Page 83 - DCAP606_BUSINESS_INTELLIGENCE

Business Intelligence

Notes ETL Tools are typically used by a broad range of professionals - from students to database
architects.

Task “Microsoft enables business users to look no further than Excel for self-service BI”.
Comment.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
18. The first stage of an ETL process is transformation stage which involves extracting the data
from the source systems.

19. The loading stage applies a series of rules or functions to the extracted data to derive the
data for loading into the end target.
20. A common use case for ETL tools include converting CSV files to formats readable by
relational databases.

Case Study Wireless Data Services Provider - Business
Intelligence Platform & Reporting

Background
As a growing provider of wireless broadband services, the road to success in this competitive
industry is clear: expand coverage as quickly and as efficiently as possible while maintaining
the highest level of service quality. In an effort to control rising costs and enable strategic
decision making, the company required a method for assembling, analysing, and
disseminating network deployment data with maximum visibility and accuracy. During
the ongoing network expansion process, numerous sites were quickly acquired, zoned,
and permitted simultaneously by the deployment team. With only a small time window
to complete work, even the most minor setback could lead to massive cost overruns.
A lack of site status visibility was causing problem sites to incur exponentially higher
costs due to re-work and redundant permitting. To maintain the aggressive schedule and
avoid run-away costs, the network development team needed a system to quickly identify
site progress against build-out goals. Concurrently, the market launch team struggled to
communicate with the network deployment team. Without accurate market status
information, they were unable to make informed decisions and effectively forecast the
demand for customer service resources. This lack of communication posed the risk of
causing market launch delays and the loss of significant future revenue. Additionally,
dependable market coverage information was needed to measure adherence to regulatory
requirements.
Giving Visibility to the Network Build Out
The shortage of actionable information was not due to a lack of data. An internally
developed system tracked the network build-out process and compiled raw transactional
records. Analysts, however, were tasked with manually cleaning and analysing massive
“data dumps” from the system. Due to the sheer amount of data, only a small subset of the
Contd....

78 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY