CCW331 Business Analytics

Internal Assessment Test –I

ANSWER KEY
Part – A

1. Difference between Analytics and Data science.

Business Analytics Data Science

Business Analytics is the statistical study Data science is the study of data using
of business data to gain insights. statistics, algorithms and technology.
Uses mostly structured data. Uses both structured & unstructured
data
Does not involve much coding. It is Coding is widely used. This field is a
more statistics oriented. combination of traditional analytics
practice with good computer science
knowledge.
The whole analysis is based on Statistics is used at the end of analysis
statistical concepts. following coding.
Studies trends and patterns specific to Studies almost every trend and pattern.
business.
Top industries where business analytics Top industries/applications where data
is used: finance, healthcare, marketing, science is used: e-commerce, finance,
retail, supply chain, machine learning, manufacturing.
telecommunications.

2. What do this concept of modelling?

The term business model refers to a company's plan for making a
profit. It identifies the products or services the business plans to sell, its
identified target market, and any anticipated expenses.
3. Difference between validation and evaluation.
Model validation is defined within regulatory guidance as “the set of
processes and activities intended to verify that models are performing as
expected, in line with their design objectives, and business uses.”
Model Evaluation is an integral part of the model development
process. It helps to find the best model that represents our data and how well
the chosen model will work in the future.

4. Write about the Business Intelligence

Business intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process for
analyzing data and delivering actionable information that helps executives,
managers and workers make informed business decisions.

5. What do you meant by Data Mart.

A data mart is a simple form of a data warehouse that is focused on a
single subject or line of business, such as sales, finance, or marketing.

Part – B

6. Explain about seven Data Collection methods.

The process of gathering and analyzing accurate data from various sources
to find answers to research problems, trends and probabilities, etc., to evaluate
possible outcomes is Known as Data Collection.
STEPS IN THE DATA PREPARATION PROCESS
Data preparation is done in a series of steps. There's some variation in the
data preparation steps listed by different data professionals and software
vendors, but the process typically involves the following tasks:
1. Data collection. Relevant data is gathered from operational systems, data
warehouses, data lakes and other data sources. During this step, data scientists,
member of the BI team other data professionals & end users who collect data
should confirm that it's a good fit for the objectives of the planned analytics
applications.
 2. Data discovery and profiling. The next step is to explore the collected data
to better understand what it contains and what needs to be done to prepare it for
the intended uses. To help with that, data profiling identifies patterns,
relationships and other attributes in the data, as well as inconsistencies,
anomalies, missing values and other issues so they can be addressed.
3. Data cleansing. Next, the identified data errors and issues are corrected to
create complete and accurate data sets. For example, as part of cleansing data
sets, faulty data is removed or fixed, missing values are filled in and
inconsistent entries are harmonized.
4. Data structuring. At this point, the data needs to be modeled and organized
to meet the analytics requirements. For example, data stored in comma-
separated values (CSV) files or other file formats has to be converted into tables
to make it accessible to BI and analytics tools.
5. Data transformation and enrichment. In addition to being structured, the
data typically must be transformed into a unified and usable format. For
example, data transformation may involve creating new fields or columns that
aggregate values from existing ones. Data enrichment further enhances and
optimizes data sets as needed, through measures such as augmenting and adding
data.
6. Data validation and publishing. In this last step, automated routines are run
against the data to validate its consistency, completeness and accuracy. The
prepared data is then stored in a data warehouse, a data lake or another
repository and either used directly by whoever prepared it or made available for
other users to access.
7. KEY DATA PREPARATION can also incorporate or feed into data
curation work that creates and oversees ready-to-use data sets for BI and
analytics. Data curation involves tasks such as indexing, cataloguing and
maintaining data sets and their associated metadata to help users find and access
the data. In some organizations, data curator is a formal role that works
collaboratively with data scientists, business analysts, other users and the IT and
data management teams. In others, data may be curated by data stewards, data
engineers, database administrators or data scientists and business users
themselves.

7. Explain various steps in the process of decision making.

DECISION MAKING is the process of making choices by identifying a decision,

gathering information, and assessing alternative resolutions.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF DECISIONS MAKING IN BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE
We can summarize these types of decisions in business intelligence this way:
• Strategic: Long-term, complex, made by senior managers
• Tactical: Medium-term, less complex, made by mid-level managers
• Operational: Day-to-day, simple, routine, made by junior managers

DECISION MAKING
Step 1: Identify the decision
You realize that you need to make a decision. Try to clearly define the nature of
the decision you must make. This first step is very important.
Step 2: Gather relevant information
Collect some pertinent information before you make your decision: what
information is needed, the best sources of information, and how to get it. This step
involves both internal and external “work.” Some information is internal: you’ll
seek it through a process of self-assessment. Other information is external: you’ll
find it online, in books, from other people, and from other sources.
Step 3: Identify the alternatives
As you collect information, you will probably identify several possible paths of
action, or alternatives. You can also use your imagination and additional
information to construct new alternatives. In this step, you will list all possible and
desirable alternatives.
Step 4: Weigh the evidence
Draw on your information and emotions to imagine what it would be like if you
carried out each of the alternatives to the end. Evaluate whether the need identified
in Step 1 would be met or resolved through the use of each alternative. As you go
through this difficult internal process, you’ll begin to favor certain alternatives:
those that seem to have a higher potential for reaching your goal. Finally, place the
alternatives in a priority order, based upon your own value system.
Step 5: Choose among alternatives
Once you have weighed all the evidence, you are ready to select the alternative that
seems to be best one for you. You may even choose a combination of alternatives.
Your choice in Step 5 may very likely be the same or similar to the alternative you
placed at the top of your list at the end of Step 4.
Step 6: Take action
You’re now ready to take some positive action by beginning to implement the
alternative you chose in Step 5.
Step 7: Review your decision & its consequences
In this final step, consider the results of your decision and evaluate whether or not
it has resolved the need you identified in Step 1. If the decision has not met the
identified need, you may want to repeat certain steps of the process to make a new
decision. For example, you might want to gather more detailed or somewhat
different information or explore additional alternatives.

Part – C

8. Explain in detail about Business Analytics model life cycle.

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTION
• Asking questions helps you define what insight you’re trying to gain, problem
you’re trying to solve or larger business goal you’re trying to meet. Asking the
right question(s) helps you build the model to collect relevant data. So how do you
determine the “right” question to ask?
• If, for example, sales of a particular product are flat and your goal is to increase
sales by 10% to 15%, you’d want to be sure you’re processing the right sales data
to discover the source of your highest and lowest sales. Who within these markets
is purchasing the product and how? Have online sales ticked up? Are in-store or
same-store purchases flat or in decline?

PROCESS THE DATA TO ANSWER THE QUESTION

• The sources and streams of data flowing into your organization are abundant—
from email, mobile apps, social networks, e-commerce sites and web traffic—
providing information on sales figures, customer engagement, demographic
profiles and the overall health of your business. All that data feeds into or is
collected and fed into your central data center. Effective data management and
programming strategies can help you gather it, clean it and apply it to answer
your question.
• Gather: Extract data from your database through advanced queries using
Structured Query Language (SQL), which supports, extracts, transforms and loads
data in preparation for analytics model development.
• Clean: Data cleaning or cleansing identifies and removes errors, corruptions,
inconsistencies or outliers that can affect data accuracy and, ultimately, its
functionality.

VISUALIZE AND ANALYZE THE DATA

• Now that you have solid data to work with, it’s time to gain intuition and insight
through data visualization and analysis.
• Data visualization—presented in statistical graphs, plots, charts or other visual
context—descriptively summarizes the information so you can apply the right
structured data model for analysis. Specialized analytics systems based on your
model can provide the analysis and statistics to start answering your question.
• Statistics and Algorithms: This can include correlation analysis, hypothesis
testing, and regression analysis to see whether simple predictions can be made.
• Machine Learning: Decision trees, neural networks and logistics regression are
all machine learning-based predictive analytics techniques that can turn data into
proactive solutions.
• As you go through data analysis, different comparisons can derive different
insights (i.e. applying differing machine learning approaches).

VALIDATE THE ANALYSIS

• Ready to ask more questions? Examining “Is it accurate?”, “Is it appropriate?”
and running “what-if” scenarios will help you determine if your analysis is valid or
on the right track.
• Statistical analysis, inference and predictive modeling are applied to define and
validate target parameters, leading to an optimal solution and model most aligned
to your business goal.

APPLY IT TO THE BUSINESS

• This is where all that data starts providing solutions to your business questions.
You’ve deepened your insight and understanding and now can start making
business recommendations and taking action based on your data analysis,
visualization and models.
• As you begin to measure outcomes and derive new insights, new questions will
arise: “Was the action effective?” “Is a different decision or solution needed?”
“What was the return on investment?”
• Evaluating appropriateness, managing the value creation of your analytics
project, and being able to identify and emphasize the success factors are all critical
to leveraging your analytics for a competitive advantage.
• Remember, the business analytics cycle is continual. Your data model will need
to be updated as the new insights and questions arise, and as your business needs
change with new problems to solve and challenges to meet.