Business Process Support

What is this course about?

Course Objectives
Course Outcomes
Importance of Data & Information
in Business
LO1: Discuss the use of data and information to support business processes and the value they have for
an identified organization
 What is Data
DATA

Collected Analyzed Shared Hacked Bought/Sold

 What is Data
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “data” as:

1. Factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for

reasoning, discussion, or calculation
2. Information in digital form that can be transmitted or processed
3. Information output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful and
irrelevant or redundant information and must be processed to be meaningful
 What is Data
Data can be

Field notes Video Photos

Documents

Audio Transcripts
 What is Data
•Data sets are made up of data objects.

•A data object represents an entity, in a sales database, the objects may be customers,
store items, and sales; in a medical database, the objects may be patients; in a
university database, the objects may be students, professors, and courses.

•Data objects are typically described by attributes.

•Data objects can also be referred to as samples, examples, instances, data points,
or objects.
Build a decision based on the dataset

Figure 2: making decisions

 The Importance of Data
Data is essentially the plain facts and statistics collected during the operations of a business.
They can be used to measure/record a wide range of business activities - both internal and
external.

While the data itself may not be very informative, it is the basis for all reporting and as such
is crucial in business.

Customer data are the metrics that relate to customer interaction. It can be the number of
jobs, the number of enquiries, the income received, the expenses incurred, etc. In order to
know about our interactions with the customer, we need data.

The importance of data cannot be under-stated as it provides the basis for reporting the
information required in business operations.
 Data Vs Information
An important distinction to make is the difference between Data and Information

Data is the raw facts and statistics, whereas Information is Data that is accurate and
timely; specific and organised for a purpose; presented within a context that gives it
meaning and relevance; and can lead to an increase in understanding and decrease in
uncertainty.
Another way to look at information is as data that has been interpreted and then
presented in a more meaningful context that allows a business to make decisions from.
 The Importance of Information
It allows a business to make informed decisions by presenting data in a way that can be
interpreted by management. In this context, customer information would be useful in providing
metrics surrounding client/customer engagement to determine better ways to engage or work with
your clients.

However, it must be stated that the value of information lies not only in the information itself,
but the actions that arise from the information.

For example, if the information alerts you to poor customer satisfaction, it is only useful if this
creates a change in the way the business deals with customers. Hence the information process
should form part of a wider review process within the business to gain the best outcomes.
 Why is Data & Information Important?

1. Improve People’s Lives

Data will help you to improve the quality of life for people you support: Improving quality is first and
foremost among the reasons why organizations should be using data. By allowing you to measure and take
action, an effective data system can enable your organization to improve the quality of people’s lives.

2. Make Informed Decisions

Data = Knowledge. Good data provides indisputable evidence, while anecdotal evidence, assumptions, or
abstract observation might lead to wasted resources due to taking action based on an incorrect conclusion.
 Cont.
3. Stop Molehills From Turning Into Mountains

Data allows you to monitor the health of important systems in your organization: By utilizing data for quality
monitoring, organizations are able to respond to challenges before they become full-blown crisis. Effective quality
monitoring will allow your organization to be proactive rather than reactive and will support the organization to
maintain best practices over time.

4. Get The Results You Want

Data allows organizations to measure the effectiveness of a given strategy: When strategies are put into place to
overcome a challenge, collecting data will allow you to determine how well your solution is performing, and
whether or not your approach needs to be tweaked or changed over the long-term.
 Cont.
5. Find Solutions To Problems
Data allows organizations to more effectively determine the cause of problems. Data allows organizations to
visualize relationships between what is happening in different locations, departments, and systems. If the number of
medication errors has gone up, is there an issue such as staff turnover or vacancy rates that may suggest a cause?
Looking at these data points side-by-side allows us to develop more accurate theories, and put into place more
effective solutions.
6. Back Up Your Arguments
Data is a key component to systems advocacy. Utilizing data will help present a strong argument for systems change.
Whether you are advocating for increased funding from public or private sources, or making the case for changes in
regulation, illustrating your argument through the use of data will allow you to demonstrate why changes are needed.
Cont.
7. Stop The Guessing Game
Data will help you explain (both good and bad) decisions to your stakeholders. Whether or not your strategies
and decisions have the outcome you anticipated, you can be confident that you developed your approach based
not upon guesses, but good solid data.
8. Be Strategic In Your Approaches
Data increases efficiency. Effective data collection and analysis will allow you to direct scarce resources where
they are most needed. If an increase in significant incidents is noted in a particular service area, this data can be
dissected further to determine whether the increase is widespread or isolated to a particular site. If the issue is
isolated, training, staffing, or other resources can be deployed precisely where they are needed, as opposed to
system-wide. Data will also support organizations to determine which areas should take priority over others.
Cont.
9. Know What You Are Doing Well
Data allows you to replicate areas of strength across your organization. Data analysis will support you to
identify high-performing programs, service areas, and people. Once you identify your high-performers, you can
study them in order to develop strategies to assist programs, service areas and people that are low-performing.
10. Keep Track Of It All
Good data allows organizations to establish baselines, benchmarks, and goals to keep moving forward.
Because data allows you to measure, you will be able to establish baselines, find benchmarks and set
performance goals. A baseline is what a certain area looks like before a particular solution is implemented.
Benchmarks establish where others are at in a similar demographic, such as Personal Outcome
Measures® national data. Collecting data will allow your organization to set goals for performance and
celebrate your successes when they are achieved.
 Cont.
11. Make The Most Of Your Money
Funding is increasingly outcome and data-driven. With the shift from funding that is based on services provided
to funding that is based on outcomes achieved, it is increasingly important for organizations to implement
evidence-based practice and develop systems to collect and analyze data.
12. Access The Resources Around You
Your organization probably already has most of the data and expertise you need to begin analysis. Your HR office
probably already tracks data regarding your staff. You are probably already reporting data regarding incidents to
your state oversight agency. You probably have at least one person in your organization who has experience with
Excel. But, if you don’t do any of these things, there is still hope! There are lots of free resources online that can
get you started. Do a web search for “how to analyze data” or “how to make a chart in Excel.”
Types of data used by organizations.
Organizations use various types of data to drive decision-making and gain insights into their
operations, customers, and markets. These data types can broadly be categorized into structured and
unstructured data. Here's an overview of each:
Types of data used by organizations
Structured Data:
Definition: Structured data refers to data that is organized into a specific format, making it easily searchable and
analyzable. It typically resides in fixed fields within a record or file and is often stored in databases or spreadsheets.

Examples:
• Relational Databases: Data stored in tables with rows and columns.
• Spreadsheets: Organized data in rows and columns, often used for financial records, sales reports, and other tabular data.
• XML/JSON Data: Data structured according to XML (eXtensible Markup Language) or JSON (JavaScript Object
Notation) formats, commonly used for web-based data exchange.
• CSV Files: Comma-separated values files that organize data into rows and columns, often used for importing/exporting
data between different systems.
Types of data used by organizations
Unstructured Data:
Definition: Unstructured data refers to data that lacks a predefined data model or structure. It doesn't fit
neatly into a database row or column and may come in various formats, including text, images, audio, and
video.
Examples:
◦ Text Documents: Emails, Word documents, PDFs, presentations, social media posts, and other textual content.
◦ Multimedia Files: Images, audio recordings, videos, and other media files.
◦ Web Pages: Content from websites, blogs, forums, and other online sources.
◦ Sensor Data: Data collected from IoT (Internet of Things) devices, such as temperature readings, GPS
coordinates, and machine logs.
◦ Social Media Feeds: Posts, comments, likes, shares, and other interactions on social media platforms.
◦ Emails and Chat Logs: Conversations, correspondence, and communications stored in email archives or chat
applications.
Impact on business processes in terms of
elicitation and storage.
Elicitation and storage are fundamental aspects of business processes, particularly in the context of
gathering requirements and managing data. Here's how these areas may be impacted:

Elicitation:

Shift to Remote Collaboration: With the increasing adoption of remote work and digital collaboration
tools, elicitation processes may rely more heavily on virtual meetings, workshops, and online surveys
rather than in-person interactions.
 Cont.
Use of Advanced Technologies: Businesses may leverage advanced technologies such as natural
language processing (NLP) and machine learning to automate aspects of elicitation, such as analyzing
customer feedback, extracting requirements from documents, or even conducting virtual interviews with
stakeholders.

Enhanced Stakeholder Engagement: Companies may invest more in techniques to actively engage
stakeholders throughout the elicitation process, such as user story mapping, prototyping, and iterative
feedback loops, to ensure that requirements are accurately captured and understood.
Impact on business processes in terms of
elicitation and storage.
Storage:

Cloud-Based Solutions: There's a growing trend towards storing business data in the cloud, which offers
scalability, accessibility, and often enhanced security compared to traditional on-premises storage
solutions. This shift allows for more flexibility in accessing and managing data from different locations
and devices.

Big Data Infrastructure: Businesses dealing with large volumes of data may invest in big data
infrastructure and technologies such as data lakes, distributed storage systems, and NoSQL databases to
efficiently store and manage diverse data types at scale.
Impact on business processes in terms of
elicitation and storage
Storage:

Data Governance and Compliance: With increasing regulatory requirements around data privacy and
security (e.g., GDPR, CCPA), businesses are placing greater emphasis on robust data governance
practices, including data classification, access controls, audit trails, and encryption, to ensure compliance
and mitigate risks associated with data storage.

Integration with Analytics and AI: Stored data is often used for analytics and AI applications to derive
insights, make data-driven decisions, and automate business processes. Therefore, businesses may focus
on integrating storage systems with analytics platforms and AI tools to extract maximum value from their
data assets.