As for a simplified definition, it's presenting information
to decision makers in a way that helps them make informed decisions.
Consider this scenario: You are a manager for a chain of retail stores. You need to
figure out what products you should push to the forefront for the upcoming holiday
season. You have a two-method approach: First you get the latest buzz from your
marketers, who tell you what the new and upcoming products are; your second
approach is to look at products that have traditionally sold very well.
In order to project how the current year may go, you need to look at the data
you have available. What product categories have traditionally sold well over a
5-year period, or even a 10-year period? Has there been any sort of patterns to these
sales figures? What individual items have sold well in that period? Are there any
trends? When you look at these figures, can you give a projection on how well these
products will do? What items should be put on sale in order to push for higher sales?
These are the kinds of questions that a decision maker may need answered.
So the first step in the process is getting to this data, usually located in some place
like a data warehouse. If you are looking at a regional level you may have this
information stored separately in a localized data mart, with specific data.
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