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Activity #4: Submission
Please refer to the case overview in Units 1 & 2 for the business premise and situation. This week, you will continue to work on The Broadway Café as it struggles to compete in the 21st century.
PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS:
Each week you will submit your response to the business situation presented. NOTE: There are two parts to this week’s milestone. Use an APA formatted paper with a Title page and a References page. Your paper should be double-spaced and written in Times New Roman size 12 font. The paper will be written in an essay format. Do not use a question and answer format.
Data are raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event. Characteristics of a sales event could include the date, item number, item description, quantity ordered, customer name, and shipping details. Information is data converted into a meaningful and useful context. Information from sales events could include best-selling item, worst-selling item, best customer, and worst customer.
Business intelligence is a broad, general term describing information that people use to support their decision-making efforts. An early reference to business intelligence occurs in Sun Tzu’s book titled The Art of War. Sun Tzu claims that to succeed in war; one should have full knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses and full knowledge of the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. Lack of either one might result in defeat. A certain school of thought draws parallels between the challenges in business and those of war, specifically:
Collecting information.
Discerning patterns and meaning in the information.
Responding to the resultant information.
Business Dilemma Part 1
You maintain many different customer lists from your Music customers to Art Gallery and Book Club customers. You want to begin mailing a monthly newsletter to your customers discussing everything from current coffee growing trends to community events. To date, your customer lists have been maintained primarily for e-mail addresses, and you are unsure if customer addresses are even correct. You do not want to use e-mail to distribute your newsletter as you want to place a coupon marketing a free cup of the coffee in each newsletter. If you e-mail the newsletter, you could not control the free cup coupon.
PROJECT FOCUS:
Part 1
Analyze the data below and determine if you will be able to use it to mail your newsletters.
Be sure to highlight all of the issues with the data, potential causes of the issues, and solutions you can follow to correct the issues.
ID
First Name
Middle Initial
Last Name
Street
City
State
Zip Code
434
Pam
J
Hetz
13 First Ave
Denver
CO
8765423
434
Brain
F
Hoover
Lake Ave.
Columbus
CO
8702
435
Bob
X
Kenzie
65 Apple Lane
Golden
CO
65667
436
Alana
B
567 55 St.
Denver
Co
90210
437
Alana
B
Smith
567 55 St.
Denver
Co
90210
438
Debbie
F
Fernandez
567 55 St.
Denver
Co
90210
439
Diego
J
Quintos
2121 One St.
Golden
CO
65667
It is not data; it’s competitive intelligence. Information is competitive intelligence that drives strategic business decisions. Decisions that are made by a global organization with the power to change the world.
Information – business intelligence – is no longer the exclusive domain of IT or research departments. From marketing and finance to management and operations, intelligence is applied strategically throughout the enterprise. Moreover, professionals who know how to gather and leverage it are the ones who will lead organizations, control decisions, and be relied upon to steer their companies.
PROJECT FOCUS:
Part 2
Business Decisions
You have a great deal of data available to turn into information to help you set the strategic direction for the cafe.
Look at the following dimensions and determine which ones you want in your data mart for performing sales and market analysis.
Categorize the different dimensions ranking them from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating that the dimension offers the highest value and must be in your data mart and 5 indicating that the dimension offers the lowest value and does not need to be in your data mart.
Which variables would you choose if your data mart could only contain 10 dimensions?
Dimension Value
Dimension Value
Product Price
Weather
Customer Gender
To Go or Dine In Order
Quantity Sold
Stock Market Closing Price
Order Date
Employee Number
Payment Method
Promotion Number
Product Cost
Customer Age
Order Time
Customer Religious Affiliation
Exchange Rate
Manufacturer or Vendor Number
Interest Rate
Music Playing in Store
Season
Customer Name
Customer’s Political Affiliation
Product Number
Store Hours
Customer Language
Commission Policy
Traffic Report
