metrics

4.4  Explain customer metrics and their importance to an

     organization

Efficiency and Effectiveness

v Efficiency IT metric – measures the performance of the IT system itself including throughput, speed, and availability

v Effectiveness IT metric – measures the impact IT has on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and sell-through increases

Efficiency IT Metrics

v Efficiency IT metrics focus on technology and include:

§Throughput

§Transaction speed

§System availability

§Information accuracy

§Web traffic

§Response time

Effectiveness IT Metrics

v Effectiveness IT metrics focus on an organization’s goals, 

  strategies, and objectives and include:

§Usability

§Customer satisfaction

§Conversion rates

§Financial

WEB SITE METRICS

v Web site metrics include:

§Abandoned registrations

§Abandoned shopping cards

§Click-through

§Conversion rate

§Cost-per-thousand

§Page exposures

§Total hits

§Unique visitors

CHAPTER 5 ( Organizational Structures that Support Strategic Initiatives )

5.1  Compare the responsibilities of a chief information officer (CIO), chief technology officer (CTO), chief privacy officer (CPO), chief security officer (CSO), and chief knowledge office (CKO)

5.2  Explain the gap between IT people and business people and the primary reason this gap exists

5.3  Define the relationship between information security and ethics

Chief Information Officer (CIO) – oversees all uses of IT and ensures the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objectives

v Broad CIO functions include:

Manager      – ensuring the delivery of all IT projects, on time and within budget

Leader       – ensuring the strategic vision of IT is in line with the strategic vision of the organization

Communicator – building and maintaining strong executive relationships

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – responsible for ensuring the 

throughput, speed, accuracy, availability, and reliability of IT

Chief Security Officer (CSO) – responsible for ensuring the

security of IT systems

Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) – responsible for ensuring the ethical

and legal use of information

Chief Knowledge Office (CKO) - responsible for collecting, maintaining, and distributing the organization’s knowledge

The Gap Between Business Personnel and IT Personnel 

v  Business personnel possess expertise in functional areas such as marketing, accounting, and sales 

v  IT personnel have the technological expertise 

v  This typically causes a communications gap between the business personnel and IT personnel

Organizational Fundamentals – Ethics and Security

v Ethics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their businesses on to be successful

v In recent years, such events as the Enron and Martha Stewart, along with 9/11 have shed new light on the meaning of ethics and security