Business Intelligence: Tools and Techniques for Effective Decision Making

This document discusses the application of business intelligence in decision making and the tools and techniques used for effective decision making. It explores the advantages and disadvantages of business processing and provides insights into different input and output data in business processing. The document also covers the usage of intelligent systems and different information technology used in business processing.

BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................4
Flow chart....................................................................................................................................4
Core Step and supporting process...............................................................................................5
Different Input and Output of data in business processing.........................................................5
Software which can be applied of business processing..............................................................6
Advantage of disadvantage of business processing................................................................7
Disadvantage..........................................................................................................................7
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................7
Different decision and supporting activity .................................................................................7
Usage of intelligent system.........................................................................................................8
Different information technology which can be used in business processing............................8
LO3..................................................................................................................................................9
Application of business intelligence for the business process....................................................9
Tools and techniques with respect to the business intelligence..................................................9
Designing the business intelligence tool...................................................................................10
LO4................................................................................................................................................11
P5&M4. Discussing how business intelligence tools can contribute towards effective decision
making.......................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Business intelligence is concerned with technologies, applications and practices for the purpose
of collection, integration, analysis and presentation of business data and information. The main
objective of business intelligence is to help the management in better decision making so that it
can achieve its goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. Action response, a London based
charity established to provide quick replies and responses to various critical situations throughout
the world. The current study will focus on the effective and systematic use of business
intelligence into the organization and will further discuss how it can help in better decision
making and the legal issues associated with the safety & security of business intelligence.
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LO1
Flow chart
Core Step and supporting process

After going through the above process, it has been identified that there are some core Processes
and some supporting processes, some of them are follows:
Incoming application It is the core process as it is the step where organization used to
receive the different application in regards of the individual who are requiring fund. Activity
such as allocating the unique code to the applicant is the supporting process of the same, as it
used to give the applicant the surety that their application has been submitted successfully. At the
same time sending back the application to the one who’s information is not enough is also a
supporting activity in relation to gather application in the organization).
Committee approval: It is another core activity in the organization in which the
committee member in the organization used to approve the application in the basis of seeing the
application information. It is the core process in the flow map. At the same time activity like
storage of different application, approved or decline are the supporting as on the basis of the
same committee member used to make different decision. Providing suitable response to the
application is another supporting process. As response is generally given to the applicant based
on decision which is taken by the committee member in the organization.
Different Input and Output of data in business processing
There are many different types of the input and output data which is flow throughout the
process, some of the input and output data are as follows:
Committee Approval
Input Data: Generally, the input data in the process is the application form of all the applicant,
as committee member in the organization used to get the idea about the different applicants
based on the same. Also, because of the same data different decisions are being made in the
organization
Output Data: Output data in the business process is the response to the applicant which is given
by the completion officer. As completion officer used to draft the response on the basis of
decision which is passed on by the committee member.
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Incoming application
Input data: Data which is generally received by the organization is the unstructured, as
applicant just used to submit the form, clerk in the organization used to make the data in the
structure form in the organization. It is generally raw data which is received by the organization.
Output Data: Output data is the information which is pass on by the clerk by going
through the application form which is submitted by the applicant and checking is the document
submitted used to involve whole data. It is semi structured type of the data.
Response to applicant
Input data: Data based on which this core activity is carried out in the organization was
information by clerk in regards of is application form is properly filled or not. It is the end data
on the basis of which is response are given to end consumer.
Output Data: output in this context is the mail which is sent by the Assessors to the
applicant to make them aware about different activity. It is finished data which is sent to the
coustomer.
Software which can be applied of business processing
Word processing software is the software which can be applied in the organization in the process
of business processing, as it will provide the organization with the features of input, editing and
output of text, often with some additional features (Cristian and et.al., 2018). Benefit and
Drawback of business processing is as follows:
Advantage of disadvantage of business processing
Advantage
This generally used to help the company in assuring that all the employee in the
organization are having same guideline about how to perform their work. Also, it used to reduce
the amount of the time taken to carry out different operation in the organization.

It will also help the company in improving the efficiency of different operation in the
organization as employee will take less time to complete the different activity in the
organization.
Another importance of using software in the organization is that with the help of the
software the organization is able to draw the process map more efficiently in the organization. As
this software in the organization used to understand the different activity of the business in more
efficient as compare to make the process map manually.
Disadvantage
Business processing in the organization used to not provide the flexibility to the different
worker who are part of business processing. Another limitation which was identified in regards
of business processing in the organization is that it used to increase the cost of the company, as
some employee are hired in the organization but it used to not guarantee success for the business.
LO 2
Different decision and supporting activity
There are many different types of decision which has to be taken in the above decision,
also all the decision is to be taken on the basis of supporting decision. Some of the decision and
supporting action are as follows:
Application is structured: It is the first decision which is generally made by the clerk in
the organization in which they used to make sure that the different application which is being
receive is having the thorough information. This is generally taken by the first group of the clerk
who used to review the application. Based on the same they used to make the different decision
to carry on with the application or not in the organization. This decision is generally supported
by the different application forms which are generally received by them in the market (Amtrup
and et.al., 2019). For making these sort of the decision in the organization different clerk
requires the support of different document which are provided, if document which are provided
are enough different decision can be taken easily.
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Approval: It is another key decision which is taken by the trustee in the organization, they
generally used to make sure that they used to make the different decision is the company is
looking to provide funding to that application or not in the nation. They generally used to make
the different decision based on the document which are generally provided by the assessors in
the organization. For making these sort of the decision in the organization, trustee requires the
support of Assessors secretory who used to guide and take trustee through document of the
applicant.
Usage of intelligent system
Using intelligent system in the organization will eventually help the company in making
the different decision more efficiently in the organization. Intelligent system in the organization
will help the company in getting better raw data also will help the different party in
understanding the different data on better way, on the basis of the same different decision can be
taken in the organization (Wiest and Goldberg, 2019).
Business intelligent tool will help the committee member in getting more synchronized
data based on the same different decision can be managed very easily in the organization. Also,
Business intelligent tool will help the clerk in getting better raw material to make the variety of
the decision in the organization. Intelligent systems are sometime complex in the nature which
uses wide range of technologies such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, natural language
processing, wireless networking and graphical signalling. This may help the company in
improving efficiency of different activity.
Different information technology which can be used in business processing
Excel, it is the first technology which can be used by the organization to synchronized and
structure the different data in better way in the organization these will eventually help the
company in getting better guidelines to perform the different activity of the flow chart. Excel will
help the company in improving the level of presentation of different data in the organization, as
it used to help in making variety of table and graph. This technology will only help the company
in getting better raw data to make the decision in the process but it will not help the company in

knowing the efficiency of different decision for the same reason organization is having the
option to select SPSS as a information system technology in the organization, the biggest reason
behind the same is identified that usage of SPSS in the organization will eventually help them in
understanding the impact of different decision which can be made in business process.
LO3
Application of business intelligence for the business process
There are various uses of business intelligence in the business process but it varies from
organization to organization as per the needs and the requirement. The two major application of
business intelligence with respect to the scenario one are stated below.
 It will help in effectively managing the application in the database which will help in
quicker processing of file or application from one person to another virtually without any
physical paper requirement and management as application can be made available
through online portal as well.
 Business intelligence will provide proper details of the files under which person along
with other details.
Tools and techniques with respect to the business intelligence
The various type of tools and techniques that can be used with respect to the key
application of the business intelligence which are being stated above. Some of them are
described below.
 Sisense, which can be used by the non-technical person as well. It will help in getting
access to the data easily and also help in building dashboards along with the business
intelligence (BI) reports (Balasubramanyan and et.al, 2018). This will help in better
presentation and extraction of the data. Action Response will be able to easy extract the
file as required without contacting the other person and in this way all the people will
have access to the data.
 Web business intelligence is a combination of new tools and software which will help in
querying real time data by the employees and the other corporate users in a web-based
approach (Chan and et.al, 2018). This will help the Action Response in virtually
managing the incoming applications and transfer it on the system itself rather than doing
everything manually.
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Designing the business intelligence tool
A business intelligence tool can be designed which can be used in meeting the needs of
the business. A BI tool named ‘application intelligence’ is designed having various features that
can be effectively used in the business process of the Action Response. This tool will assist the
organization in managing its incoming application management in an effective and efficient
manner. This will help in mitigating the chances of errors that might occur in case of manual
handling of the system. thus, it will help in problem solving along with prioritizing the task in
proper manner. This tool has multiple functions which can help user in getting the required
information in specified manner as the user can use the filter option while looking a specific file.
Also, the persons under which the application goes through before final acceptance can be
recorded along with current status of the file with the detailed information in case of application
is rejected or there is requirement of additional information. This tool will provide notification as
and when required information has been received from applicant or the status of the file has been
changed so that timely actions can be taken on same. This tool will help overall time and work
management of the Action Response in respect to the business requirement of it.
The BI tool Application intelligence will consist of following parts and systems as
described below.
 This tool will be having a flexible business intelligence tool coupled with
multidimensional analytics unlike complexities in traditional data warehousing and
OLAP modeling. The best part is it does not require IT professionals or consultants to be
involved in every step.
 It will be using modern database technology using 64 bit hardware and latest CPU
architecture, it will provide faster performance than any other BI solutions. It will utilize
RAM and CPU so effectively, that it will enable single commodity server to break the
terabytes of data and would be able to serve large number of users.
 It uses Web Server which can be remotely installed on the system. It will provide access
to Application intelligence dashboard and admin screen.
 An elastic cube server will be used which supports the management of ElastiCubes and
the data they contain. For small scale ElastiCube Data Directory of 50 GB and
application log directory of 3G.

 It requires minimum 16 GB memory with 8 logical cores.
LO4.
P5&M4. Discussing how business intelligence tools can contribute towards
effective decision making
Business intelligence basically involves the collection of strategies and tools used
by a business for the core objective of analysing business information. The tool
utilizes the process ETL to extract, transform and load data into a database so that
it can be effectively used in reports and data dashboards. The tool would help
Action response in making use of the latest technology contributes towards the
success of various areas like sales, finance, marketing and human resource
recruitment (Park, El Saw and Fiss, 2017). The main tools of business intelligence
that helps Action response in making better and smart decisions are as follows:
Forecasting the industry trends: Business intelligence uses ERP (enterprise
resource planning) software to integrate multiple applications to manage the
business and automate various back office function that are mainly related
technology and human resource management. Thus, using this software helps the
company in analysing the future market trends which helps a business in increasing
its sales and overall profitability.
Creating realistic goals: It is imperative for every business to set realistic targets
otherwise it can lead to wastage of resources and reduced motivation of employees.
Business intelligence software performs the market analysis, monitors the
company’s resources and then set the SMART (Specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, time bound) goals and objectives.
Transparent data: Business intelligence uses advance software and artificial
intelligence to collect reliable and accurate data for the company which further
helps in preparation of correct annual reports and financial statements that help in
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building the brand image of the organization (Brijs, 2016). It is important for
Action response firm to use business intelligence as it has several clients
throughout the country therefore it is their responsibility to provide transparent
data. Moreover, it is difficult to ensure transparency through human collection as
there are high chances of errors and mistakes.
However, there are few considerations that must be made by Companies while
choosing business intelligence:
Cost-benefit: It is imperative for the Charity organization to check whether the
digital tool is within the budget of the company otherwise implementing it in the
business can hamper the firm’s financial liquidity. There must be an adequate
balance between the features offered and the price given for the tool.
Agile: It is important that the business tool is agile when it comes to processing the
firm’s data and thus it must not be difficult to implement the strategies into
singular place.
Exploring the multiple legal issues involved in the secure exploitation of business
intelligence tools
Action response while exploiting business intelligence within its structure could
face various legal issues. Though Business intelligence is an important tool for the
incessant growth and sustainability of the organization, but it is imperative for
every company to be cautious while using the digital technology because there are
some legal issues involves with the implementation of such tools. These issues are
as follows:
Data security issue: Data security is the biggest issue in the field of digital
technology and it causes various cyber-crimes like random ware attacks, malware
and other multiple security issues. It also leads to data loss; unethical tracking of

Action response data and it mainly arises because of business intelligence
software.
Cloud attacks: Business intelligence heavily relies on cloud computing and cloud
server for the purpose of storage and the transmission of data. Sometimes, hackers
get unauthorized access to the cloud server and can use the data for their personal
benefits which is dangerous and can hamper the smooth working of the firm. This
case of security issue further gives rise to several legal proceedings and hearings.
Leakage of information and tracks: The main objective of business intelligence is
to predict the latest trend analysis and help the management of Action response
charity firm in making better decisions so that the organization can achieve its
goals and objectives adequately (Maté and.et.al., 2016). However, due to lack of
security and proper encryption, the latest data from the software can get easily
leaked by unauthorized agents and parties, and further it can be manipulated which
can bring financial loss to the company.
Data encryption issue: There are several types of tools that provide encryption and
it is imperative for every company to use this otherwise it can be a threat to
company’s security. Even after having access to Internet, there are several business
intelligence platforms that fail to provide encryption to the data and as a result it
leads to leakage of the data. These are the few security related problems that give
rise to legal proceedings and can pose a significant threat to the growth and well-
being of the company.
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CONCLUSION
From the above study it can be concluded that business intelligence is an important
and vital tool in the growth of Action Response firm as it helps in better and smart
decision making along with prediction of trend analysis. It further helps the
company in systematic achievement of its goals and objectives. However, there are
certain legal issues involved in the security context of the digital technology as it
sometimes leads to leakage of information, data loss and cloud attacks which lead
to a huge financial loss for the business and gives rise to legal proceedings as well.
Thus, it can be stated that business intelligence has both merits and demerits, and it
is the duty of organization to use it adequately along with taking all the protective
and safety measures to avoid all the cyber-crimes and security issues.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Amtrup, J. W and et.al., 2019. Systems and methods for identification document processing and
business workflow integration. U.S. Patent 10,515,407.
Balasubramanyan, A. and et.al, 2018. Managing queries in business intelligence platforms. U.S.
Patent 9,892,179.
Brijs, B., 2016. Business analysis for business intelligence. CRC Press.
Chan, P. M. and et.al, 2018. Displaying historical data associated with data values within
business intelligence reports. U.S. Patent 9,946,804.
Cristani, M and et.al., 2018. Future paradigms of automated processing of business
documents. International Journal of Information Management. 40. pp.67-75.
Maté, A. and.et.al., 2016. Empowering global software development with business
intelligence. Information and Software Technology. 76. pp.81-91.
Park, Y., El Sawy, O. A. and Fiss, P., 2017. The role of business intelligence and communication
technologies in organizational agility: a configurational approach. Journal of the
association for information systems. 18(9). p.1.
Pedrycz, W., 2018. Granular computing: analysis and design of intelligent systems. CRC press.
Shin, Y. C. and Xu, C., 2017. Intelligent systems: modeling, optimization, and control. CRC
press.
Wiest, R. and Goldberg, M., Swiss Reinsurance Co Ltd, 2019. Systems and methods for multi-
level business processing. U.S. Patent 10,445,795.
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