Quiz 6

Who is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of a BI implementation?   The Chief Executive Officer The Chief Financial Officer The Project Manager The Data Modeler A and B only Answer: The Project Manager

Why would a large organization choose external resources when developing and implementing a BI solution?   Using BI technologies new to the organization Leverage cross-industry expertise of management consultants Insufficient number of internal IT personnel All of these None of these Answer: All of these

Why should you “Think Big and Start Small” when implementing your casino project BI solution?   To build the total solution one success at a time To get initial buy in from all members of your team To finish the most difficult tasks first To build the IT technologies with small software tools A and C only Answer: To build the total solution one success at a time

Why is the first step of you BI solution so important?   Because it’s usually the most difficult Because it’s usually the fastest Because it’s outcome could affect future funding Because it’s usually the most expensive C and D only Answer: C and D only

Why do you assemble the puzzle pieces early when implementing a BI solution?   Because you need to financial approval Because it supports an iterative design technique Because process reengineering is complex Because you must pick the right solution early in the BI process None of these Answer: Because it supports an iterative design technique

(True/False) College students have a lower tendency for problem gambling behavior than the general adult population. Answer: False, college students have a higher tendency (5%) For problem gambling behavior than the general population (1.6%)

In general, how does the media portray gambling? Accurately Shows pragmatic benefits and costs Socially acceptable All of these Answer: Socially acceptable

(True/False) Problem gambling has no correlation with other social and health issues such as depression, family problems and alcohol addiction. Answer: False

Fill in the blank. Exposure to media negatively depicting gambling has ___________ impact on college students than exposure to media positively depicting gambling. less the same more Answer: less

Fill in the blank . One of the major weak points of the gambling media exposure study was ___________. Most of the survey participants demonstrated other addictive behaviors Nearly 80% of the survey participants were women A high percentage of survey participants had easy access to gambling The survey participants were all freshman None of these Answer: Nearly 80% of the survey participants were women

For Friday Friday recitations in KOBL 320 or KOBL 380 Section 101: 9:00 – 9:50 AM in KOBL 380 – Noah Section 102: 10:00 – 10:50 AM in KOBL 380 – Whitney Section 103: 11:00 – 11:50 AM in KOBL 380 – Whitney Section 104: 12:00 – 12:50 PM in KOBL 320 – Jason Section 105: 12:00 – 12:50 PM in KOBL 320 – Addison Section 106: 1:00 – 1:50 PM in KOBL 320 – Vimi Section 107: 1:00 – 1:50 PM in KOBL 320 – Chris Section 108: 2:00 – 2:50 PM in KOBL 320 – Nhan Section 109: 2:00 – 2:50 PM in KOBL 320 – Chris Section 110: 3:00 – 3:50 PM in KOBL 320 – Addison

For Monday Midterm on Monday, March 1st 7:00 – 8:30 PM CHEM140

Midterm Example Questions What are the three principle enablers of Business Intelligence? Describe how your casino project team utilizes these enablers. What is a business silo? What impacts can these silos have on the development and implementation of your business intelligence solution for the casino?

Implementing a BI Solution

Business Intelligence Solutions Bring people, technology and data together to deliver valuable information to business decision makers Business decision makers play a critical role in making sure BI solutions meet their information and analysis needs

An Implementation Strategy Think big and start small Pay special attention to your 1st step Assemble the puzzle pieces early Use well-defined BI projects Leverage success again and again Think big and start small Balance the big picture view with small steps that lead to one success at a time REFERENCE wind project Initially overwhelming – successful teams able to break the project down into individual tasks Pay special attention to your first step People judge the BI solution based on the outcome of the initial work Success or failure of this first step could affect funding of future steps Assemble the puzzle pieces early Dimensions, measures, data and technology Use an iterative process – multiple designs that evolve – rather than a linear process that leads to just one all encompassing design

The Implementation Team Executive sponsor Business team Technical team Data modelers Project manager Internal vs. external resources Executive sponsor supports the implementation both financially and politically Initial buy-in and ongoing support Generate enthusiasm and protect from sabotage Business Team Actively involved Works hand-in-hand with the technical experts to define business requirements, design decisions and BI technology decisions Represents the interests of the greater business user community Technical Team Provides expertise to build the BI solution Programmers, IT support staff, etc.

Interim Course Review

Review of Material to Date Defining Operations Aligning IS and Strategy Business Intelligence Multidimensional Analysis Identifying BI Opportunities Process Mapping Process Reengineering

Operations is all about adding value, and creating wealth Defining Operations Operations is all about adding value, and creating wealth

Who are “operations” managers? Managers transform inputs into outputs Example: Accounting Manager Inputs: data, information, labor Transformation: application of accounting principles and knowledge Outputs: accounting reports, knowledge of performance, ... All managers have an “operation” to run Therefore: All managers are Operations Managers!

Information Systems (IS) Group of components that product information for a certain purpose

Aligning IS and Strategy Business Objectives Measured through revenues and costs Business Tactics Tasks performed Systems Objectives IS results Systems Tactics Use of technology to accomplish objectives

What’s Needed? Business-Savvy IT Personnel + IT-Savvy Business Persons

Business Intelligence Business Intelligence (BI) is important to help bring tools and data to every employee in a format each can use, on a device each has, when each needs it. BI is one form of sustainable competitive advantage BI is key to bringing together information, people and technology

Making Better Decisions Primary goal of BI is to help make people make decisions that can improve company performance and promote competitive advantage BI aids better decision making by analyzing if actions are resulting in progress Best accomplished with clearly stated set of objectives and plan for achieving them Putting it all together

BI Foundation Besides being a broad range of technologies, software platforms, applications, and processess… BI = an attitude and performance management framework toward problem solving The BI Cycle Analysis Insight Action Measurement

Multidimensional Analysis Looking at data with single dimensions obscures interesting/useful patterns Need to view data simultaneously categorized across many dimensions Often more than three dimensions Time Amount Qtr 1 $16,000 Qtr 2 Total $32,000 Market Amount Atlanta $8,000 Chicago Denver Detroit Total $32,000 Product Amount Apples $8,000 Cherries Grapes Melons Total $32,000

Multidimensional Analysis Atlanta Chicago Denver Detroit Total Qtr 1 Apples $- $2,500 $1,500 $4,000 Cherries $2,000 Grapes $1,000 $3,000 Melons Total Q1 $5,000 $4,500 $3,500 $16,000 Qtr 2 Total Q2

The Cube Multidimensional data can be visualized as a cube Each cell contains a specific value

Identifying BI Opportunities Step 1: Do Your Homework To Identify Which Opportunities Offer the Most Value The 3 Ws Where will BI be used/needed? Functional Areas Business Units Who will use and benefit from BI? Higher Levels Lower Levels What information is needed that offers the most value to the organization? Who, What, Where We make assumptions constantly about words the cabin burning in the woods example the cabin was an airplane Sacred cows make the best hamburger meat What are the sacred cows of the bookstore They must sell books! The president of CU expects to see books even if they are loosing money on the book sales The ability to identify the sacred cows will differentiate successful vs. less successful business people

Organizing Info Requirements The BI Blueprint Smaller group of individuals synthesizes brainstorming results Note # Measure Product Geography Customer Call Class Sales Rep Time 1 Unit sales Product # Region NA Month Amount sales 2 # calls District Cust ID Level 1 Day Call length 3 Rep ID Week

Identify Opportunity Areas The BI Scorecard Requirements -> Areas of Opportunity Product Geography Customer Call Class Sales Rep Time Product Margin Analysis Amount Sales product # region NA month Cost Margin Sales Analysis district cust ID rep ID week

Apply Importance Criteria Actionability? Business Tactics Possible? Materiality? Value or Business Objectives Impacted? Tactical vs. Strategic? Short or long term? Risk? Management Commitment? Actionability Materiality Tactical or Strategic Overall Product Margin Analysis High Strategic Sales Analysis Tactical Medium Customer Support Low

Apply Difficulty Criteria How complex are the cross-functional relationships? How easy can you obtain the data? How difficult is the mathematical analysis? Cross-Functional Availability of Data Complexity of Calculations Overall Product Margin Analysis Hard Medium Sales Analysis Easy Customer Support

Develop BI Opportunity Scorecard Business Priority and Level of Effort on two scales High Priority / Easy – Go for it! Low & Medium Priority / Easy – Confidence! High Priority / Hard – Pilot! Others – Case by Case…

BI Opportunity Scorecard EASY 3 4 2 1 8 7 LOW HIGH Business Priority 9 Effort Level 6 5 HARD

Process Mapping Why Process Map? To create a visual diagram of a process To establish a common language Assists in discussing improvement The end result is to provide a blueprint for implementing the process Other reasons?

First, map the “AS IS” processes Process flowcharts Relationship maps Cross-functional process maps

After identifying inefficiencies, map the “TO BE” Processes

Process Reengineering Reengineering strives “to break away from the old rules about how we organize and conduct business” Constructive defiance (break old rules) Creative destruction Out of the box thinking

Process Reengineering Not small changes Total reinvention Focus on processes Not tasks, jobs and/or people

Process Reengineering Which processes to reengineer? Use a BI Blueprint Identify Opportunity Areas Apply Importance Criteria Apply Difficulty Criteria Develop Opportunity Scorecard Go for the high impact opportunities May be the hardest