Business Analytics Test Paper with Correct Answers

Business analytics is the use of... - Answer-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. data mining - Answer-focuses on better understanding of characteristics and patterns among variables in large databases using statistical and analytical tools Simulation and risk analysis: - Answer-examines the impact of uncertainty in the estimates and their potential impacts on variables What if and sensitivity analysis - Answer-how can changes in the values of input variables affect the outputs visualization - Answer-used for easy communication benefits of applying business analytics - Answer-reduced costs, better risk management, faster decisions, better productivity and enhanced bottom-line performance such as profitability and customer satisfaction. challenges of business analytics - Answer-lack of understanding of how to use analytics, competing business priorities, insufficient analytical skills, difficulty in getting good data and sharing information, and not understanding the benefits versus perceived costs of analytics studies. Descriptive analytics - Answer-the use of data to understand past and current business performance and make informed decisions Predictive analytics - Answer-predict the future by examining historical data, detecting patterns or relationships in these data, and then extrapolating these relationships forward in time. Prescriptive analytics - Answer-identify the best alternatives to minimize or maximize some objective, mostly done by using optimization techniques data - Answer-numerical or textual facts and figures that are collected through some type of measurement process. They are the raw facts and meaningless unless put in a context information - Answer-processed data that is refined and organized by processing, (data and figures that are collected, summarized, analyzed, and interpreted) to support evaluation and decision making. knowledge - Answer-can include facts, descriptions, information, and/or skills acquired through experience or education. decision - Answer-reasoned choice among alternatives characteristics of a decision - Answer-A decision statement which states what we are trying to decide A set of alternatives. The alternatives are the possible decisions we can make, A set of decision-making criteria. Decision-making criteria are what we want to optimize in a decision decision making process - Answer-Intelligence Phase Finding the problem Problem classification Problem decomposition Problem ownership