Business Intelligence Best Practices

1. Business Intelligence Best Practices Brad HaasThe University of Akron

2. Primer • How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did • Using items purchased Target can: • Determine if customer might be pregnant • Approximate due date • Predict gender

3. Primer continued • Father complained to Target about daughter receiving “new Mom” coupons. • Target apologizes. • Father calls back: “I had a talk with my daughter,” he said. “It turns out there’s been some activities in my house I haven’t been completely aware of. She’s due in August. I owe you an apology.”

4. Primer • This practice still occurs today… • However, in additional to the targeted coupons, decoy coupons are sent to seem less intrusive http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/

5. Outline • Definition • Background • Business Intelligence Guidelines/Best Practices • Options Available • WebTMA Queries/Browses • WebTMA Reporting • Excel Power Pivot • SQL Server Reporting Tools

6. Business Intelligence: • the ability to learn, to understand, or to deal with new or trying situations • the skilled use of reason • the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests)

7. Definition • Definition of intelligence from Merriam-Webster • Business Intelligence is a broad term that can encompass: • Knowledge Management • Data Warehousing • Data Mining (Target Example)

8. Business Intelligence Simplified • Data collection • Organizing data into information in a manner that is both clear and actionable

9. Collecting Data • Organized • (TMA gives you a head start!) • Accurate • Avoid • Garbage In • Garbage Out • Accessible • Some solutions may be unavailable in certain situations

10. Information • Data presented to user in a digestible manner • Example: 10 work orders unaddressed after 2 weeks vs. reviewing a list of work orders • Avoid information overload • Space Shuttle Cockpit

11. Information – Call to Action • Information should stimulate a response • Elicit positive reaction • Explore problem • Develop solution • Implement solution • Information must be actionable • Do not present information about a process that is not controllable

12. Actionable Information • Give tools to affect change • Training • Time/Financial Resources • Positional Power • Top Down Support

13. Training (in depth) • Ensure that intended audience: • Is technically capable of accessing solution • Understands the information presented • Has the tools (ad-hoc query) to research a problem • Important to empower audience to access information independently

14. Barriers to Business Intelligence • Expense? • At least four inexpensive-to-free options already available to you • Complexity? • Leverage • Internal IT Department • TMA Support • TMA Yahoo Group • Internet as a whole • Lack of Resources? • Would you skip an oil change? • Can you afford NOT to measure your organization’s health?

15. Caveat • Business intelligence can be as easy or as complex as you desire • With increasing complexity comes increasingly powerful information • Recommend Reading: • The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Definitive Guide to Dimensional Modeling by Ralph Kimball and Margy Ross

16. Queries • Answer quick questions • Fairly powerful • No need for “query language” • Real-time • “Or” functionality limited • (WebTMA) • Requires knowledge of data in WebTMA

17. Dashboard/MyPage • Presents information in easy-to-digest format • From technician to executive • Real-time • Use of colors and graphs for “call to action” • Inspire to investigate and create solution • Cannot solve ad-hoc questions

18. Reports • Criteria and logic more powerful • Easier to review large data sets • Can be scheduled • Receiving email can be “call to action” • Not real time • Potential for information overload

19. Caution with Excel • Excel can be a powerful BI tool • Using Excel can be also be dangerous • The more separation from original data source, the more chance of data corruption • Time consuming to perform the same analysis over and over • Really want SQL server to be doing as much “crunching” as possible (more efficient) • Export from TMA Queries or Reports

20. Excel BI Options • Power Pivot • Free download from Microsoft • Enhances Pivot Table functionality already available in Excel • Can address more data than Excel row limits • Multiple data connections • Power BI now available as part of Office 365 • Small Subscription Cost

21. SSRS: SQL Server Report Services • The following will only work if: • You are client-hosted • You are running WebTMA • Already included in your install of WebTMA • WebTMA runs off of SSRS • Already paid for, no need to purchase Crystal! • Development Environment • Visual Studio • Report Builder 3.0

22. SSRS Continued • Power users only • Need SQL knowledge • Need report definition language • Similar to Visual Basic • TMA provides tool in installer package to call report files from inside WebTMA • Will need to be re-created after every upgrade • Dangers • TMA can change data structure at anytime which can break reports • TMA will provide minimal help in supporting these reports

23. Conclusion • Business intelligence is complicated yet attainable • Make sure solution creates a “call to action” • Ensure top-down support for BI solutions • You may already own powerful BI solutions

24. Contact Information Bradley P. Haas Manager, PFOC Information Systems The University of Akron Physical Facilities Operation Center Akron, OH 44325-0401 bph3@uakron.edu (330) 972-6164 Office (330) 972-2462 Fax