öretag har under lång tid använt sig av olika typer av beslutsstödjande system för att fatta rätt beslut. Under 1990-talet har en typ av beslutsstödjande system som kallas datalager utvecklats. Datalagret har utvecklats till ett beslutsstödjande system som hjälper slutanvändarna att analysera data med hjälp av olika typer av verktyg med användarvänliga gränssnitt. I rapporten undersöks hur datalager används av företag i deras verksamhet. Som underlag för rapporten har fem företag studerats. Bland företagen som ingick i undersökningen blev svaret att de använde sina datalager främst till att ta fram statistik och genomföra uppföljningar. Företagen visade även upp ett antal företagsspecifika anpassningar av sina datalager. De företag som ingick i undersökningen visade även på en bred spridning av användandet av datalagren inom företagen. Antalet användare på företagen varierade från 20 st till 200 st. Undersökningen visade även att spridningen av användandet hierarkiskt i organisationen generellt var väl utvecklat.

Data warehouses (DWs) have become one of the largest investments in the past years for organisations, and incorporating external data into a DW can give organisations huge possibilities. Organisations that successfully manage to incorporate external data into a DW have an advantage over those who do not, but there are problems with incorporating data acquired from outside the organisation, and there is a lack of research aimed at these problems. The comprehensive aim of this dissertation is to characterise and categorise problems with incorporating external data. The available literature was scanned to find problems and an interview study was conducted to validate the problems found in the literature. Respondents from five well-known organisations in Sweden participated and the result is a list of problems backed up by both literature and empirical findings

I datalager samlas information från flera olika system och sparas på ett gemensamt sätt. Informationen i ett datalager ger en holistiskbild över organisation och bör användas som beslutsstöd. För att utvinna information ur datalager finns flera olika metoder och informationen kan sedan användas inom flera olika områden. Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka metoder som används för att utvinna informationen ur datalager inom industribranschen samt inom vilka användningsområden informationen används. För att besvara frågeställningen genomfördes fem intervjuer med företag i industribranschen. Resultatet visar på att vissa metoder för att utvinna information ur datalager används framför andra och inom datautvinning används inte den förutsägandekategorin alls. Framförallt använde sig företagen av informationen på kundsidan och såg det som ett levande projekt som skall täcka in hela processen i framtiden.

Inkorporering av extern data i datalager är problematiskt och problematiken bekräftas av aktuella undersökningar inom området. Detta har medfört att det utvecklats olika former av stöd för att bemöta och analysera problemen som organisationer ställs inför. För organisationer är det i högsta grad viktigt att dess beslutsfattare är välinformerade och klarar av att selektera information från stora mängder data. Det är i dessa sammanhang som en datalagerlösning är en viktig hörnsten för att stödja analys och presentation av data som ursprungligen är lagrad i olika datakällor (både interna och externa). Genom att inkorporera extern data i datalagret uppnår datalagret en betydligt högre potential och således kan även organisationer och framförallt dess beslutsfattare utvinna stora fördelar. Strand (2005) har tagit fram riktlinjer för att stödja inkorporeringsprocessen av extern data i datalager. Dock saknas en utvärdering av riktlinjerna. En utvärdering bidrar till att riktlinjernas trovärdighet stärks och att riktlinjerna på ett tidigt stadie förs in i en förvaltningsprocess.

För att flytta information från en databas till ett datalager används det idag olika tekniker. Existerande transformeringstekniker baseras på att en applikation hanterar detta. Detta examensarbete går ut på att skapa och undersöka en metod som istället genomför transformeringen i en databas. Denna transformering är metadatadriven, eftersom metadata är den information om data som krävs för att en transformering ska vara möjlig. Arbetet bygger därför på en metadatastudie som behandlar representation och struktur av metadata. Målet med arbetet är att få fram en så generell transformeringsmetod som möjligt och metoden går ut på att transformera data från en normaliserad databasstruktur till en denormaliserad datalagersstruktur.

Motivation • Warum sollten wir Daten analysieren? Beyond Excel • Wie können wir Daten analysieren? Fallbeispiele • Welche Erkenntnisse haben wir gewonnen? • Flächenbedarf der Montage • Arbeitskräftebedarf in der Logistik • (Auto-) Korrelation

M.Comm. / The concepts of logistics and supply chain management are relatively new in South Africa. The concept of logistics management was more commonly known in the 1960s and 1970s as physical distribution. In the late 1970s, the concept evolved to logistics management and in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it evolved into supply chain management. It was only after the end of apartheid in 1994 when South Africa was able to compete globally that there was great interest in supply chain management in South Africa. There is virtually no business or industry untouched by the business of logistics and supply chain management. Getting the right product to the right customer at the right time as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible is the main objective of logistics and supply chain management (Gordon, 2000a: 14). Logistics is “the process of strategically managing the acquisition, movement and storage of materials, parts and finished inventory (and the related information flows) through the organization and its marketing channel in such a way that current and future profitability is maximised through the cost-effective fulfillment of orders” (Anon1. ,2002). The term supply chain is described by Lummus and Vokurka (1999) as “all of those activities associated with moving goods from raw materials stage through to the consumer. This includes procurement, production scheduling, order processing, inventory control, transportation, warehousing, and customer service. The information systems necessary to monitor all of these activities are also included. All these activities are then integrated and coordinated into a seamless process to involve all the partners in the supply chain”. With every step in the supply chain management process, there are costs involved and two of the major cost drivers in the supply chain according to Palmieri and Africk (1999) are inventory holding and transportation. Stout is of the opinion that this is more than a valid statement from a South African business perspective and emphasizes that unnecessary inventory costs money as does inventory that is distributed inefficiently (Gordon, 2000b: 21). Excessive inventory holding together with under-utilization of transport can lead to a major negative financial impact on total supply chain costs (Cooke, 2000: 12; Lambert, Stock & Ellram, 1998: 165; Hankanson, 1999). Therefore, the reciprocal relationship between inventory holding and transportation cost is very important. Christopher (1992: 25) also stipulates that the ultimate purpose of any supply chain is to satisfy customers. The importance of customer service in total supply chain functioning must therefore always be considered in a logistics supply chain system design. In South Africa, transport and inventory are two of the main cost drivers in the supply chain. Factors that make inventory and transport two of the main cost drivers in the supply chain are, among others: high fuel prices, high interest rates, poor road conditions, security concerns and the weak performance of the rand against major foreign currencies. It can therefore be said that inventory and transport are just as important in obtaining an optimized supply chain in South Africa as in the rest of the world. / Mr. P. Kilbourn Prof. J. Walters

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MCom (Computer Auditing))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Accounting / MCom / unrestricted

In many Western countries and elsewhere, agriculture commodity exchanges have been in existence for centuries. However, Africa did not follow the same route for various reasons. The main reason is that commercial production of basic agricultural commodities considerably lagged that of its counter parts in the Western world. By the time commercial production became a significant factor, the philosophy of government controlled marketing was already entrenched in many of these countries. It was only in the mid-1990’s after the demise of communism and the abolishment of the South African controlled marketing system (not related), that farmers and stakeholders suddenly asked, how should we now go about to market our products, what are the alternatives? Western models were revisited, with commodity exchanges as a possible solution revisited. An urgent need aroused regarding the requirements for the establishment and management of a successful Warehouse Receipt System (WRS). Malawi, is one country that that has a history of government controlled marketing followed by (partial) deregulation in 2006. Despite this, the Agricultural Commodity Exchange for Africa (ACE) was established in 2005, survived and continued to grow. It has now reached a point where it is on the verge of commercially implementing and rolling out a WRS. This has obviously brought forward a number of questions. The most prominent of these are: how do you define a WRS, what are the components of a successful WRS, what are the similarities or differences between the requirements of a successful commodity exchange and that of a WRS? The objective of this study is to determine the importance of a WRS in the success of an agricultural commodity exchange. ACE has advocated for a WRS as an integral part of agricultural trade and financing since its incorporation in 2006. However, Malawi does not have a regulatory framework for warehouse receipts (WRs) so the system has to be built on contractual relationships between grain depositors, storage operators, financial institutions and ACE. Given that various commodity exchanges have been in operation throughout Africa for more than a decade with various degrees of success, sufficient literature is available on the subject matter. Much effort was made to obtain all relevant documentation, trusting that some valuable lessons are to be gleaned from these documents. This study briefly looked at the recent history on the establishment of commodity exchanges in Eastern and Southern Africa and the importance of a WRS and the role that warehouse receipt financing has played in their development. The objective was to learn from their experience and/or mistakes and to benefit from their success. Over recent years, the role, benefits and in some cases, the reasons for the failure of commodity exchanges in Africa, have extensively been researched. The study captures some of the invaluable observations made by many experts in this subject field. Aspects dealt with include, inter alia, the benefits of a successful WRS and a commodity exchange. This study deals with the requirements of a WRS, followed by the rules. The latter have been revisited and evaluated for Malawi, given its unique circumstances and the ever changing environment. Many of the processes have been visually depicted in a set of flow charts. This is followed by an analysis of the bank credit policies and procedures required for financing the WRs. As elaborated and included in the annexures, a draft product proposal has been compiled for bank product managers to submit to their respective credit policy committees seeking approval for the product. The process of financing a warehouse certificate and its redemption is dealt with in detail. In the latter part, this study looked at the role of the insurance companies and best practices followed in other countries. Other aspects highlighted are the corporate structure of ACE, government intervention, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), the IT structure, marketing, price information and arbitration. The study concludes that a well-designed and custom made WRS (for ACE) depends on various components. They are an online trading system, warehouse receipt (WR) financing, insurance, generic grading regulations and registered warehouses. ACE would struggle to grow and functions properly without a successful WRS. ACE could overcome many other obstacles such as inappropriate government interference, export restrictions, etc. However, ACE needs to be operationally competent and for ACE this is tied to a successful WRS. If ACE could succeed, it will serve as a case study for other countries and exchanges in the region to learn from. Lastly, a series of recommendations are made. The recommendations deal with findings from the study that needs to be addressed. Some issues are urgent and others may be dealt with over the longer term. Certain issues fell outside the scope of this study but still deserve attention. / Dissertation (MSc(Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

This diploma thesis deals with building of large Data Warehouses on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 platform. First part of the thesis discuss about news in MS SQL Server 2008, which I have considered as being important for Business Intelligence area. Following chapters are focused on approach to implementation of real Data Warehouse for Customs Administration of Czech Republic on MS SQL Server 2008 basis. These parts of the thesis cover specifics of the Customs Administration of Czech Republic, current state of Data Warehouse and reasons for migrating to MS SQL Server 2008. Further the thesis describes both logical and physical architecture of proposed solution and a way of implementation Data Warehouse on MS SQL Server 2008. The main aim of the thesis is to create a list of critical success factors (CSF) of building large Data Warehouses on MS SQL Server 2008 platform. It's not only plain list CSF, but rather the best practices for MS SQL Server Data Warehouses implementation. The most significant contribution of this thesis is that it offers instruction manual for designing and implementing large Data Warehouse on MS SQL Server basis. Background for the creation of summary of CSV and recommendations were vendor's publications and especially my own experience with the product. My colleagues from company Adastra gave me an advisory opinion as well.