Information Visualization in a Business Decision Support System

Information visualization is a process of constructing a visual presentation of abstract quantitative data. The characteristics of visual perception enable humans to recognize patterns, trends and anomalies inherent in the data with little effort in a visual display. Such properties of the data are likely to be missed in a purely text-based presentation. Visualizations are therefore widely used in contemporary business decision support systems. Visual user interfaces called dashboards are tools for reporting the status of a company and its business environment to facilitate business intelligence (BI) and performance management activities. In this study, we examine the research on the principles of human visual perception and information visualization as well as the application of visualization in a business decision support system. A review of current BI software products reveals that the visualizations included in them are often quite ineffective in communicating important information. Based on the principles of visual perception and information visualization, we summarize a set of design guidelines for creating effective visual reporting interfaces.

Organizational competencies and dynamic Accounting Information System capability: Impact on AIS processes and firm performance

Accounting information systems (AIS) capture and process accounting data and provide valuable information for decision-makers. However, in a rapidly changing environment, continual management of the AIS is necessary for organizations to optimise performance outcomes. We suggest that building a dynamic AIS capability enables accounting process and organizational performance. Using the dynamic capabilities framework (Teece 2007) we propose that a dynamic AIS capability can be developed through the synergy of three competencies: a flexible AIS, having a complementary business intelligence system and accounting professionals with IT technical competency. Using survey data, we find evidence of a positive association between a dynamic AIS capability, accounting process performance, and overall firm performance. The results suggest that developing a dynamic AIS resource can add value to an organization. This study provides guidance for organizations looking to leverage the performance outcomes of their AIS environment.

Competitive Intelligence : Aufbau einer Informationsbasis und Entscheidungssystematik zur Definition strategischer Zielmärkte

Im Rahmen der Globalisierung und des daraus resultierenden Wettbewerbs ist es für ein Unternehmen von zentraler Bedeutung, Wissen über die Wettbewerbssituation zu erhalten. Nicht nur zur Erschließung neuer Märkte, sondern auch zur Sicherung der Unternehmensexistenz ist eine Wettbewerbsanalyse unabdingbar. Konkurrenz- bzw. Wettbewerbsforschung wird überwiegend als „Competitive Intelligence“ bezeichnet. In diesem Sinne beschäftigt sich die vorliegende Bachelorarbeit mit einem Bereich von Competitive Intelligence. Nach der theoretischen Einführung in das Thema werden die Ergebnisse von neun Experteninterviews sowie einer schriftlichen Expertenbefragung innerhalb des Unternehmens erläutert. Die Experteninterviews und -befragungen zum Thema Competitive Intelligence dienten zur Entwicklung eines neuen Wettbewerbsanalysekonzeptes. Die Experteninterviews zeigten, dass in dem Unternehmen kein einheitliches Wettbewerbsanalysesystem existiert und Analysen lediglich ab hoc getätigt werden. Zusätzlich wird ein Länderranking vorgestellt, das zur Analyse europäischer Länder für das Unternehmen entwickelt wurde. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass Dänemark und Italien für eine Ausweitung der Exportgeschäfte bedeutend sind. Der neu entwickelte Mitbewerberbewertungsbogen wurde auf Grundlage dieser Ergebnisse für Dänemark und Italien getestet.

Entscheidungshilfe bei Internationalisierungsstrategien in der Nutzfahrzeugindustrie durch Competitive Intelligence - am Anwendungsbeispiel Afrika

Die nachhaltige Verschiebung der Wachstumsmärkte in Richtung Emerging Markets (und hier insbesondere in die BRIC-Staaten) infolge der Wirtschaftskrise 2008/2009 hat die bereits weit reichend konsolidierte Nutzfahrzeugindustrie der Triadenmärkte in Nordamerika, Europa und Japan vor eine Vielzahl von Herausforderungen gestellt. Strategische Ziele wie die Festigung und Steigerung von Absatzvolumina sowie eine bessere Ausbalancierung von zyklischen Marktentwicklungen, die die Ertragssicherung und eine weitestgehend kontinuierliche Auslastung existenter Kapazitäten sicherstellen soll, sind in Zukunft ohne eine Marktbearbeitung in den ex-Triade Wachstumsmärkten kaum noch erreichbar. Dies verlangt eine Auseinandersetzung der betroffenen Unternehmen mit dem veränderten unternehmerischen Umfeld. Es gilt neue, bisher größtenteils unbekannte Märkte zu erobern und sich dabei neuen – teilweise ebenfalls wenig bekannten - Wettbewerbern und deren teilweise durchaus unkonventionellen Strategien zu stellen. Die Triade-Unternehmen sehen sich dabei Informationsdefiziten und einer zunehmenden Gesamtkomplexität ausgesetzt, die zu für sie zu nachteiligen und ungünstigen nformationsasymmetrien führen können. Die Auswirkungen, dieser Situation unangepasst gegenüberzutreten wären deutlich unsicherheits- und risikobehaftetere Marktbearbeitungsstrategien bzw. im Extremfall die Absenz von Internationalisierungsaktivitäten in den betroffenen Unternehmen. Die Competitive Intelligence als Instrument zur unternehmerischen Umfeldanalyse kann unterstützen diese negativen Informationsasymmetrien zu beseitigen aber auch für das Unternehmen günstige Informationsasymmetrien in Form von Informationsvorsprüngen generieren, aus denen sich Wettbewerbsvorteile ableiten lassen. Dieser Kontext Competitive Intelligence zur Beseitigung von Informationsdefiziten bzw. Schaffung von bewussten, opportunistischen Informationsasymmetrien zur erfolgreichen Expansion durch Internationalisierungsstrategien in den Emerging Markets wird im Rahmen dieses Arbeitspapieres durch die Verbindung von wissenschaftstheoretischen und praktischen Implikationen näher beleuchtet. Die sich aus dem beschriebenen praktischen Anwendungsbeispiel Competitive intelligence für afrikanische Marktbearbeitung ergebenden Erkenntnisse der erfolgreichen Anwendung von Competitive Intelligence als Entscheidungshilfe für Internationalisierungsstrategien sind wie folgt angelegt: - Erweiterung der Status-quo, häufig Stammmarkt-zentristisch angelegten Betrachtungsweisen von Märkten und Wettbewerbern in Hinblick auf das reale Marktgeschehen oder Potentialmärkte - bias-freie Clusterung von Märkten bzw. Wettbewerbern, oder Verzicht auf den Versuch der Simplifizierung durch Clusterbildung - differenzierte Datenerhebungsverfahren wie lokale vs. zentrale / primäre vs. sekundäre Datenerhebung für inhomogene, unterentwickelte oder sich entwickelnde Märkte - Identifizierung und Hinzuziehung von Experten mit dem entscheidenden Wissensvorsprung für den zu bearbeitenden Informationsbedarf - Überprüfung der Informationen durch Datentriangulation

Business Analytics

Atualmente o setor segurador enfrenta diversas dificuldades, não só pela crise económica internacional e pelo mercado cada vez mais competitivo, como também pelas exigências impostas pela entidade reguladora - Instituto de Seguros de Portugal (ISP). Desta forma, apenas as seguradoras que consigam monitorizar os seus riscos, adequando os prémios praticados, conseguirão sobreviver. A forma de o fazer é através de uma adequada tarifação. Neste contexto de elevada instabilidade, as plataformas de Business Intelligence (BI) têm vindo a desempenhar um papel cada vez mais importante no processo de tomada de decisão, nomeadamente, o Business Analytics (BA), que proporciona os métodos e ferramentas de análise. O objetivo deste projeto é desenvolver um protótipo de solução de BA que forneça os inputs necessários ao processo de tomada de decisão, através da monitorização da tarifa em vigor e da simulação do impacto da introdução de uma nova tarifa. A solução desenvolvida apenas abrange a tarifa de responsabilidade civil automóvel (RCA). Ao nível das ferramentas analíticas, o foco foi a análise visual, nomeadamente a construção de dashboards, onde se inclui a análise de sensibilidade ou what-if analysis (WIF). A motivação para o desenvolvimento deste projeto foi a constatação de inexistência de soluções para este fim nos ambientes profissionais em que estive envolvido.

Modelo de segmentación : estudio, aplicación, ejecución y desarrollo de estrategias para la implementación de un modelo de clustering en el Sector Financiero

A finales de 2009 se emprendió un nuevo modelo de segmentación de mercados por conglomeraciones o clústers, con el cual se busca atender las necesidades de los clientes, advirtiendo el ciclo de vida en el cual se encuentran, realizando estrategias que mejoren la rentabilidad del negocio, por medio de indicadores de gestión KPI. Por medio de análisis tecnológico se desarrolló el proceso de inteligencia de la segmentación, por medio del cual se obtuvo el resultado de clústers, que poseían características similares entre sí, pero que diferían de los otros, en variables de comportamiento. Esto se refleja en el desarrollo de campañas estratégicas dirigidas que permitan crear una estrecha relación de fidelidad con el cliente, para aumentar la rentabilidad, en principio, y fortalecer la relación a largo plazo, respondiendo a la razón de ser del negocio

Enterprise intelligence: searching for a single version of the truth

Multiple versions of information and associated problems are well documented in both academic research and industry best practices. Many solutions have proposed a single version of the truth, with Business intelligence being adopted by many organizations. Business Intelligence (BI), however, is largely based on the collection of data, processing and presentation of information to meet different stakeholders’ requirement. This paper reviews the promise of Enterprise Intelligence, which promises to support decision-making based on a defined strategic understanding of the organizations goals and a unified version of the truth.

Intelligence systems methodology: a systemic approach to the organizational intelligence function

Organizational intelligence can be seen as a function of the viable structure of an organization. With the integration of the Viable System Model and Soft Systems Methodology (systemic approaches of organizational management) focused on the role of the intelligence function, it is possible to elaborate a model of action with a structured methodology to prospect, select, treat and distribute information to the entire organization that improves the efficacy and efficiency of all processes. This combination of methodologies is called Intelligence Systems Methodology (ISM) whose assumptions and dynamics are delimited in this paper. The ISM is composed of two simultaneous activities: the Active Environmental Mapping and the Stimulated Action Cycle. The elaboration of the formal ISM description opens opportunities for applications of the methodology on real situations, offering a new path for this specific issue of systems thinking: the intelligence systems. Knowledge Management Research & Practice (2012) 10, 141-152. doi:10.1057/kmrp.2011.44

The German business and information technologies project

The Business and Information Technologies (BIT) project strives to reveal new insights into how modern IT impacts organizational structures and business practices using empirical methods. Due to its international scope, it allows for inter-country comparison of empirical results. Germany — represented by the European School of Management and Technologies (ESMT) and the Institute of Information Systems at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin — joined the BIT project in 2006. This report presents the result of the first survey conducted in Germany during November–December 2006. The key results are as follows: • The most widely adopted technologies and systems in Germany are websites, wireless hardware and software, groupware/productivity tools, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The biggest potential for growth exists for collaboration and portal tools, content management systems, business process modelling, and business intelligence applications. A number of technological solutions have not yet been adopted by many organizations but also bear some potential, in particular identity management solutions, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), biometrics, and third-party authentication and verification. • IT security remains on the top of the agenda for most enterprises: budget spending was increasing in the last 3 years. • The workplace and work requirements are changing. IT is used to monitor employees' performance in Germany, but less heavily compared to the United States (Karmarkar and Mangal, 2007).1 The demand for IT skills is increasing at all corporate levels. Executives are asking for more and better structured information and this, in turn, triggers the appearance of new decision-making tools and online technologies on the market. • The internal organization of companies in Germany is underway: organizations are becoming flatter, even though the trend is not as pronounced as in the United States (Karmarkar and Mangal, 2007), and the geographical scope of their operations is increasing. Modern IT plays an important role in enabling this development, e.g. telecommuting, teleconferencing, and other web-based collaboration formats are becoming increasingly popular in the corporate context. • The degree to which outsourcing is being pursued is quite limited with little change expected. IT services, payroll, and market research are the most widely outsourced business functions. This corresponds to the results from other countries. • Up to now, the adoption of e-business technologies has had a rather limited effect on marketing functions. Companies tend to extract synergies from traditional printed media and on-line advertising. • The adoption of e-business has not had a major impact on marketing capabilities and strategy yet. Traditional methods of customer segmentation are still dominating. The corporate identity of most organizations does not change significantly when going online. • Online sales channel are mainly viewed as a complement to the traditional distribution means. • Technology adoption has caused production and organizational costs to decrease. However, the costs of technology acquisition and maintenance as well as consultancy and internal communication costs have increased.

The Naval intelligence challenge : civilian careers for engineers & scientists.

Cover title.

Sharing secrets with lawmakers : Congress as a user of intelligence /

"February 1997."

A retrospective-longitudinal examination of the relationship between apportionment of seat time in community-college algebra courses and student academic performance

During the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase by postsecondary institutions in providing academic programs and course offerings in a multitude of formats and venues (Biemiller, 2009; Kucsera & Zimmaro, 2010; Lang, 2009; Mangan, 2008). Strategies pertaining to reapportionment of course-delivery seat time have been a major facet of these institutional initiatives; most notably, within many open-door 2-year colleges. Often, these enrollment-management decisions are driven by the desire to increase market-share, optimize the usage of finite facility capacity, and contain costs, especially during these economically turbulent times. So, while enrollments have surged to the point where nearly one in three 18-to-24 year-old U.S. undergraduates are community college students (Pew Research Center, 2009), graduation rates, on average, still remain distressingly low (Complete College America, 2011). Among the learning-theory constructs related to seat-time reapportionment efforts is the cognitive phenomenon commonly referred to as the spacing effect, the degree to which learning is enhanced by a series of shorter, separated sessions as opposed to fewer, more massed episodes. This ex post facto study explored whether seat time in a postsecondary developmental-level algebra course is significantly related to: course success; course-enrollment persistence; and, longitudinally, the time to successfully complete a general-education-level mathematics course. Hierarchical logistic regression and discrete-time survival analysis were used to perform a multi-level, multivariable analysis of a student cohort (N = 3,284) enrolled at a large, multi-campus, urban community college. The subjects were retrospectively tracked over a 2-year longitudinal period. The study found that students in long seat-time classes tended to withdraw earlier and more often than did their peers in short seat-time classes (p < .05). Additionally, a model comprised of nine statistically significant covariates (all with p-values less than .01) was constructed. However, no longitudinal seat-time group differences were detected nor was there sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that seat time was predictive of developmental-level course success. A principal aim of this study was to demonstrate—to educational leaders, researchers, and institutional-research/business-intelligence professionals—the advantages and computational practicability of survival analysis, an underused but more powerful way to investigate changes in students over time.

Advanced Business Simulations-Incorporating business and process execution data

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their predictions are widely used by the enterprises for informed decision making. Nevertheless , a very important factor, which is generally overlooked, is that the top level strategic KPIs are actually driven by the operational level business processes. These two domains are, however, mostly segregated and analysed in silos with different Business Intelligence solutions. In this paper, we are proposing an approach for advanced Business Simulations, which converges the two domains by utilising process execution & business data, and concepts from Business Dynamics (BD) and Business Ontologies, to promote better system understanding and detailed KPI predictions. Our approach incorporates the automated creation of Causal Loop Diagrams, thus empowering the analyst to critically examine the complex dependencies hidden in the massive amounts of available enterprise data. We have further evaluated our proposed approach in the context of a retail use-case that involved verification of the automatically generated causal models by a domain expert.