Analytics

This glossary contains definitions related to customer data analytics, predictive analytics, data visualization and operational business intelligence. Some definitions explain the meaning of words used to Hadoop and other software tools used in big data analytics. Other definitions are related to the strategies that business intelligence professionals, data scientists, statisticians and data analysts use to make data-driven decisions.

3VS - DAT

3Vs (volume, variety and velocity) - The 3Vs (volume, variety and velocity) are three defining properties or dimensions of big data.
abandoned call - An abandoned call is a call or other type of contact initiated to a call center that is ended before any conversation occurs.
academic analytics - Academic analytic's is the application of business intelligence (BI) tools and strategies to guide decision-making practices in educational institutions.
accounting error - What is an accounting error?An accounting error is a non-fraudulent discrepancy in financial documentation.
ad hoc analysis - Ad hoc analysis is a business intelligence (BI) process designed to answer specific business questions by using company data from various sources.
Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) - Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) is a relational database management system (RDBMS) from Sybase, Inc.
advanced analytics - Advanced analytics is a broad category of inquiry that can be used to help drive changes and improvements in business practices.
advanced planning and scheduling (APS) - Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) is a type of system that tracks costs based on the activities that are responsible for driving costs in the production of manufactured goods.
Agile business intelligence (BI) - Agile business intelligence (BI) is a fast and flexible process that uses agile software development (ASD) methodologies to enable rapid development and allow users to efficiently adapt intelligence-based strategy to business needs.
alternative data - Alternative data is information gathered from non-traditional information sources.
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web-based service that allows businesses to run application programs in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon Redshift - Amazon Redshift is a fully managed petabyte-scale data warehouse service.
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) - Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a scalable, high-speed, web-based cloud storage service.
analytic database - An analytic database, also called an analytical database, is a read-only system that stores historical data on business metrics such as sales performance and inventory levels.
Anaplan - Anaplan is a Web-based enterprise platform for business planning.
anchoring effect - Anchoring effect is a form of cognitive bias that causes people to focus on the first available piece of information (the "anchor") given to them when making decisions.
anonymous video analytics (AVA) - Anonymous video analytics (AVA) is a strategy for gathering metrics about digital signage audience engagement.
Apache Flink - Apache Flink is an in-memory and disk-based distributed data processing platform for use in big data streaming applications.
Apache Giraph - Apache Giraph is real-time graph processing software that is mostly used to analyze social media data.
Apache Hive - Apache Hive is an open source data warehouse system for querying and analyzing large data sets that are principally stored in Hadoop files.
Apache Spark - Apache Spark is an open source parallel processing framework for running large-scale data analytics applications across clustered computers.
Apache Storm - Storm is a free and open source (FOSS) distributed real-time computation system developed by the Apache Foundation.
artificially-intelligent attorney (AI attorney) - An artificially-intelligent attorney is a legal expert system that applies AI technologies to replicate and improve upon the abilities of a human legal research assistant.
association rules - Association rules are 'if-then' statements, that help to show the probability of relationships between data items, within large data sets in various types of databases.
availability bias - The availability bias is the human tendency to think that examples of things that come readily to mind are more representative than is actually the case.
Azure HDInsight - Azure HDInsight is a cloud-based service from Microsoft for big data analytics that helps organizations process large amounts of streaming or historical data.
backpropagation algorithm - Backpropagation (backward propagation) is an important mathematical tool for improving the accuracy of predictions in data mining and machine learning.
Bayesian statistics - Bayesian statistics is a mathematical approach to calculating probability in which conclusions are subjective and updated as additional data is collected.
big data - Big data is a combination of structured, semistructured and unstructured data collected by organizations that can be mined for information and used in machine learning projects, predictive modeling and other advanced analytics applications.
big data analytics - Big data analytics is the often complex process of examining big data to uncover information -- such as hidden patterns, correlations, market trends and customer preferences -- that can help organizations make informed business decisions.
binning and grouping - Binning and grouping is form of data visualization in which individual data values are sorted into classes or categories and depicted graphically to help explain the significance of the data.
BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools) - BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools) is an open source technology platform sponsored by the Eclipse Foundation that consists of a visual report designer and a runtime component for Java and Java EE environments.
Blue Cloud - Blue Cloud is an approach to shared infrastructure developed by IBM.
box plot - A box plot is a graphical rendition of statistical data based on the minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, and maximum.
business analytics (BA) - Business analytics (BA) is the iterative, methodical exploration of an organization's data, with an emphasis on statistical analysis.
business counterintelligence (business CI) - Business counterintelligence (business CI) is the collective efforts designed to protect an organization’s sensitive information from unauthorized access.
business impact analysis (BIA) - Business impact analysis (BIA) is a systematic process to determine and evaluate the potential effects of an interruption to critical business operations as a result of a disaster, accident or emergency.
business intelligence (BI) - Business intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process for analyzing data and delivering actionable information that helps executives, managers and workers make informed business decisions.
business intelligence architecture - A business intelligence architecture is the framework for the various technologies an organization deploys to run business intelligence and analytics applications.
business intelligence competency center (BICC) - A business intelligence competency center (BICC) is a team of people that, in its most fully realized form, is responsible for managing all aspects of an organization's BI strategy, projects and systems.
business intelligence dashboard - A business intelligence dashboard, or BI dashboard, is a data visualization and analysis tool that displays on one screen the status of key performance indicators (KPIs) and other important business metrics and data points for an organization, department, team or process.
business logic - Business logic is the programming that manages communication between an end user application and a database.
business metric - All organizations use business metrics in order to monitor, track and quantify the state of their internal and external processes.
Business Planning and Control System (BPCS) - Business Planning and Control System (BPCS) is a popular system of application programs for manufacturing and other industries that is developed and sold by Systems Software Associates (SSA).
business process - A business process is an activity or set of activities that can accomplish a specific organizational goal.
business process discovery - Business process discovery, also called process discovery, is a collection of tools and techniques used to define, map and analyze an organization�s existing business processes.
business process management (BPM) - Business process management (BPM) is the discipline of improving a business process from end to end by analyzing it, modelling how it works in different scenarios, executing improvements, monitoring the improved process and continually optimizing it.
Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) - Established in August 2000, the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) is a non-profit organization that exists to promote the standardization of common business processes, as a means of furthering e-business and B2B development.
Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) - Business Process Modeling Language (BPML) is an Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based metalanguage developed by the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI) as a means of modeling business processes, much as XML is, itself, a metalanguage with the ability to model enterprise data.
Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) - Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is a method of illustrating business processes in the form of a diagram similar to a flowchart.
business process outsourcing (BPO) - Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a business practice in which an organization contracts with an external service provider to perform an essential business task.
business process reengineering (BPR) - Business process reengineering (BPR) is an approach to change management in which the related tasks required to obtain a specific business outcome are radically redesigned.
business process visibility - Business process visibility, also called process visibility, is the ability to accurately and completely view the processes, transactions and other activities operating within an enterprise.
case - A case is a particular instance of something.
causation - Causation, or causality, is the capacity of one variable to influence another.
Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) - Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) is an information security certification developed by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, also known as (ISC)².
change control - Change control is a systematic approach to managing all changes made to a product or system.
change data capture (CDC) - Change data capture (CDC) is the process of capturing changes made at the data source and applying them throughout the enterprise.
change management - Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organization's goals, processes or technologies.
channel partner portal - A channel partner portal is a web-based application that provides a vendor's established partners (usually distributors, resellers, service providers or other strategic partners) with access to deal registration, marketing resources, pricing and sales information for products and services, as well as technical details and support that are unavailable to other end users.
chief analytics officer - The chief analytics officer is a C-level position responsible for data analysis within an organization.
CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives) - The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an organization created to serve the professional development needs of CIOs working in the healthcare industry and to promote effective information management within that industry.
CIO (Chief Information Officer) - A chief information officer (CIO) is the corporate executive in charge of information technology (IT) strategy and implementation.
citizen data scientist - A citizen data scientist is any individual who contributes to the research of a complex data initiative but who does not have a formal educational background in data analytics (DA) or business intelligence (BI).
CKO (chief knowledge officer) - Chief knowledge officer (CKO) is a corporate title for the person responsible overseeing knowledge management within an organization.
clinical decision support system (CDSS) - A clinical decision support system (CDSS) is an application that analyzes data to help healthcare providers make decisions and improve patient care.
cloud analytics - Cloud analytics is a service model in which one or more key element of data analytics is provided through a public or private cloud.
cloud computing - Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the internet.
cloud cost analysis tool - A cloud cost analysis tool is a software product designed to help corporations minimize the cost of their online operations.
CloudAV - CloudAV is a program that combines multiple antivirus applications and scans user files over a network of servers.
cognitive bias - Cognitive bias is a limitation in objective thinking that is caused by the tendency for the human brain to perceive information through a filter of personal experience and preferences.
cognitive computing - Cognitive computing systems use computerized models to simulate the human cognition process to find solutions in complex situations where the answers may be ambiguous and uncertain.
cognitive load theory (CLT) - Cognitive load theory (CLT) is based on the premise that instructional materials should be presented at a pace and level of difficulty that corresponds to how humans process information.
cohort - A cohort is a group of people that have some demographic or statistical characteristic in common.
collaborative BI (collaborative business intelligence) - Collaborative BI (collaborative business intelligence) is the merging of business intelligence software with collaboration tools, including social and Web 2.
columnar database - A columnar database is a database management system (DBMS) that stores data in columns instead of rows.
committed information rate (CIR) - Committed information rate (CIR) is the guaranteed rate at which a Frame Relay network will transfer information under normal line conditions.
communication portal - A communication portal is a service that allows individuals, businesses, schools and government agencies to share information from diverse sources using unified communications (UC) media.
communications-enabled business processes (CEBP) - Communications-enabled business processes (CEBP) is the integration of communications capabilities into software-enabled business procedures, applications and technologies.
complex event processing (CEP) - Complex event processing (CEP) is the use of technology to predict high-level events likely to result from specific sets of low-level factors.
confirmation bias - Confirmation bias is a cognitive error in which information that supports a pre-existing belief is assigned more value than other information.
confusion matrix - A confusion matrix is a table that outlines different predictions and test results and contrasts them with real world values.
content analytics - Content analytics is the act of applying business intelligence (BI) and business analytics (BA) practices to digital content.
content management system (CMS) - A content management system (CMS) is a software application or set of related programs that help create and manage digital content.
control framework - A control framework is a data structure that organizes and categorizes an organization’s internal controls, which are practices and procedures established to create business value and minimize risk.
core banking system - A core banking system is the software used to support a bank’s most common transactions.
corporate performance management (CPM) - Corporate performance management (CPM) is a term used to describe the various processes and methodologies involved in aligning an organization's strategies and goals to its plans and executions in order to control the success of the company.
correlation - Correlation is a statistical measure that indicates the extent to which two or more variables fluctuate in relation to each other.
correlation coefficient - A correlation coefficient is a statistical measure of the degree to which changes to the value of one variable predict change to the value of another.
cost per impression - Cost per Impression (CPI) is a business efficiency measure common to advertising in paper and web-based media.
cost per sale (CPS) - The cost per sale (CPS), also known as the pay per sale, is a metric used by advertising teams to determine the amount of money paid for every sale generated by a specific advertisement.
CRM (customer relationship management) - Customer relationship management (CRM) is the combination of practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle.
CRUD cycle (Create, Read, Update and Delete Cycle) - The CRUD cycle describes the elemental functions of a persistent database in a computer.
customer analytics (customer data analytics) - Customer analytics, also called customer data analytics, is the systematic examination of a company's customer information and customer behavior to identify, attract and retain the most profitable customers.
customer intelligence (CI) - Customer intelligence (CI) is the process of gathering and analyzing information derived from customer data that an organization collects from both internal and external sources.
CVO (Chief Visionary Officer) - The Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) is a newer title where the holder is expected to have a broad and comprehensive knowledge of all matters related to the business of the organization, as well as the vision required to steer its course into the future.

DAT - INF