|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
Analysis: A Human Activity |
|
Analysis: The separation of an intellectual or material whole into its constituent parts for individual study. The study of such constituent parts and their interrelationships in making up a whole. A spoken or written presentation of such study. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. No computer, no program can analyze the data. Computers and programs are used by human beings to organize the data so he can analyse it. The whole (corporation, sector, department, process) is defined by the analyst and then its constituents are looked upon to understand their effect on the whole and on each other. As an example, you look at the profit of an organization and then you start breaking it down into its constituents to explain the profit of lack of it. These significant constituents must be elements upon which one can act to modify the end result. An analysis must be performed from the top down. The datum (units of data) can be validated or corrected but is not analyzed. This validation can be programmed at the entry level (entry formats, drop-down lists, etc.) or filters can be used on samples extracted from the database to identify the defective datum. The first step in the analysis is to define a significant WHOLE for an analyst. These analysts are shareholders, CEOs, executives, Directors, Managers, Supervisors and employees, they can be a government agency, a regulatory authority, a competitor, a client. These analysts are all DECISION MAKERS or they work for DECISION MAKERS. The only objective of an analysis is to feed the DECISION MAKING PROCESSES. These analysts might need a corporate picture, a departmental picture, a national picture, a regional picture etc. This picture can show dollars or quantities. The analysis can comprise subtotals, simple ratios, complex ratios etc. The analysis may be required annually, monthly, weekly, daily or even hourly. All theses wholes, analysts, pictures, types of analysis and time frames require a great diversity in the analysis tools. Nowadays, most enterprises have large centralized databases. BI, ERP, Financial, MRP, and HR applications organize and feed these large databases. Database people are custodians of the data, their mission is to insure the this data is validated, stored in the database and that it is protected. Their upload interfaces must be powerful and efficient. Once the data is in the database it must be rendered accessible to the analysts in a format that is optimal to facilitate their decision making processes. They can either supply the analysts with raw data, samples of the data, organized data (subtotals by region, by product, by months) or with "a written presentation of this study". The "written presentation" being a communication tool between two human beings or groups of human beings the trend is to allow the analysts to design their own "written presentation" because THEY know their business and because they know their people. This empowerment of the analysts is also required because a lot of data do not reside in the centralized database. This regional, departmental or sectorial data must also be analyzed and sometimes even coupled with the corporate data to design "written presentations" that reflect better the reality and the elements of the whole requiring a decision. The empowerment of the analysts and/or of his assistant is also necessary because these "written presentations" are tools for a human being defending his performance and even his career. Having to use a "written presentation" that he cannot adapt to his discourse can become very stressful and limits his capacity to support his views with valid information. |
Click here to send your comments
|
|
|||||
