Lect 1

CSC – 426 Business Intelligence and
Analytics
Muhammad Bilal
Sr. Lecturer
Department of Computer Science
Bahria University, Karachi
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this chapter, you will be
able to:
• Introduction to BI and Analytics
• Key Concepts and Terminology
• BI Techniques and Tools
• Importance of BI in Decision Making
• Difference between BI, Analytics, Data Marts and Big Data.
What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
• Business Intelligence (BI) refers to the process, technologies, and
tools used by businesses to collect, integrate, analyze, and present
data to make informed decisions.
• BI transforms raw data into meaningful and useful information for

business analysis.
What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
1. Data-Driven Decision Making:
– BI enables organizations to make decisions based on data insights rather than intuition or gut
feelings. It focuses on historical data to understand what happened and why.
2. Tools and Technologies:
– BI relies on tools such as data warehouses, dashboards, reports, and data mining to provide
actionable insights.
– Examples include Power BI, Tableau, and QlikView.
3. BI Process Flow:
– Data Collection: Gathering data from multiple sources (internal and external).
– Data Integration: Combining and cleaning data to ensure consistency and accuracy.
– Data Analysis: Using analytical tools to discover trends, patterns, and relationships.
– Data Presentation: Visualizing data through reports, dashboards, and charts for easy
understanding.
Why is BI Important?
1. Informed Decision-Making:
– BI helps organizations make data-driven decisions by analyzing historical and real-time data.
– Reduces reliance on assumptions or gut feelings, leading to more accurate decisions.
– Provides insights into key business metrics, helping to answer questions like:
• What happened?
• Why did it happen?
• What is likely to happen next?
2. Improved Efficiency:
– Streamlines business operations by integrating data from various sources.
– Reduces the time and effort needed to gather and analyze data manually.
– Automation of reporting and data analysis processes saves time for decision-makers.
3. Enhanced Competitive Advantage:

– Businesses can stay ahead of competitors by leveraging insights from BI to identify market trends,
customer behavior, and operational inefficiencies.
– Enables quick adjustments to business strategies in response to changing market conditions.
Why is BI Important?
4. Better Customer Insights:

– Analyzes customer data to understand behavior, preferences, and trends.
– Helps businesses personalize customer experiences, enhance satisfaction, and
improve customer retention.
5. Risk Management and Forecasting:

– BI tools can help in identifying risks by spotting patterns or anomalies in the data.
– Predictive analytics within BI helps companies forecast trends and prepare for future
challenges.
Businesses Need Support for Decision
Making
• Uncertain economics
• Rapidly changing environments
• Global competition
• Demanding customers
• Taking advantage of information acquired by

companies is a Critical Success Factor.
BI Architecture Overview
The Information Gap
• The shortfall between gathering information and

using it for decision making.
– Firms have inadequate data warehouses.
– Business Analysts spend weeks gathering and
formatting data, instead of performing analysis.
(Data Warehousing Institute).
– Business Intelligence (BI) seeks to bridge the
information gap.
BI Applications
• Customer Analytics
• Human Capital Productivity Analysis
• Business Productivity Analytics
• Sales Channel Analytics
• Supply Chain Analytics
• Behavior Analytics
Klipfolio - sample of a marketing
dashboard
FitBit – Health Dashboard
Business Analytics (BA)
• BA uses more advanced tools like predictive models and
algorithms to go beyond BI.
• BA answers what will happen and provides insights on how to
act moving forward.
• It's used by companies to predict trends, customer behavior,
and make recommendations for future actions.
• Example: A retailer using BA to predict which products will be
popular next season based on historical data and external
trends like social media mentions.
Business Intelligence vs Business Analytics
Business Intelligence Business Analytics

• focuses on understanding • emphasizes using data to predict
historical data and current future outcomes and optimize
performance. decisions.
• uses reporting, dashboards, and • uses advanced techniques like
basic data analysis to track statistical models, data mining,
business performance. and machine learning to provide
predictive insights.
• provides descriptive insights that
show what has happened. • provides predictive and
prescriptive insights that suggest
what could happen and what
actions to take.
Types of BI Systems
• Descriptive (historical data analysis)
• Predictive (forecasting trends)
• Prescriptive (recommendation generation)
Descriptive (historical data analysis)
• Involves examining historical data to identify trends, patterns, and
insights from past events. It is the most basic form of data
analysis and focuses on what has happened in a business over a
given time period.
Predictive (forecasting trends)
• Involves using historical data, statistical algorithms, and machine
learning techniques to forecast future trends, behaviors, and
outcomes. It focuses on what might happen in the future based
on past data and patterns.
Prescriptive (recommendation generation)
• Involves using data, algorithms, and modeling techniques to
provide actionable recommendations for decision-making. It
focuses on what actions to take to achieve desired outcomes and
optimize future results.
BI in Action: Industry Examples
• Retail Industry:
– Customer Insights and Inventory Management
– Example: A retail chain uses Business Intelligence (BI) tools to analyze sales
data, track customer purchasing patterns, and manage inventory levels. By
integrating data from point-of-sale systems, online sales, and customer
feedback, the company can optimize stock levels, personalize marketing
campaigns, and improve customer satisfaction.
– Outcome: Increased sales, reduced inventory costs, and enhanced customer
loyalty.
Business Analytics, BI, Big Data, Data Mining -
What’s the difference?
• Business Analytics (BA)
– Tools to explore past data to gain insight into future business
decisions.
• Business Intelligence (BI)
– Tools and techniques to turn data into meaningful
information.
• Big Data
– Data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data
processing applications are inadequate.
• Data Mining
– Tools for discovering patterns in large data sets.
BI in Action: Industry Examples

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CSC – 426 Business Intelligence and

• BI transforms raw data into meaningful and useful information for

3. Enhanced Competitive Advantage:

4. Better Customer Insights:

5. Risk Management and Forecasting:

• Taking advantage of information acquired by

• The shortfall between gathering information and

Business Intelligence Business Analytics

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