Data analytics: sharing data effectively to inform management strategy

Data analytics is the process of examining collections of data to find trends and draw conclusions about the information they contain. These conclusions can then be shared with an organisation’s Management Information System to help inform and aid effective decision making.

The trends that data analytics identifies can help solve problems within a business. Data analytics is being used for shaping business practices and processes more and more.

Many organisations use facts derived from data to make important business decisions and this is known as Data-Driven Decision Making. This approach ensures that the direction the organisation is taking aligns with their goals and objectives for continued success.

There are four main types of data analytics:

• Predictive data analytics is possibly the most commonly used category of data analytics, used to identify trends, correlations and causation.

• Prescriptive data analytics is where a combination of AI and big data is utilised to help predict outcomes and identify what actions to take. The information gained can help you make the decision about what the best action to take is.

• Diagnostic data analytics is when past data is analysed with the purpose of identifying the cause of something that happened. This can improve business going forward as it can help to deter events with detrimental effects from recurring.

• Descriptive data analytics addresses basic questions of “how many, when, where and what.” It is the core element of reporting as it’s impossible to create business intelligence tools and dashboards without it. 

Every organisation has vast amounts of data, but often, it is scattered around on a number of different software systems, making it cumbersome and problematic to access. With the right software and dedicated data analysts in place, you can easily utilise your data to foresee problems, improve processes and inform management decisions.

Power BI

Developed by Microsoft, Power BI is part of the Microsoft Power Platform. As an interactive data visualisation software, it takes an organisation’s data and presents it visually to make it more accessible.

From there, analysts are able to gather insights from the data and report back to managers or share the information on the organisation’s Management Information System, so that it can be used to take a more strategic approach based going forward.

Power BI allows you to create dashboards, which are simply visual displays of your data. These will present your company’s metrics - commonly things such as performance, profit levels and any trends that are occurring - in an attractive, easy to understand format. This, in turn, will offer insights that will not only inform you, but also enable you to improve any areas of the business that require improvement.

Put simply, Power BI can make your data work for you, in a streamlined and agile way, always making sure you can see the whole picture as it is right now. This is what makes it the best tool in Microsoft’s arsenal for data analysis and visualisation today.

Benefits:

• It takes high volume data and transforms it into visual information that is easy to digest and understand.

• Power BI is much faster than Excel for data visualisation and much more interactive straight away.

• It makes it possible for less technical members of staff to access the same information as analysts.

• It enables managers to access the company’s metrics and use this information to inform their strategic plans and decisions.

• Once you’ve undertaken training, Power BI is easy to use and makes data tasks much easier.
  
  

Sharepoint

Power BI can link natively to multiple data sources, including SharePoint, Excel, SalesForce and multiple database engines to name just a few. It will always ensure that your source data remains as a single source of truth, instead of modifying the dataset as analysis is done. You can schedule data refreshes to happen automatically if you import the data, or link to it if not, making sure your reports are always showing current information. 

Sharepoint is used as a secure place to store, organise, share, and access information. All you need is a web browser, such as Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Chrome or Firefox and it can be accessed with any type of device making it highly versatile.

Choose PETA for your Power BI and Sharepoint training

Our training is delivered by our team of industry experts, who have used the software themselves and have a deep understanding of it and its application in the workplace. They will guide you through the training step by step, ensuring you understand each aspect as you go. Examples will be given and delegates will have the chance to have a go themselves. Questions are welcomed throughout the training and even in the days and weeks following the course if further queries arise - we’re here to help and ensure you go away confident in the use of the software.

Power BI 

We offer a one-day Power BI course at our Portsmouth training centre. This will cover the following topics:

• Data Connections

• Modelling

• Calculates Tables

• Visualisations

• Power BI Service

• DAX

The next scheduled courses are due to take place on Tuesday 29 November 2022 and Thursday 12 January 2023 and you can book your places online today! 

Sharepoint

We offer a two-day Sharepoint course at our Portsmouth training centre. This will cover the following topics:

• Creating a site, establishing a hierarchy and use of modern hub sites

• Establishing site settings

• Working with Creating and editing groups with permissions

• Working with Libraries, document control and content types

• Working with Custom and common lists

• Working with Metadata and custom columns

• Building a custom homepage with web parts

• Extending SharePoint through additional web apps

• Integrating SharePoint with Power Platform

• SharePoint and the mobile workforce

The next scheduled courses are due to start on Wednesday 15 March 2023 or Monday 21 August 2023 - book your places online.

Bespoke training

We can also offer bespoke or company-sponsored Power BI and/or Sharepoint training, whereby we will work with you to create the exact training package you and your staff need. This will enable your team to learn how to get the best out of data analysis, with your business in mind. This bespoke training can be delivered at our Portsmouth training centre or at your premises - the choice is yours.

Get in touch to find out more about the Power BI and Sharepoint training options available, or book onto one of our scheduled courses at the links above.

Sources:
techtarget.com
oracle.com