Information Dashboard Design 1&2

This 2 topics basically teaches me about the different kind of dashboard, data and design. Which kind of design is more appropriate and which design is suitable for current situation.

Types of Dashboard

• Dashboard for strategic purposes
• Dashhoard for analytical purposes
• Dashboard for operational

6 Principle of Visual Perception

• Principle of Proximity
• Principle of Simliarity
• Principle of Enclosure
• Principle of Closure
• Principle of Continuity
• Principle of Connection

Data Warehouse and OLAP

Data Warehouse

















In this topic, I learned about the importance of having a data warehouse, it is able to provide a comprehensive pool of data from both operational and external sources, also the various differences between DBMS, OLAP and DM. (Data Warehouse v/s Data Mart)

Characteristics of Data Warehouse Data

• Subject-Oriented


• Integrated


• Aggregated


• Historical


• Time Variant


• Non-volatile


• Denormalised
  

3 types of Schemas

• Star schema (http://ycmi.med.yale.edu/nadkarni/star_schema.bmp)


• Snowflake schema (http://www.bipminstitute.com/dipm_images/DDB2-%20Snow%20Flake-Schema.jpg)


• Constellation schema (http://etl-tools.info/images/dw_constellation_schema.jpg)

The 8 steps in designing Data Warehouse

• Choosing the data mart
• Choosing the table granularity
• Identifying and confirming the dimensions
• Choosing the facts
• Storing pre-calculations in the fact table
• Rounding out the Dimension Tables
• Choosing the Duration of the database
• The need to track slowly changing dimensions
  

OLAP Cube

Types of Cube

• Relational OLAP (ROLAP)
• Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP)
• Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP)

Typical OLAP Operations

• Roll up
• Roll down
• Slice & dice
• Pivot
• Drill accross
• Drill through

Design Strategies

1. Top-down DW design
2. Bottom-up DW design

Developing Dashboard

What is a Dashboard?

Dashboard is a type of visualisation designed to provide you with a snapshot of your business performance. To start off, let me just show you an example of a dashboard.


So does this image help you understand what's a dashboard? ;D


Benefits of a dashboard
Digital dashboards allow managers to monitor the contribution of the various departments in their organization. To gauge exactly how well an organization is performing overall, digital dashboards allow you to capture and report specific data points from each department within the organization, thus providing a "snapshot" of performance.

Benefits of using digital dashboards include:
(1) Visual presentation of performance measures
(2) Ability to identify and correct negative trends
(3) Measure efficiencies/inefficiencies
(4) Ability to generate detailed reports showing new trends
(5) Ability to make more informed decisions based on collected business intelligence
(6) Align strategies and organizational goals
(7) Save time over running multiple reports
(8) Gain total visibility of all systems instantly

Links to help you understand more about dashboard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashboard_(business)
http://www.dashboardzone.com/what-is-a-dashboard


Process Mapping
Process mapping is a tool that is used to understand, analyse and document processes and activities in an organisation and assist in identifying opportunities for improvement.

















Links that help you further your understanding about process mapping:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_map
http://www.fpm.iastate.edu/worldclass/process_mapping.asp (Highly Recommended!)

Business Performance Management

What is Business Performance Management (BPM)?

BPM is an umbrella term covering the business methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to drive the overall performance of an enterprise. BPM make efficient use of their financial, human, material and other resources.

This topic covers, to name the more important ones, BPM closed-loop process, the kind of planning, balanced scorecard, usage of PESTEL, Porters 5 forces, SWOT analysis, strategic theme, measures.

Example of PESTEL: http://www.bizhelper.info/images/Strategy/PESTLE.JPG
Example of Porters: http://www.strategy4u.com/assessment_tools/porters_five_forces/porters_five_forces_lg.gif
Example of SWOT: http://tutor2u.net/business/images/swot_analysis.gif

A balanced scorecard should include firstly the strategic theme, then followed by objectives, measures, targets and lastly initiatives.
Example of Balanced Scorecard














Some links that may help you to understand more about BPM:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/business_performance_management
http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary-performance-management-software.html

So what have I learn in this topic?
I have basically learn the importance of BPM towards a company perspective and also the various processes in BPM. Most importantly I have learned how to create the balanced scorecard with its four perspective financial, customer, internal, learning.

Introduction to BI

What is Business Intelligence?


Business Intelligence in short BI is about connecting data to effective action by drawing reliable conclusions about current conditions and future events.

So this topic basically covers about the overview of BI. This includes various points such as benefits of applying BI in marketing, proccess and tools of BI, the framework, analytics, the different types of dimension, kinds of schema, OLAP cube, types of visualisation and also mining.

These are not really in-dept but rather just a brief introduction to let us expect what to expect in future topics such as BPM, scorecards, dashboards.

Some links that might help you understand more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_intelligence
http://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid91_gci213571,00.html
http://www.cio.com/article/40296/Business_intelligence_definition_and_solutions


What have I learn in this topic?
This topic has taught me about the various "branches" in BI. As seen in the 3 links I am able to read up and relate to this topic through the different kind of branches such as OLAP, BPM, text mining; also the different types of benefits accquired.

Introduction to omg-bi

Hey people! This blog is created for my Business Intelligence (BI) e-portfolio and I will be basically giving reflections and comments on various topics covered in the subject based on my knowledge and research.