Business Intelligence – Vocabulary Flashcards

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers core terms, technologies, tasks, models, reports and visualization techniques discussed in the Business Intelligence lecture, enabling comprehensive review of BI concepts, functions and tools.

Business Intelligence (BI)

A broad category of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analyzing and providing access to data to help enterprise users make better business decisions.

Competitive Intelligence

Information-gathering discipline focused on company competitors that supports decision making, paralleling BI but with an external topical focus.

Measurement (BI Purpose)

BI program that builds performance metrics and benchmarking systems to track progress toward business goals; also called Business Process Management.

Analytics (BI Purpose)

BI program that develops quantitative processes—data mining, statistical analysis, predictive modeling, etc.—to discover knowledge and support optimal decisions.

Reporting / Enterprise Reporting

BI program that builds infrastructure for strategic (not operational) reporting, often using data visualization, executive information systems and OLAP.

Collaboration Platform (BI Purpose)

BI program that enables internal and external stakeholders to work together via data sharing and electronic data interchange.

Knowledge Management (BI Purpose)

Strategies and practices that make a company data-driven by identifying, creating, distributing and adopting insights and experiences.

Data Mining

Process of identifying valid, novel, useful and comprehensible patterns in large data sets to support critical business decisions; analysis step of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD).

Predicting (DM Task)

Learning patterns from examples and using the model to forecast future values of a target variable.

Classification (DM Task)

Finding a function that maps an example into one of several discrete classes.

Detection of Relations

Data-mining task that searches for the most influential independent variables for a selected target variable.

Explicit Modeling

Creating explicit formulae that describe dependencies between variables in a data set.

Clustering

Identifying a finite set of categories (clusters) that describe data based on similarity.

Deviation Detection

Determining significant changes in key measures compared with previous or expected values.

Neural Networks

Non-linear predictive models that learn through training and mimic biological neural structures.

Rule Induction

Extraction of useful if-then rules from data based on statistical significance.

Evolutionary Programming

Automatically formulates hypotheses—expressed as programs—about dependencies among variables using evolutionary concepts.

Case-Based Reasoning

Nearest-neighbor method that solves new problems by reusing solutions from similar past cases.

Decision Trees

Tree-shaped structures representing sets of decisions; widely used for classification.

Genetic Algorithms

Optimization techniques that apply genetic combination, mutation and natural selection principles to find good solutions.

Nonlinear Regression Models

Models that search for non-linear dependencies of a target variable on others; common in finance and medicine.

Classification Algorithms

DM algorithms that predict discrete outcomes (e.g., decision trees).

Regression Algorithms

DM algorithms predicting continuous numeric streams (e.g., seasonal sales).

Segmentation Algorithms

Clustering techniques that divide data into groups with similar attributes.

Association Algorithms

Market-basket style algorithms that discover correlations between items (e.g., beer & diapers).

Sequence Analysis

Algorithms that identify common sequences in data (e.g., website click paths).

Market Basket Analysis

Business case using association rules to reveal which items are purchased together.

Churn Analysis

Using data mining to identify patterns leading to customer turnover.

Forecasting (DM Business Case)

Applying past data to predict future values such as inventory levels or sales.

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)

Applications that allow interactive, multidimensional analysis of data, supporting slice-and-dice operations.

Slice-and-Dice

OLAP manipulation that views data across different dimensions and hierarchies.

OLAP Multidimensional View

Conceptual model in which data are organized as dimensions and measures, enabling intuitive analysis.

Data Analytics (DA)

Science of examining raw data to draw conclusions; focuses on inference rather than pattern discovery.

Process Mining

Technique that extracts knowledge about business processes from event logs to discover or check process models.

Business Performance Management (BPM)

Set of management and analytic processes that allow organizations to manage performance toward pre-selected goals.

Benchmarking

Comparing one’s business processes and metrics to industry best practices to identify improvement opportunities.

Process Benchmarking

Type of benchmarking focused on comparing specific business processes across firms.

Financial Benchmarking

Comparing financial metrics with best-in-class organizations or industry standards.

Text Mining

Process of deriving high-quality information from text through pattern learning, structuring, and interpretation.

Text Categorization

Assigning documents to predefined categories based on their content.

Sentiment Analysis

Text-mining task that identifies emotional tone—positive, negative, neutral—in text.

Predictive Analytics

Statistical analysis area that extracts information from data to predict future trends and behaviors.

Predictive Models

Models analyzing past performance to estimate likelihood of specific future behaviors during live or batch processes.

Descriptive Models

Models that quantify relationships in data to classify customers or products without ranking by likelihood.

Decision Models

Models that relate known data, decisions and forecast results to optimize outcomes via business rules.

Enterprise Reporting

Delivery of organizational data in formatted presentations for periodic operations or strategic purposes.

List Reporting

Standard, formatted display of itemized rows and summaries in enterprise reports.

Interactive Analysis

User-driven exploration of pre-aggregated data across dimensions to compare measurements (often via OLAP).

Ad-hoc Querying

On-the-fly data queries by power users to answer immediate business questions or what-if scenarios.

Metric Management

Tracking outcome-oriented metrics such as KPIs or SLAs to manage business performance.

Dashboard

Customized visual interface, often portal-based, that presents key performance indicators with graphic cues.

Balanced Scorecard

Framework presenting an integrated view of organizational success across financial, customer, process, and learning perspectives.

Standard Report

Predefined report that runs with fixed structure and content.

Parameterized Report

Report whose output varies based on input values supplied at run time.

Linked Report

Report server item acting as a shortcut to an existing report, inheriting layout and data source but allowing different settings.

Snapshot Report

Report that stores data and layout captured at a specific time and renders on demand.

Cached Report

Saved copy of a processed report held for a defined expiration period to boost performance.

Clickthrough Report

Auto-generated report showing related data when interactive fields in a model-based report are clicked.

Drilldown Report

Report that initially hides detail and lets users toggle visibility to reveal more data within the same report.

Drillthrough Report

Separate, linked report providing detailed data when a summary element is clicked in the main report.

Subreport

Report embedded within another report’s body, possibly using different data sources.

Data Visualization

Quick, effective communication of information through visual forms, making data memorable and actionable.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

Agreed metric within an organization used to assess performance over time.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Externally focused metric defining expected service performance between provider and client.

Table (Visualization)

Basic grid presentation of data rows and columns; common BI visualization.

Bar Graph

Chart using rectangular bars to compare values across categories.

Pie Chart

Circular chart showing parts of a whole as slices.

Infographic

Visual representation that combines graphics and text to convey complex information quickly.

Bubble Cloud

Visualization where words or items are shown as bubbles sized by frequency or magnitude.

Bullet Graph

Compact bar chart that compares a single measure against qualitative ranges and a target marker.

Heat Map

Visualization using color shading in a matrix to represent magnitude or frequency across two dimensions.

Fever Chart

Time-series chart that shows progression of a variable—often temperature or risk—over time.

Time Series Chart

Graph plotting data points in chronological order to illustrate trends over time.

Line Chart

Basic visualization connecting data points with lines to show change through time.

Area Chart

Variation of a line chart where area under the line is filled to show cumulative totals.

Scatter Plot

Graph displaying relationship between two variables using dots on Cartesian coordinates.

Treemap

Nested rectangles visualization showing hierarchical data where rectangle size is proportional to its value.

Population Pyramid

Stacked bar graph illustrating distribution of a population by age and sex.