Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / Companies are putting in place systems that might assist in attaining their business goals and vision to improve the running of their business processes. Companies are looking at Business Intelligence (BI) as a means to attain a competitive edge over competitors, predict future trends, improve strategic decision making, facilitate quick and reliable decision making, or make the day-to-day running of business easier. The study looks at the perspective of middle to top management on the context of BI, with main focus on the technical capabilities of BI within medium to large companies in South Africa. To obtain factors relevant to the South African business context, an online survey was conducted with various sectors of South African industry. The study is part of research conducted collaboratively by the University of the Western Cape and Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences in Germany. It focuses on exploring usage of Business Intelligence Systems (BIS) together with Corporate Performance. Online surveys were conducted that targeted medium to large companies in Germany and South Africa by questioning middle to top management on issues surrounding BIS and Corporate Performance. On this basis online survey approach was taken to ensure required number of participants would be covered and approached. Therefore, the research adopted stratified sample method for the online survey. Stratified sampling enabled the expansion of the research by gathering and collaborating participants responses on the research question and eliminate the possibilities of unreliable sample from large population.

Eftersom dagens affärsklimat ständigt utvecklas i och med utökad konkurrens behöver organisationer fatta beslut som är baserade på data i ett tidigt skede. Business Intelligence (BI) tillhandahåller beslutsfattare inom organisationer snabb och riktig information som kan användas som beslutsstöd. I och med att BI’s omfattning gått från enstaka avdelningar till att beröra hela organisationer sätter det stor press på experter inom IT-avdelningar.Det bidrar till att slutanvändare behöver en miljö som ger dem direkt åtkomst till data för egna analyser och beslut. Den miljön nås genom att implementera Self-Service Business Intelligence (SSBI). Det SSBI gör är att det effektiviserar processen för beslut. När SSBI implementeras kräver det att de slutanvändare som berörs av det behöver utöka sina kunskaper för att utnyttja potentialen vilket SSBI medför. För nuvarande saknas forskning kring vilka kunskaper slutanvändare behöver inneha vilket har bidragit till att följande frågeställning kommer att undersökas i studien:➢ Vilka grundläggande kunskaper bör en slutanvändare inneha vid användningen av Self-Service Business Intelligence?Studien grundas i en litteraturgranskning och en fallstudie där intervjuer av sex respondenter, vilka förfogar över god kunskap kring SSBI, använts för datainsamling. Resultatet framställer fyra grundkunskaper vilka slutanvändare bör inneha för att öka möjligheten att börja använda SSBI på ett mer framgångsrikt sätt.

The punctuality of rail traffic in Sweden has not increased in a long period of time and this causes problems for people, companies and the community as it affects everyone in different ways. How the Swedish Transport Administration and SJ work on improving the train traffic and punctuality will be addressed in this study. This study will have focus on how data-driven methods can increase the punctuality of train traffic. The study will show which factors are critical for data-driven methods using literature as well as models with descriptions, as a result, the Swedish Transport Administration and SJ will be in focus for how the development of punctuality of train traffic goes. This is a case study with a literature search as well as qualitative interviews as data collection, the literature search will primarily show which factors are necessary for datadriven methods and it will also help form the interview questions, later on the interviews will show how the Swedish Transport Administration and SJ work today so that comparisons can be drawn and a result can be produced.

Introduction: Corporate limits becoming more diffuse due to the globalization taking place and requirements for analytical strategies are becoming more fundamental parts of organizations. Business Intelligence systems are hot and not without reason, today's world is spinning faster and with a flow of information that is constantly increasing Business Intelligence promises to introduce a support that will render a better decision-making, something that everyone wants. Problem Discussion: The local government business has today demands from the Swedish School-inspection to analyze and create adequate target images to the school and students meet curriculum goals and guidelines. Therefore, local government activities has increasingly begun to implement Business Intelligence tools, with the purpose to facilitate strategic and operational decisions were the result plays an increasing role in today's society. Purpose: This study evaluates how the analysis tool Qlikview fulfills the function of monitoring and controlling the improved student achievement in public schools. Method: The evaluation has been conducted qualitative interviews with staffs that have leadership positions in each municipality and management and possess a deep knowledge of the analysis tool and its processes. Conclusion: The evaluation has shown positive effects on the monitoring and control of student performance through better control of school operations.

Business Intelligence är en samling verktyg för att utvinna och analysera information ur rådata inom en organisation samt ge bättre beslutsstöd grundat på denna. Det har traditionellt använts inom industrisektorn, men på senare tid har även sjukvårdssek- torn upptäckt fördelarna med ett välimplementerat system för Business Intelligence. Implementationen är emellertid en komplex process där mycket kan gå fel, och på grund av att sjukvårdssektorn relativt nyligen började använda sig utav Business Intel- ligence finns luckor i forskningen på området. Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka hur sjukvården i Region Halland samt involverade konsulter arbetar med implemen- tationen, och ta fram riktlinjer för hur detta bör ske. Uppsatsen baserades på en kvali- tativ ansats och använde sig av en explorativ studie med djupintervjuer där totalt fem personer från Region Halland samt två personer från ett IT-konsultbolag bidrog till uppsatsens resultat. Resultatet visade att riktlinjer tagna från närliggande områden och det privata näringslivet, med viss modifiering, även är applicerbara på sjukvårdssek- torn. Det framkom också att utbildning är ett område som större tyngd bör läggas vid, samt att dagens system för Business Intelligence passar vårdens behov väl. / Business Intelligence is a collection of tools with the purpose of extracting and ana- lyzing information out of raw data within an organization, and based on this provide better decision support. Business Intelligence has been traditionally used within the industry sector, but in recent years the health care sector has also noted the benefits of having a well-implemented Business Intelligence system. However, implementation is a complex process where many things can go wrong, and based on the fact that the health care sector just recently began its use of Business Intelligence, research on this topic is scarce. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how the health care sector in Region Halland along with involved consultants work with the implementation process, and to produce guidelines on how this should occur. The thesis was based on a qualitative approach and applied an explorative study with depth interviews where a total of five persons from Region Halland and two persons from an IT consulting firm contributed to the thesis’ results. The results showed that guidelines drawn from neighboring academic areas and the private business sector, after some adjustment, are also valid within the health care sector. It was also concluded that education is an area on which more emphasis should be placed during the implementation process, and that today’s Business Intelligence systems fits the health care sector well.

The business environment nowadays becomes much more dynamically and tensely than the past driven by the trend of globalization and free trading. Therefore, any enterprise in the world has to face competition from everywhere in the world. Under such complicated business environment, it¡¦s dangerous to make decision based on past experience or instinct. If some key message is missed or not collected, a disaster caused by logical decision, but far away from the reality might just happen. In last couple decades, software providers launched DSS(Decision Support System), BI(Business Intelligence), ¡K, etc. based on current enterprise IT infrastructure like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), MRPII(Manufacturing Resource Planning), ¡K, etc. to help enterprise for decision making. However, such systems are not popular in Taiwan, not to mention the successful stories. While I studied the lesson ¡§information technology and competitive advantage¡¨ conducted by Profession Kuo, I concluded from classmates¡¦ discussion that the root causes were as follows. 1. Most Taiwan manufacturers¡¦ strategy is to launch product at lower cost to allow them to win business via price war. Therefore, they are willing to invest tangible hardware, not intangible software. 2. The branches of international companies can¡¦t develop their own information system due to Corporate policy or security concern. Based on above mentioned, I started thinking if we could have a BI system that doesn¡¦t need to spend money, is easy to implement, and no need for Corporate approval. Such BI system could help management to retrieve effective and enough information for precise decision making. After evaluation, I think Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software is the most suitable solution. It¡¦s because almost all enterprises have it, it can contain 1M units of data in a file, and useful tools of macro, pivot table, sorting, filtering, VBA(Visual Basic for Application). Furthermore, the nature of spreadsheet is similar to database structure, so it can be easily integrated with database like SQL database, Microsoft Access. Thanks to Profession Kuo¡¦s coaching, I started doing research, and studied necessary tool like VBA, ¡K, etc. to warm up for this thesis. After months, I finally finish it, and I hope it can contribute to the ones that have similar problem with me.

In the modern competitive business activity, information collection becomes very important to support enterprises management groups to make decision. Many enterprises consider knowledge management and application are very important issues in the Knowledge Economy era. Therefore, Business Intelligence System becomes more popular and adopted by many enterprises like the flames added by the fuel in Knowledge Economy era. Enterprise management with Balanced Scorecard is also introduced by well-known scholars as well at this stage. The combination of Business Intelligence System and Balanced Scorecard becomes more efficient for enterprise management and pushes the modern enterprises forward to the Open Knowledge Economy era. The main purpose of this research is to adopt architecture theory to construct the Architecture Oriented Business Intelligence system with Balanced Scorecard Model(AOBIBSCM). This model provides an efficient construction method for the constructors to control the system with the whole system overview. The constructors can easily find out the Structure elements, Services of structure elements, Relationship of structure elements, Structure Behavior Coalescence, in order to compare with the real world behaviors and allow constructors validate and realize the sequence of behaviors. The tight combination of structure point of view, behavior point of view and other points of view integrates structure and behavior neatly, making it far superior than Non-Architecture designed method which separates structure and behavior. Non-Architecture construction method is easy to lead the structure and behavior to different routes and wastes time to re-design and adjust the system. This research adopts logical theorem to construct AOBIBSCM. It constructs (1)AOBIBSCM¡Aand describes (2)Non-AOBIBSCM(NAOBIBSCM) construction method, then (3)Compare AOBIBSCM and NAOBIBSCM, then show the benefit of AOBIBSCM. The contribution of this research is to construct AOBIBSCM which includes Structure element diagrams, Hierarchy of structure element diagrams, Service of structure element diagrams, Relationship of structure element diagrams, Structure and behavior coalescence diagram, Sequence diagrams. Our research furnishes an efficient construction method for enterprises to install AOBIBSC, and reduces the construction risk and cost, and provides more discussion space of the system real implementation, testing, construction and performance tuning.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur företag, med hjälp av den moderna alltmer avancerade och utvecklade teknologin, systematiskt kartlägger konsumenternas köpbeteenden, genom s.k. business intelligence. Uppsatsen ämnar ta reda på hur teknologin appliceras hos företag samt hur och i vilken mån den data som samlas in används för att få konsumenter till önskade köpbeslut. Teori: Arbetets teoretiska kärna utgörs dels av ett teoretiskt ramverk, i vilket redogörs för business intelligence, samt ett avsnitt där teorier om konsumenternas köpbeteende presenteras. Metod: Arbetet har sin metodologiska utgångspunkt i en kvalitativ forskningsansats där fokus ligger på semistrukturerade intervjuer. För att besvara forskningsfrågorna har ett djupgående angreppssätt används. Empiri: Intervjuer med respondenter, i form av ämnesspecifik expertis, från IBM Sverige, HUI Research och Coop Sverige AB har genomförts. Resultat: Resultatet som presenteras i undersökningen visar på att konsumentförståelse i huvudsak genereras ur kundkortsdatan vilken fungerar som såväl informationsinsamlare som relationsskapare. Utöver det finns det ett växande intresse för kartläggning av rörelsemönster i butik. Vidare påvisar resultatet att det föreligger en problematik vad gäller resursutnyttjandet av data vilket främst grundar sig på att företag inte förmår att utnyttja den insamlade datan på effektivt sätt, något som bl.a. förklaras av såväl en resurs- som integritetsmässig problematik. Slutsats: Studien visar att den teknologiska utvecklingen har medgett en datainsamling större än vad som i många fall kan hanteras och utnyttjas på ett för verksamheter och organisationer maximalt sätt. Företag utnyttjar inte den data de har tillgång till i proportion till den kapacitet som de teknologiska verktyg man har för datainsamling besitter. / Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how companies, with the help of advanced and developed technology, are able to understand consumer buying behavior through so called business intelligence. The purpose is also to find out how this technology is applied within the companies and the extent to which data is gathered in order to lead get consumers to desired purchasing decisions Theory: The theoretical core consists partly of a theoretical framework that describes business intelligence, as well as a section in which theories of consumer buying behavior is presented. Method: The thesis has its methodological basis on a qualitative research approach where focus is pointed at semi-structured interviews. A profound approach has been used to answer the research question. Data: Interviews has been conducted with topic-specific expertise, the respondents are from the following companies: IBM Sverige, HUI Research and Coop Sverige AB. Result: The results presented in the thesis show that the understanding companies have of consumer behavior mainly are extracted from data that loyalty cards can produce. The information from these cards can be collected in order to build a better relationship with the customers. Beyond that, there is a growing interest in identifying patterns of customer movement in stores. Furthermore, the results indicate that there is a problem concerning utilization of data resource, which mainly is based on the fact that companies are not able to utilize the data collected in an efficient manner which partly can be explained by problems concerning effective utilization of resources as well as the privacy concerns of customers. Conclusion: The study shows that technological improvements have made it possible to obtain a larger amount of data than most companies are able to utilize in an efficient way. Companies do not use the data they have access to in proportion to the capacity of the technological tools the companies possesses making it possible to obtain large amount of data.

Diese Studie präsentiert die Ergebnisse einer Befragung zur Verbreitung von Business Intelligence-Technologien (BI) in der Call Center-Branche. Neben der Erfassung struktureller Daten der Call Center umfasst dies die detaillierte Untersuchung der Bereiche Datenspeicherung, Umgang mit Kundendaten, Einsatz von BI-Technologien sowie die Analyse der Gesprächsqualität.

Engineering asset management (EAM) organisations are increasingly motivated to implement business intelligence (BI) systems in response to dispersed information environments and regulatory requirements. However, the implementation of a BI system is a complex undertaking requiring considerable resources. To date, there has been only a limited authoritative set of critical success factors (CSFs) for management reference because the BI market is a relatively new area that has been driven mainly by IT industry and vendors. There is an imperative to explicitly focus on, and rigorously specify, the CSFs that impact on the implementation of BI systems. Consequently, this research seeks to bridge the gap that exists between academia and practitioners. It addresses the challenging problems in implementing BI systems by investigating the CSFs and their associated contextual issues with EAM organisations.