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Critical thinking

Disciplined reasoning used to investigate, undestand, and evaluate an event, opportunity, or issue.

Dashboard

A graphical user interface that shows key performance indicators for an organization.

Data analytics mindset

The habit of critically thinking through the planning, analysis, and reporting of data analysis results before making and communicating a professional choice or decision.

Data analytics

The process of analyzing raw data to answer questions or provide insights.

Data literacy

The ability to understand and communicate data.

Descriptive analytics

Data analysis designed to understand what is currently happening or what has happened in the past.

Data

Raw figures and captured facts, such as categories, measures, and calculations.

External data

Data that are acquired from outside an organization, such as weather or social media data.

External stakeholders

Individuals or groups outside a company who may be impacted by and/or have an interest in the outcome of a data analysis project.

Diagnostic analytics

Data analysis designed to understand why something has happened.

Motivation

The reason or stimulus for performing data analysis.

Internal data

Data found within an organization, such as sales and customer data.

Information

Knowledge gained from data that is relevant for analysis purposes.

Internal stakeholders

Individuals or groups involved in a business’ operations who may be impacted by and/or have an interest in the outcome of a data analysis project.

Extract-transform-load (ETL)

The process of retrieving raw data from a source, cleaning, restructuring, and/or integrating them with other data, and then loading the data into software for analysis purposes.

Objective

The goal of a data analytics project.

Null value

An unknown or missing value in a data set.

Reasoning

The human process of logically forming conclusions, judgements, or inferences from facts.

Prescriptive analytics

Data analysis that determines the best course of action to achieve a goal in a specific scenario.

Predictive analytics

Data analysis that helps understand what is likely to happen in the future.

Self-service business intelligence software (SSBI)

Easy-to-use, accessible software that can prepare data, analyze data, and report results.

Technological agility

An awareness of the latest technological developments and a willingness to work with new tools.

Stakeholders

Individuals or groups who may be impacted by and/or have an interest in the outcome of a data analysis project.

Coefficient of kurtosis (CK)

A measure that describes how much data are in the ends of a distribution in a data set compared to the center.

Categorical data

Labeled or named data that can be sorted into groups according to specific characteristics.

Coefficient of skewness (CS)

Measure of shape that describes the skewness of a distribution in a data set.

Data visualization

The graphical representation of data and information to provide meaning and insights during the data analysis process.

Explanatory data visualization

The use of data visualization tools and techniques to communicate the results of an analysis.

Data organization

Rearranging data to make them easier to understand for analysis purposes.

Correlation analysis

An analysis that shows relationships in data by measuring the linear relationship between two variables.

Correlation coefficient

Also known as the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, it is a numerical value between −1 and +1 that measures the linear relationship of continuous variables.

Exploratory data visualization

The use of data visualization tools and techniques to examine data to find insights.

Histogram

A measure of shape that is a bar chart of a frequency distribution. The height of the bar reflects the frequency within the interval.

Functions

Predefined formulas built into analysis software that perform frequently used calculations.

Join

(See also Merge) The process of combining rows from two or more tables based on a related column between them.

Frequency distribution

A summary of activity in the observations within a given group or interval.

Kurtosis

A measure of shape that refers to how peaked or flat the data are in a histogram.

Foreign key

A column in a table that is a primary key in another table.

Measures of shape

Measures that describe the distribution of the data in a data set.

Measures of location

Measures that determine the average or typical observation in the data set.

Measure of central tendecency

A single value that describes a set of data by identifying the central position within that data set.

Measures of dispersion

Measures that describe the amount of variation in the data to help us understand what causes that disparity.

Mean

A measure of central tendency that is the sum of all observations in a data set divided by the total number of observations.

Mode

A measure of central tendency that is the observation that occurs most frequently in the data.

Pivot table

An analysis tool that summarizes and reorganizes selected columns and rows of data.

Median

A measure of central tendency that is the middle value when the data are arranged from smallest to largest in a data set.

Relational database

A collection of logically related data that can be retrieved, manipulated, and updated to meet users’ needs.

Primary key

A unique value for each data row in a database table.

Query

A request for data from a database so the data can be retrieved or manipulated.

Skewness

A measure of shape that describes the lack of symmetry of data in the distribution of the data.

Slicers

An analysis tool that separates analysis measures per selected dimensions

Standard deviation

A statistic that measures the dispersion of a data set relative to the mean. It is the square root of the variance.

Slicing

The process of breaking data down into smaller parts.

Table

How data related to an object of interest are stored in a relational database.

Structured Query Language (SQL)

The standard query command language for database management.

Variance

A measure of dispersion that finds the average squared distance between the data points in the data set and the mean.

Diagnostic questions

Analysis questions designed to understand why an outcome occurred.

Descriptive questions

Analysis questions designed to understand something that is currently happening or that has happened in the past.

Coefficient of determination

Also called R square, it is a regression statistic that measures how well the regression line fits the data.

Decision variables

In a linear optimization model, these are the unknown variables to be determined by the model.

Constraints

In a linear optimization model, they are the limitations, requirements, or other restrictions that must be imposed on any solution.

Dependent variable

In a statistical model, it is the outcome measure that is being predicted.

Prescriptive questions

Analysis questions that determine the best course of action to achieve a goal in a specific scenario.

Linear regression

A tool for building mathematical and statistical models to explain the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables.

Independent variables

Factors that influence the dependent variable.

Functional relationship

The effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable in a trendline.

Linear function

A function that shows the steady increases or decreases over the range of the independent variable in a trendline.

Optimization

The process of selecting values of variables that minimize or maximize some quantity of interest.

Objective function

In a linear optimization model, it is the mathematical equation that describes the output target to minimize or maximize.

Linear optimization

The most common optimization model used in accounting, its output shows the optimal solution.

Predictive questions

Analysis questions designed to help understand what is likely to happen in the future.

Variable

A data field used for analysis.

Regression statistics

Statistical measures used to evaluate the results of a regression model.

Non-measured raw data

Typically categorical, discrete data fields, such as identification codes, that cannot be used in mathematical calculations.

Measurement scale

The type of information provided by a data field. Data can be categorical, ordinal, interval, or ratio measures.

Data set

A collection of data columns and rows available for analysis.

Fields

Separate columns representing the characteristics about each record stored in the columns of a data set.

Calculated data

Discrete or continuous data that can be used for analysis purposes, these data are created when mathematical calculations are applied to one or more fields in a record/row.

Measured raw numeric data

Discrete or continuous data created or captured by a controlled process that can be used in mathematical calculations for analysis purposes.

Attributes

The data fields that describe aspects of a resource, event, or agent of the object of interest. When the data source is a database, they are the columns in a data set.

Records

Data in the rows of the data set representing instances of the phenomena being captured.