Chapter 8 – Accessing Organizational Information – Data Warehouse

 What is Data Warehouse?

Ø  Defined in many different ways, but not rigorously

-          A decision support database that is maintained separately from the organization’s operational database.

-          A consistent database source that bring together information from multiple sources for decision support queries.

-          Support information processing by providing a solid platform of consolidated, historical data for analysis.

History of Data Warehousing

Ø  In the 1990’s executives became less concerned with the day-to-day business operations and more concerned with overall business functions

Ø  The data warehouse provided the ability to support decision making without disrupting the day-to-day operations, because;

-         Operational information is mainly current – does not include the history for better decision making

-         Issues of quality information

-         Without information history, it is difficult to tell how and why things change over time

Data warehouse fundamentals

Ø  Data warehouse – A logical collection of information – gathered from many different operational databases – that supports business analysis activities and decision-making takes

Ø  The primary purpose of a data warehouse is to combined information throughout an organization into a single repository for decision-making purposes – data warehouse support only analytical processing

Data warehouse model

Ø  Extraction, transformation and loading (ETL) – A process that extracts information from internal and external databases, transforms the information using a common set of enterprise definitions, and loads the information into a data warehouse.

Ø  Data warehouse then send subsets of the information to data mart.

Ø  Data mart – contains a subset of data warehouse information.

Multidimensional Analysis and Data Mining

Ø  Relational Database contains information in a series of two-dimensional tables.

Ø  In a data warehouse and data mart, information is multidimensional, it contains layers of columns and rows

-          Dimension – A particular attribute of information

Ø  Cube – common term for the representation of multidimensional information

Ø  Once a cube of information is created, users can begin to slice and dice the cube to drill down into the information.

Ø  Users can analyze information in a number of different ways and with number of different dimensions.

Ø  Data Mining – the process of analyzing data to extract information not offered by the raw data alone. Also known as “knowledge discovery” – computer-assisted tools and techniques for sifting through and analyzing vast data stores in order to finds trends, patterns and correlations that can guide decision making and increase understanding

Ø  To perform data mining users need data-mining tools

-          Data-mining tool – uses a variety of techniques to finds patterns and relationships in large volumes of information. Eg: retailers and use knowledge of these patterns to improve the placement of items in the layout of a mail-order catalog page or Web page.

Information Cleansing or Scrubbing

Ø  An organization must maintain high-quality data in the data warehouse

Ø  Information cleansing or scrubbing – A process that weeds out and fixes or discards inconsistent, incorrect or incomplete information

Ø  Occurs during ETL process and second on the information once if is in the data warehouse

Ø  Contract information in an operational system

Ø  Standardizing Customer  name from Operational Systems

Ø  Information cleansing activities

-          Missing Records or Attributes

-          Redundant Records

-          Missing Keys or Other Required Data

-          Erroneous Relationships or References

-          Inaccurate Data

Ø  Accurate and complete information

Business Intelligence

Ø  Business Intelligence – refers to applications and technologies that are used to gather, provides access, analyze data and information to support decision making efforts

Ø  These systems will illustrate business intelligence in the areas of customer profiling, customer support, market research, market segmentation, product profitability, statistical analysis, and inventory and distribution analysis to name a few

Ø  Eg; Excel, Access

CHAPTER 7 : STORING ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION - DATABASES

What is INFORMATION?

RELATIONAL DATABASE FUNDAMENTALS

Information is everywhere in an organization

Information is stored in databases

Database – maintains information about various types of objects (inventory), events (transactions), people (employees), and places (warehouses)

RELATIONAL DATABASE FUNDAMENTALS

Database models include:

·   Hierarchical database model – information is organized into a tree-like
    structure (using parent/child relationships) in such a way that it cannot have
    too many relationships

·   Network database model – a flexible way of representing objects and their
    relationships

·   Relational database model – stores information in the form of logically related
    two-dimensional tables

Entities and Attributes

·         Entity – a person, place, thing, transaction, or event about which information is stored

The rows in each table contain the entities

·         Attributes (fields, columns) – characteristics or properties of an entity class

The columns in each table contain the attributes

Keys and Relationships

Primary keys and foreign keys identify the various entity classes (tables) in the database

·         Primary key – a field (or group of fields) that uniquely identifies a given entity in a table

·         Foreign key – a primary key of one table that appears an attribute in another table and acts to provide a logical relationship among the two tables

RELATIONAL DATABASE ADVANTAGES

Database advantages from a business perspective include

· Increased flexibility

· Increased scalability and performance

· Reduced information redundancy

· Increased information integrity (quality)

· Increased information security

· Increased Flexibility

A well-designed database should:

· Handle changes quickly and easily

· Provide users with different views

· Have only one physical view – deals with the physical storage of
  information on a storage device

· Have multiple logical views - focuses on how users logically access information

Increased Scalability and Performance

A database must scale to meet increased demand,  while maintaining acceptable performance levels

· Scalability – refers to how well a system can adapt to increased demands

· Performance – measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or
  transaction

Reduced Information Redundancy

Databases reduce information redundancy

· Redundancy – the duplication of information or storing the same information in
  multiple places

Inconsistency is one of the primary problems with redundant information

Increase Information Integrity (Quality)

Information integrity – measures the quality of information

Integrity constraint – rules that help ensure the quality of information

· Relational integrity constraint

· Business-critical integrity constraint

Increased Information Security

Information is an organizational asset and must be protected

Databases offer several security features including:

· Password – provides authentication of the user

· Access level – determines who has access to the different types of information

· Access control – determines types of user access, such as read-only access

Database management systems (DBMS) – software through which users and application programs interact with a database

DATA-DRIVEN WEBSITES

Data-driven websites – an interactive website kept constantly updated and relevant to the needs of its customers through the use of a database.

DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER 6 – VALUING ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION

·         Information is everywhere in an organization

·          Employees must be able to obtain and analyze the many different levels, formats and granularity of organizational information to make decisions

·          Successfully collecting, compiling, sorting and analyzing information can provide tremendous insight into how an organization is performing

·         Levels, formats and granularity of organizational information

The Value of Transnational And Analytically Information

·       Transaction information verses analytically information

     

THE VALUE OF QUALITY INFORMATION

-    Business decisions are only as good as the quality of the information used to make the decisions

-   You never want to find yourself using technology to help you make a bad decision faster

-   Characteristics of high-quality information include;

-   Low quality information example;

UNDERSTANDING THE COSTS OF POOR INFORMATION

-   The four primary sources of low quality information include;

- Online customers intentionally enter inaccurate information to protect their privacy

- Information from different systems have different entry standards and formats

- Call center operators enter abbreviated or erroneous information by accident or to save time

- Third party and external information contains inconsistencies, inaccuracies and errors

-   Potential business effects resulting from low quality information include;

- Inability to accurately track customers

- Difficulty identifying valuable customers

- Inability to identify selling opportunities

- Marketing to nonexistent customers

- Difficulty tracking revenue due to inaccurate invoices

- Inability to build strong customer relationships

UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS OF GOOD INFORMATION

-   High quality information can significantly improve the chances of making a good decision

-   Good decisions can directly impact an organization’s bottom line

CHAPTER 5 : ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES THAT SUPPORT STRATEGIC INITIATIVE

Organizational Structure

ü  Organizational employees must work closely together to develop strategic initiatives that create competitive advantages.

ü  Ethics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their businesses upon.

IT Roles And Responsibilities

Information technology is a relatively new function area, having only been around formally for around 40 years.

Recent IT-related strategic positions :

·         Chief Information Officer (CIO)

·         Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

·         Chief Security Officer (CSO)

·         Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)

·         Chief Knowledge (CKO)

1.   Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Oversees all uses of IT and ensures the strategic alignment of IT with business goals and objectives

Broad CIO functions include:

Ø  Manager

ensuring the delivery of all IT projects, on time and within budget.

Ø  Leader

ensuring the strategic vision of IT is in line with the strategic vision of the organization.

Ø  Communicator

Building and maintaining strong executive relationships.

If they have any problem involve IT personal, CIO that will solve it. (more effectiveness)

1.   Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Ø  responsible for ensuring the throughput, speed, accuracy, availability, and reliability of IT.

Ø  effectiveness because make sure the system is efficient

1.   Chief Security Officer (CSO)

Ø  responsible for ensuring the security of IT systems.

Ø  to make sure the system we do, no person can hack

1.   Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)

Ø  responsible for ensuring the ethical and legal use of information

1.   Chief Knowledge Office (CKO)

Ø  Responsible for collecting, maintaining, and distributing the organization's knowledge.

ORGANIZATIONAL FUNDAMENTALS

Ø  Ethics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their businesses on to be successful.

Ø  In recent years, such events as the Enron and Martha Stewart, along with 9/11 have shed new light on the meaning of ethics and security.

• Ethics
• the principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people

• Privacy is major ethical issue
• privacy
• the right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent.
• sometimes, we fell want to alone. don't want anyone bother
• we don't want someone to corrupt our business.

• Issues affected by technology advances
• intellectual property.
• intangible creative work that is embodied in physical form. for example, from idea to something we can hold. 
• create new things. so, there is intellectual property, can touch.
• things that comes from a creative idea.
• such as architects, building that we can touch.
• copyright
• the legal protection afforded an expression of an idea, such as a song, video, game, and some types of proprietary documents.

• fair use doctrine
• in certain situations, it is legal to use copyrighted materials. for example song from oversea to Malaysia.

• pirated software
• the unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted software. more cheap and free.
• counterfeit software
• software that is manufactured to look like the real thing and sold as such. for example, buy antivirus, notify original but not original.

• One of the main ingredients in trust is privacy. the system is effective because customer will be satisfied but efficiency because the system can be slow.
• 
  

• Security
• organizational information is intellectual capital - it must be protected.

• Information security
• the protection of information from accidental or intentional misuse by persons inside or outside an organization.
• the CSO who save the information.

• E-business automatically creates tremendous information security risks for organizations.

CHAPTER 4 – MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

MEASURING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY’S SUCCESS

-          Key performance indicator – measures that are tied to business drivers

-          Metrics are detailed measures that feed KPIs

-          Performance metrics fall into the nebulous area of business intelligence that is neither technology, nor business centered, but requires input from both IT and business professionals

EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS

-          Efficiency IT metric – measures the performance of the IT system itself including throughput, speed, and availability

-          Effectiveness IT metric – measures the impact IT has on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and sell-through increases

BENCHMARKING – BASELINE METRICS

-          Regardless of what is measured, how it is measured, and whether it is for the sake of efficiency or effectiveness, there must be benchmarks – baseline values the system seeks to attain

-          Benchmarking – a process of continuously measuring system results, comparing those results to optimal system performance (benchmark values), and identifying steps and producers to improve system performance

-          Comparing efficiency IT and effectiveness IT metrics for the government initiatives

EFFICIENCY IT METRIC

·         Measure the performance of the IT system itself including throughout,speed and availability.

·         lots of useful information

EFFECTIVENESS IT METRIC

·         Measure the impact it has on business processes and activities including customer satisfaction, conversation rates, and sell-through increases.

·         The extent to which our services are prefer by many consumers.

METRICS FOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

-          Metrics for measuring and managing strategic initiatives include;

·         Website metrics.

·         Supply chain management (SCM) metrics

·         Customer relationship management (CRM) metrics

·         Business process reengineering (BPR) metrics

·         Enterprise resource planning (ERP) metrics

WEBSITE METRICS

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT METRICS

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT METRICS

BPR and ERP Metrics

-          The balanced scorecard enables organizations to measure and manage strategic initiatives.