ASSIGNMENT 2 FRONT SHEET

Qualification BTEC Level 5 HND Diploma in Computing

Unit number and title Unit 14: Business Intelligence

Submission date Date Received 1st submission

Re-submission Date Date Received 2nd submission

Student Name Nguyen Ba Long Student ID GCD201507

Class GCD0904 Assessor name Phyo Min Tun

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I certify that the assignment submission is entirely my own work and I fully understand the consequences of plagiarism. I understand that
making a false declaration is a form of malpractice.

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P3 P4 P5 P6 M3 M4 D3 D4
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. DETERMINE, WITH EXAMPLES, WHAT BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE IS AND THE TOOLS AND
TECHNIQUES ASSOCIATED WITH IT (P3): ............................................................... 5
1. Business intelligence: .................................................................................................. 5
2. BI Techniques: ............................................................................................................ 6
3. BI Tools: ...................................................................................................................... 7
II. DESIGN A BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOL, APPLICATION OR INTERFACE THAT CAN
PERFORM A SPECIFIC TASK TO SUPPORT PROBLEM-SOLVING OR DECISION-MAKING AT AN
ADVANCED LEVEL (P4): ............................................................................................... 12
1. Scenario and Application: ....................................................................................... 12
2. Features of Tableau:................................................................................................. 12
3. Tableau for decision-making at advanced level: ................................................... 15
III. DISCUSS HOW BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOLS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO EFFECTIVE
DECISION-MAKING (P5): .............................................................................................. 19
1. Contribution of BI tools to decision-making: ........................................................ 19
IV. EXPLORE THE LEGAL ISSUES INVOLVED IN THE SECURE EXPLOITATION OF BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE TOOLS (P6): ...................................................................................... 20
1. BI Opportunities vs. BI Security Risks: ................................................................. 20
2. Why Business Intelligence is a BI Security Risk?: ................................................ 21
3. How to improve the BI Security Risk:.................................................................... 22
 TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Microsoft Power BI ........................................................................... 8
Figure 2: Tableau ............................................................................................... 9
Figure 3: QlikSense .......................................................................................... 10
Figure 4: Dundas BI ......................................................................................... 11
Figure 5: Sisense ............................................................................................... 12
Figure 6: Rating by Department Name and Division Name ........................ 16
Figure 7: Age by Class Name stacked bars ................................................... 16
Figure 8: Age by Clothing ID line ................................................................... 17
Figure 9: Rating by Class Name line .............................................................. 18
Figure 10: Rating by Class Name pie ............................................................. 19
I. DETERMINE, WITH EXAMPLES, WHAT BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE IS AND
THE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES ASSOCIATED WITH IT (P3):
1. Business intelligence:
a. Definition:
Business intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven method for data analysis and information delivery that aids
managers, employees, and executives in making wise business decisions. In order to make the analytics results
available to business users for operational decision-making and strategic planning, organizations collect data from
internal IT systems and external sources, prepare it for analysis, run queries against the data, and create data
visualizations, BI dashboards, and reports.
Business intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process for analyzing data and disseminating pertinent knowledge
to executives, managers, and staff members to aid in making business decisions. In order to make the analytics results
available to business users for operational decision-making and strategic planning, organizations gather data from
internal and external IT systems, prepare it for analysis, run queries against the data, and create data visualizations,
BI dashboards, and reports as part of the BI process.
b. Example:
Business intelligence is used by the departments of sales, marketing, finance, and operations. Quantitative analysis,
performance evaluation in relation to corporate objectives, consumer insight gathering, and data sharing are among
the tasks that must be completed to find new chances.
Here are examples of how various teams and departments use business intelligence:
 Data scientists and analysts:
Powerful analytics tools combined with consolidated company data are used by analysts, who are BI experts, to
identify areas for development and formulate recommendations for the company leadership.
 Finance:
Users can gain insights from which decisions can be made and comprehend aspects that effect profit and loss by
combining financial data with operational, marketing, and sales data.
 Marketing:
Businesses can track campaign KPIs from a central digital location with the use of business intelligence solutions.
BI systems can offer real-time campaign tracking, evaluate the success of each attempt, and help with campaign
planning. With the use of this data, marketing teams are better able to assess overall performance and provide
contextual graphics with the business.
  Sales:
Key performance indicators (KPIs) and BI dashboards are frequently used by sales data analysts and operations
managers to provide quick access to complex data including discount analysis, customer profitability, and
customer lifetime value. Sales managers use dashboards with reports and data visualizations to track revenue
targets, sales rep performance, and the state of the sales funnel.
 Operations:
Managers may access and evaluate data like supply chain analytics to find methods to enhance procedures, saving
time and dollars. Additionally, business intelligence can help optimize distribution channels and guarantee that
service level agreements are met.
2. BI Techniques:
a. Data Visualization:
When data is stored as a set or matrix of numbers, it is precise but difficult to interpret. For example, are sales going
up, down or holding steady? When looking at more than one dimension of the data, this becomes even harder. Hence
the visualization of data in charts is a convenient way to immediately understand how to interpret the data.
b. Data Mining:
Data mining is a computer supported method to reveal previously unknown or unnoticed relations among data entities.
Data mining techniques are used in a myriad of ways: shopping basket analysis, measurement of products consumers
buy together in order to promote other products; in the banking sector, client risk assessment is used to evaluate
whether the client is likely to pay back the loan based on historical data; in the insurance sector, fraud detection based
on behavioral and historical data; in medicine and health, analysis of complications and/or common diseases may
help to reduce the risk of cross infections.
c. Reporting:
Design, schedule and generation of the performance, sales, reconciliation and savings reports are an area where BI
tools help business users. Reports output by BI tools efficiently gather and present information to support the
management, planning and decision making process. Once the report is designed it can be automatically send to a
predefined distribution list in the required form presenting daily/weekly/monthly statistics.
d. Time-series Analysis Including (Predictive Techniques):
Nearly all data warehouses and all enterprise data have a time dimension. For example, product sales, phone calls,
patient hospitalizations, etc. It is extremely important to reveal the changes in user behavior in time, relation between
products, or changes in sale contracts based on marketing promotion. Based on the historical data, we may also
endeavor to predict future trends or outcomes.
 e. On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP):
OLAP is best known for the OLAP-cubes which provide a visualization of multidimensional data. OLAP cubes
display dimensions on the cube edges (e.g. time, product, customer type, customer age etc.). The values in the cube
represent the measured facts (e.g. value of contracts, number of sold products etc.). The user can navigate through
OLAP cubes using drill-up, -down and -across features. The drill-up functionality enables the user to easily zoom out
to more coarse-grained details. curious, drill-down displays the information with more details. Finally, drilling-across
means that the user can navigate to another OLAP cube to see the relations on another dimension(s). All the
functionality is provided in real-time.
f. Statistical Analysis:
Statistical analysis uses the mathematical foundations to qualify the significance and reliability of the observed
relations. The most interesting features are distribution analysis, confidence intervals (for example for changes in
user behaviours, etc). Statistical analysis is used for devising and analyzing the results from data mining.
3. BI Tools:
a. Microsoft Power BI:
One of the most popular BI tools is Power BI, offered by leading software giant Microsoft. This tool is downloadable
software, so you can choose to run analytics either on the cloud or in a reporting server. Syncing with sources such
as Facebook, Oracle, and more, generate reports and dashboards in minutes with this interactive tool. It comes with
built-in AI capabilities, Excel integration, and data connectors, and offers end-to-end data encryption and real-time
access monitoring.
 Figure 1: Microsoft Power BI
b. Tableau:
Tableau is known for its user-friendly data visualization capabilities, but it can do more than make pretty charts. Their
offering includes live visual analytics, an interface that allows users to drag and drop buttons to spot trends in data
quickly. The tool supports data sources such as Microsoft Excel, Box, PDF files, Google Analytics, and more. Its
versatility extends to being able to connect with most databases.
 Figure 2: Tableau
c. QlikSense:
QlikSense is a BI tool that emphasizes a self-service approach, meaning that it supports a wide range of analytics use
cases, from guided apps and dashboards to custom and embedded analytics. It offers a user-friendly interface
optimized for touchscreens, sophisticated AI, and high-performance cloud platforms. Its associative exploration
capability, Search & Conversational Analytics, allows users to ask questions and uncover actionable insights, which
helps increase data literacy for those new to using BI tools.
 Figure 3: QlikSense
d. Dundas BI:
Dundas BI is a browser-based BI tool that's been around for 25 years. Like Tableau, Dundas BI features a drag-and-
drop function that allows users to analyze data on their own, without involving their IT team. The tool is known for
its simplicity and flexibility through interactive dashboards, reports, and visual analytics. Since its inception as a data
visualization tool in 1992, it has evolved into an end-to-end analytics platform that is able to compete with the new
BI tools available today.
 Figure 4: Dundas BI
e. Sisense:
Sisense is a user-friendly BI tool that focuses on being simplified and streamlined. With this tool, you can export data
from sources like Google Analytics, Salesforce, and more. Its in-chip technology allows for faster data processing
compared to other tools. Key features include the ability to embed white-label analytics, meaning a company can
fully customize the services to its needs. Like others, it has a drag-and-drop feature. Sisense allows you to share
reports and dashboards with your team members as well as externally.
 Figure 5: Sisense

II. DESIGN A BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOL, APPLICATION OR INTERFACE

THAT CAN PERFORM A SPECIFIC TASK TO SUPPORT PROBLEM-SOLVING
OR DECISION-MAKING AT AN ADVANCED LEVEL (P4):
1. Scenario and Application:
The situation demands that our team develop a tool or application to carry out a specific task intended to aid in complex
problem-solving or decision-making. As a result, our team decided to employ the Tableau program and its numerous
options to execute data visualization. Visual analytics are used by Tableau, a business intelligence and data
visualization tool, to assist users and organizations get the most out of their data. Stakeholders are helped by Tableau's
powerful visuals in making sense of the enormous amounts of data available. Tableau, a project that started in 2003 at
Stanford, aims to increase people's access to data through visualization. Businesses of all sizes currently use it as the
market-leading solution for contemporary BI. One of the most well-liked BI products available is Tableau. Tableau has
the largest market share (16.3%) among BI technologies, per study from "Enlyft"
2. Features of Tableau:
a. Tableau Dashboard:
Tableau Dashboards provides a wholesome view of your data by the means of visualizations, visual objects, text, etc.
Dashboards are very informative as they can present data in the form of stories, enable the addition of multiple views
and objects, provide a variety of layouts and formats, enable the users to deploy suitable filters. You even have the
option to copy a dashboard or its specific elements from one workbook to another easily.
b. Collaboration and Sharing:
Tableau provides convenient options to collaborate with other users and instantly share data in the form of
visualizations, sheets, dashboards, etc. real-time printing. It allows you to securely share data from various data
sources such as on-premise, on-cloud, hybrid, etc. Instant and easy collaboration and data sharing help in getting
quick reviews or feedback on the data leading to a better overall analysis of it.
c. Live and In-memory Data:
Tableau ensures connectivity to both live data sources or data extraction from external data sources as in-memory
data. This gives the user the flexibility to use data from more than one type of data source without any restrictions.
You can use data directly from the data source by establishing live data connections or keep that data in-memory by
extracting data from a data source as per their requirement. Tableau provides additional features to support data
connectivity such as automatic extract refreshes, notifying the user upon a live connection fail, etc.
d. Data Sources in Tableau:
Tableau offers a myriad of data source options you can connect to and fetch data from. Data sources ranging from
on-premise files, spreadsheets, relational databases, non-relational databases, data warehouses, big data, to on-cloud
data are all available on Tableau. One can easily establish a secure connection to any of the data sources from Tableau
and use that data along with data from other sources to create a combinatorial view of data in the form of
visualizations. Tableau also supports different kinds of data connectors such as Presto, MemSQL, Google Analytics,
Google Sheets, Cloudera, Hadoop, Amazon Athena, Salesforce, SQL Server, Dropbox and many more.
e. Advanced Visualizations (Chart Types):
One of the key features of Tableau and the one that got its popularity is its wide range of visualizations. In Tableau,
you can make visualizations as basic as a:
- Bar chart
- Pie chart
and as advanced as a:
- Histogram
- Gantt chart
 - Bullet chart
- Motion chart
- Treemap
- Boxplot
and many more. You can select and create any kind of visualization easily by selecting the visualization type from
the Show Me tab.
f. Maps:
Yet another important feature of Tableau is the map. Tableau has a lot of pre-installed information on maps such as
cities, postal codes, administrative boundaries, etc. This makes the maps created on Tableau very detailed and
informative. You can add different layers of geology on the map as per your requirements and create informative
maps in Tableau with your data. The different kinds of maps available in Tableau are Heat map, Flow map,
Choropleth maps, Point distribution map, etc.
g. Robust Security:
Tableau takes special care of data and user security. It has a fool-proof security system based on authentication and
permission systems for data connections and user access. Tableau also gives you the freedom to integrate with other
security protocols such as Active Directory, Kerberos, etc. An important point to note here is that Tableau practices
row-level filtering which helps in keeping the data secure.
h. Mobile View:
Tableau acknowledges the importance of mobile phones in today's world and provides a mobile version of the Tableau
app. One can create their dashboards and reports in such a manner that it is also compatible with mobile. Tableau has
the option of creating customized mobile layouts for your dashboard specific to your mobile device. The
customization option gives the option for adding new phone layouts, interactive offline previews, etc. Hence, the
mobile view gives Tableau users a lot of flexibility and convenience in handling their data on the go.
i. Ask Data:
The Ask data feature of Tableau makes it even more favored by the users globally. This feature makes playing with
data just a matter of simple searches as we do on Google. You just need to type a query about your data in natural
language and Tableau will present you with the most relevant answers. The answers are not only in the form of text
but also as visuals. For instance, if what you searched for is already present in a bar graph, the Ask data option will
search and open the bar graph for you instantly. Such features make data more accessible to users who can easily dig
deep into data and find new insights and patterns.
j. Trend Lines and Predictive Analysis:
 Another extremely useful feature of Tableau is the use of time series and forecasting. Easy creation of trend lines and
forecasting is possible due to Tableau’s powerful backend and dynamic front end. You can easily get data predictions
such as a forecast or a trend line by simply selecting some options and drag-and-drop operations using your concerned
fields.
3. Tableau for decision-making at advanced level:
We use Tableau for this type of work because there is no data department at our clothes company and none of our staff
have the technical know-how needed to use Python for data visualization. The following example shows how dragging
and dropping may transform a plain sales data table into interactive charts.
Figure 6: Rating by Department Name and Division Name

Figure 7: Age by Class Name stacked bars

Figure 8: Age by Clothing ID line
Figure 9: Rating by Class Name line
 Figure 10: Rating by Class Name pie

III. DISCUSS HOW BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOLS CAN CONTRIBUTE TO

EFFECTIVE DECISION-MAKING (P5):
1. Contribution of BI tools to decision-making:
Massive amounts of unstructured data are mined for key information by company intelligence, which then transforms
that information into knowledge that can be used by businesses to make informed strategic decisions and increase
operational effectiveness and productivity. Critical insights into the underlying currents of customer behavior are
provided by this actionable data, which includes information on the preferences and online buying experiences of the
clients.
Contact centers manage millions of customer interactions each day, many of which include utterly untapped vital data
that may be effectively exploited to provide significant value to businesses. This data is frequently underutilized except
from when it is examined for Quality Assurance purposes.
Businesses may profit from extensive data resources that can guide timely strategic decisions to assist them achieve their
company goals and objectives. Business intelligence gathering teams can thoroughly analyze customer interactions in the
form of voice calls, chat conversations, emails, and other communications to reveal information about things like
customer preferences, likes and dislikes, technical problems customers encounter, customer reactions to promotions, and
 the online shopping experience customers have on a website. Higher conversion rates and other advantages may result
from this analysis.
a. Improve Business Productivity:
Businesses don't need to divert resources to get business information, so they can redirect important resources and
people to increase corporate productivity (BI). A improved company efficiency is supported by cost savings, time
savings, and effective reporting because the BI team performs all BI collection activities. The BI gathering team can
take crucial information from consumer encounters and provide it in a way that is simple to comprehend, express,
and use. BI collection teams ensure that full reports are sent to businesses, making sure that all crucial information is
presented in a well-documented and presentable fashion so that the information can be used to manage the business
effectively.
b. Crucial Information Easily Accessed:
Business intelligence gives organizations a competitive edge by enhancing their ability to make quick decisions.
c. Good Return on Investment (ROI):
Businesses gain from BI because it enables them to significantly reduce costs, enhance revenue, increase margins,
encourage cost avoidance, and do much more. Additionally, BI offers qualitative ROI in the form of improved
strategic decision-making, customer satisfaction, employee productivity, increased business and process efficiency,
and much more. By increasing operational effectiveness and streamlining corporate procedures, businesses can
reduce operating costs.
d. Informed Decision Making:
Companies can measure the effectiveness of their processes by basing their reporting on reliable and timely
information. Business intelligence provides essential data on the company's current and past performance as well as
future trends, anticipated demands, customer behavior, etc., to assist businesses make informed decisions on strategic
issues.
Business intelligence teams make sure the organization gets real-time, enhanced reports so it can use the information
at hand to operate the business more effectively.
IV. EXPLORE THE LEGAL ISSUES INVOLVED IN THE SECURE EXPLOITATION
OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOLS (P6):
1. BI Opportunities vs. BI Security Risks:
 BI opportunities come in many forms, making this software category attractive to businesses across many industries. The
amount of data that many companies generate and collect makes it logistically difficult or impossible to process it for
insights manually.
Some BI solutions automate data analysis and can quickly work with large data sets to produce reports and other
visualizations. The decisions made with the help of these insights can lead to improved revenue, lower expenses, higher
productivity, greater agility, and enhanced competitive advantages. The user experience simplifies the process for ad hoc
analysis, making it easy for non-technical users to create reports.
2. Why Business Intelligence is a BI Security Risk?:
Processing and analyzing large volumes of data with BI tools open up organizations to several BI security risks.
Understanding and managing these vulnerabilities is an essential part of keeping your data secure.
 Analytics Software Processes Tons of Data Quickly
The typical BI solution works with data from multiple sources and aims to maximize the speed and accuracy of
the reporting, especially if you have real-time or near real-time requirements. The system may ingest sensitive
data that is subject to regulatory compliance, which can lead to fines and other penalties.
 Dependent on the Security of Third-Party Providers for Cloud-Based BI Tools
When you work with cloud services, you rely on the provider to handle essential security measures. If they don't
place security as a priority, lack a security-centric culture, or have risky policies and procedures, your data could
be in trouble. The level of IT security can vary wildly among BI tools.
 Cloud Security Vulnerabilities when Moving Data from Your Systems and Sources to the BI Tool
Your data also faces a BI security risk when it's on its way to the BI tool if you're not using an on-premises
solution. Cyberattacks could compromise the data in several ways, resulting in serious data, data loss, and other
consequences.
 Difficult to Secure Many Endpoints in Remote Workspaces
Whether employees are working from home or taking advantage of a Bring Your Own Device policy, you're
dealing with many endpoints. If someone has data access to the BI tool with a vulnerable device, hackers could
access private and sensitive information.
 Poor Access Control for Sensitive Data
Keeping your data safe requires more than technical safeguards. You also need policies and procedures that limit
risks and provide strong data governance. For example, everyone with BI tool access may not need access to
every data set to generate reports and visualizations. If end users have accounts limited to the sets relevant to their
positions, unauthorized access to sensitive data discussed.
  Security Flaws with APIs
You may use the API functionality offered by the BI tool or custom developed to connect your data sources to
the platform. If the API has security flaws, then an opportunistic attacker could use that connection to access your
systems and data.
 Lack of Data Source Security
How secure are the data sources directly feeding into your BI platform? If these databases, platforms, and devices
lack protection, then an attacker could steal, delete and alter data. They could also use this foothold to perform
other damaging actions on your systems. For example, the Internet of Things (IOT) offers many types of sensors
for data collection, but some of these devices have limited or no security at all.
BI solutions are quickly becoming a necessary part of effective business operations, so you need a plan to reduce
the security risks associated with these platforms. You don't have to compromise on accurate data-driven decision-
making when you adopt the appropriate security measures.
3. How to improve the BI Security Risk:
Integrate.io, an Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) platform with several security capabilities to protect your data pipeline
and data analytics, which can help you reduce your BI security risks. It's between your data source and the data warehouse,
protect it your data before reaching the BI platform.
 Data masking:
Remove sensitive data before it reaches the BI solution with data masking. Set up pre-defined data rules to
control sensitive information handling and access. You can use several methods to improve your data
protection.
 Data encryption:
Integrate.io has SSL/TLS encryption in place and also supports field-level encryption with AWS Key
Management Service. Keep your data privacy intact while using BI tools.
 AWS security:
Hosted on AWS, the platform's systems leverage the enterprise-grade security of Amazon's cloud, with
powerful firewalls and other security measures.
 Limited operating system access:
Integrate.io staff are the only authorized users of the operating system, and they sign in with a username and
key authentication.
 Compliant with many regulations:
If you operate in an industry or region with strict data regulations, you need a system that keeps you in
compliance. Integrate.io is certified for SOC 2, HIPAA, CCPA, and GDPR.
 REFERENCE
Stedman, C. (2020) What is business intelligence? Bi defined, Business Analytics. TechTarget.

Available at: https://www.techtarget.com/searchbusinessanalytics/definition/business-intelligence-BI

Morris, A. (2021) 23 examples of Business Intelligence, Oracle NetSuite.

Available at: https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/business-strategy/business-intelligence-examples.shtml

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Available at: https://dataintegration.info/business-intelligence

5 Business Intelligence Tools You Need to Know

Available at: https://www.coursera.org/articles/bi-tools

10 Features of Tableau to Smoothen your Data Visualization Tasks

Available at: https://data-flair.training/blogs/tableau-features/

Mark Smallcombe (2021) Why Business Intelligence is a Security Risk

Available at: https://www.integrate.io/blog/business-intelligence-is-a-security-risk/