Delivering Business Analytics Practical Guidelines for Best Practice

by Stubbs, Evan

• ISBN13: 9781118370568
• ISBN10: 1118370562
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781118559543
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-02-26
• Publisher: Wiley
• More Book Details

Summary

Unlocking the value of business analytics can be challenging - complexity, uncertainty, and confusion are usually the norm, not the exception. True innovation and competitive advantage stem from navigating the razor's edge between order and chaos. So how do those who succeed do it? Everyone faces the same challenges; success comes from balancing the benefits of unfettered creativity with the need to industrialize those same unstructured processes. The harsh reality is that most teams are not as effective at managing these competing pressures as they could be. With the information contained in this book, they would be. This book provides 30 design patterns (examples) to help guide those who would create value through business analytics. Practical advice is given to help understand: (a) how a variety of common problems can be solved; (b) the advantages of disadvantages of each choice; and (c) how these solutions typically create organizational value. Each "Pattern" will contain the following elements: (a) pattern diagram, (b) problem the pattern solves, (c) design intent behind the pattern, (d) description of the actors and entities involved in the pattern, (e) use case description, (f) benefits of the approach, (g) limitations of the approach, and (g) common business-related applications and the reason why the pattern creates value.

Author Biography

EVAN STUBBS is the Chief Analytics Officer for SAS Australia / New Zealand and sits on the board of the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia. He is a prolific speaker and evangelist for the power of analytics, having written The Value of Business Analytics, a book explaining why some teams succeed while others fail. Over the years, he has developed human-machine interfaces for concept cars and models that predict criminal behavior, and has helped organizations establish analytical centers of excellence.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part One: Business Analytics Best Practices

Chapter 1: Business Analytics: A Definition

What is Business Analytics?

Core Concepts and Definitions

How to Use This Book

Chapter 2: The Competitive Advantage of Business Analytics

Advantages of Business Analytics

Challenges of Business Analytics

Establishing Best Practices

Part Two: The Data Scientist’s Code

Chapter 3: Designing the Approach

Drive Outcomes, Not Insight

Related Solutions

Automate Everything Non-Value-Added

Start Flexible, Become Structured

Eliminate Bottlenecks

Chapter 4: Creating Assets

Design Your Platform for Use, not Purity

Always Have a Plan B

Know What You are Worth

Own your Intellectual Property

Minimize Custom Development

Chapter 5: Managing Information and Making Decisions

Understand your Data

It’s better to Have Too Much Data than Too Little

Keep Things Simple

Function Should Dictate Form

Watch the Dynamic, Not Just the Static

Part Three: Practical Solutions: People and Process

Chapter 6: Driving Operational Outcomes

Augmenting Operational Systems

Breaking Bottlenecks

Optimizing Monitoring Processes

Encouraging Innovation

Chapter 7: Analytical Process Management

Coping with Information Overload

Keeping Everyone Aligned

Allocating Responsibilities

Opening the Platform

Part Four: Practical Solutions: Systems and Assets

Chapter 8: Computational Architectures

Moving Beyond the Spreadsheet

Build around Automation

Scaling Past the PC

Staying Mobile and Connected

Smoothing Growth with the Cloud

Chapter 9: Asset Management

Moving to Operational Analytics

Measuring Value

Measuring Performance

Measuring Effort

Part Five: Practical Solutions: Data and Decisioning

Chapter 10: Information Management

Creating the Data Architecture

Understanding the Data Value Chain

Creating Data Management Processes

Capturing the Right Data

Chapter 11: Decisioning Structures

Linking Analytics to Value

Reducing Time to Recommendation

Enabling Real-Time Scoring

Blending Rules with Models

Appendix The Cheat Sheets

Glossary

Further Reading

About the Author

Index