kco-bims-2014-blog

[kco-bims-2014-blog]

                            Business Intelligence Capstone Experience

    This month was our final month and course in the BIMS Online Program at Full Sail University.  This was a very long but well earned experience and program completion.  One of the most interesting things about this program was it’s relationship to industries pace of learning new concepts and then developing enough knowledge with various levels of media/content to then quickly implement, iterate, and execute on deliverables.  This month wrapped up our final Project Capstone requirement with a transition to preparing our professional brand and portfolio for industry use.  

    During week 1 and week 2 we finalized our project plan documents and video presentation for final review and grading.  During week 3 and week 4 we focused on a comprehensive transition plan using our newly acquired program skills to develop a more robust branding strategy using key social sites and learning the strategies to use for future development.  This also included a plan to continue our personal and professional development through various technical, relational, experiential, and academic pursuits.  These plans will allow us to project certain goals and areas of interest that may enhance our current positions and future opportunities.  This was good to develop for referencing and building upon what we have started to establish as early stage BI professionals.  I honestly can’t say I ever researched 1 company with reviewing their Financial 10-K report as much as I did for my project Capstone company ever before but learned a lot can change related to industry events, competition, and information technology of operations and consumers.  Of course, a lot of changes can occur in a year and knowing these trends are critical to the success of any company in today’s Global Market place.  

   As for the BIMS program, the emphasis was to use Business Intelligence in today’s Global Market place to understand key trends that are shaping, influencing, and changing they way business entities operate.  I am grateful to have worked with other professionals in this program from different industries that have shed light on many different perspectives and concepts for their own industry.  In addition, our professors also had a wide array of experience in different industries that helped shed light on several other vertical market concepts and related subject matter.  

   Finally, the BIMS online program was a good learning experience that will help me in my future professions and personal growth as a business professional. I plan to continue expanding on my current knowledge with other related applications and BI platforms, learning management, and experiential opportunities.  I am looking forward to seeing this program grow into other areas of BI and even re-take some courses if I ever need to relating to major changes in the industry that new course content captures.   

Thanks to my fellow BI students and to the Full Sail BIMS Staff for all their hard work in providing this learning opportunity.  Looking forward to staying in touch and networking in the future.  

Best Regards,

Kevin Ott

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                                  Business Intelligence Case Studies

   This month marks the last course as we prepare for our final Capstone Project which accumulates the last 11 courses of subject matter and related implementation strategies for our proposed business solution for our Capstone Company.  The proposed business solution follows a very structured outline that includes key course related content to research, analyze, and develop a strategic Business Proposal Solution that has key success metrics like ROI, Cost/Benefit Analysis, Gap Analysis, Project Success Milestones and Project Management for improved business operations, new market opportunities, and more informed decision making at various levels of the organization.  

  The Business Intelligence Case Study course we used this month was Dupont and used this company analysis with supporting direction and course materials by Professor Ramos to help with our Final Capstone Project.  This Case Study conducted by Harvard Business School in 1995 titled, “Du Pont’s Artificial Intelligence Implementation Strategy”  had an interesting problem developing and scaling AI systems within their company strategy focus, on a global scale.  The challenge at a high company level was to stream line their company operations with more cross functional strategies which would drive more efficient supply chains, increase focused R & D strategies, grow top 3 business segments, and reduce operational costs.  In order to effectively spear head this challenge, the company assembled a cross-industry internal IT development team to tackle these challenges through small Artificial Intelligent Systems that would gather key data for the key business objectives mentioned earlier.   Although this was a very old example to use for some of the newer companies and content we have been looking at for analysis, it was a good case study presenting common challenges that when solved, could make a major impact in company cost control, market strategy, and operational efficiencies.  

  So the Dupont Case study helped the students transition from corps capstone requirements to our final project.  Although we have some more time to work on our Final Business Case Capstone Solution, this was crucial for setting the bar in relation to what we need to focus on and develop to support a strong business case.  I have included a picture of last weeks Project for this Post and a link here which shows an abbreviated version and only part 1 of my Capstone company American Eagle Outfitters.  I selected the company almost a year ago as it related to something else I was working on.  AEO has an interesting position in the market as they are leveraging their growing market in mobile and web commerce while reducing retail stores in underperforming markets.  The majority of their revenue is maid in the U.S. with retail stores, however, they are seeing strong growth in foreign market and e commerce.   The basis of my Capstone Project, using key course program strategies, will be to propose an Enterprise wide BI solution with key applications and technologies leveraging key market opportunities and operational efficiencies that should position AEO more competitively generating increased Top line sales, bottom line margins, and market share growth.  Ultimately, it takes money to make money, so outlining key project milestones, deliverables, and resources will be critical to the success of the proposed project.  

  Finally, this was a good learning experience and look forward to finishing the project capstone and applying these skills to my personal research methods, professional position, and future business case studies.   I think this course has contributed to learning new strategies through the content provide by professor Ramos.  This was a challenging program overall with the speed of learning different concepts but really reflects the learning pace that is common to industry today.  I would recommend this program to any Business Leader looking to take their analysis and research skills to the next level.  I look forward to continuing my education through practical application and possibly a certification in Big Data Analysis to really get good at one or two BI tools like Tableau and SAS and strategies analyzing big data.  Because that is the whole point right, being able to find the needle in the haystack or “golden egg” that can create lots of value.  

 And one final note, this was a good experience and enjoyed working with my professors, full sail staff and support teams, and program colleagues.  Here’s to using our BIMS knowledge for a competitive advantage in the market place.  

Best Regards,

Kevin Ott

Capstone Link On iCloud Key Note: https://www.icloud.com/keynote/AwBWCAESEKZnbr1b3VFw6dLFibRP2rQaKqd19tfHtnZlJ3fKq7DNkTKAfKVy2Sj2wK6v77XC3Tw1R-Kh0IWh_cUU9QMCUCAQEEIDcQXVT3MZ9TsTjajdxe-u11T0th2f2u53ClKM5BHplb#Presentation

[kco-bims-2014-blog]

                          BI Leadership and Communication

  This month’s course was very insightful and productive with learning and developing Business Leadership and Communication Skills.  We started the first week with a great video 12 O’Clock High relating to two distinct leadership traits and resulting effectiveness.  It was an old WWII “goody” that depicted great military leadership, communication, and persuasion skills needed for mission success among various personalities and risk prone scenarios.  This was a great video to learn from and exhibited great leadership fundamentals.  It was also very fitting for a Full Sail program being a media focused school and the effective use of B-17′s.  We later progressed with Leadership and Communication Styles, Case Studies, personal assessments and growth plans.

    I found the Leadership and Communication content to be very helpful in learning greater insight into my strengths and weaknesses.  With the assessments, cases study’s and other supporting mixed media, I was able to get a very good grasp on key areas to apply in my professional environment as well as personnel.  Although you can not learn these skills in a month, our growth plan sites key goals to achieve over a series of time with key tracking points and milestones for improvement.  I believe this was a very significant course in relation to the impact effective leaders and communicators have in any area of Business today.  

    I am looking forward to using the new principles and concepts learned the month and will also deploy key tools to next months course and the final capstone project.   I was not able to achieve most of the project milestones back when I first started the program but has changed over the program course.  I also look forward to continuing my knowledge in the areas of leadership, communication, persuasion, and emotional intelligence. 

Regards,

KO

Image retrieved from, http://www.oldmodelkits.com/jpegs/Aurora%20352-198%2012Ocl17.JPG

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                                   Data Visualization and Creative Reporting

    This months course was very interesting as we focused on learning the fundamentals of design, visualization, and creative reporting with the accurate data and relatable story telling for the appropriate audiences.  We continued using prior course principles for collecting, analyzing, and organizing data for delivering a more robust and visually aesthetic design with visualization concepts including key data points, graphs, icons, info graphs, data analysis software, design tools, and other related tools for specific assignments.  

   The weekly discussion boards were very interactive with using several personal creative design examples as well as industry examples using various dashboards, visualization tools, and infographic tools.  The project related to more interesting assignments with different media sources.  In these projects, we were required to use the course content including class text readings, peer review articles and trending articles, multi-media videos, and other content recommendations to enhance our overall understanding of the course subject matter.  Additional feedback was provided by our instructor James Jessup for additional insight and supporting feedback.  

   Overall, this course was very helpful and informative with giving a complete understanding of the importance and engagement factor data visualization has on your prospective audiences.  Each display must take into consideration the audience, the message, the various levels of detail needed for data visualization and it’s appropriate supporting graphs, images, colors, layout, and accuracy.  The class was one of the more enjoyable courses as this favored more of a creative design phase of the program with incorporating other key course content.  

   As it relates to the program milestones and capstone, I have veered of course with some of these goals but like industry, have had to adapt to several changes over the months.  I hope to get back on plan with the capstone milestone objectives as I head into the last quarter of the program.  I’m looking forward to the next course and furthering my professional understanding in Business Leadership and Communication.

Regards,

Kevin Ott

Picture Reference: MINARD'S SOURCES --From Virginia Tufte and Dawn Finley, August 7, 2002. Retrieved From, http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/minard

[kco-bims-2014-blog]

                                      Process Modeling and Analysis

    This month’s course was Process Modeling and Analysis and month 8 of 12 in the Full Sail Business Intelligence Masters Program with Dr. Shiaw. This months course was full throttle like all the others and lent great new insight in Operational Analysis.  We covered various media, case studies, white papers, and course readings to support our understanding and related application to our Capstone company project.  The materials provided, instruction given, and discussion response were well organized, interactive, and provided many new examples and strategies to look at for applying to our Capstone and professional life.  

    The first week of the course focused on developing a new website geared toward the Business Process Modeling and Analysis of our Capstone company and highlighted key course content which uncovered new strategies.  These strategies included Operational processes that when implemented effectively,  showed greater enhancements for the company and it’s goals for strategic cost reductions, increased sales, and greater competitive initiatives. Key concepts included Modeling and Simulation methods with PML analysis, Fuzzy Logic, Data Models, Monte Carlo, and corresponding terms.  You can find out more information regarding the website project here.    My Project website was focused on American Eagle Outfitters BPM and Operational Analysis for greater sales and process.  

    Week two and three continued with learning new terms, concepts, and BPM methods for building additional supporting web pages with our web project and associated company.  The course content for this week included BPM paradigms, Calibration, Feedback Effect, and Risk Modeling.  M & S methods included Discrete-Event concepts, System Dynamics, and Monte Carlo methods.  Week 3 terms and concepts included Decision Analysis, Optimization, Process Improvement, Quality Control, and Problem Structuring.  

   Finally, week four covered several human factor topics including agent systems, reasoning, rule based models, utility and sensitivity, neural networks, and Markov Chain.  Although there is a lot of material to cover each week in these courses; the fast pace and variety of mixed media and readings provides a challenging way to learn new material, process it, and then apply it to course requirements, and our Capstone project.  The new concepts also provide applicable relationships to my own professional understanding that I can use in the work place and other business related industry analysis.  

    Overall, this was a very good course with a variety of topics covered with good sources and supporting media.  Dr. Shiaw provided a variety of course content and learning objectives that were critical to enhancing our Capstone Project Milestones.  I have fallen behind on the Capstone Milestones and hope to catch up soon.  As far as my course milestones and goals; some were met and others were not.  I do find, just like industry and agile development, these milestones have changed periodically since when they were first set and are adapting to new requirements and objectives as I progress academically and professionally.  I am now looking forward to the next course in Data Visualization and the new tools and strategies for delivering new insights with good visuals that tell a compelling story for various stakeholders in the value chain.   

Respectfully,

Kevin Ott

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                                    Patterns and Recognition

This was a very interesting course and I was able to learn several key concepts, Trend and Pattern analysis strategies with using different algorithms like Baye’s theorem.  We looked at a variety of different content to analyze within different contextual scenarios.  Some of these included analyzing social media data of selected people or companies and even our own.  We used different tools with a variety of visualization features and graphs for determining centrality, social connections, patterns, correlation, probability, and trends.   

We then moved into looking at the various patterns relating to stock investments with our selected Capstone company for determine strong patterns relating to stock price data over historical time frames.  This allowed us to analyze the companies strengths, weaknesses, trends that were cyclical or seasonal, upward or downward trends, variability in trends, support and resistance in trends, and stock purchasing techniques using Bollinger Band graph analysis.  We also used Baye’s Theorem and other correlation and probability calculations for analyzing the captured data.  

Finally, we picked a Case Study that could help support a major problem with our Capstone company relating to specific patterns.  I chose the value of seeking strong business partners that are well positioned in the information technology/BI space to leverage greater resources through the relationship.  The article discussed how the companies who maintained strong competitive advantages had the greatest access to knowledge, information, and networks when needed.  At the center of this node community was IBM, Microsoft, and AOL.  We will finish with a final project that will cover key patterns and recognition among our Capstone Company and related data for analysis.  

This course has been very helpful in developing the needed skills for my Capstone project and knowledge of BI and look forward to continuing the program.  I took an extensive time off for work relating and family reasons and have not completed my 7 month course goals related to my milestone.  With the amount of time I need to devote to these sources, work, and family time; I have little extra time meeting my milestones I set almost a year ago to date.  I will however strive to meet some of these milestones if time permits.  

Thanks,

Kevin Ott

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DATA MINING: "Finding the Patterns Among the Noise"

   This month we took on the topic of Data Mining.   In this course we identified key industries that are using big data to their advantage with data mining tools and techniques.  We reviewed course book material, videos, case studies, and analyzed some Data Mining vendor solutions for a more comprehensive understanding of the field and its related attributes.  The field of data mining has several industry related applications especially in today's digital driven business world where historical data, industry trends, and consumer data are intregul to SMB's and Large Corporations success, innovation, and operational efficiencies.  

   Professor Tailor provide valuable insight into the high level world of data mining, key industries using data mining to solve big problems, and specific methods and techniques used for deploying successful data mining strategies.  The growth of data science and the ability to effectively analyze large data sets through various channels can determine one's success and positioning when competing in the industry environment.  Some of the most forward thinking companies that are using predictive analytics use key data mining tools for a greater competitive advantage.  With so many people connected via wearable tech, mobile devices, web, and other connected Internet devices; the amount of data accumulated today and in the future will present major data analysis opportunities and disruptive technologies.   

   Overall, this course was very good and found the multi media content and materials to be very helpful.  I was not able to meet some or all milestones this month identified on my Mastery Journal Timeline and can be attributed to my very busy schedule and the amount of time required by these condensed courses. Although I did not achieve my intended milestones, I will take what I have learned this month and apply it to my capstone and the rest of the BIMS program.  I will also use my course materials as reference for later use and industry comparisons.  

Best Regards,

  Kevin Ott

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                          Business Intelligence Analytics

     This month we learned the fundamentals, methods, and processes for calculating key statistics for desired outcomes.  This included learning the various BIA technologies the supported successful BI systems.  Some of the methodologies included OLAP, BIA models and algorithms for making business process decisions.  We also demonstrated the concepts learned through various tools and techniques employed using BIA course materials. 

     Some of the more specific topics learned and demonstrated included statistical inference, decision making under uncertainty, predictive modeling, and other key methods and processes.  The key to this months course objectives helped me in understanding some of the key tools used for evaluating various trends and market behaviors with certain variables.  Although there was a lot of information to cover, I can go back and review the material for future application and industry use cases.  

      This course met all my personal objectives and goals but I did not meet all my mastery journal milestones; mainly due to my busy schedule and limited time for achieving some of them.  I will however, take what I have learned thus for to apply for my capstone project and future course work in the BIMS program.  This course was very informative and detailed with several resources, materials, and media to assist with the learning process and would recommend this course to anyone interested in learning about these related topics.   I'm looking forward to advancing to the next course.

  Regards,

  Kevin Ott

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James Harkins.

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Week 4, Master Journal Reflection Post, Business Intelligence Technologies

    The Business Intelligence Technologies course met most of my Mastery Journal Milestones.  All milestones related to course learning with content, discovery, and understanding new material, however; were met.  There has been several key areas of learning through this course beginning in week one where I learned and read about BI concepts, techniques, analytic platforms in relation to the industry vendor analysis report; Gartner's Magic Quadrant.  We later used this material to conduct in depth reviews of two large BI vendors and then conducted an associated SWOT analysis review of the vendors.  

    Professor Taylor's BI industry experience was helpful in giving our class personal input with course material and other related assignments.  Week two opened our class up to the greater mechanics of OLAP and OLTP systems and their integral part within the 4 BI capabilities framework.  We completed this week with an assignment reviewing and determining the best BI adoption solution.  Week 3 progressed in understanding and learning greater delivery method with BI reports and BI platform capabilities relating to key business requirements.   

    The Final week summed all the steps needed to conduct a preliminary Business Case Assessment using key material for discovering, designing, and producing a proposed assessment of the selected company.  I took the opportunity to use some the early research related to my future capstone project for this week 4 assignment and hope this can help me in my efforts with building my Capstone project.  

    Overall, this was a very good course and would recommend it to others interested in the program.  The professor did a thorough job in preparing the necessary materials coupled with additional content, media, and personal experiential input.  I will build into the next courses using the principles I've learned in this course.  

  Regards,

  Kevin Ott

[kco-bims-2014-blog]

Just in time for Batman’s 75th anniversary, our fearsome taxonomy of Gotham’s colorful combatants returns! Categorizes by name everyone from big-time baddies like the Joker and Mr. Freeze to lesser-known lawbreakers like Batzarro and…Larry the Judge?

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[kco-bims-2014-blog]

A Case For 1-800 Flowers.com and Greater Savings Through Operational Efficiencies

https://www.icloud.com/iw/#keynote/BAJm45qgt_xR5jvZASOBrvEQtnJuDsETQpOF/EDM_Final_Project

[kco-bims-2014-blog]

Enterprise Data Management: A Dimensional Approach to Building a Strong Foundation

The Enterprise Data Management (EDM) course and material provided by Dr. Wood was informative and challenging.  Through the course, we studied our course text, case studies, and other supporting material to help me understand the primary Enterprise Data Management Systems foundations.  My goal for this course was met in respects to my Mastery Journal and was able to apply the course concepts to the final project, which culminated in a proposed EDM solution for a company of our choice.  The Key Note Presentation will also be displayed on my Journal wall via url link too. 

 Although the course is expedited, the class text and Dr. Woods insight contributed to most of the learning and practical application.  Some of the key components learned through Dr. Wood’s EDM course include Data Warehousing, Dimensional Models and Techniques applied to different Industries, and the EDM solutions used for key business processes to include CRM, Inventory, Retail Sales, Shipping, Order Management, Accounting, HR, and Financing. 

 I will apply these learning principles for developing my Capstone project and supporting future course requirements and projects.  In addition, with any EDM project the Extract, Transformation, and Load (ETL) System Plan with 10 key steps for completing a proposed EDM project solution.  There are also 34 ETL sub-systems categorized in 4 main groups including extracting data, cleaning and conforming, delivering for presentation, and managing the ETL environment. 

 Overall, this was a very fast paced, content heavy course that provided lots of details, examples, and illustrations for application.  I will need to refer back to my course text through out the program but have found reviewing material several times gives new perspective and look forward to learning more about Enterprise Data Management.  So I believe throughout the remainder of the program this course will come full circle where I can apply and learn more during new course material. 

 Best Regards,

 Kevin Ott 

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If you ever thought marketing wasn’t going mobile, here’s some statistics that will prove you wrong! While technology is growing so is mobile marketing everyday!

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3D printing accessories for your house using Virtual #AR

Meta Glasses

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Foundations of Business Intelligence, Another Piece to the Puzzel...

The Foundations of Business Intelligence course has met most of my expectations relating to my Mastery Journal Timeline, however, their were some personal goals I set that I was not able to complete.  Do to scheduling conflicts and other priorities; I was not able to attend the AWE conference for obtaining good industry interviews and networking opportunities.  

There were several key concepts and foundational principles learned through the our course content to include the BI capabilities and the impact on various industries, core technologies enabling BI, and the management and BI landscape of the future.  

Through this course, we also covered several tools with Lynda tutorials specifically for Microsoft Visio, class assignment discussions, industry evaluation of different BI tools and vendors, and academic and business research of related topics.  

I feel this course gave me a good understanding of the foundations of Business Intelligence with course related activities and assignments.  My experience using the Full Sail Library database, Lynda tutorials, and the use of Microsoft Visio will also help me going forward in developing future assignments with associated research.  

I enjoyed the course directed by our professor and the interaction with my fellow students.  I am looking forward to building upon my current momentum for a greater in depth knowledge of the main industries I will focus on using BI principles.

Best Regards,

  Kevin Ott