Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The study was conducted to establish whether there is a need at the Medical Research Council for a formal CI function to be implemented. The objective of the investigation was to establish whether the CI techniques and methods, which are traditionally applied in the commercial industry, could be applied to a non-commercial industry, like the medical research industry in which the Medical Research Council operates. The aim is to highlight the benefits that CI could provide to the managerial decision-makers of the organisation. A quantitative study was done. A questionnaire was distributed to the identified target audience to collect empirical data for the study. A combination of random sampling techniques was used, namely simple random sampling and stratified random sampling to identify the potential target audience. Face-to-face interviews were done with the respondents to ensure high quality return due to the small sample size. The survey focused on establishing the needs and the wants of the employees of the Medical Research Council regarding CI functions. A theoretical study was combined with the data collected in the empirical study to achieve the above mentioned objective. By applying the CI techniques the organisation will be able to make sense of scattered bits of data. Data can be collected from the organisation`s surrounding business environments, the customers, the competitors, the market and the stakeholders. The CI Analyst can then make sense of the data by applying different methods of analysis and delivering the information to the decision-makers in a timely manner to ensure that informed decisions are taken. The CI-process should be holistic in nature. The three crucial elements required to perform a successful CI-process are the human intelligence techniques, communication processes and technology. With these elements in place managers will be able to make informed strategic, operational and tactical decisions to ensure competitive advantage is obtained and maintained. It can be concluded from the empirical data of this study that it is possible to apply the CI theory of the commercial industry to the non-profit medical research industry.

Utvecklare tenderar att leverera meningslösa dashboards till användare på olika organisationer. En dashboard är en visuell skärm som presenterar det absolut viktigaste på en enda skärm för att användare därefter ska fatta beslut ifrån. Eftersom det är med hjälp av dashboards som beslut ska fattas är utseendet lika viktigt som att datat är korrekt. En utvecklare har i dagsläget oftast fria tyglar och visualiserar utefter egen erfarenhet och känsla vilket kan få användarna att inte sträva efter att arbeta med dashboarden. Med en användarvänlig dashboard blir det enklare för användaren att fatta sina beslut samt uppskattas det mycket.   Studiens resultat tyder på att det finns viktiga områden som utvecklare ska fokusera på för att det ska vara möjligt att uppnå en användarvänlig dashboard. Studien har endast fokuserat på användarvänlighet utifrån designprinciper. Utifrån fokusområden som tagits fram har det också fastställts punkter som tagits fram utifrån vad samtliga användare själva har sagt och tycker gemensamt om.  De fokusområden som tagits fram är placering av information, färger och val av grafer.  Studiens resultat framställer en tydlig skillnad från vad tidigare litteratur har sagt samt vad användare har gemensamt med litteraturen. / Developers have a tendency to deliver meaningless dashboards to users from different organizations. A dashboard is a visual display that presents the important information on one single screen, for users to make decisions. As it is with the help of dashboards that decisions are to be made, the design is as important as the data is right. Most of the time the developer only throws something up on a dashboard and visualize according to his own experience and feelings, which may cause users not to attempt to work with the dashboard. With a user-friendly dashboard, it becomes easier for the user to make decisions and also becomes more grateful.  2  The results of this study is that there are important areas that developers should focus on in order to be able to achieve a user-friendly dashboard. The study has only focused on user-friendly based on the design principles. Based on the focus areas that have been developed, points have also been established based on what all users themselves have said and share in common. The developed focus areas are the placement of information, colours and choice of graphs. The study´s results make a clear difference from what previous literature has said and what users have in common with the literature.

Submitted by Joana Azevedo (joanad@id.uff.br) on 2017-08-25T12:49:20Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Breno Brand.pdf: 2005938 bytes, checksum: 738642092108794572add80f38bd4846 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Biblioteca da Escola de Engenharia (bee@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-08-25T16:14:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Breno Brand.pdf: 2005938 bytes, checksum: 738642092108794572add80f38bd4846 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-25T16:14:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert Breno Brand.pdf: 2005938 bytes, checksum: 738642092108794572add80f38bd4846 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-03 / A forma como uma organização utiliza seus recursos de Tecnologia da Informação (TI) pode definir seu desempenho. A Business Intelligence (BI) é uma ferramenta de TI, que tem como principal característica a transformação de dados de diversos Sistemas da Informação (SIs) em informações úteis para a melhorada gestão em aspectos externos (mercado) e internos (processos). Apesar de serem reconhecidos pela literatura científica, muitas empresas ainda têm dificuldades em obter os benefícios desta tecnologia. Sua avaliação é crucial para se entender porque uma ferramenta com tantas vantagens ainda é alvo de dificuldades de implantação e uso no setor de Telecomunicações. Esta dissertação tem por objetivo avaliar a BI em empresas do setor de telecomunicação por meio de atributos de avaliação de TI. Para isso, foi utilizado o método de múltiplos estudos de caso; a abordagem qualitativa, com roteiros de perguntas fechadas e abertas, com entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas com os gestores de TI e usuários do sistema. A avaliação da BI, realizada entre gestores os entrevistados, tem como objetivo a triangulação dos dados, entre o fornecedor da tecnologia e o usuário da BI nas três organizações pesquisadas. O trabalho finaliza com a identificação de que as principais vantagens da BI identificadas na literatura estão alinhados com a pesquisa de campo. A integração de dados de diferentes SIs com dados atualizados em tempo real garante melhor entendimento da organização e resulta em decisões com maior qualidade e agilidade. Seu principal problema, atualmente, está na dificuldade de selecionar relatórios úteis em meio a um grande volume de informações. As motivações e pressões para implantá-la estão não só nos seus benefícios, mas no alinhamento do planejamento estratégico da organização com os benefícios da BI. Para se ter sucesso com a BI é preciso que seus diversos aspectos determinantes sejam satisfeitos; a existência prévia da cultura decisória analítica, o apoio da alta diretoria e, assim, o alinhamento estratégico com a organização e a presença de um líder que tenha grande conhecimento tanto da organização como um todo e conhecimento técnico sobre a BI e seu conjunto de vantagens e benefícios. / Nowadays, the way companies use their Information Technology (IT) resources defines their performance. The Business Intelligence (BI) is an IT tool which transforms data from Information Systems (IS) of the company into useful information to improve external and internal business management. Even though their advantages are well known in the scientific literature, many companies still fail on obtaining its benefits. The assessment of BI is important to provide understanding on why it is difficult to have benefits from the tool. Therefore, it is important to evaluate BI and understand the value and efficiency of management actions and IT investments in the Telecommunication sector. This essay objectives to evaluate BI in companies on the telecommunications sector through IT assessment attributes. For that, it was used the multiple study case method, a qualitative approach followed by questionnaire with both closed an opened questions and semi structured interviews with CIOs and the system’s users. The IT evaluation was performed with these interviewed in order to obtain a triangulation of data between user and IT supplier in the three researched organizaions. This essay ends with the identification of the main BI advantages ground in the scientific literature that are in line with the founds on field research. The data integration from the organization’s different ISs into a central system with updated data and available in real time ensures better understanding of the organization and provides more quality in the decision-making process. BI’s main current problem is in the difficulty on selection useful reports among huge volume of information, also known as big data. The main motivations and pressures to implement BI are not only on its benefits but in aligning it with the organizaion’s strategic plan. In order to be successful with BI, there are some crucial factors that must be satisfied; the prior existence of the analytical decision-making culture, the support of the executives and thus the organizaion’s strategic alignment with BI; and the presence of a leader with great knowledge of both organization as a whole and technical knowledge about BI and its set of advantages and benefits.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T14:52:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Othon Bastos F.pdf: 1647627 bytes, checksum: 7dcef19065f85742782759bb7e6efe8a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003-04-15 / The Electronic Commerce (E-commerce) grew very in recent years. This type of Commerce, call also digital or virtual commerce, is characterized for the increasing capacity of supply, global competition, increasing, with this, the expectations of the consumers, thus causing, one high competition between the companies, who very change of fast form the businesses and the way to operate. Being that, it can be perceived that the companies who will not be ready for the changes, in a short period had been it stops backwards in the world of the businesses. The Electronic Commerce allows that such changes can be supported in one it scales global, making possible a bigger efficiency and flexibility, this occurs by means of the agility in taking care of to the necessities and expectations of the customers. For this new paradigm, it currently starts if to legalize the business-oriented call Intelligence (Business Intelligence), whose purpose is to manage the knowledge in the age of the global competition and the communications on-line. / O Comércio Eletrônico (E-commerce) cresceu muito nos últimos anos. Esse tipo de Comércio, chamado também comércio digital ou virtual, caracteriza-se pela crescente capacidade de fornecimento, competição global, aumentando, com isso, as expectativas dos consumidores, causando assim, uma alta concorrência entre as empresas, que mudam de forma muito rápida os negócios e o modo de operar. Sendo que, pode-se perceber que as empresas que não estiverem prontas para as mudanças, em um curto período ficaram para trás no mundo dos negócios. O Comércio Eletrônico permite que tais mudanças possam ser suportadas em uma escala global, possibilitando uma maior eficiência e flexibilidade, isto ocorre por meio da agilidade em atender às necessidades e expectativas dos clientes. Para este novo paradigma, começa atualmente a se formalizar a chamada Inteligência de Negócios (Business Intelligence), cuja finalidade é gerenciar os conhecimentos na era da competição global e das comunicações on-line.

Informationssystem är något som företag använder för att bättre hantera i stort sätt allaaspekter av verksamheten. Företag investerar stora summor pengar på nya system samtutveckling av befintliga system i en strävan efter bättre konkurrenskraft. Idag försöker mångaföretag att komma åt ”Business Intelligence” aspekten av deras informationssystem, menkunskapen om detta område är det inte många som besitter. En del informationssystem, elleraffärssystem(ERP) som det även kan kallas, är väldigt omfattande när det kommer till trenderoch utveckling inom IS(Informationssystem) och BI (Business Intelligence)områdena. SAP ärett av dessa ERPn som anses vara en av världens största affärssystem. Företag som Pfizer och Volvo lyckas använda SAP och dess funktionalitet för att utföra sinauppgifter inom de kunskapsområdena som användare besitter. Detta kan vara kunskaper omförvaltning eller processhantering vid tillverkning och dylikt. Problemet uppstår vid deaspekter av SAP som ingen eller få på företaget har kunskap om, vilket i detta fall är själva BIaspekten.Området ”BI” är någon som SAP tar hänsyn till, men till vilken utsträckning? Finns detanledningar till varför individer på företag som Pfizer har problem med att använda verktygetSAP BI ? Och framförallt, vad kan göras åt saken?För att besvara dessa frågor så användes en systematisk litteraturstudie för att hitta relevantforskning som tar upp faktorer som berör dessa frågor. Detta i kombination med intervjuer avpersoner som jobbar på ekonomiavdelningen på Pfizer som försöker använda verktyget. Undersökningen hittar att olika modeller kan förklara användares acceptans av BI och medhjälp av faktorer som förekommer i dessa modeller samt jämförelse med förda intervjuer såskapas en modell. En modell med syftet att fokusera på relationen mellan icke experter av BIoch designkrav som behövs för att icke experter enklare ska kunna använda BI i deras arbete.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur en stor organisation arbetar med förvaltning av information genom att undersöka dess nuvarande informationsförvaltning, samt undersöka eventuella förslag till framtida informationsförvaltning. Vidare syftar studien också till att undersöka hur en stor organisation kan etablera en tydlig styrning, samverkan, hantering och ansvars- och rollfördelning kring informationsförvaltning. Denna studie är kvalitativ, där datainsamlingen sker genom dokumentstudier och intervjuer. Studien bedrivs med abduktion och är en normativ fallstudie då studiens mål är att ge vägledning och föreslå åtgärder till det fall som uppdragsgivaren har bett mig att studera. Fallet i denna studie är ett typiskt fall, då studiens resultat kan vara i intresse för fler än studiens uppdragsgivare, exempelvis organisationer med liknande informationsmiljö. För att samla teori till studien så har jag genomfört litteraturstudier om ämnen som är relevanta för studiens syfte: Informationsförvaltning, Business Intelligence, Data Warehouse och dess arkitektur, samt Business Intelligence Competency Center. Denna studie bidrar med praktiskt kunskapsbidrag, då studien ger svar på praktiska problem. Uppdragsgivaren har haft praktiska problem i och med en icke fungerade informationsförvaltning, och denna studie har bidragit med förslag på framtida informationsförvaltning. Förslaget på framtida informationsförvaltning involverar ett centraliserat Data Warehouse, samt utvecklingen utav en verksamhet som hanterar informationsförvaltning och styrningen kring informationsförvaltningen inom hela organisationen. / This study aims to investigate how large organizations can work with information management by examining an organization's existing information management, and investigate possible future proposals to information management. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate how an organization can establish a clear direction, collaboration, management and responsibilities and roles regarding information management. This study is qualitative, where data collection occurs through document studies and interviews. The study is conducted by an abductive research approach and the study is a normative case study as the study's goal is to provide guidance and propose measures to the case that the collaboration partner has asked me to study. The case in this study is a typical instance, because the result will be representative of more than the study's collaboration partner, such as other large organizations with similar cases concerning information management. To collect theory to the study I conducted literature reviews on topics that are relevant to the purpose of the study: Information management, Business Intelligence, Data Warehouse and its architecture, as well as Business Intelligence Competency Center. This study contributes with practical knowledge, because the study provides answers to practical problems the collaboration partner has expressed within the non-operated information management, and this study contributes with suggestions for future information management. The suggestions involve a centralized Data Warehouse and the development of a function that handles information management, and disseminate the governance of information management throughout the organization.

Problem/frågeställningar: När företagsledare runt om i världen ska ta beslut uppgår 40% av dessa beslut till att baseras på magkänslan. Ett påstående kring konkurrensfördelar och magkänsla är att ”ett av de största hindren för konkurrensfördelar är att agera enbart på magkänsla eller intuition”. Denna uppsats tar fasta på det påståendet och granskar hur BI, ett verktyg som stödjer företagsledarna i sina beslut, spelar in. Ett synsätt för att studera konkurrensfördelar är det resursbaserade synsättet, där resurser följaktligen är grunden i det som skapar konkurrensfördelar. Kombinationen mellan hur BI stödjer med information för att underlätta beslut och faktumet att magkänsla eller intuition hindrar konkurrensfördelar gör att den här uppsatsen ställer sig frågan ”Hur och varför kan BI ur ett resursbaserat synsätt stödja skapandet av konkurrensfördelar på kort samt lång sikt inom stora företag?” Syfte: Att beskriva samt förklara hur och varför BI ur ett resursbaserat synsätt kan stödja skapandet av konkurrensfördelar på kort samt lång sikt inom stora företag. Teori/modell och metod: Inom den teoretiska referensramen presenteras och diskuteras först definitionen av BI och dess användning. Därefter följer en presentation av det resursbaserade synsättet utifrån en modell byggd av Hart, vilken kompletteras med annan forskning inom det resursbaserade synsättet. Det genererar sedan en egen modell, som därefter byggs på med en BI-del för att utgöra en undersökningsmodell som används vidare i uppsatsen. Tillvägagångssätt: För den här uppsatsen har 18 st företag som har någon form av BI på företaget intervjuats. Utöver att företagen är bland Sveriges 120 största har inga vidare urval sett, vilket har resulterat i respondenter från branscher så som media, teleoperatörer och försäkring. På dessa företag har intervjuer skett med den person som ansetts vara BI-ansvarig. Vissa företag har Controllers som är de som har övergripande ansvaret för BI, medan det på andra företag är IT-chefer eller specifikt BI-ansvariga. Inom metodavsnittet förs även en genomgång kring de intervjufrågor som framtagits. Huvudsakliga resultat/slutsatser: I slutsatserna fastslås bland annat att BI kan stödja och driva på en så kallad patchningsförmåga, vilket innebär att företag är snabba i anpassningen mot marknaden. Därutöver konstateras att en av anledningarna till att BI stöttar skapandet av konkurrensfördelar är dess förmåga att stödja effektivisering, optimering och processinnovation i olika förmågor som senare kan leda till konkurrensfördelar. Dock visar det sig också att BI är sämre på att stödja skapandet av konkurrensfördelar på lång sikt, tack vare avsaknaden av stöttandet till faktorer som gör resurser svåra att imitera. / Problem: When business leaders around the world are about to take a decision, 40% of these decisions are based on gut rather than any rational information. This, together with the claim that “one of the biggest hinders for competitive advantage is acting solely on gut or intuition” leads to the combination of the decision support tool Business Intelligence and competitive advantage. Competitive advantage can be seen from numerous perspectives; one of these is the resource-based view, where the resources are the basic pillar for competitive advantage. From this the thesis study question is formulated; “How and why can BI, seen from a resource-based perspective, support the creation of competitive advantage, on short and long term, in large companies?” Purpose: To explain and describe how and why BI, seen from a resource-based perspective, can support the creation of competitive advantage, on short and long term, in large companies. Theory: The theoretical foundation is based upon definitions on BI and what BI really is, together with a presentation and discussion on the resource-based view. Following the BI and resource-based view parts, the research model for this thesis is presented, where a modified resource-based view model for competitive advantage, and a definition collection for BI, is combined. Method: For this thesis, 18 companies where they have some sort of BI solution implemented, has been interviewed. The companies have been selected based from their size, where the 120 largest companies first were contacted with an interview proposal. The companies are based in industries such as media, telephone communications and insurance. On these companies, the individual that is the “BI responsible” has been interviewed, which varies from company to company. BI responsibles could be Controllers, IT Managers or specific BI Managers. Conclusions: In the conclusions part of this thesis the research question is divided into a how part and a why part. One conclusion from the how part, is that BI can both support and drive a so-called patching capability, which means that a company can be faster and more agile in their market adaption. One of the reasons why BI can support competitive advantages from a resource-based view is that it can help to drive efficiency, optimization and process innovation in different capabilities that can lead to competitive advantage. Another conclusion is that despite its abilities to support what drives competitive advantage through the resource-based view, the term for this is mainly short-term, due to the fact that it is not hard to imitate the information, which constitutes the basic resources that BI supports.

This thesis is oriented on data usage from manufacturing IoT devices. The main goal is to propose comprehensive concept of data usage from manufacturing IoT devices in BI, based on available literature and user requirements from manufacturing companies. First part of thesis deals with relationship between IoT and BI, based on available literature and current researches aimed on IoT data usage. Following part is about requirement analysis aimed on manufacturing IoT data usage. The requirements were determined with help of non-structured interviews with managers of selected departments in manufacturing companies, mainly oriented on production quality, maintenance and production efficiency. Based on mentioned requirements were determined appropriate metrics that are primarily based on data from manufacturing IoT devices. The last part is practical demonstration of the tech-nological concept which is focused on data presentation.

This diploma thesis deals with the analysis and evaluation of one of the most important Business Intelligence platform in the BI market -- SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence 2004s. The main objective of the analysis is to provide reader with very comprehensive theoretical and practical platform overview that is based among others on valuable implementation of SAP NetWeaver BI sample application. The sample application not only allows better understanding of the platform, but also provides significant inputs to evaluation final phase. This evaluation is based on a metric system, which is defined as a part of this thesis as well. The evaluation result is then, apart from the quantitative quality interpretation of analyzed platform, included in a quality comparison (some areas) with BI platforms Oracle and Open Source Pentaho, whose evaluation and comparison have been made in diploma thesis [VÁLEK, 2008]. At the end of this thesis is then provided an overview of SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence 2004s strengths and weaknesses.

This thesis deals with the theme of business analysis of real company -- pharmacy, running a business in market environment of the city of Nymburk. Main focus is on research of actual position of the pharmacy in the local market in context of a new competitor entering the market. The whole thesis is divided into two consistent parts: The first part is a short theoretical introduction to the methods used and general background of the market in the city of Nymburk. The following practical part analyzes business of the company and development of sales of over-the-counter medicine in context of a new competitor entering the market in the period examined for the purpose of this thesis. Methods applied to achieve the the main goals of the thesis are following: the SWOT analysis method, which is used to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the company itself and to define threats and opportunities, based on the market environment. The subsequent method used within research is Balanced Scorecard method which is used to design the Key Performance Indicators for measuring and observing the company's performance and development. Finally data mining methods of shopping basket, segmentation and forecasting were used to analyse trends in over-the-counter medicine sales. All these methods are keystones for formulation of a basic concept for future strategical and tactical decisions.