intro to business analytics exam 1

chapters 1-4

accounting analytics

business analytics to evaluate financial performance and to address accounting questions

artificial intelligence

a collective term for computer systems that can sense their environment, think, learn, and take action in response to what they are sensing and their objectives

business analyst

a data specialist who curates and uses data to help an organization make effective business decisions

analytics mindset

the willingness and ability to specify which questions need to be addressed, find and extract pertinent data that might address those questions, analyze those data, and then report the results of business analytics to decision-makers

business analytics

the use of data to make knowledge, draw conclusions, and address business questions

business process

a coordinated, standardized set of activities conducted by both people and equipment to accomplish a specific business task

business value

all the items, events, and interactions that determine a company’s financial health

context

the setting, event, statement, or situation in which data can be more fully understood and evaluated

dashboard

a graphical summary of various measures tracked by a company

data

raw numbers and facts that have little meaning on their own

data integrity

the combined accuracy, validity, and consistency of data stored and used over time

data overload

access or exposure to too much data; prevents data from being properly synthesized and interpreted

data scientist

a data specialist who knows how to work with, manipulate, and statistically test data

data visualization

the graphic representation of data, often in the form of a graph, chart, or other image

decision

a conclusion reached after considering the knowledge gained

dynamic report

a report characterized by constant update, change, or activity

explanatory visualization

a graphical representation that is useful for uncovering patterns and useful insights in the data, generally as part of descriptive or diagnostic analytics

exploratory visualization

a graphical representation that is useful for uncovering patterns and useful insights in the data, generally as part of descriptive or diagnostic analytics

financial analytics

business analytics to measure, evaluate, and improve financial performance

information

data organized in a way that is meaningful to the user in a given context

information value chain

the events and processes from the collection of data to the compilation of information to an ultimate business decision

knowledge

understanding of or familiarity with information gained through learning

marketing analytics

business analytics to measure and improve a company’s marketing performance

operations analytics

business analytics to measure and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a company’s operations

relevant data

data that are directly or closely connected to the question at hand

reliable data

data that reflect the facts or truth with little or no bias

SOAR analytics model

a framework for performing buisness analytics, which includes four steps: Specify the Question, Obtain the Data, Analyze the Data, and Report the Results

static report

a one-time report that remains unchanged

aggregated data

individual data points that have been combined into subtotals, such as counts, sums, or averages

big data

data sets that are too large and complex for businesses’ existing systems to capture, store, manage, and analyze

categorical data

data that are categorized into groups that are represented either by words or by non-meaningful numerical data, such as grouping a collection of people by age (adult, non-adult) categorizing transaction types (sales versus returns), or specifying inventory costing method (LIFO, FIFO, average cost)

centralized database

an integrated database that contains all of a company’s internal, structured data in one location

checksum

a digit representing the sum of the correct digits in a piece of extracted data, used to detect errors in data extraction and transmission

clean function

a computer function that cleanses data of nonprintable characters but does not impact white space

data completeness

occurs when data were extracted fully from their original source

data dictionary

a centralized repository of information about data containing a separate record for each field/variable in the database, often detailing the data type and describing additional variables in the database

data ethics

the moral responsibility associated with gathering, using, and protecting personally identifiable information

data integrity

occurs when none of the data were manipulated or tampered with during the extraction

data lake

a repository for a large amount of both structured and unstructured data (interval and external) to be integrated for reporting and data analysis

data warehouse

a repository that allows a large amount of structured data (internal and external) to be integrated for reporting and data analysis

distributed computing

the storage of data across multiple databases, allowing greater storage of data and increased speed of analysis

enterprise resource planning (ERP) system/ enterprise system

type of business management software that integrates applications from throughout the business (such as manufacturing, accounting, finance, and human resources) into one system

ETL (extract, transform, and load)

the process of preparing data for analysis

external data

data that are housed outside a company; may require effort and money to access

fields

the columns that contain descriptive characterizes about the observations in a table; also alled attributes or variables

flag

a term used to describe a data set in which there are only two options

foreign key

a field or attribute that exists in relational databases to create a look-up relationship between two tables

internal data

data that are housed within a company

internet of things

a network of physical objects, such as cars and watches, that have sensors connecting them to the internet and allowing for the exchange of data

interval data

numerical data measured along a scale, with an equal and definitive interval or distance between each data point but no meaningful zero

nominal data

categorical data that cannot be ranked

nonprintable characters

charaters that our eyes can’t see but that the computer interprests as a part of the string

numerical data

meaningful numbers that represent quantities

OLAP (online analytical processing)

a computing method that enables users to easily and selectively extract and query data for analysis from different points of view

OLAP cube

data structure of compressed, multidimensional data for faster analytics processing

ordinal data

categorical data with a natural order that allows them to be ranked and sorted

outlier

an extreme value in a data set

primary key

a field or attribute that is requried to exist in each table of a relational database and seves as teh unique indentifier for each record in the table

proportion

the number of observations in one category divided by the grand total of all available observations

ranking

a position on a scale

ratio

the numerical relationship between two variables

ratio data

numerical data with an equal and definitive value between each data point, and with a meaningful zero

raw data

data that have not been processed, cleaned, or aggregated

records

the rows in a table, with each observation corresponding to a unique instance of what is being described in the table

relational database

a database that compiles data into separate tables, with each table containing a unique list of the items stored; means of storing data in order to ensure that the data are complete, not redundant, and to help enforce business rules, also aid in communication and integration of business processes across an organization

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

U.S. government agency charged with protecting investors by requiring full and truthful financial disclosure by companies

semi-structured data

data with elements of both structured and unstructured data. does not have any internal structure, but may come with tags/markers

structured data

highly organized data that fit neatly in a table or a database

Structured Query Language (SQL)

a universal database language that can be used to create, update, and delete records and tables in relational databases

table

the presentation of data organized into sets of columns (fields) and rows (records)

tabular data

data strucrued into rows and columns with each cooumn dedicated to one attribute of what is being described overall in the table

trim function

a computer function that removes all white space on either side of a cell of text and within a string of text, except for single spaces between words

unstructured data

data without internal organization (blogs, tweets, posts)

Adjusted R Square

A measure to describe how well a multiple regression model predicts the dependent variable

alpha

the threshold that a researcher determines is appropriate to measure the strength of the difference/relationship between two or more variables

alternative hypothesis

the statement being tested against the null hypothesis; a potential result from the analysis expected

analysis of variance

a statistical test used to analyze the differences in means among three or more groups

argument

in excel, a value that a function uses to perform calculations

bias

prejudice in favor of or against a thing, person, group, or idea

binomial distribution

a distribution representing scenarios that have a fixed number of trials with only two possible outcomes

box plot

a visual representation of data dispersion in terms of quartiles

chi-square test

a statistical test used to test for the difference between observed and expected categorical data

cluster sampling

random sampling only from specified groupings of the population

confidence interval

a range of values estimated from sample data that contains the true population parameter at a certain level of confidence

confirmation bias

occurs when analysts analyze or present results in a manner that confirms their existing beliefs or theories while ignoring data and analyses that do not confirm their beliefs

continuous data

numerical data that can take on any numerical value, not just whole numbers, meaning there is an infinite set of values between any two observations in a continuous data scale, such as for weight or height

convenience/ non-probability sampling

method of collecting data from convenient, easy-to-access data points

correlation

a measure of the linear association, or the relationship, between two variables

correlation coefficient

a measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables

cost drivers

any factor that causes a change in the overall cost of an activity

data distribution

a function that specifies all of the possible values for a variable and how often they occur or could occur

data reduction

the process of reducing the size of a data set to something more manageable and suitable for a business analysis project

dependent variable

in regression analysis, the outcome that you are trying to predict based on input variables

descriptive/ summary statistics

measures that characterize, summarize, and organize features and properties of teh data to facilitate an understanding of business results and the underlying data

discrete data

numerical data that only take on whole-number values and have a finite set of values between any two observations

filtering

the process of choosing a smaller portion of a data set for subsequent viewing or analysis

frequency distribution

a table taht uses bins or categories to list the frequency of various outcomes in a sample

histogram

a visual representation of a frequency distribution; it shows the frequency of the data using a display of rectangles whose areas are proportional to the underlying frequency of the data

hypothesis

a proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation

hypothesis test

statistical tests of an assumption or theory, specifically to determine if there are significant differences between groups