Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
The table definitions and join strategies in the solution design leverage
structures and techniques that are already standard fare in the information
systems industry. The information that is new is a set of concepts that can
be applied to any enterprise. As such these concepts provide a structure to
the analysis. The structure created by these concepts is well defined and can,
therefore, be repeated; and, when repeated, the concepts can be applied to
various subject areas and hierarchical levels within the enterprise.
The second ROI of analytics is the by-products of analytics. Market
Basket Analysis is a search. Every search reveals more than the intended
answer. When searching for a report or document, invariably you find
reports and documents other than what you were looking for. In the pro-
cess of searching for one document, you find ten others in addition to
the one. There is an old saying about searching: “You find it in the last
place you look.” That is of course true because once you find what you're
looking for, you stop looking. So, of course you find what you're looking
for in the last place you look. Implicitly, that means that you also looked
in other places and found other things. This also happens with Market
Basket Analysis. You find other patterns and aἀ nities you weren't look-
ing for. In this way, an analysis effort such as Market Basket Analysis will
discover knowledge about the enterprise, knowledge that extends beyond
the answer to the question at hand. These are the hidden gems and jewels
that are the by-product of analysis.
ANAlytIc skIlls
Sir Francis Bacon stated that “knowledge is power.” The ability to generate
knowledge is even more powerful. The third ROI of the solution design
in the following chapters is that it renders available analytic skills, which
were previously unavailable to analysts. The original genesis of the Market
Basket Analysis solution design in this topic was the unavailability of such
analytic skills. The knowledge generation process in the Market Basket
Analysis solution design is oriented first around the need for an analytic
method. This Market Basket Analysis solution design allows an analyst to
manage the knowledge and the process and skills that created them.
Ownership of the analytic process and skills leads to the fourth ROI.
Thinking is a d iἀ cult activity. The scientific process provides a s truc-
ture that renders thinking a tangible process. A hypothesis is expressed
