Admission requirements
None
Description
Many decisions in professional and private life are taken on the basis of data that come from all sorts of information systems. Business Intelligence (BI) is about the developments in the way we can use data stored in those information systems to generate new and useful information that can support executive managers in taking business decisions. BI is an umbrella term that combines the processes, technologies, and tools needed to transform data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into plans that drive profitable business action. BI encompasses: data warehousing, OnLine Analytical Processing (OLAP), business analytical tools, data mining, business performance and knowledge management.
The commercial interest in BI is growing due to the increasing awareness of companies that the vast amounts of data collected on customers and their behaviour contain valuable business knowledge. Different types of knowledge can be derived from data warehouses, like rules characterizing potential customer classes, knowledge classifying groups with larger risks, and so on. Quite often useful causal relations are hidden in company databases and the goal of the BI/data mining process is to induce these from the data and to represent them in meaningful ways to improve business processes, typical business cases are: cross-selling, churn in mobile communications, and risk analysis in financial services. The emphasis in this course will be on the methodological and practical aspects of BI.
Course objectives
In this course the student is given an introduction in decision support systems and intelligent systems within the framework of BI. After this course the student has basic knowledge of
why computer support is needed for certain business decisions;
the principles of knowledge management en knowledge-based systems;
the construction of a data warehouse;
the business implications of a data warehouse;
OLAP database technology and reporting;
the fundamental issues of knowledge discovery in databases, i.e. data mining, such as learning algorithms for classification, prediction and risk analysis;
the data mining process;
a key data mining model: decision trees and/or neural networks;
performance issues, interpretation, and the business relevance of data mining models.
In addition, the skill objective for the course is to give the student some hands on experience with business intelligence software. By working with the software (at home) the student
has to develop a basic knowledge-based system (software Exsys Corvid);
has to analyze a simple data set with a data mining tool (software WEKA or R).
Timetable
The schedule can be found on the LIACS website
Detailed table of contents can be found in blackboard.
Mode of instruction
3 hours lectures every week.
Assessment method
Final grade (F) = 0.7∙E + 0.15∙A1 + 0.15∙A2, where E is the Exam grade, and A1 and A2 are grades for assignments.
Blackboard
Reading list
Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems (9th International Edition, 2010)
ISBN10: 0132453231
ISBN13: 9780132453233
Notice that in the lectures only a limited number of chapters is discussed.
Several papers
Will be made available via Blackboard.
Signing up for classes and exams
You have to sign up for classes and examinations (including resits) in uSis. Check this link for more information and activity codes.
There is a limited capacity for students from outside the master ICT in Business. Please contact the Programme Co-ordinator.
Contact information
Programme Co-ordinator ms. Judith Havelaar LL.M