CHAPTER 8 -> Accessing Organizational Information (Data Warehouse)

1. ROLES AND PURPOSES OF DATA WAREHOUSES AND DATA MART IN ORGANIZATION 

The purpose of the Data Warehouse in the overall Data Warehousing Architecture is to integrate corporate data.  It contains the "single version of truth" for the organization that has been carefully constructed from data stored in disparate internal and external operational databases.

The amount of data in the Data Warehouse is massive.  Data is stored at a very granular level of detail.  For example, every "sale" that has ever occurred in the organization is recorded and related to dimensions of interest.  This allows data to be sliced and diced, summed and grouped in unimaginable ways. 

Typical Data Warehousing Environment

Contrary to popular opinion, the Data Warehouses does not contain all the data in the organization.  It's purpose is to provide key business metrics that are needed by the organization for strategic and tactical decision making.

Decision makers don't access the Data Warehouse directly.  This is done through various front-end Data Warehouse Tools that read data from subject specific Data Marts.

The Data Warehouse can be either "relational" or "dimensional".  This depends on how the business intends to use the information.

2. The relationship of business intelligence and data warehousing 

 changing data into information and knowledge.

Many of the tool vendors who sell their products or software call it business Intelligence software rather than Data warehousing software. so what is it? 

Business Intelligence is a term commonly associated with data warehousing. Business Intelligence is a generalized term where a company initiates various activities to gather today's market information which also includes about their competitor. Today's business Intelligence systems are contrasted to more classical way of information gathering in mining and crunching the data in the most optimal manner. In short we can say BI simplifies information discovery and analysis. 

In this way the company will have a competitive advantage of business and intelligently using the available data in strategic and effective decision making. it has the ability to bring disparate data under one roof  with a meaningful information and ready for analysis.

so what has Data warehousing to do with Business Intelligence?

Business intelligence usually refers to the information that is available for the enterprise to make decisions on. A data warehousing (or data mart) system is the backed  or the infrastructural, component for achieving business intelligence. Business intelligence also includes the insight gained from doing data mining analysis, as well as unstructured data.

Example, data warehousing. All the source data from disparate sources are used to load/Stage data. Different sources can be flat files, another database or some other process. The starting point of the Data warehouse should extract the data in order to load into its environment.This is extracting. This data may not be the expected format or size. your business demands are different or your organization business requirements are different. So the business process has to modify the data or better word is to transform the incoming data to meet requirements and objectives. This is called Transformation. 

Once every slicing and dicing of the data is done along with applied business rules, this data is ready for loading into the target tables. This process is called Loading. So overall till now we have done Extraction, Transformation and Loading. In short we call this ETL. There are lot of tools available in today's market which does help in achieving the ETL process. Once this data is loaded in to the database, this is ready for next processing. We call that database as Data warehouse database. 

The next process could be building of data marts or directly reporting from it. There are lot of tools or software available for reporting/analysis. Some call it business reporting or analysis tool. But if you see the whole process has intelligence involved in business. we can call this or the gurus call it Data warehousing and the system involved from end to end is called business intelligence system. 

enabling business intelligence

ok..that's all. S.U.L~buybye!^^

CHAPTER 7 -> Storing Organizational Information (Database)

hai2...c u again..ok..not waste time to talk nonsense. Straight ti the point. This week i have learned two chapter for IT subject. Then, this is what i learned in chapter 7, Storing Organizational Information (Database).

1. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF THE RELATIONAL DATABASE MODEL

A relational database is a core, a system for storing and using data based upon the relationships among the elements of data. 

Different as databases may be in size, they are generally always structured according to one of three database models:

Relational = Nowadays, new installations of database management systems are almost exclusively of the relational type. Organizations that

already have a major investment in hierarchical or network technology

may add to the existing model, but groups that have no need to maintain

compatibility with “legacy systems” nearly always choose the relational

model for their databases.

Hierarchical = Hierarchical databases are aptly named because they have

a simple hierarchical structure that allows fast data access. They suffer

from redundancy problems and a structural inflexibility that makes database modification difficult.

Netw ork = Network databases have minimal redundancy but pay for that

advantage with structural complexity.

A cube is one way to illustrate relations among data as it helps to visualize data intersections. While it is easiest for us to picture a three-dimensional cube, a relational database stores data in many dimensions. 

We can think of dimensions as the entry points into the data or those business concepts we will use to slice and dice our data. In some organizations, dimensions are referred to as entities.

Many customers will buy many products in many stores at many times. We will call this type of data relationship a many-to-many relationship. In many-to-many relationships we use dimensional keys to organize the data. Look for the keys in the dimensional model at above.

-Each dimension has a single primary key. The primary key is unique to each row or record in our database and its value should not change over time.

-A primary key is often a consecutive or random number assigned to the record as it enters the database. 

-A primary key can also be made up of components of other fields in the table.

-The primary key is used for indexing the table to make it more efficient to search, sort, link and perform other operations on the data. 

-If we review the market dimension we find that each store key is unique. no two stores can have the same store key. Although it might seem that we could use store name as a unique means of identifying each store, we have  different stores with different addresses, states, regions, etc.

- When these keys appear in the fact table, they are referred to as foreign keys. In the Sales Fact Table, the foreign key is no longer unique. It may appear many times or not at all. 

- So the foreign keys in the fact table must have counterparts in the dimension tables to which it refers. This requirement of relational databases is called referential integrity.

- If you spend a great deal of time talking with data modelers you may come across a few more terms having to do with keys, such as composite keys and concatenated keys. Every fact table in a relational database has a composite key. 

- This is the primary key for the fact table and it is usually made up of a combination of the foreign keys maintained in the fact table. These foreign keys are concatenated (linked together into a single entry) into a primary key for the fact table.

2.THE ADVANTAGES OF RELATIONAL DATABASE

increased flexibility      

increased information security   

 increased information integrity

reduced information redundancy

 increased scalability and performance

3. DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM & RELATIONSHIP WITH WEBSITE

   - A Database Management System (DBMS) is a set of programs that enables you to store,modify, and extract information from a database.

- It also provides users with tools to add, delete, access, modify, and analyze data stored in one location.

-  A group can access the data by using query and reporting tools that are part of the DBMS or by using application programs specifically written to access the data. 

- DBMS also provide the method for maintaining the integrity of stored data, running security and users access, and recovering information if the system fails

- Many DBMS also include a graphics component that enables you to output information in the form of graphs and charts. Database and database management system are essential to all areas of business, they must be carefully managed.

Consider for example, a company selling sports cars. A database is created with information on each of its currently available cars e.g. make, model, engine details, year, a photograph, etc. A visitor to the website clicks on Porsche, the visitor enters the price range that they are interested in and hits 'Go'. The visitor is presented with information on available Porsche cars in their price range and an invitation to purchase or request more information from the company. The company has the ability to add new cars to the database, remove them or modify existing entries - this is achieved via a secure administration area on the website.

customer can click faster and the other page can appear as far as possible.

this is an example of website that people can surfing the internet. Google, Mozilla, Explore and etc.

4. WHY ORGANIZATION WOULD WANT TO INTEGRATE ITS DATABASE?

Data integration refers to the organization’s inventory of data and information assets as well as the tools, strategies and philosophies by which fragmented data assets are aligned to support business goals.

company want to integrate its database because they will connect,communicate,dealing and having relation with its customer everyday. Everyday its customers will open the webpage and search anything appear on the page. Therefore, if the product still available or not available the supplier must inform the customers immediately.Publish the information on the web page to make the customers realize that the product exist or not in the market. Then, when the customers got information they will not too disappointed and not waiting too long. Customers satisfy, the business relationship between sellers and customers will be good.:) 

That's all ya...:) S.U.L~buybye..^^

CHAPTER 5 -> Organizational Structures That Support Strategies Initiatives

Halu2....this week i've learned about chapter 5 and this topic is about organizational structure. As an example at the above, organization is a one teamwork that obligatory have in companies to work closely together to develop strategic initiatives that create competitive advantages and in addition can achieve the goals successfully.

Ok..commanly we heard CEO, CFO, COO in the organization right? But, in IT department they using CIO, CTO, CSO, CPO and  CKO. What is this??

Chief Information Officer (CIO)

• Serves as the company’s top technology infrastructure manager

• Runs the organization’s internal IT operations

• Works to streamline business processes with technology

• Focuses on internal customers (users and business units)

• Collaborates and manages vendors that supply infrastructure solutions

• Aligns the company’s IT infrastructure with business priorities

• Developers strategies to increase the company’s bottom line (profitability)

• Has to be a skilled and organized manager to be successful

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

• Serves as the company’s top technology architect

• Runs the organization’s engineering group

• Uses technology to enhance the company’s product offerings

• Focuses on external customers (buyers)

• Collaborates and manages vendors that supply solutions to enhance the company’s product(s)

• Aligns the company’s product architecture with business priorities

• Develops strategies to increase the company’s top line (revenue)

• Has to be a creative and innovative technologist to be successful

Chief Security Officer (CSO)

• leader responsible for the development, implementation and management of the organization’s corporate security vision, strategy and programs. 

• They direct staff in identifying, developing, implementing and maintaining security processes across the organization to reduce risks, respond to incidents, and limit exposure to liability in all areas of financial, physical, and personal risk.

•  establish appropriate standards and risk controls associated with intellectual property and direct the establishment and implementation of policies and procedures related to data security.

Chief Privacy Officer (CPO)

•  responsible for managing the risks and business impacts of privacy laws and policies. 

•  created to respond to both consumer concern over the use of personal information, including medical data and financial information, and laws and regulations.

• evaluating legislative and regulatory proposals involving collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by the Federal Government. 

• conducting a privacy impact assessment of proposed rules of the Department or that of the Department on the privacy of personal information, including the type of personal information collected and the number of people affected.

• coordinating with the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO)

• responsible for overseeing knowledge information within an organization. 

• The CKO's job is to ensure that the company profits from the effective use of knowledge resources. 

• Investments in knowledge may include employees, processes and intellectual property.

• CKO can help an organization maximize the return on investment (ROI) on those investments.

• Maximize benefits from intangible assets, such as branding and customer relationships.

• Repeat successes and analyze and learn from failures.

• Foster innovation.

• Avoid the loss of knowledge that can result from loss of personnel.

ok...that's all for this week.S.U.L...lololol bubye!^^

CHAPTER 4 -> Measuring The Success Of Strategic Initiatives

Alright dude..last week I had posted about the strategic initiatives which is divided into 4 group there are SCM, CRM, BPR and ERP. All this types of strategic initiatives has it own function in organization. Now, for chapter 4, we discuss about measuring the success of this strategic  initiatives. Yeah..of coz we had learned a lot of knowledge about this chapter but, because of my beautiful lecturer is a compromise person..:) we only need to post about the efficiency and effectiveness IT metrics and imagine how Facebook can be a efficiency and effectiveness platform to promote our own product. 

  So...lets check it out!!

Efficiency IT Metrics

* Efficiency is related to doing the things right.

* It is more to tangible which is easy to see,touch,calculate,define,determine and realize.

* It also measure the performance of the IT system itself including throughput, speed, availability and                                flexibility.

* How far the company can using their resources such as capital, assets, facilities or technology system to achieve it goals. 

 * For example, a company already have a formal web and now they want to create news letter that can be generate everyday for their customers.

Effectiveness IT Metrics

*.Effectiveness is related to doing the right things.

* It is more to intangible which is not easy to see, touch, calculate, define, determine and realize.

* It also measure the impact IT has on business process and activities including customer satisfaction.

* How well the organization achieve its goals and objectives and ensuring they accomplished.

* Foe example, how far Google can be a domain website that people choose during searching.

* * *

Time for dreaming!! hehe..

So, lets say I want to imagine that I have a online business and I sell headscarf trough Facebook..:) My headscarf business name is Durani. Ok..what the efficiency and effectiveness using the Facebook for my business?? Hurmmmmmmmm...

For efficiency :

- it can manage and generate my headscarf business more easy, fast and spend time,money,force and effort for me and also my customers. How??

Ok..lets say firstly I've make a promotion in my own facebook.Not the official page. Then, from that I can introduce to my family and friends about the scarf.. Just tagging the picture to all fb friends. Hehehehe..

Later, I can put the Durani official page in facebook and put a few of the best scarf or latest scarf as a cover photo. Next,the scarf fan can subscribe the page..:) every time the latest scarf will be put in the page. The fans and customers can choose their choice based on the colors, size, patterns, design and fashion. For the old stock it still have. So...my customers will never miss buy it as long as the supplier still produce the scarf. After that, when they want to make an order my customers just need to PM( private massage), call or email that I put together in the page. Easy right....:)

For effectiveness :

Yeah..for sure..to maintain my business effectiveness I should keep my promise to customers. It means...I must deliver the order in right time and right place. For the information in the Durani official page and also my own page, i must ensure that my customer receive same information. For example, when the blue scarf for  M size is out of order I must publish it on the page and all the fans, customers and visitors of Durani headscarf will aware.

# That's all for today..S.U.L lol~ ^^bubye..