Analytics has become the technology driver of this decade. Companies such as IBM,
Oracle, Microsoft, and others are creating new organizational units focused on analytics
that help businesses become more effective and efficient in their operations. Decision
makers are using more computerized tools to support their work. Even consumers are
using analytics tools directly or indirectly to make decisions on routine activities such as
shopping, healthcare, and entertainment. The field of Business intelligence (BI) is evolving
rapidly to become more focused on innovative applications of data streams that were
not even captured some time back, much less analyzed in any significant way. New
applications turn up daily in healthcare, sports, entertainment, supply chain management,
utilities, and virtually every industry imaginable.
In addition to traditional decision support applications, this edition expands the
reader’s understanding of the various types of analytics by providing examples, products,
services, and exercises by discussing Web-related issues throughout the text. We
highlight Web intelligence/Web analytics, which parallel BI/business analytics (BA)
for e-commerce and other Web applications. The book is supported by a Web site
(www.pearsonglobaleditions.com/sharda), and also by an independent site at
dssbibook.
com. We will also provide links to software tutorials through a special section
of the Web site.
The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to these technologies that are
generally called analytics but have been known by other names. This book presents
the fundamentals of the techniques and the manner in which these systems are constructed
and used. We follow an EEE approach to introducing these topics: Exposure,
Experience, and Explore. The book primarily provides exposure to various analytics
techniques and their applications. The idea is that a student will be inspired to learn
from how other organizations have employed analytics to make decisions or to gain a
competitive edge. We believe that such exposure to what is being done with analytics
and how it can be achieved is the key component of learning about analytics. In
describing the techniques we also introduce specific software tools that can be used for
developing such applications. The book is not limited to any one software tool, so the
students can experience these techniques using any number of available software tools.
Specific suggestions are given in each chapter, but the student and the professor are
able to use this book with many different software tools. Our book’s companion website
will include specific software guides, but students can gain experience with these
techniques in many different ways. Finally, we hope that this exposure and experience
enables and motivates a reader to explore the potential of these techniques in their own
domain. To facilitate such exploration we include exercises that direct them to Teradata
University Network and other sites as well that include team-oriented exercises where
appropriate. We will also highlight new and innovative applications that we learn about
on the book’s website.
Most of the specific improvements made in this third edition concentrate on three
areas: reorganization, content update, and a sharper focus. Despite the many changes,
we have preserved the comprehensiveness and user friendliness that have made the text
a market leader. Finally, we present accurate and updated material that is not available in
any other text. We next describe the changes in the third edition.