Delivering Business Analytics – Practical Guidelines for Best Practice

<p>Preface xi</p>
<p>Acknowledgments xix</p>
<p>Part One Business Analytics Best Practices 1</p>
<p>Chapter 1 Business Analytics: A Definition 5</p>
<p>What Is Business Analytics? 5</p>
<p>Core Concepts and Definitions 7</p>
<p>Chapter 2 The Competitive Advantage of Business Analytics 11</p>
<p>Advantages of Business Analytics 14</p>
<p>Challenges of Business Analytics 23</p>
<p>Establishing Best Practices 27</p>
<p>Part Two The Data Scientist s Code 29</p>
<p>Chapter 3 Designing the Approach 31</p>
<p>Think about Competencies, Not Functions 31</p>
<p>Drive Outcomes, Not Insight 36</p>
<p>Automate Everything Non–Value–Added 38</p>
<p>Start Flexible, Become Structured 40</p>
<p>Eliminate Bottlenecks 43</p>
<p>Chapter 4 Creating Assets 47</p>
<p>Design Your Platform for Use, Not Purity 47</p>
<p>Always Have a Plan B 52</p>
<p>Know What You Are Worth 54</p>
<p>Own Your Intellectual Property 57</p>
<p>Minimize Custom Development 60</p>
<p>Chapter 5 Managing Information and Making Decisions 65</p>
<p>Understand Your Data 65</p>
<p>It s Better to Have Too Much Data Than Too Little 69</p>
<p>Keep Things Simple 74</p>
<p>Function Should Dictate Form 77</p>
<p>Watch the Dynamic, Not Just the Static 79</p>
<p>Part Three Practical Solutions: People and Process 85</p>
<p>Chapter 6 Driving Operational Outcomes 87</p>
<p>Augmenting Operational Systems 88</p>
<p>Breaking Bottlenecks 98</p>
<p>Optimizing Monitoring Processes 106</p>
<p>Encouraging Innovation 113</p>
<p>Chapter 7 Analytical Process Management 127</p>
<p>Coping with Information Overload 128</p>
<p>Keeping Everyone Aligned 137</p>
<p>Allocating Responsibilities 144</p>
<p>Opening the Platform 151</p>
<p>Part Four Practical Solutions: Systems and Assets 159</p>
<p>Chapter 8 Computational Architectures 161</p>
<p>Moving Beyond the Spreadsheet 162</p>
<p>Scaling Past the PC 173</p>
<p>Staying Mobile and Connected 180</p>
<p>Smoothing Growth with the Cloud 183</p>
<p>Chapter 9 Asset Management 191</p>
<p>Moving to Operational Analytics 192</p>
<p>Measuring Value 202</p>
<p>Measuring Performance 210</p>
<p>Measuring Effort 220</p>
<p>Part Five Practical Solutions: Data and Decision Making 231</p>
<p>Chapter 10 Information Management 233</p>
<p>Creating the Data Architecture 234</p>
<p>Understanding the Data Value Chain 242</p>
<p>Creating Data–Management Processes 249</p>
<p>Capturing the Right Data 256</p>
<p>Chapter 11 Decision–Making Structures 263</p>
<p>Linking Analytics to Value 264</p>
<p>Reducing Time to Recommendation 269</p>
<p>Enabling Real–Time Scoring 277</p>
<p>Blending Rules with Models 284</p>
<p>Appendix The Cheat Sheets 291</p>
<p>Glossary 313</p>
<p>Further Reading 331</p>
<p>About the Author 333</p>
<p>Index 335</p>