data – an introduction
DESCRIPTION
Executive Summary: Welcome to the first in the series on the new wide world of data. By recognizing the value, and understanding the common aspects of collection, accuracy, maintenance, sorting and usability in the common world, practical solutions to information and reporting are only steps away. Examples in addition to more complex investigations are presented in a straight forward approach to understanding.TRANSCRIPT
Data – An Introduction
By Stacey L. Vernooy
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
The Practical World of Data Address Books, Phone Lists Birthdays Grocery Lists Favourite Websites Christmas Lists Recipe Books Cheque Books Surveys & Contests
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
The world wasn’t created in a day…BUT
The need to “collect”, learn and adapt is a primary instinct.
The desire to organize, group “like” items and “sort” is a function of knowing what you have, and attempting to understand it.
The ability to communicate and present your analysis is valuable and necessary to evolve.
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Applications & Data
Common systems and good planning… Learning from the “inside-out” Learn the process, learn the
“keys” Ask the right questions
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Know the “behind the scenes”..
Answering the 5 W’s and the How… When is data available, what frequency? How often are invoices processed ? How is order or client information provided ? What are the steps to create an invoice ? What are the steps to collect from an
invoice ? What summary information is useful ?
Who requires what information and WHY ?
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Following the Flow…
At the end of every collection of data is a flow of activity To sort To summarize To share and communicate
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Types of Applications…
Human Resources To track employee information
Accounting Customer and accounting data
Marketing Current and historical customer trends
Sales Order entry, customer and inventory
Shipping and Receiving – Inventory
Order entry and inventory
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
The Systems & the DataEmployee Customer Order Entry Inventory
Human Resources
X X
Accounting X X X
Marketing X
Sales X X X
Shipping & Receiving
X X X
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Rule of Thumb:
“Any list of information that can be broken into
similar records of structured fields should
probably be maintained in a database”
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
The database…
Even in simpliest form, a database via Word processor or spreadsheet, takes on the attributes of a table of columns and rows. Rows – the individual records Columns – the data for each record
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Each Column… With similar attributes a piece of
data can be : Character or Alpha Numeric Date Currency - $ Boolean – True or False Binary – Pictures, sound or video
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Every database needs alittle maintenance…
New information needs to be added Existing information needs to kept current
and up-to-date Historical information that may not be
required by all users needs to be archived.
ADD UPDATE DELETE(ARCHIVE) SAVE
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
The Practical World of Data& Data mining.. Address Books, Phone Lists Birthdays Grocery Lists Favourite Websites Christmas Lists Recipe Books Cheque Books Surveys & Contests
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Sports Teams
Number Last name
First name
Position Birthday
15 Smith Chris Centre 1973-05-06
9 Yager Ben Forward 1972-02-08
11 Connor Jen Defense 1976-09-09
21 Tagler Janet Defense 1975-10-10
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Sorting order By Number By Last name By First name By Position By Birthdate
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Indexes…
Five copies of the same data would be difficult to maintain, indexes or “sorting orders” allow data to be prioritized, filtered by or put in a temporary sequence for searching by individual fields.
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Controlling the content…
The “quality” of the data when only certain values are accepted,
ie. Valid date for calculations Positive values for age Names without numeric values
“ GIGA – garbage in, garbage out “
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Why is “quality” important?
The larger the database, the larger the impact inaccurate or incomplete data becomes.
Ie. One client with 3 incorrect last names that has created orders when a salesperson needs to retrieve one, a client receiving multiple bills or statements
Ie. A part in inventory with different part numbers when a client places an order or inventory must be restocked
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Regular data cleansing…
Routinely checking to ensure the ‘miscellaneous’ or ‘unknown’ data variables are completed accurately
Summarization by category or “like” values creates symmetry, a generalized understanding of the commonalities that exist between records
Ie. How many clients take a loan for the purpose of ‘car purchase’ could provide for an improvement or discounted rate for car loans
Ie. How many clients read a certain publication to focus advertising expenditures
Ie. What is the delivery area frequency to a client location can assist in scheduling regular drop-offs, providing better client service, reducing costs as appropriate
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Presentation of the facts
Whether visual through charts and graphs or detailed analytics and summaries, all information seeks to teach the user how to improve, react more effectively and learn from mistakes and move forward, one step at a time. Asking better questions next time.
“Creative Sales and Marketing, IT strategies”ACE Management Group
Designed by Stacey L. VernooyPhone: 905-333-5698
Thank you