Professional Documents
Culture Documents
What is Business
Intelligence?
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources for this topic
• Reading:
– Obeidat, M., North, M., Richardson, R., Rattanak, V., and
North, S., 2015, Business Intelligence Technology,
Applications, and Trends, International Management Review,
11(2): 47-56
• Videos:
– Hitachi Solutions Canada, 2014, What is Business Intelligence
(BI)?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDJdkcdG1iA
– Microsoft BI TV, 2009, Business Intelligence Customer Case
Study: Premier Bank Card, https
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ritRCFcyaLw
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Provide and discuss a working definition of BI
– Explain a variety of reasons as to why BI exists
– Provide an overview of BI in terms of data, analysis and
presentation
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning
outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in
organisations
– Describe the common data sources that exist in organisations
and their use in BI
What do you need to do for this topic?
• Readings
• Case Study Videos
• Lecture Slides/Recordings
• Tutorial Questions
• Workshop
• End of Topic Quiz
Lecture Outline
1. Introduction
2. What is BI?
3. Why does BI exist?
4. Data, Analysis and Presentation
5. Conclusion
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 01: Part 02
What is Business Intelligence?
What is Business Intelligence?
http://mimiandeunice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ME_384_CostBenefit.png
Costs of BI
• BI is expensive to implement
– Dedicated resources
• Hardware, human
– Disruptive
– Design and implementation is non-trivial
• Time consuming
• Not a great history of success!
Critical Success Factors
• The literature points to a number of CSF’s for
BI implementation:
– They suggest factors such as:
• Committed management support
• Clear vision and well-established business case
• User-oriented change management
• Successful data quality and integrity
(Yeoh & Popovic, 2016)
Benefits of BI
• Many are claimed!
– Most centre around improved decision making
and the gaining of “insights”
– Often manifested as:
• Improved forecasting
• Improved processes
• Improved data governance
• Empowerment of decision makers
BI is facilitated by
• Improvements in technology
– …and reduction in costs of storage/processing
• Improvements in analytics and visualisation
tools
• Improved understanding of the value of data
• Me too!
– BI successes tend to be reported more than the
failures
Data, Analysis, Presentation
• In the next lecture, we’ll examine these three
aspects of BI…
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 01: Part 04
Data, Analysis and Presentation
Data, Analysis and Presentation
• These are the three primary
components/activities of BI
– This lecture is an introduction to each of them
– The rest of the unit is basically divided between
them
Data
• From your previous studies, you are aware
that database is a collection or set of facts
about something of interest
– Data is the “stuff” that is stored in the database
• In terms of BI, two things happen to data:
– Firstly, it is collected, and
– Secondly, it is prepared for Analysis
Data Collection
• In previous studies, the focus was on data that
came from transactions:
– Enrolments
– Purchases
– Orders
• This type of data is thought of as being structured
• BI makes much use of this type of data
– A challenge for BI is identifying these data sources in
the organisation
Data Collection
• There are other types of data that are not
structured (semi- or un-structured) data
– Emails
– Social media postings
– Help desk calls
– …are examples of data with less structure
• Organisations are increasingly realising the
value of these data
– QANTAS social media fail
Data Preparation
• Identification and collection of data is a start
– The data need to be in a format suitable for
analysis…
• Formats
• Names
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/01/news/mn-17288
Data Preparation
• There are three main phases in data
preparation:
– Extract from sources
– Transform into a format suitable for analysis
– Load into the analysis environment
Analysis
• Analysis of data in BI is where the “insights”
are generated
– Data can be:
• Summarised
• Aggregated
• Joined with other data
– In later topics, we will look at OLAP and statistical
analyses
Presentation
• …and this is where the analysis ends up
– End users having access (hopefully) to the
information they need!
• Presentation is more than simply graphs and
tables
– There is a developing science around data
visualisation
• We will just touch the surface of this!
• http://www.axiis.org/examples/BrowserMarketShare.html
Topic 02
BI Lifecycle
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• Essential Reading:
– Moss, L.T., and Atre, S., (2003), Business Intelligence
Roadmap: The Complete Project Lifecycle for Decision
Support Applications, Addison-Wesley Professional. E-
book, available from the Topic 2 Readings link on Moodle.
• Case Study:
– Yellowfin Business Intelligence, 2013, A Case Study:
University of Konstanz generates new insight with
Business Intelligence,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp0BbAO-GHU
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Describe a high-level BI implementation roadmap
– Compare and contrast the implementation of BI with system
development projects
– Explain the activities that would typically happen in the Justification
and Planning stages of BI application development
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in organisations
– Describe the common data sources that exist in organisations and
their use in BI
– Demonstrate practical skills in the processes associated with
extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) of organisational data
Lecture Outline
• Introduction to a BI Lifecycle
• Justification of BI Projects
• Planning for BI Projects
• Conclusion
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 02: Part 02
Introduction to the BI Lifecycle
BI Lifecycle
• Justification
• Planning
• Business Analysis
• Design
• Construction
• Deployment
Contrast with traditional approaches
• Traditional methods work for development of
stand alone or once-off type of transaction
processing systems
• BI is primarily iterative in nature
– There is always fine-tuning of the deliverables required
– User requirements change in response to changing
environment and changing user understanding of the
environment
– New opportunities arise!
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 02: Part 03
Justification of BI Projects
Justification
• BI application development is expensive
– There needs to be a balance between costs and
benefits
• There are four main components in the
justification process:
– Business Drivers
– Business analysis issues
– Cost-benefit analysis
– Risk assessment
Business Drivers
• These are required to ensure there is
alignment between the organisation’s
strategic goals and the BI application(s) being
developed
– This is an iterative process because of the
potential for changes in:
• business requirements
• BI requirements
Business analysis issues
• These usually revolve around “unmet”
information needs
– The required information cannot be easily provided
from the existing systems
• Most often, they weren’t designed for BI, but for processing
particular transactions
– Exacerbating this are the myriad different data
sources, that could be operational, private or external
– …and the varying quality of the data in these various
systems
Business analysis issues
Cost-benefit analysis
Risk analysis
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 02: Part 04
Planning for BI Projects
Planning
• There are two main aspects to planning for BI
application development
– Enterprise infrastructure evaluation
– Project planning
Enterprise infrastructure evaluation
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• As this topic is essentially revision, there is no set
reading, however, you should read over your notes or
textbook from your previous databases study to
refresh your memory about data warehousing. If you
do not have access to those resources, just about any
databases text will have a section on data
warehousing that you will be able to read
• Case Study:
– 2011, Chrysler’s Data Quality Management Case
Study, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N78lHpiCD0k
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Provide a definition of a data warehouse, including examples as to how
and in what circumstances it would be used
– Describe and provide examples as to the difference between operational
and analytical databases
– Discuss the components of a data warehouse system
– Discuss the basic steps in the development of a data warehouse
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning outcomes:
– Describe the common data sources that exist in organisations and their
use in BI
– Demonstrate practical skills in the processes associated with extraction,
transformation and loading (ETL) of organisational data
– Design and implement a simple data warehouse environment
Lecture Outline
• Introduction
• Operational Vs Analytical Databases
• Data Warehouse Definition
• Data Warehouse Components
• Data Warehouse Development
• Conclusion
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 03: Part 02
Operational Vs Analytics Databases
Types of information in organisations
An application-
oriented database
serving the Vitality
Health Club Visits and
Payments Application
(from: Jukic, et. al.,
2014, p.211).
Application Oriented vs. Subject Oriented– Example
A subject-oriented
database for the
analysis of the
subject revenue in
the Vitality Health
Club (from: Jukic, et.
al., 2014, p.211).
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 03: Part 03
Data Warehouse Definition
The Data Warehouse Definition
• The data warehouse is a structured repository of
integrated, subject-oriented, enterprise-wide,
historical, and time-variant data.
• The purpose of the data warehouse is the
retrieval of analytical information.
• A data warehouse can store detailed and/or
summarized data.
Structured repository
• The data warehouse is a database containing
analytically useful information
• Any database is a structured repository with its
structure represented in its metadata
Integrated
• The data warehouse integrates the analytically useful
data from the various operational databases (and
possibly other sources)
• Integration refers to this process of bringing the
data from multiple data sources into a singular data
warehouse.
Subject-Oriented
• The term subject-oriented refers to the fundamental
difference in the purpose of an operational database
system and a data warehouse.
• An operational database system is developed in
order to support a specific business operation
• A data warehouse is developed to analyze specific
business subject areas
Enterprise-wide
• The term enterprise-wide refers to the fact that
the data warehouse provides an organization-
wide view of the analytically useful
information it contains
Historical
• The term historical refers to the larger time horizon in
the data warehouse than in the operational databases
Time-variant
• The term time variant refers to the fact that a
data warehouse contains slices or snapshots of
data from different periods of time across its
time horizon
• With the data slices, the user can create reports for
various periods of time within the time horizon
Retrieval of analytical information
• A data warehouse is developed for the retrieval of
analytical information, and it is not meant for direct data
entry by the users.
• The only functionality available to the users of the
data warehouse is retrieval
• The data in the data warehouse is not subject to
changes.
• The data in the data warehouse is referred to as non-
volatile, static, or read-only
Detailed and/or summarized data
• A data warehouse, depending on its purpose,
may include the detailed data or summary
data or both
• A data warehouse that contains the data at the
finest level of detail is the most powerful
The Data Warehouse Definition
• The data warehouse is a structured repository of
integrated, subject-oriented, enterprise-wide,
historical, and time-variant data.
• The purpose of the data warehouse is the
retrieval of analytical information.
• A data warehouse can store detailed and/or
summarized data.
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 03: Part 04
Data Warehouse Components
Data Warehouse Components
• Source systems
• Extraction-transformation-load (ETL)
infrastructure
• Data warehouse
• Front-end applications
Example - The use of operational data sources for operational
purposes in an organization
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• Essential Readings
– Jukic, N., Vrbsky, S., & Nestorov, S., 2014,
Database Systems: Introduction to Databases and
Data Warehouses, Pearson. Chapter 8
• Case Study
– “Business Intelligence Software - Desert Schools
Federal Credit Union - BI360 Case Study.” 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhgywrbSIlw
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able
to:
– Explain how and why dimensional modelling is used to design
data warehouses
– Create a dimensional model from a given case study
– Explain, and be able to resolve, some of the problems often
associated with dimensional modelling
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning
outcomes
– Demonstrate practical skills in the processes associated with
extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) of organisational data
– Design and implement a simple data warehouse environment
Lecture Outline
• Introduction
• Dimensional Modelling
• Star Schema
• Granularity in Dimensional Modelling
• Slowly Changing Dimensions
• Topic Summary
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 04: Part 02
Dimensional Modelling
Introduction
• ER modelling
– You will recall that ER modelling is used for visualising
database requirements, used extensively for conceptual
modeling of operational databases
• Relational modelling
– Standard method for logical modelling of operational
databases
• Both of these techniques can also be used during the
development of data warehouses
Dimensional modelling
• A data design methodology used for designing
subject-oriented analytical databases, such as
data warehouses or data marts
– Commonly, dimensional modelling is employed as a relational
data modelling technique
– In addition to using the regular relational concepts (primary
keys, foreign keys, integrity constraints, etc.) dimensional
modeling distinguishes two types of tables:
• Dimensions
• Facts
Dimension tables (dimensions)
• Contain descriptions of the business, organisation,
or enterprise to which the subject of analysis
belongs
• Columns in dimension tables contain descriptive
information that is often textual (e.g., product
brand, product color, customer gender, customer
education level), but can also be numeric (e.g.,
product weight, customer income level)
• This information provides a basis for analysis of the
subject
Fact tables
• Contain measures related to the subject of
analysis and the foreign keys (associating fact
tables with dimension tables)
• The measures in the fact tables are typically
numeric and are intended for mathematical
computation and quantitative analysis
Characteristics of dimensions and
facts
• A typical dimension contains relatively static
data, while in a typical fact table, records are
added continually, and the table rapidly grows
in size.
• In a typical dimensionally modelled analytical
database, dimension tables have orders of
magnitude fewer records than fact tables
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 04: Part 03
Star Schema
Star schema
• The result of dimensional modeling is
a dimensional schema containing facts
and dimensions
• The dimensional schema is often
referred to as the star schema
Both tables
consist of 11 rows
- DETAILED
Chapter 8 – Slide 134
Aggregated Fact Table Example 1
ZAGI Retail Company dimensional model with an aggregated fact
table Sales per day, product, customer, and store
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• Case Study:
– Meson-BI feature case study: Paul Morris from
Royal Liverpool Hospitals,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syMbchrHIWM
• Essential reading:
– Moss, L.T., and Atre, S., (2003), Business Intelligence
Roadmap: The Complete Project Lifecycle for Decision
Support Applications, Addison-Wesley Professional. E-
book, available from the Topic 5 Readings link on
Moodle. Chapter 9
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Explain the role of the ETL process in BI, including describing the
activities involved in ETL design, and deliverables that result from
those activities and the roles involved
– Discuss the different types of ETL programs
– Create a source-to-target mapping document
• This topic contributes to the following Unit Learning
Outcomes:
– 3. Demonstrate practical skills in the processes associated with
extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) of organisational data
– 4. Design and implement a simple data warehouse environment
Lecture Outline
• Data Warehouse Creation
• Extract
• Transform
• Load
• ETL Infrastructure and
documentation
• Topic Summary
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 05: Part 02
Data Warehouse Creation
Creating A BI Target Database
• Involves using the functionalities of database
management software to implement the dimension model
as a collection of physically created and mutually
connected database tables
• Most often, our BI target databases are modeled as
relational databases
– Consequently, they are implemented using a relational DBMS
OLAP
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• Connolly, T., and Begg, C.E., 2015, Database
Systems: a practical approach to design,
implementation, and management, 6th Ed.,
Pearson, Boston. E-book (available from My Unit
Readings) CHAPTER 33
• Case Study: Ergo – Topaz Business Intelligence Case
Study
– Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNzzBaKNEcs&no
html5=
False
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Explain how and why OLAP is used
– Explain and give examples of the OLAP operators, slice/dice,
pivot and drill down/up
– Describe the difference between discrete and continuous
data and how they are treated in Tableau
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning
outcomes:
– Present analyses of data using a number of different
techniques
Lecture Outline
• What is OLAP?
• OLAP Tools
• Topic Summary
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 06: Part 02
What is OLAP?
What is OLAP?
• Strictly speaking:
– “OnLine Analytical Processing”
• Many more detailed definitions:
– “The dynamic synthesis, analysis, and consolidation of
large volumes of multi-dimensional data” Connolly &
Begg (2015, p1286)
– “The use of a set of graphical tools that provide users
with multidimensional views of their data and allows
them to analyze the data using simple windowing
techniques” Hoffer et. al. (2013, p.448)
Multi-dimensional
• In your previous database studies, you would
have spent a lot of time dealing with 2-
dimensional data structures
– E.g., rows and columns
• Multi-dimensional data means that there are
more than just rows and columns
– The easiest way to think about this is in terms of a
cube
Cubes
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E12839_01/bi.111
1/b40105/i_olap_chapter.htm#BIDPU149
Why cubes?
• The data are stored in our BI target database
in such a way so as to facilitate multi-
dimensional queries
– E.g., sum of sales/
Period/product/
location
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E12839_01/bi.111
1/b40105/i_olap_chapter.htm#BIDPU149
How many dimensions?
• Cubes are most often used to help us understand
what is meant by multi-dimensionality
– It does not mean however, that we are necessarily
limited to only 3 dimensions…
• It’s just that it gets hard to draw models of > 3 dimensions!
http://imaginingthetenthdimension.b
logspot.com.au/2011/08/imagining-
fourth-dimension.html
nth Dimension
• We could add additional dimensions to the
example cube we looked at earlier:
– E.g., sum of sales by Period by product by location
by customer
• We could perhaps visualise this as a cube of cubes
http://depositphotos.com/13755967/stock-
illustration-exploding-head.html
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 06: Part 03
OLAP Tools
OLAP/BI Tools
– Require dimensional organization of underlying data for
performing basic OLAP operations (slice, pivot, drill)
– Allow users to query fact and dimension tables by using
simple point-and-click query-building aplications
– Based on the point-and-click actions by the user of the
OLAP/BI tool, the tool writes and executes the code in
the language of the data management system (e.g. SQL)
that hosts the data warehouse or data mart that is being
queried
OLAP Tools allow for…
• Ad-hoc direct analysis of dimensionally
modelled data
• Creation of front-end BI applications
A typical OLAP/BI tool query construction space
OLAP Query 1 - OLAP/BI tool query construction actions
OLAP Query 2: For stores 1 and 2, show separately for male and female shoppers
the number of product units sold for each product category
OLAP Query 3: For each individual store, show separately for male and female
shoppers the number of product units sold on workdays and on weekends/holidays
OLAP Query 4: For each individual store, show separately for male and female
shoppers the number of product units sold for each individual product in each
category.
Business Analytics
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• Reading:
– Stubbs (2013), Chapters 1 & 2
• Case Study:
– Allrecipes
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Define and provide appropriate examples of business analytics
– Explain, using examples, the differences between descriptive, predictive
and prescriptive analytics
– Provide examples of the use of different types of reports
– Perform various analytics techniques on given data sets
– Create a plan for a business analytics investigation
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning outcomes:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in
organisations
6. Present analyses of data using a number of different
techniques
Lecture Outline
• What is Business Analytics?
• Types of Business Analytics
• Types of Reports
• SMART Goals
• Developing a Business Analytics plan
• Topic Summary
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 07 Part 02:
What is Business Analytics?
Business Analytics
• A broad term, defined differently by different
authors
– Stubbs (2013) provides such a definition:
• “analytics can be considered any data-driven process
that provides insight” (p.5)
– Seddon et al (2016):
• “the use of data to make sounder, more evidence-based
business decisions”
How does BA provide insight?
• Reporting
• Trending
• Segmentation
• Predictive Modelling
Insight generation
• Each of the broad types of analytics have the
following in common:
– They are based on data
– They use mathematical techniques to transform
and summarize the data
– They add value
• https
://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/online/mac/en-us/for
ecast_how_it_works.html
Advanced Analytics
• Focus is on
– WHY things are happening
– WHAT things are likely to happen
• Requires more complex toolset
– Operations research
– Statistics
– Multivariate analyses
– Decision trees
– Regressions
Business Outcomes
• Business relevancy
• Actionable insight
• Performance measurement and value
measurement
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 07 Part 03:
Types of Business Analytics
Descriptive Analytics
• AKA Reporting
– What is happening and understanding the
underlying trends and causes
– Relies on consolidated data sources (e.g., BI target
database/data warehouse)
– Includes a high degree of visualisation
• Some interesting case studies are listed in the
readings for this topic – Seattle Children’s and
Kaleida Health.
Predictive Analytics
• Aims to determine what will happen in the
future
– Will generally be based on statistical techniques
and other techniques that will often fall under the
heading of data mining
– Often used to predict churn, products likely to
appeal, creditworthiness assessment (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJQ3TM-p2QI)
– Moneyball!
Prescriptive Analytics
• Goal is to recognise what is happening as well as
the forecast and to be able to make decisions
that will achieve the best possible performance
– Generally aimed at optimisation of system
performance
– The types of recommendations provided by these
types of systems may be yes/no or production of a
recommended amount
• They might also be used directly in automated rules-based
decision systems such as airline pricing systems
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 07 Part 04:
Types of Reports
What is a report?
• Document that contains information relevant
to the domain of interest
• Used in management decision making
• Will use data from a variety of sources
• Iterative reporting cycle:
– Data acquisition Information Generation
Decision Making Business Process
Management Data acquisition etc…
Metric Management Reports
• Performance against desired outcome
– Service level agreements
– KPI’s
– 6-Sigma/Total Quality Management
http://kb.tableau.com/articles/knowledgebase
/kpis
Dashboards
• A way of presenting a range of performance
indicators on a single page
• We will address these in more depth later in
the course
– …and, building them in the workshops and
assignment
Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
• The BSC is a system that measures success in
an organisation, but looks beyond just the
financial perpsective
– Customer perspective
– Internal Business Process perspective
– Learning and growth perspective
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 07 Part 05:
SMART Goals
Business Analytics
• So, BA is about developing or creating insight from
data
– But how?
• In order to develop insight, we need to be sure that
we understand what it is we are trying to do…
– What problem are we trying to solve?
• See:
https://www.captechconsulting.com/blogs/interacting-with
-stakeholders-as-a-business-analyst-who-are-you-dealing-
with
SMART
• Specific
– Greater chance of accomplishing a specific goal than a general goal
• Measureable
– Need to be able to understand if we are making progress (or not) toward
our goal
• Attainable
– No point in setting a goal that cannot be attained regardless of how
much effort you put in
• Relevant
– You need to be willing AND able to achieve the goal
• Time-bound
– Achievable within a given timeframe
How SMART?
• Identify the business metric that needs to
change in order to achieve the SMART goal
– How should it change, and by how much?
• What’s left? A…
Attainable?
• The client might simply not collect the data
you will need to identify the changes that are
needed to be made to the website…
– If this was the case, then it would be impossible to
achieve the goal in the time stated
• Might need to start a project on redesigning how data
is captured by the web site
• This might take much longer than you have!
Updated goals:
• If the organisation does collect good data from its website:
– In 2 months, analyze archived click-stream data to determine the
website changes that will most efficiently increase revenues by
15% on a month-by-month basis compared to the same month
last year
• If not…
– In 3 months, install a system that will collect and store click-
stream data in a cloud-based relational database. By 2 months
after the system is installed...
• Much SMARTer than our original goal...
– Increase the number of returning visitors to the site...
…and then what?
• These goals need to be discussed and possibly
refined in consultation with the stakeholders
– Everyone needs to be playing the same tune!
Data Mining
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• See Topic 08 Reading List in Moodle for links
– REQUIRED:
• Sharda Ramesh, Delen Dursun, and Turban Efraim.
2014. Business Intelligence and Analytics: Systems for
Decision Support. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
• There are a number of other links throughout the
lecture slides and in the Topic reading list
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Define and give examples of data mining as an enabling technology for
business intelligence and analytics
– Understand and give examples of the objectives and benefits of data
mining
– Give examples of a wide range of data mining applications
– Understand the standardised data mining process (CRISP-DM)
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in organisations
– Present analyses of data using a number of different techniques
Lecture Outline
• Data Mining Concepts
• Data Mining Applications
• Data Mining Processes
• Data Mining Methods
• Data Mining Software Tools
• Data Mining Issues
• Topic Summary
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 08 Part 02:
Data Mining Concepts
Data Mining Defined
• “…a process that uses statistical, mathematical and
artificial intelligence techniques to extract and
identify useful information ... from large sets of
data.” Sharda et. al. (2014, p.222).
– Also sometimes known as:
• Knowledge extraction (KDD)
• Pattern analysis
• Data Archaeology
• Information harvesting
• Pattern searching
• Data dredging
…another definition
• “the nontrivial process of identifying valid,
novel, potentially useful, and ultimately
understandable patterns in data stored in
structured databases”
Pattern
Recognition
DATA Machine
MINING Learning
Mathematical
Modeling Databases Sharda, et al (2014, p.223)
Sharda et al
Outlier analysis Unsupervised K-means, Expectation Maximization (EM)
(2014, p. 228)
Where to from here…
• Data Mining Applications
http://dilbert.com/strip/2000-01-05
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 08 Part 03:
Data Mining Applications
Data Mining Applications
• Data mining has been, and continues to be,
used in a wide variety of contexts, some
examples are:
– Customer relationship management
– Banking and other financial
– Retailing/logistics
– Insurance
– Brokerage and securities trading
– Manufacturing and Maintenance
CRM
• Customer relationship management
– http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/CRM
• Maximize return on marketing campaigns
• Improve customer retention (churn analysis)
• Maximize customer value (cross-, up-selling)
• Identify and treat most valued customers
Banking and other financial
• Automate the loan application process
– Prediction of most likely defaulters
• Detecting fraudulent transactions
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zDwIfSDQiE
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140403185
417-4785379-diapers-and-
beer
Manufacturing and maintenance
• Predict/prevent machinery failures
– http://www.manufacturing.net/article/2014/12/u
sing-big-data-iot-predict-machine-
failure
• Identify anomalies in production systems to
optimize the use manufacturing capacity
• Discover novel patterns to improve product
quality
Insurance
• Forecast claim costs for better business
planning
• Determine optimal rate plans
• Optimize marketing to specific customers
• Identify and prevent fraudulent claim activities
Where to from here…
• Data Mining Process
http://sisbinus.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/proc
esses-in-data-
mining.html
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/bpm/li
brary/techarticles/1407_chandran
/
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 08 Part 04:
Data Mining Process
Data Mining Process
• CRISP-DM
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/bpm/
library/techarticles/1407_chandran
1. Business/Organisational Understanding
Sharda et al
Well-formed (2014, p.237)
Data
4. Modelling/Model Building
• Representation of real-world observations
– Applications of algorithms to see out, identify and
display the patterns found in the data
– Models, generally, with classify, predict or both
• E.g., Decision tree are predictive in nature but can also
be used to classify our data
5. Testing and Evaluation
• Models are assessed and evaluated for their
accuracy and generality
– Particularly in terms of the business objectives of
the project
6. Deployment
• For the models generated to be of practical
value, they must be deployed
– The end users must be able to access and
understand what the model shows
• Could include preparation of a report, or some more
sophisticated form of interactive system
– Will also include maintenance
– http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2
012/10/31/163951263/the-night-a-computer-pred
icted-the-next-
president
Where to from here…
• Data mining methods
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 08 Part 05:
Data Mining Methods
Classification
• Most frequently used DM method
• Part of the machine-learning family
• Employ supervised learning
• Learn from past data, classify new data
• The output variable is categorical (nominal or
ordinal) in nature
Classification Methodology
• Two-step
– Model development/training
– Model testing/development
Classification Model Assessment
• Predictive accuracy
• Speed
• Robustness
• Scalability
• Interpretability
Classification Techniques
• Decision tree analysis
• Statistical analysis
• Neural networks
• Case-based reasoning
• Bayesian classifiers
• Genetic algorithms
http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~billw/cs9414/n
otes/ml/06prop/id3/id3.html
Classification Techniques
• Decision tree analysis
• Statistical analysis
• Neural networks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxe2T-V8XRs
• Case-based reasoning:
http://www.inf.ufsc.br/~awangenh/RP/RBC/introrbc.pdf
• Bayesian classifiers
• Genetic algorithms:
http://www.obitko.com/tutorials/genetic-algorithms/
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 08 Part 06:
Data Mining Software Tools
Data mining tool use
http://www.kdnuggets.com/polls/2015/analyti
cs-data-mining-data-science-software-
used.html
Some useful links…
• Rapid Miner getting started videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=
PLssWC2d9JhOZLbQNZ80uOxLypglgWqbJA
• Intro to Python for Data Science:
https://www.datacamp.com/courses/intro-to-
python-for-data-
science
• Other relevant “Data Camp” courses:
https://www.datacamp.com/courses
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 08 Part 07:
Data Mining Issues
Privacy issues
• Any time that transactional data is stored,
there may be identifying information
– Name, address etc
– Purchasing habits
– Loan details etc
• The ownership of that data is questionable
– Data mining, uses these data
Myths…
• Data mining …
– provides instant solutions/predictions
– is not yet viable for business applications
– requires a separate, dedicated database
– can only be done by those with advanced degrees
– is only for large firms that have lots of customer
data
– is another name for the good-old statistics
Blunders
• Selecting the wrong problem for data mining
• Ignoring what your sponsor thinks data mining is
and what it really can/cannot do
• Not leaving insufficient time for data acquisition,
selection and preparation
• Looking only at aggregated results and not at
individual records/predictions
• Being sloppy about keeping track of the data
mining procedure and results
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 08 Part 08:
Topic Summary
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Define and give examples of data mining as an enabling technology for
business intelligence and analytics
– Understand and give examples of the objectives and benefits of data
mining
– Give examples of a wide range of data mining applications
– Understand the standardised data mining process (CRISP-DM)
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in organisations
– Present analyses of data using a number of different techniques
Lecture Outline
• Data Mining Concepts
• Data Mining Applications
• Data Mining Processes
• Data Mining Methods
• Data Mining Software Tools
• Data Mining Issues
• Topic Summary
Where to from here…
• Next topic:
– Visualisation
Correlation and Regression
Correlation is a statistical technique used to determine the
degree to which two variables are related.
Scatter Plot
• Two quantitative
variables
• One variable is
called independent
(X) and the second
is called dependent
(Y)
• Points are not joined
Scatter plots
Reliability
Age of Car
No relation
Correlation Coefficient
Y Y Y
X X X
r = -1 r = -.6 r=0
Y
Y Y
X X X
r = +1 r = +.3 r=0
Slide from: Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft® Excel 4th Edition, 2004 Prentice-Hall
Linear Correlation
Y Y
X X
Y Y
X X
Slide from: Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft® Excel 4th Edition, 2004 Prentice-H
Linear Correlation
Y Y
X X
Y Y
X X
Slide from: Statistics for Managers Using Microsoft® Excel 4th Edition, 2004 Prentice-H
Correlation is not the same thing as causation..
Question : Is correlation a DESCRIPTIVE or
PREDICTIVE model?
Regression
Remember this:
Y=mX+B?
B
Regression
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60 70 80 90 100 110 Wt (kg)
120
Prediction
Fixed –
Follows a normal distribution
exactly on the
line
Assumptions
Minimize the
sum of squared
errors:
Hours studying and grades
Regressing grades on hours
Table 1 Age and systolic blood pressure (SBP) among 33 adult women
SBP (mm Hg)
Age (years)
y
Slope
Regression coefficient b1
Measures association between y and x
Amount by which y changes on average when x changes by one
unit
Multiple linear regression
Example
SBP versus age, weight, height, etc
Multiple linear regression
Model Outcome
and
dichotomous variable Y
Linear regression?
Dot-plot: Data from Table 2
Logistic regression (2)
Diseased %
Age (years)
The logistic function (1)
Probability
of disease
x
Example
385
Transaction data: a set of documents
387
Rule strength measures
388
Goal and key features
389
An example
t1: Beef, Chicken, Milk
t2: Beef, Cheese
t3: Cheese, Boots
Transaction data t4: Beef, Chicken, Cheese
Assume: t5: Beef, Chicken, Clothes, Cheese,
minsup = 30% Milk
minconf = 80% t6:
Chicken, Clothes, Milk
An example frequent itemset: t7:
Chicken, Milk, Clothes
{Chicken, Clothes, Milk} [sup = 3/7]
390
Transaction data representation
392
The Apriori algorithm
Probably the best known algorithm
Two steps:
Find all itemsets that have minimum support
(frequent itemsets, also called large itemsets).
Use frequent itemsets to generate rules.
AB AC AD BC BD CD
A B C D
394
The Algorithm
399
On Apriori Algorithm
400
More on association rule mining
401
Case Study
Introduction to Data
Visualisation
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• Required Reading:
– Knaflic Cole Nussbaumer. 2015. ‘Storytelling with Data.
Chapter 2.’ In Storytelling with Data, 35–69. Hoboken,
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. This is available from
the Topic 09 Readings link in Moodle.
• Case Study:
– ‘ViaWest Business Intelligence (BI) Case Study.’ 26AD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXEgK-wD4gg
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Explain the importance of visualisations in the BI lifecycle
– Create and use a variety of visualisations that are appropriate to the
purpose of the visualisation
– Critique a given visualisation and explain how it could be improved
if required
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning
outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in organisations
– Understand that different users have different requirements for
information
– Present analyses of data using a number of different technique
Lecture Outline
• What is visualisation?
• Types of visualisation
• Line Graphs
• Bar Charts
• Other types of Charts
• Topic Summary
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 09 Part 02:
What is Visualisation?
What is visualisation?
• A way to tell a story using graphics rather than words?
– This raises some questions?
• Who is the audience?
• Why are we telling them a story?
• How do we know, or communicate that the information is
accurate and relevant
• “The purpose of… data visualizations is to enlighten
people – not to entertain them, not to sell them
products, services or ideas, but to inform them.”
(Cairo, 2016, p.13)
http://www.businessinsider.com
.au/travel-agents-vs-online-hote
http://vizwiz.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/
donutcharts.html
Planning
Good visualizations…
• Are:
– Presenting reliable information
– Visually encoded so that relevant patterns become
noticeable
– Organised in a way that enables some exploration,
if appropriate
– Presented in an attractive manner (but
remembering that honesty, clarity, and depth
come first
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 09 Part 03:
Types of Visualisation
Visualisations
• The reading for this topic suggests there are
several basic types of visualisation:
– Simple text
– Table
– Points
– Lines
– Bars
– Area
Simple Text
http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/blog/20
12/06/power-of-simple-text?rq=simple%
20text
Simple Text
http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/blog/20
12/06/power-of-simple-text?rq=simple%
20text
Tables
Iteration 1
Group Metric A Metric B Metric C
Group 1 $111 $234 $345
Group 2 $123 $345 $567
Group 3 $234 $567 $678
Group 4 $345 $678 $789
Group 5 $456 $789 $890
Iteration 2
Group Metric A Metric B Metric C
Group 1 $111 $234 $345
Group 2 $123 $345 $567
Group 3 $234 $567 $678
Group 4 $345 $678 $789
Group 5 $456 $789 $890
Iteration 3
Group Metric A Metric B Metric C
Group 1 $111 $234 $345
Group 2 $123 $345 $567
Group 3 $234 $567 $678
Group 4 $345 $678 $789
Group 5 $456 $789 $890
Heatmaps
Caption… Values above average
Group Metric A Metric B Metric C Group Metric A Metric B Metric C
Group 1 $111 $234 $345 Group 1 $111 $234 $345
Group 2 $123 $345 $567 Group 2 $123 $345 $567
Group 3 $234 $567 $678 Group 3 $234 $567 $678
Group 4 $345 $678 $789 Group 4 $345 $678 $789
Group 5 $456 $789 $890 Group 5 $456 $789 $890
Low … High
Group Metric A Metric B Metric C
Group 1 $111 $234 $345
Group 2 $123 $345 $567
Group 3 $234 $567 $678
Group 4 $345 $678 $789
Group 5 $456 $789 $890
Points
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 09 Part 04:
Line Graphs
Lines
Line Graph Best Practices
• Lines should only be used to connect values
along an interval scale
Line Graph Best Practices
• Lines should only be used to connect values
along an interval scale
http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/visua
l_business_intelligence/
line_graphs_and_irregular_intervals.pdf
Line Graph Best Practices
• Lines should only be used to connect values
along an interval scale
• Intervals should be equal in size
Line Graph Best Practices
• Lines should only be used to connect values
along an interval scale
• Intervals should be equal in size
http://www.perceptualedge.com/articl
es/visual_business_intelligence/
line_graphs_and_irregular_intervals.pd
f
Line Graph Best Practices
• Lines should only be used to connect values
along an interval scale
• Intervals should be equal in size
• Lines should only connect values in adjacent
intervals
Line Graph Best Practices
• Lines should only be used to connect values
along an interval scale
• Intervals should be equal in size
• Lines should only connect values in adjacent
intervals
Slopegraph
http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/blog/20
13/11/slopegraph-
template
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 09 Part 05:
Bar Charts
Bar charts
Grades
90
80
70
60
50 Grades
40
30
20
10
0
HD D C P SX N NA
Baseline
https://flowingdata.com/2014/04/04/fox-news
-bar-chart-gets-it-wrong
/
8000000
7000000
6000000
5000000
4000000
3000000
2000000
1000000
0
27 March 31 March Goal
Right/left…
7200000
7000000
6800000
6600000
6400000
6200000
6000000
5800000
5600000 8000000
5400000
27 March 31 March Goal 7000000
5000000
4000000
3000000
2000000
1000000
0
27 March 31 March Goal
Goldilocks???
9000000 Too skinny 9000000
Too fat
8000000
8000000
7000000
6000000 7000000
5000000 6000000
4000000 5000000
3000000
4000000
2000000
1000000 3000000
0 2000000
1000000
0
27 March 31 March Goal 4th April 11th April
9000000
8000000
7000000
4000000
3000000
2000000
1000000
0
https://en.wikipedia.org/w 27 March 31 March Goal 4th April 11th April
iki/
One, two, many…
9000000
8000000 10000000
7000000 9000000
6000000 8000000
7000000
5000000 6000000
4000000 5000000
3000000 4000000
2015 3000000 2015
2000000
2016 2000000 2016
1000000 1000000 2017
0 0
10000000
9000000
8000000
7000000
6000000 27 March
5000000 31 March Goal
4000000 4th April
11th April
3000000
2000000
1000000
0
2015 2016 2017
Vertical or horizontal?
9000000
8000000
7000000
6000000
5000000
4000000
3000000 2015
2000000 2016
1000000
0
11th April
4th April
2016
31 March Goal 2015
27 March
0 0 0 0 0 00
0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 0
00 00 00 00 0 00
2 4 6 8 10
Stacked
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50% 2016
2015
40%
30%
20%
18000000
10%
16000000
0%
27 March 31 March Goal 4th April 11th April 14000000
12000000
10000000
2016
8000000 2015
6000000
4000000
2000000
0
27 March 31 March Goal 4th April 11th April
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 09 Part 06:
Other Types of Charts
Pies…
2015 2015
27 March
27 March
31 March Goa
31 March Goal
4th April
4th April
11th April
11th April
2015
6000000
8500000 27 March
31 March Goal
4th April
11th April
7066000
8400000
Donuts…
6000000
8500000
27 March
31 March Goal
4th April
7066000 11th April
8400000
6000000
8500000 27 March
31 March Goal
4th April
7066000 11th April
8400000
3-D
9000000
8400000 8500000
8000000
7066000
7000000
6000000
6000000
5000000
4000000 2015
2016
3000000 2017
2000000
1000000
0
27 March
31 March Goal
4th April
11th April
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 09 Part 07:
Topic Summary
Learning Outcomes
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Explain the importance of visualisations in the BI lifecycle
– Create and use a variety of visualisations that are appropriate to the
purpose of the visualisation
– Critique a given visualisation and explain how it could be improved
if required
• This topic contributes to the following unit learning
outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in organisations
– Understand that different users have different requirements for
information
– Present analyses of data using a number of different technique
Lecture Outline
• What is visualisation?
• Types of visualisation
• Line Graphs
• Bar Charts
• Other types of Charts
• Topic Summary
Where to next?
• The next topic is Effective Visual Design
Topic 10
Effective Visualisation
Design
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• See Topic 10 Readings in Moodle for links
– Interaction design and Gestalt Principles (youtube)
– Perception in Visualisation (Healey)
– Tapping the Power of Visual Perception (Few)
Learning Outcomes
• This topic contributes to the following Unit Learning Outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in organisations
– Understand that different users have different requirements for information
– Present analyses of data using a number of different technique
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Apply your understanding of the concept of cognitive load to visualisation
design
– Demonstrate how to remove “clutter” from visualisations
– Explain and give examples of the Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception in the
context of visualisations used in business intelligence
– Critique and improve a given visualisation
Lecture Outline
• Cognitive Load
• Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception
• Pre-attentive Attributes
• Topic Summary
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 10 Part 02:
Cognitive Load
Cognitive Load
• Is the mental effort required to learn new
things
– Recall that visualisations are there to “tell a story”
– If we are to effectively tell the story we want, then
we need to reduce the effort required by the
audience to understand the story
Memory in Visualisation Design
• Iconic
– “Graphics buffer”
• Short term
– RAM
• Long term
– HDD
Short term memory
https://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/ie/
visual_perception.pdf
Clutter
• Is the “stuff” in our visualisations that don’t
add any value to us telling the story
– ...making our visualisations more complicated
than necessary
– It increases the cognitive load without adding to
the story
• The audience might not be bothered to try to
understand
Reducing Clutter
• If we think about visualisations as messages
that we are sending, then we can think about:
– Information as the signal
– Clutter as the noise
• …we are trying to increase the signal to noise
ratio!
• Gestalt principles of Visual Perception tell us
how individuals tend to perceive order
Reduce clutter
http://www.storytellingwithdata.com/blog/20
11/07/gridlines-are-
gratuitous
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 10 Part 03:
Gestalt Principles of Visual
Perception
Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception
https://au.pinterest.com/hannokoen/proximity
-in-gestalt
/
Similarity
• Objects of a similar colour, shape, size or
orientation are seen to relate to one another
or form a group
http://www.3rootsstudios.com/inspiration-gra
phic-design-gestalt
/
Enclosure
• Objects that are physically enclosed together
(perhaps by a boundary) are seen to be part of
a group
http://www.excelcharts.com/blog/data-visualiz
ation-excel-users/gestalt-laws
/
Closure
• Open structures are perceived as closed,
complete, and regular whenever there is a
way that they can be reasonably interpreted
as such
https://au.pinterest.com/hannokoen/proximity
-in-gestalt
Continuity
• Objects that are aligned together or appear to
be a continuation of one another are
perceived as a group
https://au.pinterest.com/hannokoen/proximity
-in-gestalt
Connection
• Objects that are connected (e.g., by a line) are
perceived as a group
https://au.pinterest.com/hannokoen/proximity
-in-gestalt
/
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 10 Part 04:
Preattentive Attributes
Preattentive Attributes
• These are things that “pop out” from things
you see
http://ed-informatics.org/2010/01/25/medical-computing-8/
Preattentive Attributes
• These are things that “pop out” from things
you see
http://ed-informatics.org/2010/01/25/medical-computing-8/
Categories of preattentive attributes
• Few (2012) suggests there are three main categories
of preattentive attributes that are relevant to us:
– Form
– Colour
– Spatial position
• The other main category is Motion, though we
make less use of it than the others in the
context of BI
Form
• Length
• Width
• Orientation
• Shape
• Size
• Enclosure
Form
• Length
• Width
• Orientation
• Shape
• Size
• Enclosure
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/
article/preattentive-visual-properties-and-how-
to-use-them-in-information-
visualization
Form
• Length
• Width
• Orientation
• Shape
• Size
• Enclosure https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/
article/preattentive-visual-properties-and-how-
to-use-them-in-information-
visualization
Form
• Length
• Width
• Orientation
• Shape
• Size
• Enclosure
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/
article/preattentive-visual-properties-and-how-
to-use-them-in-information-
visualization
Form
• Length
• Width
• Orientation
• Shape
• Size
• Enclosure
https://
www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/
preattentive-visual-properties-and-how-to-use-
them-in-information-visualization
Form
• Length
• Width
• Orientation
• Shape
• Size
• Enclosure https://
www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/
preattentive-visual-properties-and-how-to-use-
them-in-information-visualization
Form
• Length
• Width
• Orientation
• Shape
• Size
• Enclosure https://
www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/
preattentive-visual-properties-and-how-to-use-
them-in-information-visualization
Colour
• Hue
• Intensity
http://colorbrewer2.org/
Colour
• Hue
• Intensity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_and_HSV
Spatial Position
• 2-D Position
• Grouping
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_and_HSV
Applying visual attributes to design
• Encoding of quantitative values
– FORM:
• Length, width (limited), size (limited)
– COLOUR
• Intensity (limited)
– Position
• 2D position
Context
• Context can have an impact on preattentive
attributes
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk
/~sexton/WWWPages/Col
our/colour4.
html
http://www.thephilosophyresource.co.uk/wp-c
ontent/uploads/2013/10/
plato_akrasia_illusion.png
Limits to distinct perceptions
• Preattentive symbols can become less useful if
we are not careful with how they are used
– There are limits to how many differences we can
process preattentively
• E.g., about 8 hues, 4 orientations, 4 sizes
– Use them wisely!
• Better to use fewer attributes than more
ICT394 Business Intelligence
Application Development
Topic 10 Part 05:
Topic Summary
Learning Outcomes
• This topic contributes to the following Unit Learning Outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in organisations
– Understand that different users have different requirements for information
– Present analyses of data using a number of different technique
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Apply your understanding of the concept of cognitive load to visualisation
design
– Demonstrate how to remove “clutter” from visualisations
– Explain and give examples of the Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception in the
context of visualisations used in business intelligence
– Critique and improve a given visualisation
Lecture Outline
• Cognitive Load
• Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception
• Pre-attentive Attributes
• Topic Summary
Where to from here…
• Next topic is:
– Visualisation Best Practice
• Choosing the right chart type
• Creating effective views
• Designing holistic dashboards
• Perfecting your work
• Evaluating your work
Topic 11
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• All readings are available from the Topic readings list on
Moodle:
– Tableau inc. n.d. ‘Visual Analysis Best Practices: Simple Techniques for
Making Every Data Visualization Useful and Beautiful.’
http://www.tableau.com/sites/default/files/media/whitepaper_visual
-analysis-guidebook_0.
pdf
– ‘Which Chart or Graph Is Right for You? | Tableau Software.’ n.d.
http://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/which-chart-or-graph-is-r
ight-for-you?ref=wc&signin=
d16c3ac7d42e642ceb4fc753a4468325
– Few Stephen. n.d. ‘Tapping the Power of Visual Perception.’ 2006.
‘Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication
of Data. Chapter 3.’ In Information Dashboard Design: The Effective
Visual Communication of Data, 48–76. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly.
Learning Outcomes
• This topic contributes to the following Unit Learning Outcomes:
– Demonstrate an understanding of the role of BI in organisations
– Understand that different users have different requirements for
information
– Present analyses of data using a number of different technique
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Design an effective dashboard
– Select the most appropriate chart or graph for a given situation, and
justify the choice
– Explain a process for evaluating your own design choices
Lecture Outline
• Choosing the right chart type
• Creating effective views
• Designing holistic dashboards
• Perfecting your work
• Evaluating your work
Choosing the right chart type
Choosing the right chart type
• Trends over time
• Ranking
• Correlation
• Distribution
• Part to whole
• Geographical data
Trends over time
Trends over time
Trends over time
Trends over time
Trends over time
Trends over time
http://vizwiz.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/stacke
d-area-chart-vs-line-chart-
great.html
Trends over time
http://betterevaluation.org/evaluation-options http://betterevaluation.org/evaluation-o
/ ptions/
slopegraph split_axis_bar_graph
Trends over time
http://betterevaluation.org/evaluation-options
/
LineGraph
Ranking
Correlation
Correlation
Correlation
Distribution
Distribution
Part to Whole
Geographical data
https://twitter.com/simongerman600/status/7
35242824954699776/photo/
1
Creating effective views
Emphasise the most important data
• The visualisation tools we use are very powerful
and so allow us to do some very sophisticated
things…
– For example, in Tableau you often have choices as to
where the measures are positioned in your graph:
• X or Y-axis
• Or colour, size or shape
– An important rule is that the more important data
should be shown on the x and y-axes
Lot Size
Home
Size
Chart orientation
Avoid overloading your graphs
• The tools will allow us to do a whole heap of
stuff that may or may not be useful to our
graphs
– Overloading is a common mistake
• because we can, and we get involved in telling our story
– we understand how the graph came together, but it is
not immediately obvious to others
Limit the number of colours and shapes in a
single graph
• Similar to the previous one, and as we have
discussed before, there are limits as to what
can be easily processed and understood
– Limit the number of colours and shapes in a single
graph to 7-10
Designing holistic dashboards
General dashboard design principles
• Most important graph at the top or top left
• If users are expected to move from one graph to
another, then go topbottom and leftright
with the final view at the bottom right
• Limit the number of graphs to three or four
• Avoid using multiple colour schemes
• Group filters together
• Put the legend(s) with the filter(s)
Perfecting Your Work
Perfecting your work
• Colours
– Work together without clashing
– Less than 7-10
• Fonts
– Consistent use throughout
– No more than 3 different ones on a dashboard
• Labels
– Clear, concise
– Placement
– Levelling
• Tooltips
– Useful?
Evaluating your work
How do I know my visualisation is any good?
Unit Review
ICT394 BI Application
Development
Resources
• Learning Guides for each topic
– These are available on Moodle
• Readings and case studies for each topic
– The links for the readings for each topic are on
Moodle
Lecture Outline
• Topic Reviews
• Exam Mechanics and Technique Tips
Topic Reviews
Topic 01: What is BI?
• At the completion of this topic, you should be able to:
– Provide and discuss a working definition of BI
– Explain a variety of reasons as to why BI exists
– Provide an overview of BI in terms of data, analysis and
presentation
• Sample Exam Question:
– Provide a definition of BI and give an example of a BI
implementation including a clear explanation of how the
organisation was impacted.
• Using the example you provided for the question above, discuss
the major elements of BI; Data, Analysis and Presentation.
Topic 01 Case Study
• Hitachi Solutions Canada
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDJdkcdG1iA
– Grocery Store Metaphor
• Tesco
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i83dyhyOTtw
– Loyalty Card (Clubcard)
Topic 02: BI Lifecycle
• At the completion of this topic, you should be
able to:
– Describe a high-level BI implementation roadmap
– Compare and contrast the implementation of BI
with system development projects
– Explain the activities that would typically happen
in the Justification and
– Planning stages of BI application development
Topic 02: BI Lifecycle
• Sample Exam Questions:
– Moss and Atre (2003) suggest there are 6 major
development steps in the creation of BI. Provide a one
paragraph explanation of each of these steps.
– Explain, using examples as appropriate, how a business
case assessment for a BI project would proceed.
– Planning for a BI project will involve multiple steps;
Enterprise Infrastructure, Evaluation and Project
Planning. Give an explanation of the activities that
would be involved with both of those steps.
Topic 02: Case Study
• University of Konstanz
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp0BbAO-G
HU
– BI Implementation
• Reasons for implementing
• Existing systems
• Features of the solution
Topic 03: Data Warehousing
• At the completion of this topic, you should be
able to:
– Provide a definition of a data warehouse, including
examples as to how and in what circumstances it
would be used
– Describe and provide examples as to the difference
between operational and analytical databases
– Discuss the components of a data warehouse system
– Discuss the basic steps in the development of a data
warehouse
Topic 03: Data Warehousing
• Explain the following parts of the data warehouse definition:
– Structured repository
– Integrated
– Subject oriented
– Enterprise-wide
– Historical
– Time-variant
– Developed for the retrieval of analytical information
– May include data at the fine level of detail of summary data or both
• Explain, using examples as appropriate, why a data warehouse would be created as a
separate data store?
• What are the major components of a data warehouse?
• Briefly describe the process of developing data warehouse front-end applications.
• Explain, using examples, why the data warehouse design process is an iterative process.
Topic 03: Case Study
• Daimler-Chrysler
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N78lHpiCD0k
– Consolidation of multiple customer databases
• Group 1 Software
– Code-1 Plus
Topic 04: Data Warehouse Design
• At the completion of this topic, you should be
able to:
– Explain how and why dimensional modelling is
used to design data warehouses
– Create a dimensional model from a given case
study
– Explain, and be able to resolve, some of the
problems often associated with dimensional
modelling
Topic 04: Data Warehouse Design
• Sample Exam Questions
– Explain the role and give examples of the following:
• Dimension tables
• Fact tables
– How does the use of a dimensional model simplify
analytical queries?
– How is transaction time typically represented in a
dimensional model?
– Explain and give examples of what is meant by the
granularity of a fact table.
– Explain and give an example of a summarisability problem.
Topic 04: Case Study
• Dimensional Modeling Exercise
– Exercise 8.1 Jukic et al (2014) p. 266-7
Topic 05: Data Warehouse Implementation