DISCUSSION 11 (MSITM)
As an IT manager, discuss how you would use the materials in Chapter 11 of your textbook to communicate IT information to other departments, highlighting how tools like SAP Analytics Cloud and Tableau would benefit you. Specifically, explain how executive dashboards can lead to better business insights. What are the limitations of dashboards?
In 2-3 paragraphs answer the question above. (Minimum 0f 300 words)
IT for Management: On-Demand Strategies for Performance, Growth, and Sustainability
Eleventh Edition
Turban, Pollard, Wood
Chapter 11
Data Visualization and Geographic Information Systems
Learning Objectives (1 of 4)
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Data Visualization: Terminology
Data visualization
Presentation of data in a graphical format
Easier for decision makers to grasp difficult concepts or identify new patterns in the data
Drill down
Searching for something on a computer moving from general information to more detailed in-formation by focusing in on something of interest, e.g., quarterly sales – monthly sales – daily sales
Geospatial data
Has an explicitly geographic component, ranging from vector and raster data to tabular data with site locations
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Data Visualization Technologies
Figure 11.3 Tools and technologies in this chapter fall into three related categories.
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Data Visualization and Learning
Learning, Exploring, and Discovery with Visualization
Data discovery: discovering hidden relationships through visualization.
Used with predictive analytics to improve departmental decisions.
Summary data rather than statistical data for higher level absorption.
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Data Visualization: Heat Maps
The heat map is like a spreadsheet whose cells are formatted with colors instead of numbers. This heat map uses three colors to convey information at a glance.
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An example of a Heat Map
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Examples of Visualizations
Dials, charts, graphs, timelines, geospatial maps, and heat maps with interactivity and drill-downs making it easier to understand data and identify patterns, trends, and relationships
Require human expertise to interpret
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Figure 11.7: Data Discovery Tools pull data from multiple data sources, manipulates the data and displays the metrics
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Data Visualization Tools (1 of 2)
Performance Management Visualizations
SAS Visual Catalyst
Intelligent autocharting feature presents most appropriate visualization of a set of data
IBM SPSS Analytic Catalyst
Advanced analysis designed for experts in statistical software
IBM Watson Analytics
Cloud-based, automates predictive analytics
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Data Visualization Tools (2 of 2)
Tableau
Easier to implement, requiring just basic database information
Roambi Analytics
Leading mobile reporting and data visualization app designed for iPads and iPhones
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Data Visualization and Learning Review
How does data visualization contribute to learning?
How do heat maps convey information?
Why are data visualization and discovery usage increasing?
Give two examples of data visualization for performance management.
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Suggested Answers:
1. Visuals are the single best way our brain processes information. Data visualization harnesses the power of analytics and adds a visual display to capitalize on how our brains work. Visual displays make it easier for individuals to understand data and identify patterns that offer answers to business questions. By using data visualization, companies are able to discover hidden data relationships and learn how to improve performance.
2. Heat maps use colors to convey information at a glance. A heat map is like a spreadsheet whose cells are formatted with colors instead of numbers.
3. Answers may vary. Data discovery is expected to take on a greater role in corporate decision making. Companies are investing in the latest data discovery solutions largely because of their speed and flexibility. Data visualization software vendors continue to focus on business users of all levels and backgrounds. Experts and non-experts can collect data quickly from disparate sources and then explore the dataset with easy-to-use interactive visualizations and search interfaces. Drill-down paths are not predefined, which gives users more flexibility in how they view detailed data. Today’s data discovery technologies provide greater data exploration and ease of use to help users find answers to “why” and “what if” questions through self-service analytic apps. Enterprise apps for Androids, Apple iPads, and BlackBerry Playbooks are replacing static business reports with real-time data, analytics, and interactive reporting tools.
4. Answers may vary.
Vendor Aqumin provides real time visual interpretation solutions for the financial services industry. Aqumin’s OptionVision enables traders, risk managers, and market participants to spot opportunities, risk, and market changes. AlphaVision for Excel enables visual interpretation capabilities directly within the Microsoft Excel platform, and AlphaVision for Bloomberg is developed for professional portfolio managers, traders, and risk analysts and is connected directly to the Bloomberg Terminal to leverage data provided by Bloomberg.
IBM SPSS Analytic Catalyst has made sophisticated analytics accessible. Analytic Catalyst enables business users to conduct the kind of advanced analysis that had been designed for experts in statistical software. The software fast tracks analytics by identifying key drivers, selecting an appropriate model, testing it, and then explaining the results in plain English.
Roambi Analytics is a leading mobile reporting and data visualization app designed for iPads and iPhones. The app can take data from most sources, including Box, Google Docs, spreadsheets, BI systems, databases, and Salesforce.com, and transform them into interactive data visualizations.
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Learning Objectives (2 of 4)
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Enterprise Mashups
Combine business data and applications from multiple sources—typically a mix of internal data and applications with externally sourced data to create an integrated experience.
Does not require a huge investment and can be developed in hours rather than days or weeks.
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Enterprise Data Mashups
Combinations of data from various business systems and external sources, often in real time, without necessarily relying on a middle step of ETL (extract, transform, and load) from a data warehouse.
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Enterprise Mashups Types
Customer: provides a quick view of customer data for a sales person in preparation for a customer site visit.
Logistics: displays inventory for a group of department stores based on specific criteria.
Human resource: provides a quick glance at employee data such as profiles, salary, ratings, benefits status, and activities.
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Benefits of Enterprise Mashups:
Table 11.2 Enterprise Mashups Benefits
Summary of benefits of mashup technology to an enterprise:
Dramatically reduces time and effort needed to combine disparate data sources.
Users can define their own data mashups by combining fields from different data sources that were not previously needed.
Users can create new dashboards.
Enables the building of complex queries by nonexperts with a drag-and-drop query building tool.
Enables agile BI because new data sources can be added to a BI system quickly via direct links to operational data sources, bypassing the need to load them to a data warehouse.
Provides a mechanism to easily customize and share knowledge throughout the company.
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Enterprise Data Mashups Review
Sketch or describe the architecture of an enterprise mashup application.
What is an enterprise data mashup?
What are the functions and uses of enterprise mashups?
Explain why business workers may need data mashup technology.
What are three benefits of mashup technology to the organization?
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Suggested Answers:
1. Figure 11.7 illustrates the architecture of an enterprise mashup application.
The general architecture of an enterprise mashup application integrates data from operational data stores, business systems, external data (economic data, suppliers, information, competitors’ activities), and real-time news feeds to generate an enterprise mashup.
2. Enterprise mashups are combinations of data from various business systems and external sources, often in real time, and without necessarily relying on a middle step of ETL (extract, transform, and load) from a data warehouse.
3. Enterprise mashups improve operational efficiency, optimize the sales pipeline, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive profitability. In an enterprise environment, mashups can be used to solve a wide variety of business problems and day-to-day situations. Examples of these types of mashups are:
Customer. A customer data mashup that provides a quick view of customer data for a sales person in preparation for a customer site visit. Data can be pulled from internal data stores and Web sources, such as contact information, links to related websites, recent customer orders, lists of critical situations, and more.
Logistics. A logistics mashup that displays inventory for a group of department stores based on specific criteria. For example, you can mash current storm information onto a map of store locations and then wire the map to inventory data to show which stores located in the path of storms are low on generators.
Human resource. An HR mashup that provides a quick glance at employee data such as profiles, salary, ratings, benefits status, and activities. Data can be filtered to show custom views, for example, products whose average quarterly sales are lower than last quarter.
Data mashup apps are used in organizations:
For real-time awareness and data freshness
To feed data to cross-functional dashboards
For competitive analysis
To monitor compliance and manage risk
For disaster monitoring and disaster response
To generate external vendor reports
4. Using data mashup apps, nontechnical users can easily and quickly access, integrate, and display BI data from a variety of operational data sources, including those that are not integrated into the existing data warehouse, without having to understand the intricacies of the underlying data infrastructures or schemas.
5. Below is a summary of benefits of mashup technology to an enterprise:
Dramatically reduces time and effort needed to combine disparate data sources.
Users can define their own data mashups by combining fields from different data sources that were not previously modeled.
Users can import external data sources, e.g., spreadsheets and competitor data, to create new dashboards.
Enables the building of complex queries by non-experts with a drag-and-drop query-building tool.
Enables agile BI because new data sources can be added to a BI system quickly via direct links to operational data sources, bypassing the need to load them to a data warehouse.
Provides a mechanism to easily customize and share knowledge throughout the company.
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Enterprise Systems: An Introduction
An Enterprise System is a large scale application software package that supports business processes, information flows, reporting, and data analytics in complex organizations.
Four Types of Enterprise Systems:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Social Platforms
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Enterprise Systems: Challenges
Complexity from incorporating different organizational facets
Time-consuming coordinating an enterprise integration
Typically requires consulting, vendor, or value-added reseller (VAR) assistance
Difficult to get new modules to interface with legacy systems
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Enterprise Systems: Best Practices
Redesign of business processes through simplification and redesign so that they can be automated, either totally or partially, or removed.
Changes in how people perform their jobs or accommodate the new processes.
Integration of many types of information systems so that data can flow seamlessly among departments and business partners.
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Enterprise Systems: Insights
Provide and support applications that enable workers to access, use, and understand data
Enable companies to use data about buying behaviors and help identify its loyal customers and which ones are profitable
Improved communication and integration among firms in a global supply chain justifies billions invested in ERP systems
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Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Past
Integrating accounting, finance, HR, marketing, and other critical business functions
Originally run on client-server architecture and customer-designed apps
Now web-based with a focus on social collaboration, deployment flexibility, faster response, and accessibility from mobile devices
An enterprise application integration (EAI) layer enables the ERP to interface with legacy apps
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Enterprise Resource Planning Selection
Select an ERP solution that targets the company’s requirements
Evaluation potential ERP vendors’ strengths and weaknesses
Meet with each vendor and get a hands-on demo of its ERP solutions
Calculate the ERP’s total cost of ownership (TCO)
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Enterprise Resource Planning Failures
ERP Failure Factors
Cost misrepresentation
Unrealistic implementation timeframes
Software-license issues
50-70% of ERP projects fail due to one or more of these factors.
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Enterprise Resource Planning Success
Focus on business processes and requirements
Focus on achieving a measurable ROI
Use a strong project management approach and secure commitment of resources
Obtain strong and continuing commitment from senior executives
Take sufficient time to plan an prepare up-front
Provide thorough training and change management
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Learning Objectives (3 of 4)
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Digital Dashboards
A style of reporting that depicts KPIs, operational or strategic information with intuitive and interactive displays.
Custom programmed to automatically and securely pull, analyze, and display data from enterprise systems, cloud apps, data feeds, and external sources and then display the metrics.
Components of dashboards are:
Design
Performance metrics
API
Access
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Dashboard Functions
Dashboard Functions
Displays performance metrics for company functions
Eliminates need to log into multiple applications to view business performance
Examples of Financial Metrics:
Net income
Cash Balance, Aactual vs. Expected
Profit, current month projection
Changes in A/R and A/P
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Dashboards are Real Time (1 of 2)
Having real-time, or near-real-time, data is essential to keep users aware of any meaningful changes in the metrics as they occur and to provide information for making decisions in real time.
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Dashboards are Real Time (2 of 2)
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Digital Dashboard Benefits
Visibility: blind spots are minimized or eliminated; Threats and opportunities are detected as soon as possible.
Continuous improvement: custom designed to display the user’s critical metrics and measures.
Single sign on: save time and effort logging onto numerous corporate information systems.
Budget or planning deviations: metrics can be programmed to display deviations from targets.
Accountability: employees tend to be motivated to improve their performance when tracked.
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Digital Dashboards Review
Describe business dashboards and their functions.
Why do you think dashboards must be in real time and customized for the executive or manager?
How do business dashboards differ from other types of visual reports?
Explain the components of dashboards.
What are benefits of dashboards?
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Suggested Answers:
1. Supply chains involve the flow of materials, data, and money. The journey that a product travels, starting with raw material suppliers, to manufacturers or assemblers, then distributors and retail sales shelves, and ultimately to customers is its supply chain. Supply chain starts with the acquisition of raw materials or the procurement (purchase) of products and proceeds through manufacture, transport, and delivery—and the disposal or recycling of products.
2. The supply chain is like a pipeline composed of multiple suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, retailers, and logistics providers that:
purchase (procurement) raw materials or products
transform materials (i.e., manufacture, service) into intermediate or finished products
transport and deliver finished products to retailers or customers, and
dispose or recycle product
3. Supply chains involve the flow of materials, data, and money. Descriptions of these three main flows are:
Material or product flow: This is the movement of materials and goods from a supplier to its consumer. For example, Ford supplies dealerships that, in turn, sell to end-users. Products that are returned make up what is called the reverse supply chain because goods are moving in the reverse direction.
Information flow: This is the movement of detailed data among members of the supply chain, for example, order information, customer information, order fulfillment, delivery status, and proof-of-delivery confirmation. Most information flows are done electronically, although paper invoices or receipts are still common for non-commercial customers.
Financial flow: This is the transfer of payments and financial arrangements, for example, billing payment schedules, credit terms, and payment via electronic funds transfer (EFT). EFT provides for electronic payments and collections. It is safe, secure, efficient, and less expensive than paper check payments and collections.
4. Supply chain management (SCM) is the efficient management of the flows of material, data, and payments along the companies in the supply chain, from suppliers to consumers. SCM systems are configured to achieve the following business goals:
To reduce uncertainty and variability in order to improve the accuracy of forecasting
To increase control over the processes in order to achieve optimal inventory levels, cycle time, and customer service.
5. Step 1: Make sure the customer will pay. Depending on the payment method and prior arrangements with the customer, verify that the customer can and will pay, and agrees to the payment terms. This activity is done by the finance department for B2B sales or an external company, such as PayPal or a credit card issuer such as Visa for B2C sales. Any holdup in payment may cause a shipment to be delayed, resulting in a loss of goodwill or a customer. In B2C, the customers usually pay by credit card, but with major credit card data theft at Target and other retailers, the buyer may be using a stolen card.
Step 2: Check in-stock availability and reorder as necessary. As soon as an order is received, the stock is checked to determine the availability of the product or materials. If there is not enough stock, the ordering system places an order, typically automatically using EDI (electronic data interchange). To perform these operations, the ordering system needs to interface with the inventory system.
Step 3: Arrange shipments. When the product is available, shipment to the customer is arranged (otherwise, go to Step 5). Products can be digital or physical. If the item is physical and available, packaging and shipment arrangements are made. Both the packaging/shipping department and internal shippers or outside transporters may be involved. Digital items are usually available because their “inventory” is not depleted. However, a digital product, such as software, may be under revision, and thus unavailable for delivery at certain times. In either case, information needs to flow among several partners.
Step 4: Insurance. The contents of a shipment may need to be insured. Both the finance department and an insurance company could be involved, and again, information needs to be exchanged with the customer and insurance agent.
Step 5: Replenishment. Customized orders will always trigger a need for some manufacturing or assembly operation. Similarly, if standard items are out of stock, they need to be produced or procured. Production is done in-house or outsourced.
Step 6: In-house production. In-house production needs to be planned and actual production needs to be scheduled. Production planning involves people, materials, components, machines, financial resources, and possibly suppliers and subcontractors. In the case of assembly and/or manufacturing, several plant services may be needed, including collaboration with business partners. Production facilities may be located in a different country than the company’s headquarters or retailers. This may further complicate the flow of information.
Step 7: Use suppliers. A manufacturer may opt to buy products or subassemblies from suppliers. Similarly, if the seller is a retailer, such as in the case of Amazon. com or Walmart.com, the retailer must purchase products from its manufacturers. In this case, appropriate receiving and quality assurance of incoming materials and products must take place.
Once production (Step 6) or purchasing from suppliers (Step 7) is completed, shipments to the customers (Step 3) are arranged.
Step 8: Contacts with customers. Sales representatives keep in contact with customers, especially in B2B, starting with the notification of orders received and ending with notification of a shipment or change in delivery date. These contacts are frequently generated automatically.
Step 9: Returns. In some cases, customers want to exchange or return items. The movement of returns from customers back to vendors is reverse logistics. Such returns can be a major problem, especially when they occur in large volumes.
6. Logistics entails all the processes and information needed to move products from origin to destination efficiently. The order fulfillment process is part of logistics.
7. The top two strategic priorities of executives are supply chain analytics and multichannel fulfillment.
8. The two major barriers preventing innovation in the supply chain are a talent shortage and a continuing focus on cost reduction.
9. The top innovative digital technologies impacting SCM are: Robotics and automation, Inventory and Network Optimization Tools, Sensors and automatic identification, Predictive Analytics,
Wearables and mobile technology, Driverless vehicles and drones, Cloud computing and storage, 3D printing
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Learning Objectives (4 of 4)
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Geospatial Data and Geographic Information Systems
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Captures, manages, analyzes, and displays multidimensional geographic data, also called geospatial data.
Geospatial Data
Where things or people are and where they are going—with descriptive data—what things are like or what customers are doing.
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GIS Business Applications
Retailers can learn how store sales are impacted by population or the proximity to competitors’ stores.
Analysts can use GIS to identify relevant demographics, proximity to highways, public transportation, and competitors’ stores to select the best location options.
Food and consumer products companies can chart locations of complaint calls enabling product traceability in the event of a crisis or recall.
Sales reps might better target their customer visits by analyzing the geography of sales targets.
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Copyright
Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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