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This research is a study of the level of maturity of the Competitive Intelligence (CI) function within a South African retail bank. In particular it focussed on the level of maturity of the CI function as evidenced in the various elements of its CI function, namely the key information needs of CI users, CI deliverables and capabilities, analytical products, relationship with management, sources of information, personnel their skills and training as well as the period of time the CI function has been operational. The results indicated that the CI function as a whole was at a Mid-Level of maturity, with the underlying elements of the CI functions surveyed and the literature review being supportive of this finding. / Prof. A.S.A. du Toit

Globally, organisations have recognised the strategic importance of knowledge management (KM) and are increasingly focusing their efforts on practices to foster the creation, sharing and integration of knowledge. Whilst most research in Knowledge Management (KM) has focused on the private sector, there is a breadth of potential applications of KM theory and practice for government agencies to adopt in search of resolving pertinent problems. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence the effectiveness of knowledge management towards collaborative problem solving in government. What is missing is research-based evidence of the factors that influence the main factors for knowledge sharing across government agencies. Given this gap, the researcher addresses the research question: In government agencies mandated to resolve issues of crime, what are the key factors required which support and influence the collaborative sharing culture? Upon analysing the data, the researcher found the following key factors as being determinants on knowledge management: organisational culture, learning organisation, collaboration, subject matter experts and trust. The two factors – organisational culture and learning organisation were identified as the most significant factors which lay as the root or core for the ‘knowledge tree’. Once these roots are in place, the other factors will gain their significance on knowledge management. These findings serve to extend the findings of the existing literature within the government sector. This study is important because the findings provide government agencies with critically important information to guide their actions towards ensuring a knowledge sharing culture is embedded in government. Whilst the empirical findings do not focus on databases or information technology specifically, it is important to acknowledge the use of both technology and people. The main concern is with managing an organisation’s knowledge assets: creating, storing, protecting, disseminating and using mission-critical knowledge. When people need knowledge, is it the right knowledge and is it timely and easy to locate and access? Is this precious commodity updated as learning occurs and better ways of doing things are discovered? The awareness of the value of knowledge to a business, coupled with its leadership, acts as an integrator that improves cross- functional communication and cooperation. Shared knowledge not only makes for a more effective, efficient and agile organisation, but creates a common perspective and culture that produces a natural consistency of successful decisions and actions. The collaborative knowledge tree model proposed in this study uses the analogy of a tree when viewing South African government agencies as the branches of a collective tree (government). This ‘tree’ requires leaders and policy making to ‘dig deep’ into understanding the roots of the tree in order to ensure that the appropriate ‘seeds’ are planted such that the tree grows and is able to provide the necessary fruit required. Ultimately, as suggested by former President Thabo Mbeki (2012) in his address, the role of knowledge would thus be seen as a collaborative means towards the betterment of society.

This diploma thesis concerns about Business Intelligence area and its current usage in business practice. The main objective is to analyze the functionality of QlikView application, which represents so called "In memory analysis" products. This work`s output may serve as basis material for making qualified decision, whether QlikView is suitable for particular implementation, or not. Work is divided into two areas. First one is general functionality analysis of QlikView in comparison to MS BI Development Studio tools. The objective of this part is to determine strengths and weaknesses of the application in various situations. In the second part business task solution is demonstrated, using QlikView to turn business requirements into working application. The main benefit of this work is detailed analysis of alternative stream of Business Intelligence applications representative with an estimation of its current market potential.

The main objective of the thesis is to propose complex business intelligence and data warehouse architecture on the Oracle platform respecting current best-practice and recommendations. Part of the thesis is focused on selecting the right components for data warehousing and business intelligence, as well as on evaluating their suitability within the proposed business intelligence architecture and incorporating of these components into the complex business intelligence architecture. My thesis consists of four parts. The first part is dedicated to more general description of business intelligence and data warehousing subject and it represents entry level specification of BI on the Oracle platform. The second part describes individual software and hardware components of business intelligence solution based on the Oracle platform. In the third part I am proposing a complex business intelligence solution, based on particular Oracle components. There I also compare some individual components, determine their suitability in respect of proposed architecture and introduce some other recommendations. The last part of my thesis briefly describes economic and non-economic benefits of business intelligence solution based on the Oracle platform.

This diploma thesis deals with implementation of key performance indicators by means of Balanced Scorecard in a selected manufacturing company. The aim of the thesis is to design a strategic map and propose key performance indicators based on Balanced Scorecard system which will lead to improved management of the company. Afterwards the outputs of the designed Balanced Scorecard are used for implementation of an initial Business Intelligence solution using currently available data of the company. The thesis is divided into theoretical part, which is introduced by research of available literature. Next the author describes approaches to business performance measurement, Balanced Scorecard itself and key performance indicators. In the practical part, the author performs a strategic analysis of the company and designs the Balanced Scorecard with key performance indicators for the company. In the second part of the practical part, implementation of the initial Business Intelligence solution in Qlikview application is described.

There are two different types of platforms in the world of business intelligence - commercial and open source. The main objective of this thesis is to compare two representatives of both worlds - IBM Cognos BI version 10 and Pentaho BI Suite 4.1. This thesis is focused on the theoretical comparison of platforms according to defined benchmarks. Practical application of both platforms is described on example of model company MATASTAV. In the introduction the main topic, objectives and benefits are defined. Then it is necessary to describe expressions that may occur on following pages. The initial situation is defined by example of company MATASTAV. Both platforms are introduced in the next part and then are defined benchmarks with selected method of comparison. Platforms are theoretically and practically compared on following parts of this thesis. Conclusion contains results from both comparisons. Major benefit of this thesis is based on the practical comparison of both platforms on the example company MATASTAV and gathering of personal experiences and problems solved.

The diploma project deals with the issue of Business Intelligence, it focuses on tools used for data analysis and presentation. The project is divided into two parts -- the theoretical and practical one. The theoretical one applies to the characterization of the principle, the description of the architecture components and presentation techniques. The aim of this project is to suggest new suitable analytical tools and graphic interface of BI system for small and medium-sized businesses. Using selected tools is illustrated on a specific example.

This master thesis focuses on the opinions and barriers from the BI tool in Report Studio as the part of IBM Cognos BI for the creation of reports. The aim of this thesis is to analyze all the functions of this tool and simplify that experience for other users. The theoretical section of this thesis introduces Business Intelligence as well as the product IBM Cognos BI itself divided into individual components. The final part of thesis introduces and compares similar products available on the market from the competitors. The practical part consists of analysis of Report Studio tool functions followed by applied criteria. In this part, the strengths and weaknesses of Report Studio are mentioned along with proposals of procedures regarding work efficiency using this tool. This section also lists nonstandard examples collected from the client's experience followed by the exact procedures using solution default functions of Report Studio and script language JavaScript.