Online Business Intelligence Fall 2024

Lecture Summary Introduction to Networks      The lecture begins with the introduction of networks. A network is defined as a collection of entities and relationships that can be represented by vertices and edges also called graphs. Network science is an emerging field that is based on the theory of graphs. The lecture mentions that understanding networks helps us understand disease propagation which after covid I am sure we can all appreciate. There are two major components of a network: Vertices and Edges.          As the lecture continues, there is a discussion that we generally have two types of networks: single mode and two mode (more than 1 kind of node). We are introduced to the concepts of directed (edges have direction) / undirected (edges do not have a direction) and unweighted/weighted (weight is the strength of the relationship) network types. ( What Is the Difference Between an Undirected and a Directed Graph? , 2023)...

  Lecture Summary Web Analytics      The web analytics lecture beings with defining web analytics as the "measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data and introduces us to a thought leader in this space Avinash Kaushik. Avinash's blog is an interesting site for more nuanced discussion and insight to the web analytics domain. Web Analytics is useful tool for online business and e-commerce platforms for many Fortune 500 companies (Amazon, eBay etc.) The lecture discusses the Web Analytics design cycle and point out the 5 Ws of web analytics important to understanding the interaction that people have with your website. As we understand the 5 Ws of web analytics, we also need to understand the distinct nature of the types of web traffic that is directing people to our website.      As the lecture continues, we begin to have a more detailed discussion on the types of web metrics that are available to us. This includes the number of visit...

Lecture Summary Data Warehouse and Design     The data warehouse and design lecture begins by discussing 2 major types of organizational information assets (1) Operational Data and (2) Data Warehouses. These two types of information assets are stored in Online Transaction Processing System (OLTP) or Online Analytical Processing System (OLAP). The lecture clearly defines the difference and purpose of the OLTP and OLAP databases. OLTP is oriented to support day-to-day business operations while OLAP focuses on the management or aggregation of data.     As the lecture continues, 2 additional concepts are introduced (1) data warehouses (2) data marts. Data warehouse being an enterprise wide collection of data from various organizational databases. (2) Data marts being a data warehouse focusing on the function for a specific department. The concepts of Data Warehouses and Data Marts are used in a variety of industries (e.g. banking / retail).  To implement a data ware...