Library+-+Databases+and+Business+Analytics

70-451 Library > Databases and Business Analytics Library
 * =Databases and Business Analytics Library=

Overview:
One of the fundamental aspects of any effective information systems organization is collecting, storing, making accessible, and analyzing the data that the business needs both to run its business, and to run its business more effectively. The resources in this section of the library relate to that aspect of an information systems organizations responsibilities.

Library Entries:

 * Title**: Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
 * Author(s)**: Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris
 * Reference information**: [DH07] Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris, Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning, Harvard Business School Press, 2007. ISBN: 1422103323


 * Core ideas**:
 * Data is becoming an increasingly important tool for making good decisions in modern businesses
 * Companies from a wide variety of different industries are using //business analytics tools// to leverage the data that they have about their business to run their businesses more effectively, to discover new opportunities, and to identify where they need to improve. These tools are basically software packages that apply increasingly sophisticated statistical analysis on the organization's data.
 * Building a successful analytics-driven business requires data, software analysis tools, employee expertise in analyzing and interpreting the feedback from the analytics tools, and a management ethos that encourages and rewards the effective use of data analysis in making business decisions.

In their book Competing on Analytics, the authors lay out a carefully constructed and quite compelling argument for the importance of data-driven decision making in a modern business. Through a combination of case studies, discussions of specific tools and techniques for applying business analytics, and descriptions of a process that businesses can use to start being more 'data-driven'. The most interesting part of the book is, in fact, the case studies that show how a wide range of businesses have decided to 'Compete on Analytics' and improve their business by making the gathering and analysis of data, as well as a dedication to acting on the results of that analysis, a fundamental part of their business strategy.
 * Commentary**:


 * Entry history**:
 * [Bob Monroe, initial post on Oct. 9, 2011]
 * [<>, < >]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/bi/231900914?pgno=1
 * Title**: 3 Big Data Challenges: Expert Advice
 * Author(s)**: Doug Henschen
 * Reference information**:


 * Core ideas**:
 * The size of the data does not determine the importance of the data. Volume, variety and velocity together create valuable and useful data.
 * Sorting data using data-integration software such as, Sybase IQ and Syncsort, can streamline processing which improves speed and lowers costs for a company.
 * Data providers such as Infochimps use Hadoop software to gather data from Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. This data allows them to identify the most influential tweeters, which allows business to negotiate with them. This will increase their social network presence.

This article published by Information Week provides a thorough understanding of how businesses can use data and information to their advantage. The author of the article provides many real life examples of companies' successful use of data generation and creating valuable information from this data. The article gives a thorough analysis of different data analytic software applications and the advantages and disadvantages they provide for a company.
 * Commentary**:


 * Entry history**:
 * [Maryam Al-Thani, initial post on Oct. 19, 2011]
 * [<>, < >]

[]
 * Title:** Agile Software Requirements
 * Author:** Dean Leffingwell
 * Reference information:**


 * Core Ideas:**
 * The difference between the kinds of analysts.
 * Developers and stakeholders; an analysis
 * Requirement, System and Business analysts; their responsibilities.
 * Rethinking the role of analysts today.

So, I found this topic of study very interesting. It takes us back to main question of having BSA's or not. Well it clearly depends on your business operations weather you need analysts or not. In my opinion you do need an analyst at all times. This is where Agile developers come in play; they are generalizing specialists which is both a good thing and bad thing. Someone, might be good at a X analysis but no so good at Y analysis. Therefore, training is said to be essential for employees, developers and analysts at all stages. However, not so much spending on employees is always a good idea. You don't want to spend a lot on an employee. Because, he can acquire all those skills and later move to a better job. Therefore, for analysis, a diverse area, you need to have diversity in the employees. You need to have employees from all different places that can bring in their expertise.
 * Commentary:**


 * Entry History:**
 * ===[MUGHEES AHMED, initial post on Oct. 20, 2011]===
 * [<>, < >]

=== **Title ** : Analytics goes Mainstream ===

**Author(s) **: John Jordan []
 * Link or reference information **:

**Commentary: ** The investment in data mining and analysis thereof was led by IBM. Improved techniques have led to the spread of analytics throughout a number of industries using data such as consumer preferences or numerical trends over time. Increasingly sophisticated software has revolutionized the intelligence, marketing and technology industries. Especially the use of statistical software has led to large parts of quantitive finance now being dominated by algorithmic trading programs, which also carry risks due to the high degree of automation.
 * Core ideas **:
 * Analytics is being used more and more by businesses
 * The charge is being led by social networks
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Business analytics has had ramifications for quantitative finance

**Entry History:**


 * [Patrick Steinhagen, initial post on Oct. 19, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >]

[|http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee811585(v=cs.20).aspx] even thought this article is made by Microsoft it still provides an amazing amount of details that help the reader in understanding the basics of business analysis and how it relates in real life software. the fact that this link has the definition of each of the three parts of a system and defined then along with the ability to read more about each with the extra links available gave me a clear preview of what a business analytic system.
 * Title**: Business Analytics System
 * Author(s)**: Microsoft corporation
 * Link or reference information**:
 * Core ideas** :
 * Microsoft Commerce server 2002 is an example of a software that does business analytics.
 * Business Analytic Systems contain 3 main parts: Data warehouse, predictor and Analysis reporting.
 * A predictor Describes a powerful data-mining tool that you use to provide predictive capabilities for your Web site.
 * Commentory:**


 * Entry history**:
 * [Ayah Abujarbou, initial post on Oct. 28, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/storage/231902074 This concise article provides business managers and CIOs with important advice on choosing storage systems. Crump states that if companies utilize live migration, companies do not need to rely heavily on their initial purchases of storage systems. They can buy cheaper initial storage systems and add to their storage systems when needed. Instead of purchasing a high cost, more complicated, less flexible storage system initially and move to a new system without using live migration applications or software.
 * Title**: Live Migration brings Flexibility to Storage
 * Author(s)**: George Crump
 * Link or reference information**:
 * Core ideas** (1, 2, or 3 bullet points that summarize the core idea presented in the article):
 * Companies face problems with their storage system as the amount of data they collect increases.
 * As a result of the increase in data, companies either need to purchase a new system and start moving data to it, or replace current system with a faster system that can support higher capabilities. Both options are costly and both involve data migration.
 * Live migration is the solution the the problem. Applications such as VMware, allow companies to transfer data in real time. This saves the company money, time and allows for much greater flexibility.
 * Commentary**:


 * Entry history**:
 * [Maryam Al-Thani, initial post on Nov. 7, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >


 * Title ** : What is a MySQL database?
 * Author(s) ** : Refrenced to MySQL create database website
 * Link or reference information ** : []

I was always curios to know what MySQL database is, and this website was very helpful to provide me with all the information I wanted in a simple way that a business student can understand. The website explains how MySQL is important and useful to keep all the stored data organized and to have it displayed faster. Also, explains how MySQL has tables and each table stores specific information for the application that the company is using. MySQL has been one of the most important databases in the world and it is widely used by so many business organizations to keep their stored information organized and safe.
 * Core ideas ** (1, 2, or 3 bullet points that summarize the core idea presented in the article):
 * Explains what is MySQL database and how does it work
 * Guides the reader through creating a simple MySQL database through simple steps
 * Provides a tutorial on how to create MySQL database through tutorial videos
 * Commentary ** :

[<<next person who added commentary>>, <
 * Entry history ** :
 * [Dua’a Althabatah, initial post on Nov. 18, 2011]


 * Title **: IBM Improves Clinical Database Integration
 * Author(s) **: IBM
 * Link or reference information **: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFn4cW5RGyQ


 * Core ideas: **
 * Having access to large amounts of data could help doctors make better decisions
 * Doctors could use data stored in operational databases to analyze clinical cases, and provide more efficient treatments to diseases
 * In order for databases to be helpful, they need to be "refreshed" or updated regularly.

This video, made by IBM, discusses how doctors could benefit from using a database that IBM developed to help doctors treat HIV patients in Africa. The system contains data collected and inputted by doctors around the world which was built into a database. The database includes data about the type of virus, the combinations of medication to be used, and the success rate of that combination. This database was then used to create a prediction engine that assists doctors in predicting the outcomes of their treatments. It is interesting to see how powerful and effective a database could be. In this specific case, it prevents doctors in Africa from making the same mistakes that doctors around the world have made. That way, HIV rates would be decreased in Africa, and at the same time costs for treating HIV would also be decreased.
 * Commentary **:


 * Entry history **:
 * [Firas Bata, initial post on Nov. 18, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >


 * Title**: Advanced Analytics Can Improve Underwriting for Large, Complex Commercial Risks
 * Author(s)**: Michael A. Costonis and Michael F. Reilly
 * Link or reference information**: http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2011/11/10/advanced-analytics-can-improve-underwriting-for-la?t=analytics-data


 * Core ideas**:
 * Commercial insurers can use data analytics to cross-sell to their clients.
 * The key elements that puts analytics to it's full use.

The authors of this article discuss the ways in which commercial insurers can use analytics to improve the business. One way to do that is to cross-sell to their underwriters. The authors mention that insurers should apply the same technique that Amazon follows. They should gather enough information about their clients so that they are able to identify similar customers and offer similar services. In addition, the article shows the key elements that enables organizations to use analytics successfully. These elements are data quality, analytics capabilities and presentation capabilities.
 * Commentary**:


 * Entry history**:
 * [Walied El Hag Ali, initial post on Nov. 18, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >

**Author(s)**: IBM **Link or reference information**: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=eiuiCk5oqdM
 * Title ** : Business Analytics and Optimization: Leveraging Transformational Technologies for Optimized

**Core ideas:**


 * Using information could bring value to the business and help it gain competitive advantage
 * Business analytics tools could be used in various sectors (medicine, law, police departments) to provide solutions to problems

**Commentary**:

The video introduces an artificial intelligence computer system that can understand and answer real life questions. This system could be used as a business analytics tool to help bring value to the business. The system deals with unstructured information in the form of text, video, audio, etc.. and analyzes it and then provides answers. The video discusses how this system is used in many fields, from medicine and law to police departments and businesses. Such a system could be used to gain a competitive edge over competitors as it provides high performance and lower costs.

**Entry history**:
 * [Firas Bata, initial post on Nov. 18, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >

[] i believe this is a very interesting article it shows the readers how to easily differentiate between the three terms. the example mentioned made it easier to link those three terms to a real life situation and i could easily link them now to any similar situation. Other than that, the authors provided a diagram that shows you a simple way of understanding the differences and that would be helpful if a person was in a hurry and wanted to know that main differences without having to read the article.
 * Title**: The Differences Between Data, Information and Knowledge.
 * Author(s)**: infogineering.com
 * Link or reference information**:
 * Core ideas**:
 * differentiate between Data, Information and Knowledge in an age where there is an information overload.
 * defines the main terminology in a way that is specific to information engineers and not the general definition.
 * explain why do people tend to be confused when trying to link them together.
 * providing a real example and showing where data, information and knowledge could be seen.
 * Commentary**:

Commentary:

This article indicates the difference between data, information and knowledge. In reality, many people find it hard to distinguish between information and data. There is an example about how people were using these two words “interchangeably” when the UK Government Tax office lost CDs containing people’s record. I think the way the author simplifies this topic was really effective. The author uses simple diagram to draw the interaction between these three key terms. I think the article is informative because it is related to what we are studying in this course.


 * Entry history**:
 * [Ayah Abujarbou, initial post on Nov. 19, 2011]
 * [Ahmad Al-Sarraf, initial post on Nov. 19, 2011]


 * Title**: Benefits of a Data Warehouse
 * Author(s)**: INTRICITY
 * Link or reference information**: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGHbY_Sales&feature=related


 * Core ideas**:
 * Data Warehouses helps in retrieving the huge amount of data that is required for analysis without causing any disturbances to the users of the system, which is a task that is very difficult to do using only the applications that are used for different departments of the organisation.
 * Data Warehouses combine data from the whole organisation which allows for meaningful correlations amongst data sets.
 * It is more time and energy efficient to have Data Warehouses combine the data together instead of different people in the organisation having to do so. This is because people have different ways of bringing data together and also different ways of explaining it.

I found this video very insightful and organized, as it explains why companies need Data Warehouses to help them understand their business goals and benefits better. The visual diagrams are also a very interesting way of representing the ideas, as it helps the audience understand the need for having Data Warehouses, which is essentially that companies have many different data sources that must be integrated to form valuable information and knowledge.
 * Commentary**:


 * Entry history**:
 * [Layal Al-Alami, initial post on Nov. 19, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >


 * Title:** What is Business Intelligence?
 * Author(s):** Avitas
 * Link or reference information:** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aHtHl-jcAs&feature=related


 * Core ideas:**
 * For CEO's to make informative decisions about their businesses, they need to transform their Data to information and then knowledge.
 * Business Intelligence shows how the business is doing now, and keeps this data to support business decisions.
 * Business Analytics shows how the business will work in the future, using forecasting techniques to predict these outcomes.
 * Business Intelligence and Business Analytics both together play an important role in the decision making process in businesses.

I liked the video's visual representation for how BI and Business Analytics work side by side, to improve decision making. It is very important to know how these work together, and what each of them does to help support the business. The video clearly shows how BI and business Analytics together, help answer the CEO's questions about now and the future.
 * Commentary:**


 * Entry history**:
 * [Layal Al-Alami, initial post on Nov. 19, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >

[]
 * Title**: Facbook: Federal Human Data Mining Program
 * Author(s)**: circusandbread
 * Link or reference information**:
 * Core ideas**:
 * Facebook collects individual's information and sort the data
 * Facebook uses data mining to organize the data into useful knowledge and information
 * They then share the information with third party companies to gain commission. So what happens in the Facebook doe not stay in the Facebook

The video talk about the frightfulness of the privacy setting on Facebook. The video explain how Facebook uses data mining tools to organized the data given such as age, sexual orientation, pictures, places, interests etc into useful information. They have the right to use the information as they please because they reserve the right to, such as finding out more information about you form other sources such as instant messaging. they then use data mining to pull out statistic such as what are the top movies watched, favorite location spots. and finally share the information with third parties, which are primarily businesses. so that they can use further.
 * Commentary**:


 * Entry history**:
 * [Khadeejah Al-Husseiny, initial post on Nov 19, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >

As White discusses IBM's enterprise analytics solution for the intelligent e-business, many important factors are touched upon. We are given a brief overview of the history of business information systems and we notice how it has improved from a system that provided extensive amounts of data to be further refined by the end-user into a system which provides quick, efficient, and real-time analytics and decisions for businesses. Many companies look to vendors such as IBM for business solutions and systems instead of building ones themselves, and it is important to know the different factors that make up such systems. The paper then looks further into the specifics of enterprise analytics, database management and data access.
 * Title **: IBM Enterprise Analytics for the Intelligent E-business
 * Author(s) **: Colin J. White
 * Link or reference information **: ftp://129.35.224.15/software/data/pubs/papers/bi.pdf
 * Core ideas **
 * The first generation of business information systems was one that used batch applications reporting on operational data. The second generation consisted of data warehousing applications, and finally the third generation represented business intelligence products.
 * The main components of an IT infrastructure supporting intelligent e-business are: a portal, data warehouse development tools, a database management system (DBMS), and analytic application development tools and packaged solutions.
 * For fourth-generation business information systems to be successful, they must be built on a strong and stable infrastructure.
 * Commentary **:


 * Posting history **:
 * [Meshail Al-Misnad, initial post on Nov. 20, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >]


 * Title **: The Impact of Business Analytics on Supply Chain Performance
 * Author(s) **: Peter Trkman, Kevin McCormak, Marcos Paulo Valaderas de Oliveira, Marcelo Bronzo Ladeira
 * Link or reference information **: http://profitpt.com/pdf/Business-analytics-supply-chain-performance.pdf
 * Core ideas **
 * Business analytics has been identified as an important and strong tool in improving supply chain performance.
 * Of the most common supply chain to apply business analytics to (Plan, Source, Make and Deliver), it has been shown that business analytics would be most effective in the 'Make' process of supply chains.
 * Having strong IS can take the effects of business analytics on supply chains further.

I thought it would be interesting, since most or all of us are business students, to look into how such topics affect business processes. This paper looks into how business analytics can have an impact on supply chain performance - which is all the resources required to move a product from supplier to consumer. The paper argues that for companies to be competitive through their supply chain they need good analytics since data analysis lies at the heart of business decisions. They gathered data from 310 companies around the world to study/investigate the effects of business analytics on supply chains. The results do indeed show that business analytics in critical areas affect the performance of supply chains.
 * Commentary **:


 * Posting history **:
 * [Fatima Fikree, initial post on Nov. 20, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >]


 * Title**: Data-Mining Goes Mainstream
 * Author(s)**: Steve Lohr
 * Reference information**: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/business/yourmoney/20compute.html


 * Core ideas**:
 * Data-mining could be used to fight crime.
 * Data-mining and new analytics software became very popular in all types of business.
 * Companies are investing heavily in business intelligence makers.

The author of this article brings up a lot of interesting and valuable information about data-mining. Fighting crime is one of them. If data-mining is used efficiently, crime rates would decrease greatly. The author show us an example of the Richmond police chief who used analytics software to predict the dates and times when crimes are most likely to take place. Some of the information that he needed to conduct the research include demographics, weather conditions and paydays. Then, by deploying more cops at specific areas and also specific times the chief was able to reduce crime rates in Richmond by 20% in one year. The author also mentions that analytics became very popular in all kinds of businesses. For example, Wal-Mart uses mining to predict which shirt sizes they should have more of and in which particular stores. In addition, business intelligence makers became a target for investors. Oracle for example invested $3.3billion on an analytics software maker and many other companies are beginning to do the same thing.
 * Commentary**:


 * Entry history**:
 * [Walied El Hag Ali, initial post on Nov. 21, 2011]
 * [<<next person who edits this entry>>, < >]

Title: Why Business Analytics are Critical to the Supply Chain: Supply Chain Brain
 * Author(s):** Youtube (Siddharthtaparia31)
 * Link information:** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G3Y4HnP9C8&feature=related


 * Core ideas:**


 * Companies have been investing in supply management technologies, and business analytics help maximize the benefits of these technologies.
 * Business analytics is the "brain" that extracts the info and helps businesses progress.
 * Business analytics measures the performance of the company through charts, graphs and specific key factor indicators that depend on the firm's strategy.
 * Business analytics help all people get the information they need to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently.


 * Commentary:** What I liked about this video is that it shows the connection between business analytics and other IS parts in the company. It shows the importance of business analytics in terms of helping managers make valuable decisions about the companies operations.


 * Entry history**:
 * [Layal Al-Alami, initial post on Dec. 3, 2011]
 * [<<next person who edits this entry>>, < >]

Title: What is Data Mining
 * Author(s):** Stephan P Kudyba
 * Link information:** []


 * Core ideas:**
 * Data mining is the combination of quantitative methods, so where ever you have data, data mining uses these methods that then can generate trends and patterns
 * Data mining can be applied to many sectors like advertisement, health car process or supply chain process.
 * The benefit of Data Mining to organization is to help them extract information from their resources which will enable them to increase their productivity and effieceny.
 * facebook and linkin are also example of sites that uses data, they have data that describes what people are like and do they do and that's way of gathering data.

This video is given by a professor that teaches in NJIT School of Management. he teaches a course called Data Mining for managers, and he talks about the definition of data mining. he states in the video that the definition of data mining over the past years hasn't been that clear and people often misunderstand the real meaning of Data mining. Thus, in his video he suffeiently explains what data mining is, he provides examples that data mining can be used in and last he states that benefit that it adds to organizations.
 * Commentary:**


 * Entry history**:
 * [Amal Osman, initial post on Dec. 7, 2011]
 * [<<next person who edits this entry>>, < >]


 * Title ** : Beware online "filter bubbles"
 * Author(s) ** : Eli Pariser
 * Link or reference information ** : []


 * Core ideas **
 * A filter bubble is a concept in which companies or websites use analytical techniques to personalize search results for users, even when they are logged out of their account – this creates a filter bubble.
 * This notion presents a “struggle between our future aspirational selves and our more impulsive current selves.”
 * The filter algorithms need to have encoded in them a sense of civic responsibility – they need to be transparent and allow the user to make decisions about their personal algorithmic filters.

Eli Parisor raises important questions regarding how popular websites such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo etc use algorithms to filter out web content according to what they think is the user’s interests or views/opinions are. If two users google the word ‘Egypt’ for example they would get very different search results, varying from political headlines to vacation deals. The challenge with these algorithmic personalized filters is that because they’re mainly looking at what the user clicks first, it can throw off that balance in the information. The speaker proclaims that this might lead to an era in which we would not get the actual information at all, and all we would get would be a segment of the information which is keyed to relevance only. He finally advocates that if these algorithms are going to curate the world for us then we need to make sure that they are transparent enough that we can see what the rules are that determine what gets through our filters.
 * Commentary ** :


 * Posting history ** :
 * [Maryam Al-Subaie, initial post on Dec. 7, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >]


 * Title ** : Managing a Data Warehouse
 * Author(s) ** : Richard Barker
 * Link ** : []


 * Core ideas ** :
 * The article explains briefly what is a Data Warehouse and what are the three components for a Data Warehouse generally.
 * The article mentions 8 processes to set up a Data Warehouse and provides enough detail about each one of these processes.
 * The article highlights the basic methods to keep Data Warehouse safe and available all the time such as: backup and restore data, online versus offline storage, disaster recovery, reliability and availability and “on the fly” physical reconfiguration.
 * The article shows the importance of maintaining a replicated Data Warehouse on a remote site for disaster recovery as well as creating Data Warehouse versioning and checkpoint recovery at a particular instant of time.
 * The article recommends that an organization must deploy all the resources supported Data Warehouse properly using proactive rather than reactive management tools. The proactive management tools are tools that collect data about Data Warehouse and how it is used.

I believe that this article is really informative and supports what we have learned in the class because Data Warehouse has become a critical to most organizations. It gives an organization a competitive advantage by accessing relevant corporate information that helps managers and executives to make decisions to manage their business and generate revenues. This is why we, as businesspersons, must consider Data Warehouse and other database systems as valuable assets and protect them by enhancing remote backup and disaster recovery plans to maintain their accessibility, availability and performance.
 * Commentary ** :

[<<next person who added commentary>>, < >]
 * Posting history: **
 * [Ahmad Al-Sarraf, initial post on Dec. 9, 2011]


 * Title**: Health IT Saves a Life in Memphis
 * Author(s)**: David Talbot
 * Link or reference information**: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/39120/?mod=chthumb


 * Core ideas**:
 * Information-sharing network between different hospitals have helped in saving a woman's life.
 * Participating the hospitals to share information in MEmphis area helped reduced health care costs by $2 million in 13 months.
 * Electronic medical records by U.S. doctors doubled to 30% and 80% of hospitals are beefing up their electronic health records.
 * The information-exchange system works by sending the information from different hospitals to a data center in Nashville, and a doctor then can see the summary and all the information on a chronological order.

The idea of sharing patient's information between 12 hospitals will help avoid taking unnecessary procedures, it will also minimize the redundancy of test or scans taken by the patient in different emergency rooms, besides that it will help reduce the time taken to treat patients and this will result in saving patients' lives and treat more patients in certain period of time. the fact that emerging information helped in reducing costs can be taken as an opportunity to use that saved money to do researches to help cure diseases.
 * Commentary**:


 * Posting history**:
 * [Al-Jawhra Al-Mana, initial post on Dec. 9, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/colinhill/2011/11/17/can-big-data-fix-healthcare/
 * Title**: Can big data fix Healthcare?
 * Author(s)**: Colin Hill
 * Reference information**:


 * Core ideas**:
 * The healthcare business has grown dramatically in the United States over the past 50 years. The literature, research articles to accompany this growth has also increased significantly. However, this data has not proved to be sufficient; the healthcare industry is still in need of evidence and research that works.
 * The healthcare industry needs to start undergoing research and find reliable data; data that leads to a solution or cure. They need to do so quickly and on an even larger scale if they are to start covering initial costs of research. The US government spends a lot of money on healthcare, however, the healthcare industry is not responding with sufficient research.
 * Big data and the pursuit of relevant, high quality data are expected to provide better results and valuable evidence for the healthcare industry. The healthcare industry hopes that continuous research will provide them with the answers they seek.

The healthcare industry is one of the most expensive industries in the United States. Citizens of the United States have to continuously pay large amounts of money on a monthly basis for health insurance when the majority for the most part are not in need of a hospital visit. Health insurance and the healthcare industry is one of the main issues that drive American politics; this signifies the importance of the industry. The article raises many questions on the legitimacy of healthcare and healthcare spending and whether or not it will provide them with the answers they seek.
 * Commentary**:


 * Entry history**:
 * [Maryam Al-Thani, initial post on Dec. 10, 2011]
 * [<<next person who edits this entry>>, < >]


 * Title **: Mobil phone as a tool for data collection in field research
 * Author(s) **: Sandro Mourão and Karla Okad
 * Link or reference information **: []
 * Core ideas: **
 * Data gathering is one of the most essential elements and activities in field research
 * Data collection consists of interviews, observations which are recorded in documents, audio recordings, videos and photos
 * Mobile phones provides data collection that could be communicated quickly and accurately


 * Commentary **:

This paper presents a mobile phone based solution for data collection in field research, the author starts with talking about how essential data collecting nowadays is and how its implemented. these researches. Many health organizations need to gather fast need and accurate field data into their system for analysis and decision-making. the device to help these organazations is Mobile phone. mobile phone provide the solution for more accurate and fast data collection. mobile phones is a device that has the potential to improve any service that relies on accurate and up-to-date information.its quite useful because it enables the collection of data including, text, video, audio recording and photos.


 * Entry history **:
 * [Amal Osman, initial post on Dec. 13, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/20/businesss-analytics-oracle-technology-cio-network-ibm.html
 * Title **: IBMs bet on business analytics
 * Author(s) **: David F. Carr
 * Link or reference information **:


 * Core ideas: **
 * Business analytics allow users to access more valuable information
 * Clean data from a data warehouse does not tell the whole story
 * Many of the analytic tools used by companies today are bundled in other systems, making it attractive for software solutions providers to enter the market of business analytics


 * Commentary **:

The quality of analysis depends on the quality of the data, so large organizations usually undertake a data warehousing, data cleansing and master data management effort in advance of any business intelligence initiative. The goal is to gather information from many systems into common repositories, eliminate duplicates and errors, and reconcile discrepancies. An analysis based on clean data from a data warehouse may be the ideal, but it is not usually the whole story, Ashe says. Usually, there are also scenarios where the analytics tool must pull data from multiple systems and consolidate it.


 * Entry history **:
 * [Patrick Steinhagen, initial post on Dec. 13, 2011]
 * [<<next person who added commentary>>, < >

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> []
 * <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Title **<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">: Analyze This: More than Ever, Math Drives Marketing Decisions
 * <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Author(s) **<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">: Bruce Bitt
 * <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Link or reference information **<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">:
 * <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Core ideas **<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(1, 2, or 3 bullet points that summarize the core idea presented in the article):
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Marketing has changed significantly due to analytics.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">With increasing computing power, business now look for math-supported marketing optimization solutions.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">David Norton turned his company from a games company into a math marketing juggernaut, steering operations of several firms using analytics
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It has been slow to catch on in some areas of the world.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> **Commentary**:

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Marketing back in the day used to mainly mean communications and advertising. Now that marketing research has flourished and thrived with the arrival of very powerful data mining and business analytics. This article lists out how the role of the marketing leads have changed to focus more on data analytics than anything else. Marketing Analytics and data mining will now be one of THE technologies to watch out for, because how this technology evolves will determine how businesses evolve their marketing strategies.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> **Posting history**:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[M Hammad Abbasi, initial post on Dec. 13, 2011]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[<<next person who added commentary>>, < >]