Chapter 3: Data Exploration in Business Analytics

Contents

1. Understand different sources of data.

2. Understand different types of data.
3. Identify relevant data points to address business objectives.
4. What is available versus good to have.
5. Untapped data sources.
 Understand Different Sources of Data

Opening example:
• Sanjana Pillai and Rudra Dixit had to plan their wedding.
• Month and date for the wedding depended on many things such as
o When could both Sanjana and Rudra get time off from work.
o Vacation time for parents, siblings, relatives and cousins for participating in
their wedding.
o Most suitable weather conditions.
o Availability of hotels.
o Price variations of resources during the year.
o Venue for wedding.
o They also had to plan on the menu items, dress and jewellery, shopping list,
beautician, car bookings, flight bookings, destination for honeymoon, sangeet
(music) during the wedding.
• How does a business analyst view this situation?
 Understand Different Sources of Data

• Variables are characteristics of items of interest that vary. We measure, control,

manipulate and test variables for inferences.
• A construct is a broad topic that is being studied. Variables are used to describe the
construct in measurable form.
• The basic starting point is the capture of data which are of two types: categorical
and numerical.
 Understand Different Sources of Data

There are mainly two sources of data: secondary data and primary data.

• Secondary sources include prior research done, trade journals, magazines, electronic
content, organization data, reports, census, store panel data and such others.
• Primary data are collected using qualitative methods like focus group interviews and/or
depth interviews or quantitative data collection methods like observations methods or
survey questionnaire administered in person, by e-mail, by the Internet and/or by
telephone.
• Secondary data collected supports significant part of the exploratory research.
Exploratory research is conducted to identify the specific components of a business
discussion that can be taken forward for research in the form of problem-solving or
opportunity.
• Descriptive and causal research can be supported by both secondary and primary data.
Descriptive research provides a systematic description of the facts that exist for a
situation under study. Causal research looks for relationships that exist within the
variables under study to form a cause and effect relationship.
Understand Different Types of Data
 Understand Different Types of Data

• A frequency table can be an informative representation built from the categorical

variable showing the actual count and percentage frequency.
• Let us take an example to understand better. In a manufacturing firm, there are 10
types of equipment that are operated on a regular basis. At times, when the
equipment get broken, repair is scheduled for getting it up and running again.
 Equipment Description

No. Equipment No. Location Price (In INR) Time of Use

(Months)

1 51 Room 1 25,000 28

2 52 Room 1 20,000 24

3 53 Room 1 160,00 36

4 54 Room 2 60,000 24
5 55 Room 2 56,000 28

6 56 Room 2 58,000 26

7 57 Room 3 90,000 18

8 58 Room 3 98,000 22

9 59 Room 3 105,000 35

10 60 Room 3 120,000 29
 Frequency of Equipment Repair

Equipment_no.
  Frequency Cumulative Frequency Proportion

51 1 1 0.06666667

52 3 4 0.2

54 3 7 0.2

55 3 10 0.2

56 1 11 0.06666667

57 2 13 0.13333333

58 2 15 0.13333333
Frequency Representation of Equipment Repair
Room-Wise Equipment Repair
 Untapped Data Sources

• There is also a significant other set of unstructured/semi-structured data that

comes naturally as a part of organization data capture, which the company
executives may not have clue of taking forward. These are the untapped data
sources.
• Organizations have put in systematic efforts to streamline untapped data sources.
Attempt the review questions and case studies at
the end of the chapter
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