Answers
Business Analytics - Answer-the use of data, information technology, statistical analysis,
quantitative methods, and mathematical or computer-based models to help managers
gain improved insight about their business operations and make better, fact- based
decisions.
Some common types of decisions that can be enhanced by using analytics include -
Answer-• pricing (for example, setting prices for consumer and industrial goods,
government contracts, and maintenance contracts)
. customer segmentation (for example, identifying and targeting key customer groups in
retail, insurance, and credit card industries),
. merchandising (for example, determining brands to buy, quantities, and • allocations),
. location (for example, finding the best location for bank branches and ATMs, or where
to service industrial equipment),
Analytical methods, in one form or another, have been used in business - Answer-For
over a century
modern evolution of analytics began with what? - Answer-the introduction of computers
in the late 1940s and their development through the 1960s and beyond
business intelligence (BI) - Answer-the collection, management, analysis, and reporting
of data
information systems (IS) - Answer-use IT to collect, organize, and distribute data for use
in decision making
Statistical methods include - Answer-the basic tools of description, exploration,
estimation, and inference, as well as more advanced techniques like regression,
forecasting, and data mining.
Operations research (OR) - Answer-A scientific discipline primarily begun during the
Second World War that seeks to apply the scientific method and mathematical models
to the solution of a variety of management decision problems
Operations Research/Management Science (OR/MS) - Answer-The analysis and
solution of complex decision problems using mathematical or computer-based models
modeling and optimization - Answer-Techniques for translating real problems into
mathematics, spreadsheets, or other computer languages, and using them to find the
best ("optimal") solutions and decisions.
, INFORMS - Answer-the Institute for Operations Research and the Management
Sciences - the leading professional society devoted to OR/MS and analytics, and
publishes a bimonthly magazine called Analytics (http://analytics-magazine.com/).
Decision support systems (DSS) - Answer-Computer-based interactive systems that
help decision makers use data and models to solve unstructured problems
A DSS includes three major components: - Answer-1. Data management. The data
management component includes databases for storing data and allows the user to
input, retrieve, update, and manipulate data.
2. Model management. The model management component consists of various
statistical tools and management science models and allows the user to easily build,
manipulate, analyze, and solve models.
3. Communication system. The communication system component provides the
interface necessary for the user to interact with the data and model manage- ment
components.
data mining - Answer-focused on better understanding characteristics and patterns
among variables in large databases using a variety of statistical and analytical tools
Simulation and risk analysis - Answer-relies on spreadsheet models and statistical
analysis to examine the impacts of uncertainty in the estimates and their potential
interaction with one another on the output variable of interest
what-if analysis - Answer-process of changing values in cells to see how those changes
affect the outcome of formulas in the worksheet
visualization - Answer-provide a way of easily communicating data at all levels of a
business and can reveal surprising patterns and relationships.
tag cloud - Answer-A visual depiction of keywords related to the search, with font size
and position indicating relevance.
Business analytics begins with - Answer-the collection, organization, and manipulation
of data
Business analytics is supported by three major components - Answer-Descriptive
analytics, Predictive analytics, and Prescriptive analytics.
descriptive analytics - Answer-The use of data to understand past and current business
performance and make informed decisions.