Purpose – The increasing amounts of data has become an important factor for organizations. A visual dashboard is a BI tool that can be used for communication of insights from big data. One way for individuals in organizations to get insights from timely and large data sets is through visualizations displayed in visual dashboards, but studies show that most of them fall short of their potential. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine how individuals make use of visual dashboards. Design/Methodology – To obtain this understanding a literature review was performed, followed by a study conducted in two phases. Firstly, a multiple-case study of four organizations was performed, which included interviews and the think-aloud technique. Secondly, the findings from the multiple-case study were tested through interviews with experts in the BI area. Findings – The findings indicate that low democratization, scarce effects, and simplicity are reasons for why the use of visual dashboards is not fully exploited. Low attention and understanding combined with a lack of timely information means that data-driven actions are not taken. The phase of predictive analysis has not yet been reached, rather organizations are still using the visual dashboard for descriptive analysis, which in turn hinders the possibility for effects. For these reasons the use of visual dashboards does not meet the often described purpose to make better and faster decisions, and organizations are still to take steps in that direction. Research limitations – The sampling of industries in the multiple-case study could affect variables as number of KPIs.

En kombination av individuellt genererad data samt ett prediktivt analytiskt system som samlar spelares historiska data undersöks för att få mer kunskap om hur mätningar och mått kan hjälpa spelare att fatta mer datadrivna beslut. Detta i hopp om att göra dem till skickligare spelare i det befintliga spelet som systemet används inom. Grunder i game analytics lyfts fram, där fokuset främst ligger på game metrics och telemetry för att tydliggöra hur data inom spelbranschen analyseras samt fångas upp. En kvalitativ metod kommer att tillämpas där individer kommer att intervjuas om ett tilltänkt system. Här betonas kunskapen om hur spelarna skulle uppleva ett sådant system, samt vad de anser är viktigt om ett sådant system skulle implementeras i deras dagliga spelande och vilket behov det finns i nuläget.

Background and Problem Statement: Effective decision-making based on accurate information iscritical to the survival of organizations. New tools have for many decades been developed to improvedecision-making within organizations, but increasingly dynamic and complex business environmentscontinue to create a need for better data and tools for organizations to be able to make faster and moreprecise decisions.This need has given rise to what is called Business Intelligence (BI), which has become a necessarytool for effective managing decision-making processes because of increasing amounts of data.However, research shows that expected benefits of BI are rarely realized. Previous research has alsoexpressed that further research should be done from the decision-maker’s perspective and from aperspective of small and medium-sized companies, as the amount research with these perspectives islimited. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how Business Intelligence is used for decisionmaking in small and medium-sized companies. Method: To answer the study’s research questions, we conducted a qualitative and interpretive casestudy with twelve underlying analysis objects where we conducted semi-structured interviews withone decision-maker per company in twelve different companies with different industry affiliations.The empirical material has been analyzed and discussed based on previous research and literature insubject areas such as Business Intelligence, Decision-Making, Bounded Rationality and Theory ofTechnology Dominance. Conclusion: The study shows that there are few perceived disadvantages with BI, while advantagessuch as more easily accessible fact-based information, opportunities for versatile data analysis andfaster decisions are highlighted to a greater degree. Despite an overweight to advantages, the studyalso shows several potential disadvantages such as information security-related risks where the scopeand method for making information available to staff and external actors through the BI solution ishighlighted. We also find that analytical decision-making through BI still needs to be combined withfactors such as intuition, judgment, and reason to achieve effective decision-making. The study resultsare concluded in a preliminary model that can be used to better understand the use of BI in small andmedium-sized companies. / Bakgrund och problembeskrivning: Effektivt beslutsfattande grundat på korrekt information ärkritiskt för organisationers fortlevnad. Nya verktyg har under många årtionden utvecklats för attförbättra beslutsfattande inom organisationer men alltmer dynamiska och komplexa affärsmiljöerskapar fortsatt behov av bättre underlag och verktyg för organisationer att kunna ta snabbare och merprecisa beslut.Detta behov har gett upphov till vad som kallas Business Intelligence (BI) som i takt med ökandedatamängder blivit ett nödvändigt verktyg för att effektivt hantera beslutsfattandeprocesser. Detframkommer dock i forskning att förväntade fördelar med BI sällan realiseras. Tidigare forskning harockså uttryckt att ytterligare forskning med fördel kan göras utifrån beslutsfattarens perspektiv samtutifrån ett perspektiv av små och medelstora företag då mängden forskning med dessa perspektiv ärbegränsad. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur Business Intelligence används för beslutsfattandei små och medelstora företag.Metod: För att besvara studiens frågeställningar har vi utfört en kvalitativ och tolkande fallstudiemed tolv underliggande analysobjekt där vi utförde semi-strukturerade intervjuer med enbeslutsfattare per företag i tolv olika företag med olika branschtillhörighet. Det empiriska materialethar analyserats och diskuterats utifrån tidigare forskning och litteratur inom ämnesområden såsomBusiness Intelligence, beslutsfattande, Bounded Rationality och Theory of Technology Dominance. Slutsats: Studien visar att det finns få upplevda nackdelar med BI medan fördelar såsom merlättillgänglig faktabaserad information, möjligheter till mångsidig dataanalys och snabbare beslutlyfts i högre grad. Trots en övervikt mot fördelar visar studien också på flera potentiella nackdelarsåsom informationssäkerhetsrelaterade risker där omfattning och metod för att genom BI-lösningentillgängliggöra information till personal och externa aktörer belyses. Det framkommer även attanalytiskt beslutsunderlag genom BI fortfarande behöver kombineras med faktorer som intuition,omdöme och förnuft för att uppnå effektivt beslutsfattande. Studien mynnar ut i en preliminär modellsom kan användas för att bättre förstå användningen av BI i små och medelstora företag.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the global market with Business Intelligence, recognize the most significant companies running a business in this area and try to estimate the future trends and development of the market and then to analyze BI tools of two important companies on the market, Microsoft and Oracle. Analysis and comparison of these tools will be done according to specified metrics, which will focus on both technological and business features of the tools. The main contribution should be complex comparison of quality of tools from two big competitors on the market.

Extract, Transformation, and Load (ETL) system is responsible for the extraction of data from several sources, their cleansing, conforming and insertion into a data warehouse. The thesis is focused on building ETL methodology to better understanding of ETL process and its application in the real environment. I've worked on project "BI Cookbook" with Clever Decision, a software consulting company that specializes in Business Intelligence. The aim was to create ETL part of the BI methodology. This methodology has been designed to provide ease of use, flexible and extensible material for the purpose of building ETL solution. The main goal of this work is to introduce created ETL methodology, all of its components and the way in which it could be used. Following goal is to discuss options of its implementation and modification for the wide range of use. The main contribution of this work is to provide ideas of creating and implementing ETL methodology or ideas for creating methodology in general. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first theoretical part deals with basic definition, architecture and implementing of ETL system. The second part presents the proposed methodology. The last part contains of the possible options for implementation a modification of the methodology.

Diploma thesis focuses on open source business intelligence platforms. The main aim of this thesis is to compare open source BI platforms Pentaho BI Suite and Jaspersoft BI Suite using a set of criteria on the example of the solution for a fictive company. In order to achieve this goal, the research for criteria in already existing comparisons is made firstly and on the basis of this own comparative criteria and their weights are defined. Then important features of platforms under the BI solution primary layers are characterized. In the conclusion both platforms are evaluated and compared according to the result values of all criteria. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part deals with the analysis and definition of criteria and the BI platform introduction. Used criteria are analyzed in the Gartner research, in the book about business intelligence and in two diploma theses. Own defined criteria are divided into following groups: Installation, ETL, OLAP, Reporting and Documentation. The introduction includes description of components, licence politics and available editions. In the practical part the platform functionality is tested, the project created in both of them is specified and then platforms are evaluated and compared. The functionality testing is made progressively from installation, through ETL and OLAP to reporting. The main aim of this thesis is completed in the last chapter of the practical part, where both platforms are evaluated according to the set of defined criteria, first of all under the BI solution primary layers and then also from general point of view. Here is used the weighted sum method from the multi-criteria decision analysis. The contribution of this thesis is in the transparent confrontation of two open source BI platforms, in the definition of the comparative criteria set and also in the presentation of all tools strengths and weaknesses including screenshots.

Dashboarden har kommit att bli ett uppmärksammat verktyg bland organisationer de senaste åren. En dashboard kan beskrivas som en visuell display som förmedlar väsentlig information nödvändig för att uppnå ett eller flera objektiv, som kan övervakas med en enda blick. En effektivt designad dashboard kan optimera ett företags prestationer och beslutsfattande genom att styra medlemmar i samma riktning samt förse dem med pålitliga beslutsunderlag. Tidigare forskning och läroböcker har berört motivation, implementersstadier av dashboards, val av nyckeltal samt hur dashboards ska designas för att vara effektiva. Få studier har dock undersökt hur dashboards designas i praktiken. Syftet med denna uppsats var därför att undersöka hur företags design av dashboards ser ut, och mer specifikt hur designen varierar efter syftet med dashboarden.  För att besvara problemställningen genomfördes en kvalitativ studie i form av små N-studier. Datainsamlingen inkluderade fem separata intervjuer med respondenter som varit delaktiga i designen av deras företags dashboard, samt kompletterande skärmavbilder på dessa. Studiens resultat indikerar att designen av dashboards i praktiken är komplext, men att några samband mellan syfte och design kan identifieras. Beroende på typen av dashboard, vilket korrelerar med dess syfte, kommer valet av KPI:er och funktionella egenskaper se olika ut. Inget tydligt samband mellan syfte och visuella egenskaper kunde identifieras.

This work is focused on OLAP analysis. The work presents important theoretic facts and compares availible OLAP systems in different ways. The main goal was to create own OLAP system. Design and implementation of this system is described in the project.

Information visualization dashboards are a widely used supportive tool in decision making. These tools can be difficult to create and utilize especially for the novice user. There is an extensive collection of company related data for decision making, resulting in a need of assistive tools. Prototypes were developed to research and identify design guidelines how to support fund managers in their decision making. This was carried out as a qualitative study involving 7 experts in fund management. The results provide insights and guidelines in decision supportive design for dashboards. The results indicate that there is a threshold in the number of displayed elements without limiting the cognitive analysis by the user. Three aspects; size, distribution and time should be included in the generating of suitable graphics. Assistive tools for connecting multiple context domains has been identified as a crucial element of decision support design. These guidelines should be investigated further in larger and more diverse studies in order to prove its full validity. / Information visualiserings dashboards är ett väl etablerat verktyg i beslutsfattning. Sådana verktyg kan vara utmanande att skapa och använda speciellt för en oerfaren användare. Idag samlas det in stora mängder av företagsrelaterad data för beslutsfattning vilket resulterar i ett behov av hjälpande verktyg. I den här studien utvecklades flera prototyper för att undersöka och tag fram designriktlinjer för hur man ska utforma och hjälpa fondförvaltare i sitt beslutsfattande. En kvalitativ studie genomfördes med 7 experter inom fond och kapitalförvaltning i framtagandet av designriktlinjer. Resultaten visar riktlinjer för beslutsstöd i utformningen av dashboards. Resultaten indikerar att det finns en gräns för hur många element man bör presentera för en användare utan att försvåra användarens kognitiva analysförmåga. Tre karaktärsdrag; storlek, distribution och tid påverkar utformningen av passande grafik. Studien har även identifierat behovet av verktyg för sammankopplingen mellan flera olika kontextdomäner i och med den kollaborativa delen av beslutsfattning. Dessa designriktlinjer ligger till grund för fortsatt undersökning i större och mer varierade studier för att styrka dess validitet.

All big and important decisions come through analysis. The main aim of the analysis is to examine or investigate more complicated problems by decomposing them into simpler ones whereas we come to certain conclusions on the basis of a detailed recognition of particularities. This diploma thesis is dedicated to analytic tasks solving techniques in Business Intelligence which would describe and support the whole process of analysis, its needs and premises in real surrounding environment. During the project I cooperated with Clever Decision company and took part in the real project. This company deals with Business Intelligence solutions/applications development and this project is meant to set the method of how to treat the development of the solutions. My work consists in designing a template of BI analysis method which is a part of a complex technique. The aim of this diploma thesis is to introduce my own method of Business Intelligence solution analysis, to introduce its basic components and common work instructions for this method. I reached my aim by analyzing documents and reports provided by Clever Decision company and other methods and suggestions. The main contribution of my diploma thesis is that the method works as a draft for assistance and standardizing the process of Business Intelligence solution analysis in Clever Decision company. This draft can nevertheless work as a basis for creating a wholly new method. My work consists of three parts. The first part, a theoretical one, deals with recapitulation of basic terms and methods I worked with. The second part represents properties, components and general working instructions for this method. It moreover presents main outputs, more precisely documents that are practical attachments to the method itself. The third part introduces the method itself including presentation of outputs/document drafts designed by me.