Studien syftar till att undersöka hur utbildning av de anställda påverkar deras arbetssätt med Self-Service Business Intelligence (SSBI). SSBI kan sammanfattas som en arbetsmetod baserad på dataunderlag som ger beslutstöd för anställda inom verksamheten. Vid tidigare beslutstöd som Business intelligence (BI) fanns det specifika roller som använde sig av dataunderlag och skapade rapporter. Dessa roller befann sig i IT-avdelningen och fick förfrågningar av anställda som var i behov av rapporter för att ta beslut. Syftet med SSBI är att möjliggöra för anställda att vara oberoende av IT-avdelningen och självständigt kunna analysera och tolka data för att sedan skapa rapporter. Detta är något som effektiviserar arbetet hos företag och skapar mer värde genom att underlätta för IT-avdelningen. Även om SSBI tillåter anställda till att bli mer självständiga inom sitt arbete, finns det utmaningar vid införandet. Den väsentliga utmaningen som denna uppsats fokuserar på är hur utbildning påverkar BI-användarna i sitt arbete med SSBI. Studien baseras på kvalitativa intervjuer med totalt fyra företag och fem respondenter. Frågorna som ställts har utgått från det teoretiska ramverket med teorier och modeller om självständighet, kunskap, utbildning och värdeskapande. Detta har varit en substantiell aspekt för att kunna generera kunskap om huruvida utbildning påverkar anställdas arbetssätt med SSBI.   Resultatet av uppsatsen presenterade att utbildning har en tydlig påverkan och en stor roll vid användningen av SSBI. Införandet av SSBI har lett till att anställda känner sig mer självständiga med en större frihet, däremot klarar de med formell utbildning mer avancerade arbetsuppgifter med SSBI. Arbetet inom organisationen har förenklats med SSBIeftersom navigering, definitioner och tolkning av data kan ske självständigt. Uppsatsen visar en tydlig indikation att deltagarna blivit påverkade av införandet av SSBI på olika nivåer framför allt beroende på utbildning men även tidigare kunskap och hur engagerade företag är med att kontinuerligt utveckla SSBI inom verksamheten. / The purpose of this study is to investigate how the education of employees affect their way of working with Self-Service Business intelligence (SSBI) as a working method. SSBI can be summarized as a working method based on data that provides decision support for employees within the business. In previous decision support such as Business intelligence (BI), there were specific roles that were used for data and creating of reports. These roles were in the IT department and received inquiries from employees who needed reports to make decisions. The purpose of SSBI is to enable employees to be independent of the IT department and to be able to independently analyze and interpret data so that reports can be created. With this method implemented in companies, it will create more value by creating more relief for the IT department. Although SSBI applies to employees to become more independent in their work, there are challenges with the implementation. The significant challenges that this study focuses on are how education affects BI users in their work with SSBI. The study has been conducted with qualitative interviews with a total of four companies and five respondents. The questions are based on the theories and models of independence, education, knowledge and value creation to generate knowledge whether training affects employees' working methods.  The results of the study showed a clear impact on how education plays a major role in the use of SSBI. The implementation of SSBI has made employees feel more independent with greater freedom, but with a formal education they can handle more advanced tasks with SSBI. The work within the organization has been simplified with SSBI because navigation, definitions and interpretation of data independently. The study shows a clear indication that the participants have been affected by the introduction of SSBI at different levels, primarily due to training but also previous knowledge and how committed companies are to continuously developing SSBI within the business.

Små och medelstora företag (SMEs) utgör ungefär 99,9% av alla företag i Sverige och marknaden för business intelligence-verktyg, komponenter och system har växt exponentiellt på grund av lägre kostnader för data mining och datavarulagring. Trender inom BI-verktygen har fått leverantörer att vända sig till detta marknadssegment med nya produkter som open source-mjukvara samt software as a service. I denna studie belyser vi hur SMEs uppfattar och använder BI genom att fokusera hur mogna små och medelstora företag är i deras användning av BI-teknologi. Detta gjordes genom intervjuer med representanter från 4 svenska SMEs. Genom datainsamling och analys med hjälp av Gartner Groups Maturity-modell indikerar denna studie att mer uppmärksamhet måste riktas mot rollen som BI-teknologi kan spela för att stödja affärsprocesser och beslutsfattande. Det är vår slutsats att Business Intelligence system i svenska SMEs används för att bekräfta vad man redan vet, istället för att ge insikter om nya affärer vilket i sin tur hindrar ett mer gynnsamt användande- Det är vår rekommendation att dessa verksamheter bör skifta fokus från tekniska problem. och fokusera på problem som hindrar möjligheter att uppnå gemensamma målsättningar för organisationens användande av BI-teknologi. / Small and medium sized enterprises (SME) make up about 99,9% of all enterprises in Sweden and the market for business intelligence tools, components and systems have grown exponentially due to lower costs for data mining and warehousing options. Trends within BI- tools have turned suppliers towards this great market segment with new products such as open source software and software as a service. In this study we bring to light how SMEs perceive and use BI by focusing how mature small and medium sized enterprises are in their use of BI technology. This was done by conducting interviews with representatives from 4 Swedish SMEs. Through data collection and analysis using the Gartner Group Maturity model, this study indicates that more attention needs to be put on the role BI technology can play in order to support the business processes and decision making. It is our conclusion that Business Intelligence systems in Swedish SMEs are used to confirm what they already know rather than giving insights to new prospectives, which hinders a more prosperous usage. Our recommendation is that these enterprises should shift their focus from the technical problems, and instead focus on problems hindering the possibility to attain common objectives for the organizations use of BI technology.

Dieser Forschungsbericht untersucht anhand von sechs Fallstudien die konkrete Prozessunterstützung in Call Centern durch in operative Anwendungssysteme eingebettete Analytik. Dies umfasst zum einen retrospektive Analysen für interne und externe Stakeholder in Form von Reporten als auch Echtzeit-Auswertungen durch grafisch-orientierte Monitor-Darstellungen. Hierbei stehen unter anderem die eingesetzten Anwendungssysteme, das Nutzungsverhalten durch die verschiedenen Call Center-Mitarbeitergruppen und die kennzahlenbasierten Auswertungsinhalte im Vordergrund.:1 Einleitung 2 Fallstudie - B.B.K. Vertriebs- und Kunden-Services GmbH 3 Fallstudie - DIMA Systems AG 4 Fallstudie - Regiocom Sales Service Halle GmbH 5 Fallstudie - TMA Telesmart GmbH 6 Fallstudie - Simon & Focken GmbH 7 Fallstudie - Regiocom GmbH 8 Zusammenfassung der Fallstudien-Ergebnisse

In a complex and dynamic organisational environment, challenges and dilemmas exist on how to maximise the value of Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A). The expectation of BI&A is to improve decision-making for core business processes that drive business performance. A multi-disciplinary review of theories from the domains of strategic management, technology adoption and economics claims that tasks, technology, people and structures (TTPS) need to be aligned for BI&A to add value to decision-making. However, these imperatives interplay, making it difficult to determine how they are configured. Whilst the links between TTPS have been previously recognised in the Socio-Technical Systems theory, no studies have delved into the issue of their configuration. This configuration is addressed in this study by adopting the fit as Gestalts approach, which examines the relationships among these elements and also determines how best to align them. A Gestalt looks at configurations that arise based on the level of coherence and helps determine the level of alignment amongst complex relationships. This study builds on an online quantitative survey tool based on a conceptual model for aligning TTPS. The alignment model contributes to the conceptual development of alignment of TTPS. Data was collected from organisations in a South African context. Individuals who participated in the survey came from the retail, insurance, banking, telecommunications and manufacturing industry sectors. This study's results show that there is close alignment that emerges between TTPS in Cluster 6 which comprises of IT experts and financial planners. Adequate training, coupled with structures encouraging usage of Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A), result in higher organisational success. This is because BI&A technology is in sync with the tasks it is being used for and users have high self-efficacy. Further analysis shows that poor organisational performance can be linked to gaps in alignment and the lack of an organisational culture that motivates usage of BI&A tools. This is because there is misalignment; therefore respondents do not find any value in using BI&A, thus impacting organisational performance. Applying a configurational approach helps researchers and practitioners identify coherent patterns that work well cohesively and comprehensively. The tangible contribution of this study is the conceptual model presented to achieve alignment. In essence, organisations can use the model for aligning tasks, technology, people and structures to better identify ideal configurations of the factors which are working cohesively and consequently find ways of leveraging Business intelligence and Analytics.

Navrátil, E. Business Intelligence in project management office. Diploma thesis. Brno: Mendel University, 2019. The topic of this Diploma thesis is Business Intelligence in the context of Project Management Offices. The first part of the thesis is focused on project management, Business Intelligence and data visualization. Moreover, the first part of thesis contains comparison of current BI software on the market. The second part of the thesis deals with practical application of BI. There is an analysis of the researched company, focus is placed on its processes and IT equipment. After requirements are specified and appropriate BI software is chosen, an analysis of BI implementation and running costs is done. For assessing the sit-uation in the company, after implementation of BI software, a series of interviews with different stakeholders throughout the company’s structure is done. Furthermore, situations where implementation of BI led to cost savings are described, mainly fixed costs are positively affected. In conclusion, recommendations and non-financial benefits that change how the researched company works with project management data are presented.

The aim of this work has been to investigate how cost per patient (CPP) data may be visualized for the purposes of Region Östergötland. Visualization could potentially aid decision-makers and managers within the organization who have to deal with aggregated healthcare costs. The work has shown that it is possible to design and implement an interactive web-based visualization tool prototype for the patient data using the Dash visualization library. In order to evaluate how practical the proposed application is from the users’ perspective, interviews have been conducted with the staff of the business intelligence (BI) unit at Region Östergötland. The answers have been positive regarding the usability of the visualization. However, since the application has only served as a prototype yet, further investigations should be made internally to estimate the effect the interactive visualization approach may have on future decision-making processes related to CPP.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2016. / This study contends that Information Systems and Technologies (ISTs) fail to adequately provide for effective delivery of Business Intelligence and Analytics (BIA), which limits the value that organisations can derive from their data assets. In spite of the influence that each has on the other and their widely acknowledged and undisputed relationship and interdependencies, design and development approaches still promote a silo approach to IST and BIA in theory and practice. The evolution of the role of data in the digital economy not only compels academics and practitioners to collaborate on how to enable creation of good quality data at source but intensifies the requirement for an integrated approach to IST and BIA design. The research problem that the study addresses is that design methods commonly employed in both Information Systems (IS) research studies and practice do not advocate for an integrated approach to design and development of IST and BIA. While IS research accounts for both IST and BIA, IST and BIA design and development studies are approached independently and/or in isolation, with limited integration. The effectiveness of Social informatics (SI) as an interdisciplinary study of design, uses and consequences of use, puts it above the rest of the commonly applied socio-technical design theories and approaches. SI’s strength is in studying designs, uses and consequences of IST use after implementation. However, the theory versus practice inconsistencies presented by the interpretivist paradigm, which is an underpinning philosophy for classical SI, limit its use as a design method. Critical Realism (CR) offers the research study a viable alternative and is crucial in addressing both contextual requirements, while embracing the positivist, deterministic aspects of the study. CR is a pluralist approach based on sound research method principles; hence the study adopted it as both the theoretical paradigm and research method. The research study objective is to reconceptualise the SI perspective as an integrative design method underpinned by CR. The study adopts CR as its research methodology. CR is a philosophy of science that allows for the pluralistic approach to operationalisation of the research strategy, a catalyst in addressing the paradigmatic challenges of the research study. The ability to address the qualitative realist requirements of the study while effectively dealing with the positivist characteristics of the research was crucial in ensuring comprehensive results. The insights which could only be effectively gained through a qualitative realist process of enquiry were invaluable in advancing the IST and BIA design knowledge and practice. CR’s strength in focusing the research practice on the complexities of the real world is a critical enabler for an open system discipline such as IS. It ensures that the research is placed within the realist context of time, space and culture. CR is effective in allowing the researcher to explain the mechanisms that influence the social actor action at different levels of social organisations. It allows for the identification of non-deterministic tendencies in a complex, multidisciplinary and open system such as IS. It not only accounts for the varying social actor requirements at empirical level but reveals possible underlying causes and relationships of the observable or non-observable events and/or activities at play. This approach to analysis of IST and BIA requirements offers a unique ability to frame problems in meaningful and social actor-centred ways, at all levels of social organisation, enabling design and development of IST that are BIA centric. The development of new knowledge advances the field of IS design, a crucial step towards offering practitioners with a practical, structured and integrative design method. The critical realist approach is the most appropriate theoretical paradigm to adopt to address the theory-practice inconsistency challenges at the heart of the IS field. Its strength as a research methodology offers the researcher a unique ability to interact with data at a level that other research methods do not: that is, to examine the impact of data at the three fundamental levels of research – empirical, actual and real – thereby enhancing the effectiveness of its application in practice. Therefore, reconceptualisation of the SI perspective theoretical paradigm from interpretivism to CR offers greater benefits not only to this research study but to the IS field. This is yet another development in the field which seeks to address the long-standing challenge of IS value contribution that is constantly diminished by ineffective design methods and poor integration of the IST and BIA disciplines, which by design should be leveraging on each other’s strengths in a quest to deliver superior results to businesses. Business requirements analysed as input into the design process using the integrative CR-based design method account for BIA requirements, thus enhancing value derived from both IST and BIA. / MT 2017

Business intelligence is a tool that helps decision makers make informed decisions based on data. Self-Service is an extension of Business Intelligence that focuses on the individual that uses BI-tools and how independent they are. The purpose of this research paper is to cover missing pieces from previous research regarding Self-Service Business Intelligence and to identify factors that can help organizations succeed to become more independent decision makers. This paper is focused only on the combination of Self-Service and Business Intelligence and on organizations that are in the beginning of their usage of BI- tools. Previous research shows that there are many challenges that can affect users and organizations in the process of becoming more Self-Serviced in Business Intelligence. By conducting a case study with the help of a qualitative research method consisting of seven semi-structured interviews, a strategy has been created to help organizations identify what they need to do, to reach a higher level of independent decision-making. The collected data has been analyzed by using an inductive method. The results of the analysis and previous research has led to the conclusion of the study which involves a model consisting of four steps that need to be assessed to overcome the challenges of becoming Self-Service Business Intelligence users. The four steps consist of; becoming aware of the organization’s level of digital maturity; conducting education to raise internal knowledge; identifying different internal needs; and, finally, making BI-reports available to the users, thus increasing accessibility.

Med vårt arbete vill vi skapa förståelse för hur en given organisation inom detaljhandeln går tillväga vid sin analys av omvärlden. Vi använder oss av en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod och intervjuar sju personer på olika nivåer i Organisation X. Omvärldsanalys är ett omfattande begrepp vilket inbegriper bevakning, insamlande och analys av omvärlden. För en fungerande omvärldsanalysfunktion krävs att denna är integrerad i hela verksamheten. Ett entreprenöriellt beteende bland medarbetarna är av vikt för att skapa en framgångsrik organisation. Det är även nödvändigt att organisationen har en fungerande kommunikation. Vi kan i Organisation X se likheter med tidigare forskning om omvärldsanalys i praktiken. I likhet med denna använder sig Organisation X inte heller av organiserad eller strukturerad omvärldsanalys. Inga modeller för analys av omvärlden används av organisationen. Det som främst bevakas är konkurrenter med hjälp av ett marknadsanalysföretag. Många av medarbetarna uppvisar entreprenöriella tendenser, dessa begränsas dock av tidsbrist, icke fungerande kommunikation och intresse. Kommunikationen i Organisation X är något bristfällig på grund av att organisationen de senaste tre åren har expanderat kraftigt. Detta är Organisation X medvetna om.

In recent years, the expansion of online media has presented firms with rich and voluminous new datasets with profound business applications. Among these, online reviews provide nuanced details on consumers' interactions with products. Analysis of these reviews has enormous potential, but the enormity of the data and the nature of unstructured text make mining these insights challenging and time-consuming. This paper presents three studies examining this problem and suggesting techniques for automated extraction of vital insights. The first study examines the problem of identifying mentions of safety hazards in online reviews. Discussions of hazards may have profound importance for firms and regulators as they seek to protect consumers. However, as most online reviews do not pertain to safety hazards, identifying this small portion of reviews is a challenging problem. Much of the literature in this domain focuses on selecting "smoke terms," or specific words and phrases closely associated with the mentions of safety hazards. We first examine and evaluate prior techniques to identify these reviews, which incorporate substantial human opinion in curating smoke terms and thus vary in their effectiveness. We propose a new automated method that utilizes a heuristic to curate smoke terms, and we find that this method is far more efficient than the human-driven techniques. Finally, we incorporate consumers' star ratings in our analysis, further improving prediction of safety hazard-related discussions. The second study examines the identification of consumer-sourced innovation ideas and opportunities from online reviews. We build upon a widely-accepted attribute mapping framework from the entrepreneurship literature for evaluating and comparing product attributes. We first adapt this framework for use in the analysis of online reviews. Then, we develop analytical techniques based on smoke terms for automated identification of innovation opportunities mentioned in online reviews. These techniques can be used to profile products as to attributes that affect or have the potential to affect their competitive standing. In collaboration with a large countertop appliances manufacturer, we assess and validate the usefulness of these suggestions, tying together the theoretical value of the attribute mapping framework and the practical value of identifying innovation-related discussions in online reviews. The third study addresses safety hazard monitoring for use cases in which a higher yield of safety hazards detected is desirable. We note a trade-off between the efficiency of hazard techniques described in the first study and the depth of such techniques, as a high proportion of identified records refer to true hazards, but several important hazards may be undetected. We suggest several techniques for handling this trade-off, including alternate objective functions for heuristics and fuzzy term matching, which improve the total yield. We examine the efficacy of each of these techniques and contrast their merits with past techniques. Finally, we test the capability of these methods to generalize to online reviews across different product categories. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation presents three studies that utilize text analytic methods to analyze and derive insights from online reviews. The first study aims to detect distinctive words and phrases particularly prevalent in online reviews that describe safety hazards. This study proposes algorithmic and heuristic methods for identifying words and phrases that are especially common in these reviews, allowing for an automated process to prioritize these reviews for practitioners more efficiently. The second study extends these methods for use in detecting mentions of product innovation opportunities in online reviews. We show that these techniques can used to profile products based on attributes that differentiate them from competition or have the potential to do so in the future. Additionally, we validate that product managers find this attribute profiling useful to their innovation processes. Finally, the third study examines automated safety hazard monitoring for situations in which the yield or total number of safety hazards detected is an important consideration in addition to efficiency. We propose a variety of new techniques for handling these situations and contrast them with the techniques used in prior studies. Lastly, we test these methods across diverse product categories.