tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31128696097522263852024-03-14T10:23:13.092-07:00datagrains Data Integration and more!Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-60450438007730238122015-04-03T23:00:00.002-07:002015-04-03T23:06:05.713-07:00Safari Haathi ke Sang..<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguikJHiLzEZfcD1YFmgLrQ9PRFQ0ue_eUu3YrjAV6MmSHwA3oiOOmp1csE06Ygl2XavlFX6ZmoZszlT2jtskYAgQUZdZZzMIfb14_aKUdMRpghAbgkiKfqORkbByOqUqDKHz5pzNKHlJwr/s1600/Safari+Haathi+ke+Sang.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguikJHiLzEZfcD1YFmgLrQ9PRFQ0ue_eUu3YrjAV6MmSHwA3oiOOmp1csE06Ygl2XavlFX6ZmoZszlT2jtskYAgQUZdZZzMIfb14_aKUdMRpghAbgkiKfqORkbByOqUqDKHz5pzNKHlJwr/s1600/Safari+Haathi+ke+Sang.PNG" height="171" width="200" /></a>In recent times, I have been questioned on continuity of Data Integration platforms in the world of BigData.<br />
Many developers from traditional ETL tools such as Informatica feel greatly concerned about BigData <br />
related tools and its fast upcoming. To add to it, many consultants from BigData have started stampeding strength of ETL tools as things of past. I have been pondering about this for sometime now and analyzing complex projects I have been interacting and consulted in enterprises. In this post i am sharing why all need to co exist in a larger eco system.<br />
<br />
I have been in battles of hand coding vs ETL tool at multiple places. Absolutely there are key evidences of one technique vs other coming to rescue at enterprises. Data Integration tool leaders such as Informatica attacks the problem at hand with multiple dimensions:<br />
1. Graphical development environments<br />
2. Ease of debugging<br />
3. clustering(Grid) and recovering capability<br />
4. Operational statistic logging and monitoring<br />
5. Data Quality management<br />
6. Metadata management<br />
7. Universal Connectivity<br />
etc. <br />
<br />
Remember every aspect here can be hand coded by expert Java(or any other) programmers and optimize to peak performance. Then why Informatica (or any such tool)?! <br />
<br />
I consider Data integration is not same as Data Processing. Data Integration involves Extraction, Transformation and Loading aspects. Where as Data Processing only focuses on extreme programming to optimize recursive looping, working with large data collections and some transformation. This type of processing is seldom viable using Informatica. Just to give a sample example, I wanted to process around 1000 files (in CSV format) constituting Solar weather predictions and actual observations on Propagation conditions amounting uto 3GB for my personal research work on a weekend. Due to its nature of onetime use, recursive in parsing data, I chose 200 lines of Java code over Informatica Express edition. It took 4 hours to write the code and then around hours to download the files from internet sites of research organizations and process them (Check my Tableau public visualiation of this work <a href="https://public.tableausoftware.com/views/VU3KPL-SkimmerAnalysis/Hourlyagg?:showVizHome=no#1" target="_blank">Geo Wise - Hrly Prop Analysis </a>). Yes this could have also been done using Informatica with wrapper scripts. However, it was unnecessary for my purpose. As Architects, we need to make such smart choices all the time. Typical scenarios where Data Processing takes an edge are pattern detection based on historical values, recommendations, statistical model processing etc.<br />
<br />
Problem is many consider BigData technologies as simple replacement for DI Tools such as Informatica and then start considering other tools for extraction of data and transformation of data . Tools such Informatica have been working on pushdown optimization for several years (yes even before BigData came to main stream). Informatica provided developers ability to perform data intensive transformations (ofcourse mostly not recursive in nature) in database platforms. In last couple of years Pushdown to Hadoop for transformation has taken a lot of traction. Informatica does this cleverly by turning transformations in to series of Hive Queries on Hadooop. It will not cut the chase, lot of limitations etc. are some noise I hear time to time on this technique. Question I would like to ask is whether you have used it for the purpose pushdown is meant for? With advent of fast streaming technologies from Informatica such as Vibe Data Stream (VDS) and Hparser, variety of complex high volume data can now be processed at extremely fast rates. Every thing has its place and you got to know its positioning. Question to ask is how smartly you take advantage of them to get to future!<br />
<br />
For me Elephant is a friend which i can use for a smooth ride in the data jungle. Now my motivational theme for sometime is going to be "Safari Haathi ke Sang"<br />
<br />
Have a wonderful ride! <br />
Kiran <div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-61078891044487367272014-08-20T02:38:00.000-07:002014-08-20T02:38:48.468-07:00Informatica Grid options<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One of the most frequent query as Informatica Architect I receive is when to go for grid?. Will it not be sufficient if I go for more CPU and RAM on same server instead? High Availability by automatic fail-over is inherent property of grid isn't? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In this blog I would like to throw light on simplified understanding of what is it we are going to achieve and what option of Informatica is required for certain specific needs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Before we get into to the grid, lets go back to one of the early basics on session/CPU core computation. As per many Informatica articles and actual usage, I have observed that a session dedicatedly required around 1.2 CPU core units to run. i.e. if one has 4 CPU Cores in theory it can support up to 3 sessions in parallel. What happens when more sessions are invoked to run on same CPU configuration? Time based CPU splicing starts to happen either mandating some sessions to go on wait mode or slow down. As most of the ETL sessions are memory intensive than CPU intensive by the nature of its data movement requirements, mostly we the session/CPU is the requirement from the multithreading architecture of the PowerCenter.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So if one goes by this computation to run more number of sessions in parallel more CPU cores are essential. Now in a large enterprise definitely one may opt for high end multi core CPU monsters. However think of scaling it with cost consideration, one will hit the barrier soon. What if we can add commodity servers on demand and expand with growing demand becomes a smarter choice. Informatica Grid is such option where you start with minimum 2 servers as individual nodes and grow the farm as demand increases. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One will realize some benefits as soon as you get onto this configuration:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1. smaller servers 2. elasticity 3. Colocation for data 4. specialized zones 5. almost zero down time during patch upgrades.6. Workflow level distributed computing</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Following diagram shows bare minimum architecture of a grid:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Gateway node</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Worker node (Backup node)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Shared storage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Although grid provides above benefits, it does not automatically perform failover recovery for sessions. It will just enable node level failover. This is one of the misconception most people have. Grid option just do not provide this High Availability feature. To make sure one has HA on Grid, HA option needs to be procured and also all related components wiz repository and application Databases, storage systems and networks needs to be HA compliant. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Finally another option which can enable session level computing on the grid is "Session on Grid" option. With this advanced option Informatica distributes individual transformation level tasks on the grid which is useful in CPU process intensive sessions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Kiran</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-7849688210696515412014-08-20T02:28:00.000-07:002014-08-20T02:28:34.872-07:00Back to bloggingIts been long since I blogged here. I think it right time to get back. Lot has been happening in Data Integration world while away from writing here. Informatica introduced Virtual Data Machine - Vibe, Data integration is getting moved towards the sources with streams, Data Security is taken seriously than ever, vendors are opening up their platforms to cope with exponentially growing type of data sources etc.<br />
<br />
Its going to be exciting path ahead. Keep reading...<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-4570479877296509012012-05-31T01:04:00.001-07:002012-05-31T01:05:18.561-07:00Informatica Dynamic AggregatorPlease check my blog entry at iCreate Software's blog page : <a href="http://icreate.in/blog/performance-management/dynamic-aggregator">http://icreate.in/blog/performance-management/dynamic-aggregator</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-72655185206747786982012-04-12T22:23:00.000-07:002012-10-06T21:27:29.975-07:00Dynamic Expression evaluation in InformaticaInformatica is one of the leading Data Integration - ETL tool in the market for several years now.<br />
One of the objective all the big ETL tool companies strive to accomplish is the need for data transfer speed with complex business rule transformations. Informatica provides various transformations in a typical source DB to target DB mapping. One of the recent advances included making expression evaluation dynamic. i.e expression string itself can now be placed as a parameter in the parameter file.<br />
<br />
This feature provides avenues for materializing several ideas for dynamic rule changing. Let us take an example.<br />
<img alt="" height="150" src="data:image/png;base64,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" width="400" /> <br />
In this simple example Name is output port with following expression : Name = First Name || Last Name <br />
<br />
In normal situation, If the expression string needs to be changed so that target Name field to contain only initial character of Last Name, then mapping needs to be modified, tested and moved to production. Now if there was a mapping parameter created like $$Name and isExpression property turned to TRUE, then you could just assign required expression to the parameter in parameter file and use the parameter in the Name port instead of hardcoded concatenation string.<br />
<br />
This feature become more practical in situations like bonus calculations, price formulas, scoring etc. where the change of expressions are more frequent.<br />
<br />
Kiran Padiyar<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-71478508351695487742012-03-14T08:46:00.002-07:002012-03-14T08:47:10.483-07:00Proactive Data Quality – Self-healing Adaptive Code FrameworkPlease check my blog entry at iCreate Software's blog page : <a href="http://icreate.in/blog/author/kiran-padiyar">http://icreate.in/blog/author/kiran-padiyar</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-35690940116757568592011-05-19T00:49:00.000-07:002012-10-06T21:28:15.687-07:00Shopper step analysisWith every square feet of a retail space becoming expensive these days, retailer is continuously on lookout of new ways to optimize floorspace and enhance shopper experience.<br />
How many steps a shopper has to take prior to finding the item?, how many times he goes back n forth? which is the most foot printed place?, are some of the key questions analysts need to answer to yield to optimized placements of items and promotions.<br />
Large retailers already do market basket analysis and placement predictions using data collected in POS. Now using the cart movement on retail floor provides another dimension. Following is a grid showing sample shopper cart movement data.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBphtKfN9t34Cqi_5RpSt0Cz3D1sA3Vnj4yfEmiNtPWLPk2xyV8Ri0S8G_fIYfosC5avMnlA-mckV_Ut_nNvkWDcvVY0erePqx56QOcoML6bnLpmrs9YUWIe1ZBH93GlPYRPRKtIrpnQlT/s1600/pointstepgrid.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBphtKfN9t34Cqi_5RpSt0Cz3D1sA3Vnj4yfEmiNtPWLPk2xyV8Ri0S8G_fIYfosC5avMnlA-mckV_Ut_nNvkWDcvVY0erePqx56QOcoML6bnLpmrs9YUWIe1ZBH93GlPYRPRKtIrpnQlT/s400/pointstepgrid.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
On the left side are Cart ID and shopper's moving steps (Stops a shopper takes. Every stop is recorded by isle RFID sensors assuming carts are fixed with RFID tags). Columns in the grid show sections in retail shop, these are marked with point numbers. i.e in a ideal case, shopper navigates like point 1 --> point 2 --> .. point 10. Grid cells show sum of sales made(recorded at POS).<br />
Following is a visual showing the heatmap of sales with customer's navigation behaviour.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYe-TeQTzY-b857M3lmOAcoIkW1iPA5bygUhF8hFiPL1Q41u0wcjB5LAtu3eCbcbHXjrjjYRbgMpl5JGIkirNOobh22uH1wlat2DSBTgizolVOMUL3233OeCyJcxZLCycYECacm7Gp5JL/s1600/pointstepheat.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhYe-TeQTzY-b857M3lmOAcoIkW1iPA5bygUhF8hFiPL1Q41u0wcjB5LAtu3eCbcbHXjrjjYRbgMpl5JGIkirNOobh22uH1wlat2DSBTgizolVOMUL3233OeCyJcxZLCycYECacm7Gp5JL/s400/pointstepheat.png" width="400" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Blank cells with grey color are sections where shoppers visited and did not make any purchase. Same visualization can be embedded over a shopfloor graphic to show navigation behaviors. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Hope this post helped in tinkering some new ideas on retail analysis using your BI solution.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Enjoy!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-78046599174885182902011-05-07T00:21:00.000-07:002011-05-07T00:21:22.762-07:00You see exactly what is shown to you! But how information should be shown to you?!As we navigate through clutter of huge information, lesser and lesser time is at our disposal to understand it. We tend to rely on what is easily seen and rely on that information for decision making. Now you see that quality of what has been shown to you as of utmost importance to you. As most of the organizations rely on technical consultants working on dashboards/report developments following equation may hold good..<br />
<blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Quality and experience of BI consultant == Quality of information shown to you</span></i></blockquote><blockquote><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Quality of information shown to you == Quality of information seen by you </span></i></blockquote>Now every leader sees the same thing, but <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b>interprets it differently</b></span>. Job of a dashboard is to provide avenues to those new explorations with quick insights. BI practitioners should keep user focused on business objectives. Most of the time people who implement these BI visuals don;t understand the deep objective of the work being done.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Lets take a look at a part of BI dashboard snapshot of a travel company represented in two formats. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">First form is classical pie chart. second one is horizontal bars. </div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS11j2NwEzsMU-ir7Bxp-zbanXvlUAtAmMI-m3tSXBQOonWtP4wDSQ2SpepUbqaIDRgCiM0KdZG8L278Vb5GpfLDBiqMSoi-9Tb8Z_qjIaj_FOOULNwasRgNKHn0tXrd2EYkCQ-jJvMcon/s1600/pievsbar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS11j2NwEzsMU-ir7Bxp-zbanXvlUAtAmMI-m3tSXBQOonWtP4wDSQ2SpepUbqaIDRgCiM0KdZG8L278Vb5GpfLDBiqMSoi-9Tb8Z_qjIaj_FOOULNwasRgNKHn0tXrd2EYkCQ-jJvMcon/s400/pievsbar.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Which one aided you to compare best?!<br />
<br />
If you get access to book on Information Dashboards by Stephen Few, do read it, you will benefit a lot. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167?ie=UTF8&tag=datagrainsblo-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank">Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=datagrainsblo-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0596100167" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-47743564514135596342011-01-24T00:11:00.000-08:002011-01-24T00:49:38.548-08:00How Marketing Ad Campaigns can benefit from google map clustering and coverage radius overlays..Ad Campaign Management involves lot of operational data originating from various agencies/sources like Market Researchers, Media buyers and Media Networks. Most of the data pertaining to campaigns are associated with certain demographics and geographies. Without proper visualization tools, wealth of information would be soon buried and opportunity to build intelligence is lost. <br />
<br />
Advent in technology today allows us to optimize campaign operations and increase visibility provided we collect/ask for certain details from agencies along with their standard media reports. Multiple visualizations using maps enable us to quickly differentiate information with techniques like heat-maps, clustering and coverage radius overlays. While heat-maps overlays provide information density of critical measures over map area, clustering and radius overlays provide details on media specifics.<br />
<br />
We will use 'meghaserve ACM' - Map Analysis feature to explain benefits of clustering and radius coverage.<br />
<br />
<b>Clustering visualization:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJF2lKdpYN88xkkeZ8x6exnF4Yo3PTmXCNlG1dKXuE-s1txob21MzfhIgPyc1Wg26aolaG5cTVxsQx5WRZZoHwtTZYHXrDR82kll5iip2aQePNdroZ5V4jmBQ7cymI4-kQ61CfFMNhKlRc/s1600/Clustermap.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJF2lKdpYN88xkkeZ8x6exnF4Yo3PTmXCNlG1dKXuE-s1txob21MzfhIgPyc1Wg26aolaG5cTVxsQx5WRZZoHwtTZYHXrDR82kll5iip2aQePNdroZ5V4jmBQ7cymI4-kQ61CfFMNhKlRc/s320/Clustermap.png" width="320" /></a></div>Take an example of Ad campaign targeted at a specific geographic area like India. The screen-shot on the right shows various Ad runs over planned media spread across the area.<br />
Clustering allows to see large amount of data on the map with count of media shown. In this example, there are 2 media in the western region and 8 media in southern region on which Ads are running.<br />
These clusters have dynamic responses, i.e if you zoom, map will start displaying more specific details on map.<br />
<br />
<b>Coverage Radius visualization: </b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYvCOCXsn4SEaHWqV-vTUC0NWlYdzmrmR6hcBesTwunw08UXsyrvCJ896XUy8gJUS3Bh92JKVjDXFqvjeKZ2tMR7LEc9UdZXsI3tE9UknWm6Q_TLxBJ59xIb39p4izJFAP_k2fBvLSZ_5/s1600/circlemap2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYvCOCXsn4SEaHWqV-vTUC0NWlYdzmrmR6hcBesTwunw08UXsyrvCJ896XUy8gJUS3Bh92JKVjDXFqvjeKZ2tMR7LEc9UdZXsI3tE9UknWm6Q_TLxBJ59xIb39p4izJFAP_k2fBvLSZ_5/s320/circlemap2.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<b></b><br />
This is a another alternative to view Ad media coverage over the map. On left side are two snaps showing radius of outdoor media and newsprint media planned for the campaigns. Application provides great value for Brand Campaign managers during operations and analysis. <br />
With configurable parameters like radius and colors, analysis takes new dimension and greater value.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulebLHplar8ssbw4bGQGzA1RJ9VtsvQ156YdboJ6pvxDqNxolypf658F5PF7Rqd5ztJ5QGbb9IuEqiYrdKWzHLXSi1cuzuJOxd54eDS-Bb2eoPScejjYsxfjKb8rXZOjrAwVln5_c36Rp/s1600/circlemap1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulebLHplar8ssbw4bGQGzA1RJ9VtsvQ156YdboJ6pvxDqNxolypf658F5PF7Rqd5ztJ5QGbb9IuEqiYrdKWzHLXSi1cuzuJOxd54eDS-Bb2eoPScejjYsxfjKb8rXZOjrAwVln5_c36Rp/s320/circlemap1.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
To check other value added features of 'meghaserve ACM' app, please visit<br />
<a href="http://meghaserve.com/ACMTraxFeatures.html">http://meghaserve.com/ACMTraxFeatures.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Thank you<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-48904115792390344922011-01-19T22:02:00.000-08:002011-01-19T22:02:17.380-08:00Linkedin Poll: Where does an Advertiser spend majority of his time during Ad Campaigns?<iframe src='http://polls.linkedin.com/vote/118868/rimcz' marginheight='0' marginwidth='0' topmargin='0' leftmargin='0' allowtransparency='true' frameborder='0' height='250' scrolling='no' width='300' readonly='readonly'></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-59808965899586259242010-12-15T00:28:00.000-08:002010-12-15T01:14:12.652-08:00Chart type and scale selection for BI dashboards<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In this blog we are going over two of chart selection techniques for dashboard and reporting. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">First one is about scale selection and second one is about category measure comparison over two time ranges.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When designing dashboards, type of charts and scaling to be used are critical in quickly communicating information. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here is first example:</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCj_ZaxculgaRkYOIsyeOoeSNpWYDWBuX0jR-ArXsD-wX5e9vrQBRyiAUX4qTGWgCSln4oY0b-CCNsPC_0b-bhXhqraWmobnrhLvxFnThZWMHSyAvxX0pc8FR1TW9t6Ho0hAStFI-dQYMy/s1600/salesy1y2y3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCj_ZaxculgaRkYOIsyeOoeSNpWYDWBuX0jR-ArXsD-wX5e9vrQBRyiAUX4qTGWgCSln4oY0b-CCNsPC_0b-bhXhqraWmobnrhLvxFnThZWMHSyAvxX0pc8FR1TW9t6Ho0hAStFI-dQYMy/s320/salesy1y2y3.png" width="320" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Requirement is to compare %ge of sales of various products over 3year span.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now since data is continuous we are selecting line chart with product as series. X axis for years and Y for %ge as values. One may even show the results in bar charts in this specific case.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now check spread of sales value which range from 1% to 80% to be represented on the chart. If we select linear scaling, small numbers would get hidden amongst larger values. So there are two ways to communicate on linear scale. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1. have lower values hard to see, just like chart on the right side (who cares!) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">2. devide charts in multiple sections like max sales less than 10% over 3 year span and show these sections separately.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0kmDZ6Rj9svXlvwPHG4-5ZaOsUrx-gvPHHCMMyft-rcTz64MGdzo-VAo8rXaa4EFDnzhOS28EHkZGtrhHv-mixSIXwo4trhHdcASq5-MZ3s5J3EElYLPrfOBWSmGWcj2V1wJfB9CXha_0/s320/logvslinear.png" width="320" /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Another way is to communicate with log scale as shown in left part of the picture. Chose this scale bit carefully as it should not be mixed with linear scaling charts and should standout well.. Observe that the lower section of the data points have been differentiated well with log scaled chart.</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZR3a6aDdL_7DC15E4-od8J7oNkhc4cISZv3DWyjj46HOqmj1N_HTW4W28X_Fx7WkwXfoPhHdOm-Y3QfcG7JTWFqzb_ybNx1BuPIAZhONcFar_GrEOaumNez4ZdqYrOtMKo3ZzLHlw3Skz/s1600/salesy1y2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZR3a6aDdL_7DC15E4-od8J7oNkhc4cISZv3DWyjj46HOqmj1N_HTW4W28X_Fx7WkwXfoPhHdOm-Y3QfcG7JTWFqzb_ybNx1BuPIAZhONcFar_GrEOaumNez4ZdqYrOtMKo3ZzLHlw3Skz/s1600/salesy1y2.png" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Other point we wanted to discuss in this blog was about optimizing space on the dashboard with right chart usage. For this example we will use following table showing two time segments for sales% comparison.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxi8EU6YhH-MYXW47Bn00Ww6mCqUXaEasHHNOI-_eivW3R0hacxTyoeZmr0sTsiNfx9kZtkYN4o9TrD03T-yYweB1RWaJafNXaCO6RJUudYJmZCIatgPiUf-7Ylm1v5AhcG5IUQMCGuWM/s1600/pichartcomparison.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxi8EU6YhH-MYXW47Bn00Ww6mCqUXaEasHHNOI-_eivW3R0hacxTyoeZmr0sTsiNfx9kZtkYN4o9TrD03T-yYweB1RWaJafNXaCO6RJUudYJmZCIatgPiUf-7Ylm1v5AhcG5IUQMCGuWM/s320/pichartcomparison.png" width="320" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Picture here shows a less efficient way of displaying the comparison with pie chart. I am wondering why most business folks prefer this type of comparison. Anyways, from design point it looks so inefficient and time consuming/strenuous (for your eyes) for dashboard type communication.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnolHJb-dr_Vtpi2NPY6CGxRFWRZW0Cf3RqNH6NxXpP6wLqhBbYOtuXEXWf3Hohyts0uAlj_xRKE0Z9-ypVnlG2c-_c2cIOoM2d9pfuhdnH1nHUIONiH-PUspqkNvLU9BLY15ET6G4UZwS/s1600/barchartcomparison.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnolHJb-dr_Vtpi2NPY6CGxRFWRZW0Cf3RqNH6NxXpP6wLqhBbYOtuXEXWf3Hohyts0uAlj_xRKE0Z9-ypVnlG2c-_c2cIOoM2d9pfuhdnH1nHUIONiH-PUspqkNvLU9BLY15ET6G4UZwS/s200/barchartcomparison.png" width="200" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here is same data represented as one bar chart. There are two things you will accomplish: 1. Chart is less space consuming 2. You have easy comparison of measures arranged side by side.</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Pie charts have got certain limitation, and should be used only for certain tasks. It is less efficient to use them for set comparisons.</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hope this was helpful. You may find <a href="http://datagrains.blogspot.com/2009/07/following-best-practice.html">other post on Pie chart</a> interesting too..</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All the best </span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-36549573508349690542010-12-12T09:32:00.000-08:002010-12-12T09:32:00.587-08:00What happens when advertisers change Ad Agencies?Recent news article in <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/accounts-start-hopping-as-ad-industry-heats-up/417112/">Business Standard</a> showed advertiser's developing trend in changing ad agencies.<br />
<br />
It is common to have multiple ad agencies for a big spender.Ad agencies do accomplish great deal of work for brand promotions and have become vital part in success. Ad agencies, especially media agencies accumulates wealth of information about campaign performance and spend. Losing them might result in missing link of that wealth.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw4Qg1f_9EBH4onb2NURiyO88DWw_2BGYAe5X92vjILAt58JpdlelGCJ2VNaIBYd8Otk08UhOA3K4GfW3uwIG5Z4cr581_D4WdDJkt7cfEWNPhCCRjy_d0dcGbSOP9Y5QszcZwUsN3ZKrT/s1600/agency.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw4Qg1f_9EBH4onb2NURiyO88DWw_2BGYAe5X92vjILAt58JpdlelGCJ2VNaIBYd8Otk08UhOA3K4GfW3uwIG5Z4cr581_D4WdDJkt7cfEWNPhCCRjy_d0dcGbSOP9Y5QszcZwUsN3ZKrT/s320/agency.png" width="320" /></a>Smart advertisers would collect all relevant data points on a regular basis in the form of offline reports like excel reports or from online portal access to ad agency's analytics. If there are multiple brands and agencies or when campaigns tend to be aggressive in nature, there are opportunities to lose insights in some of the spend data/ media allocations. Without proper systems in place to collect information and present them at right-time, it is almost a mess.<br />
<br />
Most in ad industry agree with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wanamaker" id="perma">John Wanamaker</a>'s quote: <br />
<blockquote>"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half."</blockquote><br />
Agreed. But intelligent systems and disciplined practice can yield much more ROI for campaign spend. Mainly because such systems will<br />
1. eliminate numerous hours/days of efforts one spends on validations and reporting.<br />
2. help in standardizing reporting from across agencies and <br />
3. overtime builds an in-house intelligence power which can be used for future campaigns and also integrate it with Enterprise Data Warehouses for advanced Business Intelligence<br />
<br />
So don't lose those valuable insights, have complete control over the Ad Campaigns.<br />
<br />
Kiran Padiyar<br />
www.meghaserve.com<br />
explore possibilities...<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-37472286849495900912010-12-06T22:54:00.000-08:002010-12-06T23:10:56.896-08:00Spend on forward-looking insightsIn a recent <a href="http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?edlabel=ETBG&pubLabel=ET&pageid=4&mydateHid=24-11-2010">Economic Times interview</a> Mr. S Sthanunathan Global VP (marketing strategy and insights) Coca Cola had following remarks on current market research<br />
<blockquote><i>"<span class="pda">Almost 80% of the budget is spent on rear-view research and explaining the past.But is there any point looking at the past and doing what you always did incrementally better We need to spend at least 50% of research budget on forward-looking insights."</span></i></blockquote><span class="pda">As a BI practitioner I consider it as a very valid point which current BI implementations rarely consider. The source of information today in any organization are data they generate, either by transactions(sales, marketing ...) or surveys etc. But what about the wealth of first hand information consumers are putting on the web?. Is there a system to mine that info and integrate with internal streams? </span><br />
<br />
<span class="pda">I recently had an experience at</span><span class="pda"> grocery section</span><span class="pda"> of a supermarket. A representative from Colgate who was standing near the oral care department, came to us, introduced himself and asked a survey question "which toothpaste are we using? and do we have any sensitive teeth problems?". Consumer surveys like these are often intrusive, just putting the consumers on guard. But what if Colgate had non intrusive sensors on social media sites like twitter, facebook, blogs etc. They would be receiving high volume of information without having to go to consumers. There is a need to have non-intrusive probe not just to listen to comments on web but derive corporate intelligence upfront. For forward looking marketers it can prove to be a strong competitive edge.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="pda">Here is a schematic showing the missing piece of puzzle!</span><span class="pda"> Ideas, suggestions, improvements, likings, feelings are in conversation 24*7. Connecting these insights to corporate mainstream BI initiative will really open up avenues for forward-looking insights.. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="pda"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8rEaHUvix4mLMS2iIuPD99cXRJKRU27qfi7Ui1rfgOcsaUOJglNGVPhhFMjuW-geDTKKsVF2xv5YZLa6vd_cZWxF5LnKr30yowVL7p46bm5NOlBs9bXa3I_UUp_hpfVkfVTLi0iEyPD0/s1600/12-7-2010+12-19-02+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW8rEaHUvix4mLMS2iIuPD99cXRJKRU27qfi7Ui1rfgOcsaUOJglNGVPhhFMjuW-geDTKKsVF2xv5YZLa6vd_cZWxF5LnKr30yowVL7p46bm5NOlBs9bXa3I_UUp_hpfVkfVTLi0iEyPD0/s400/12-7-2010+12-19-02+PM.png" width="400" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-43207572943650855832010-12-04T04:51:00.000-08:002010-12-04T04:51:41.670-08:00MeghaServe ACM introduction video on youtube<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nOxHN2lmBs8?fs=1" frameborder="0" height="344" width="425"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-8644543103123362112010-11-23T02:35:00.000-08:002010-11-23T19:02:12.108-08:00Business Intelligence in Hospitality sector<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I had a recent experience in consulting a regional hotel chain for their Business Intelligence initiative. This blog post is afterthought of that exercise.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Ever increasing competition and overall technological advances has raised today's<br />
customer's expectations. Even before calling the reservation desk of a hotel, customer is engaged in planning via various channels like Internet portals, social networks and other traditional methods as well. So when Customer makes the reservations, he/she will have set of expectations from the hotels. Hoteliers very well understand the importance of meeting/exceeding guest's expectations as a fundamental part of hospitality business.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">So is the case for BI with key problems they face like, what attracts new customers and importantly how to retain them and increase their value over life to the hotel.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Implementation of BI systems can enhance this customer experience and maximize operational performance.<br />
We can easily identify these two aspects of BI in hospitality business as<br />
1. Customer centric analysis and promotions<br />
2. Hotel operational performance management</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Following picture represents a typical hotel scenario and where the information gathering starts even prior to guest reserves a room. As mentioned above leads are getting sophisticated, they check about the hotels on various parameters like social ratings, customer referrals, proximity to place of interest, prices etc. All BI software would be able to do is to bring new insights on the data available. So quality along with quantity of data about the customer and operations is foundation element of BI analytics here.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PFZtIxcOxlcmatgi0mg4UtL08I7Uq1W_Qm8lB5QUZ2abg4OKtWKP6o-6ZdEsSwkyGuIb__7bYnW9RAvEp8sXjZZYwwLll3zZIFNXPAUeJ37GLYEX6YkiAEr2p_wTpj66L59vb2LWENva/s1600/Process.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PFZtIxcOxlcmatgi0mg4UtL08I7Uq1W_Qm8lB5QUZ2abg4OKtWKP6o-6ZdEsSwkyGuIb__7bYnW9RAvEp8sXjZZYwwLll3zZIFNXPAUeJ37GLYEX6YkiAEr2p_wTpj66L59vb2LWENva/s400/Process.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
Customer analysis works best when reservation system collects as much information as possible from the guests like</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">· Age, <br />
· Gender<br />
· Visiting purpose - corporate/holiday<br />
· Life style/Income group<br />
· Profession<br />
· Address</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">· Type of room<br />
· Days of stay<br />
· Special requests etc<br />
These when collected over a period, we can try to correlate to his/her<br />
buying pattern and feedback to the processes to improvise the services. Also it helps in determining customer's life time value for the hotel.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
For operational performance analysis, one has to collect some basic information like<br />
· Lead sources<br />
· Promotional responses<br />
· Occupancy rates<br />
· Commissions paid to agents<br />
· Satisfaction surveys<br />
· Room Service details : like laundry, Cleaning and other expenses etc</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
All these are not automatically discovered and implemented by any system. There has to be a process and system to collect information, analysts to check on the pattern and system to provide continuous feedback to the teams. BI system implementation aims at providing actionable insights using the data captured.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Business Intelligence is a evolving system. Any organization will undergo a series of evolution stages or maturity levels when it seeks to derive value out of BI<br />
implementation. To have holistic view of the business, all the data needs to be integrated and stored at a central Data Warehouse for integrated analytics. Else the mining/exploration would have to be done in silos leaving hidden insights undiscovered.<br />
<br />
A high-level BI system in an enterprise would look like as following.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXaUf0gluuCUvbgbo6FgTg3Cax1CmySS43sxw5-y6oxyXfVZcCNoXAVTDGqHFUBndBLGc7HRkeUUQn5bneMOn5R0jNy7x13W6vQZdbC8aapqRuSdL8YFNv68oP3Epa08LuNcdBuPK7L0p-/s1600/BI+System.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXaUf0gluuCUvbgbo6FgTg3Cax1CmySS43sxw5-y6oxyXfVZcCNoXAVTDGqHFUBndBLGc7HRkeUUQn5bneMOn5R0jNy7x13W6vQZdbC8aapqRuSdL8YFNv68oP3Epa08LuNcdBuPK7L0p-/s400/BI+System.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
As you can see in the diagram, there are four stages involved. First one is existing software systems also called as operational support systems. In Hotels, these are systems like Reservations, Accounting, Room Servicing or CRM. All these discrete data would then be integrated, transformed and loaded to central repository like Data Warehouse. Once data is stored in a Data Warehouse, it becomes easy to access for further analysis and reporting. Data Warehouse is structured differently than operational systems and historically maintained. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Steps Recommended for BI initiative</b><br />
1. Study existing systems<br />
2. Analyze Key Performance measures management is focusing on<br />
3. Architect/Design a BI system<br />
4. Select tools for Data Warehousing, Data Integration and Visualization/Analysis</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5. Implement the system<br />
6. Prepare business to incorporate Continuous Improvements</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Here is a sample Hospitality dashboard.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0QQunh50hx3LuSRMjLWlSvvfodhJWIvLNv45RMJKvmzIQ7yaT0jC8lVK1X1kleF5JLzIrf6OBxSRMxulRm7i1GBVylHBj6F8QQ36vlpCgYZ9e-E3hFApUMWqRllY7LLopVm4MhlR4qunu/s1600/8-20-2010+4-56-03+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0QQunh50hx3LuSRMjLWlSvvfodhJWIvLNv45RMJKvmzIQ7yaT0jC8lVK1X1kleF5JLzIrf6OBxSRMxulRm7i1GBVylHBj6F8QQ36vlpCgYZ9e-E3hFApUMWqRllY7LLopVm4MhlR4qunu/s400/8-20-2010+4-56-03+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Tell us know what do you think!</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">MeghaServe.com BI Team</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-86936343730515833652010-11-22T01:21:00.000-08:002010-11-22T01:21:47.771-08:00MeghaServe.com customer's voice: "our costs are not prohibitive and support costs are very reasonable"Following are words which came in today from VWF Industries leadership for our work on strategic IT consulting.<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"Your report on our IT infrastructure needs and futureproofing it was very pragmatic. Your recommendation on the use of cloud computing and moving some our applications into the open source arena meant that our costs are not prohibitive and support costs are very reasonable. As a non-IT medium sized company, this approach made a lot of sense for us." </i></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Mr. Ajith Pai, JMD, VWF Industries Ltd. Mysore, India</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.vwfindustries.com/%20"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.vwfindustries.com/</span></a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: right;"><br />
</div>We had studied existing IT systems, pain-points, corporate goals of VWF to comeup with detailed IT strategy report. As a result, VWF has already started moving some apps to cloud in phases.<br />
Read my "<a href="http://datagrains.blogspot.com/2010/04/cloud-computing-making-switch.html">Cloud Computing: making a switch</a>" blog to get a glance on why you need to check cloud apps for your business.<br />
<br />
MeghaServe Technologies helps businesses to reduce IT cost and increase business performance by providing tool agnostic consulting. Learn more about our consulting services at <a href="http://meghaserve.com/services.html">http://meghaserve.com/services.html</a><br />
<br />
Kiran Padiyar<br />
www.meghaserve.com<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-85221251366360810972010-11-21T21:52:00.000-08:002010-12-15T01:15:52.788-08:00Challenge No 1 for Datawarehousing projectsAfter leadership decides on an initiative for Data Warehousing, there are lots of important key steps to be taken even prior to starting the actual work. Other than infrastructure planning, information system coverage and objectives, it is estimation of the actual work to be performed. From my experience working with large financial and insurance sector corporates, it is the Data Integration which will be bottleneck almost always.<br />
<br />
Let us be honest, one can easily estimate(well relatively) # of machines required, # of software licenses required, # of hours required to build reports, and often # of hours for data modeling. When it comes to Data Integration, the illusion is movement of data from point A to point B. However the challenge is not A and B, it is in between!.<br />
Years worth of data health of which god only knows, mostly like carrying rubbish to a central pod and expecting crystal clear information at the end.Ofcourse, estimations are done considering some tolerance of 10 to 20% from ideal scenario! ha ha.. that is it.<br />
<br />
Be cautious, its like guessing the depth of murky waters at sea without any tools to measure. In case of Data Integration, the problem is not knowing what to do with source of information when it tends be having variations in patterns. Or just not knowing how many patterns would be discovered!<br />
<br />
Most successful implementations follow <b>data profiling</b> route even before estimating the integration efforts. Data profiling although will not perform the magic, will provide some insights into complexity which we are getting into. So this technique will bring down cost overruns dramatically. And still majority of corporates start projects without any profiling done only to encounter a death spiral. A death spiral is where developers put quick fix transformations and make a route to destination. No wonder why then leadership always worries about moving targets and burned out developers in such projects.<br />
<br />
Take the first step right, concur the Challenge No1. which is to understand complexity of Data involved using proper Data Profiling techniques.<br />
<br />
Kiran Padiyar<br />
MeghaServe.com<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-24413473877100184032010-11-16T05:57:00.000-08:002010-12-12T09:43:17.807-08:00Introduction video for MeghaServe ACM solutionToday we released our introduction video for MeghaServe ACM solution. It was a long time wish since we had started working on the solution. Hoping that the video communicates to the audiences the message we wanted to convey. Check out <a href="http://www.meghaserve.com/solutions.html">Video Link</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-67678838495165298332010-10-06T21:58:00.001-07:002010-12-06T21:39:35.912-08:00The End Of Advertising- on slideshare.net by IBMCheck out this SlideShare Presentation: <br />
Very interesting research paper. As the Ads get more and more personalized mass media consumption would slowly narrow down for better reach.<br />
<div id="__ss_172794" style="width: 425px;"><b style="display: block; margin: 12px 0pt 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/briantiong/the-end-of-advertising-by-ibm" title="The End Of Advertising By IBM">The End Of Advertising By IBM</a></b><object height="355" id="__sse172794" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=the-end-of-advertising-by-ibm-1195540727185491-4&stripped_title=the-end-of-advertising-by-ibm&userName=briantiong" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse172794" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=the-end-of-advertising-by-ibm-1195540727185491-4&stripped_title=the-end-of-advertising-by-ibm&userName=briantiong" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br />
<div style="padding: 5px 0pt 12px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/briantiong">Brian Tiong</a>.</div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-76846596958406310792010-08-12T05:27:00.000-07:002010-08-12T08:04:01.978-07:00'Sales and General Expenses' and impact on consumer price - Why you should tightly control Ad Campaigns<span style="font-size: small;">Have you ever wondered how much a company spends on Ads and Marketing?. I did my own little research recently using publicly available financial data of listed companies and with help of some expert articles on web.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Following is a random sample of Indian companies with their Net Sales and SGA from PL statements (I am not claiming accuracy of the data, this is just for information purpose). </span><br />
<style>
<!--
BODY,DIV,TABLE,THEAD,TBODY,TFOOT,TR,TH,TD,P { font-family:"Arial"; font-size:x-small }
-->
</style> <br />
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cols="7" frame="VOID" rules="NONE"><colgroup><col width="107"></col><col width="96"></col><col width="95"></col><col width="129"></col><col width="97"></col><col width="98"></col><col width="145"></col></colgroup> <tbody>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" height="17" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);" width="107"><b><br />
</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 0.5px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);" width="96"><b><br />
</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);" width="95"><b>Income/</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);" width="129"><b><br />
</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);" width="97"><b><br />
</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);" width="98"><b><br />
</b></td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#cccccc" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.15" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);" width="145"><b>15.00%</b></td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><b>Sector</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><b>Company</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><b>Netsales(Cr.)</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><b>SGA Expense(Cr.)</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><b>%ge of Sales</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><b>report month/year</b></td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#cccccc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><b>Apprx Ad Spend(Cr.)</b></td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" height="17" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">personal care</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">HUL</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="17769" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">17769</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="3737" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">3737</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.210310090607237" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">21.03%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">mar2010</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="560.55" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">560.55</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">telecom</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Reliance</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="15086" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">15086</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="3673" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">3673</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.243470767599098" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">24.35%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Mar 2009</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="550.95" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">550.95</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Telecom</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Bharti airtel</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="35600" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">35600</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="2422" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">2422</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.0680337078651685" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">6.80%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Mar 2010</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ffffcc" sdnum="1033;" sdval="363.3" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">363.3</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Airlines</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Jet Airways</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="11571" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">11571</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="1843" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">1843</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.15927750410509" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">15.93%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">MAr 2009</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="276.45" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">276.45</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" height="17" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Cement</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">ACC</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="8021" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">8021</span></td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="1658" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">1658</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.20670739309313" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">20.67%</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Dec 2009</span></td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="248.7" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">248.7</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Cement</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Ultratech</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="7042" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">7042</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="1653" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">1653</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.234734450440216" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">23.47%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">MArch 2010</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="247.95" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">247.95</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">telecom</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Idea</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="9857" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">9857</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="1622" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">1622</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.164553109465355" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">16.46%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Mar 2010</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="243.3" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">243.3</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" height="17" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Auto</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">M&M</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="18516" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">18516</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="1439" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">1439</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.0777165694534457" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">7.77%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Mar 2010</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="215.85" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">215.85</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Cement</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Ambuja</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="7083" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">7083</span></td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="1432" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">1432</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.202174219963292" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">20.22%</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Dec 2009</span></td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="214.8" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">214.8</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" height="17" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Paints</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Asian Paints</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="5367" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">5367</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="1119" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">1119</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.208496366685299" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">20.85%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">March 2010</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="167.85" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">167.85</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Airlines</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Kingfisher</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="5269" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">5269</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="1062" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">1062</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.201556272537483" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">20.16%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">MAr 2009</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#e6e6ff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="159.3" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">159.3</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" height="17" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Food processing</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">nestle</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="5141" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">5141</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="839" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">839</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.163197821435518" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">16.32%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Dec 2009</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="125.85" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">125.85</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" height="18" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Auto</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Maruti Suzuki</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="20729" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">20729</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="751" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">751</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.0362294370205992" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">3.62%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;0;MM/DD/YY" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Mar 2009</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="112.65" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">112.65</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" height="17" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Auto</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Hero Honda</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="12325" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">12325</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="669" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">669</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;0;0.00%" sdval="0.0542799188640974" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">5.43%</td> <td align="LEFT" bgcolor="#ccccff" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">Mar 2009</td> <td align="RIGHT" bgcolor="#ccccff" sdnum="1033;" sdval="100.35" style="border: 1px solid rgb(128, 128, 128);">100.35</td> </tr>
</tbody> </table><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">These are all yearly data points. Final column above is average spend (assumption) a company does in Advertisement Campaigns. Also FYI $1M ~= INR 4.7 Cr</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">My point of analysis was to understand how much these biggies are spending on Advertisements yearly. In my sample list Hindusthan Unilever topped with a spending of 560Cr. (Again this is not actual figure, but based assumption % of SGA). This is huge amount involving large teams of Marketing department collaborating with Agencies and other parties to get campaigns running. Even a 1% operational efficiency increase or save of cost means around INR 5.6 Cr profit for this company. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In the world with high competition and increasing raw material costs, consumers are becoming more and more choosy. How do you get best impact with less spend does matter a lot.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Costing is more or less has following equation</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> [Raw materials + Process( power & people) ] --> [Product] + [Sales+Marketing] -->[Base cost]+[Margin]-->[Salesprice]+[Distribution Cost (Transportation & Margins)] = {Consumer Price}</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQq4ofZ0ewlVJhGS5Lz6aHNxI6jmHZN2D8P6I2xUi6y7lIhYNE8pBEXA-As43Mmr6Ire7LuFxq8If-RIDT9R4m1DJD1ayvV2w4_yPYwIIj7_T8-kki-9YVu2etOmacAdiXcjH3fsud5_pl/s1600/costdistrib.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQq4ofZ0ewlVJhGS5Lz6aHNxI6jmHZN2D8P6I2xUi6y7lIhYNE8pBEXA-As43Mmr6Ire7LuFxq8If-RIDT9R4m1DJD1ayvV2w4_yPYwIIj7_T8-kki-9YVu2etOmacAdiXcjH3fsud5_pl/s320/costdistrib.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">So if i buy a product for INR100 in market following would be price composition ></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">INR 20 for distribution+ INR 14.4 as Margin, INR 15.74 for Sales expense, Processing INR 10.5 and Raw materials INR 39.36.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Composition may vary depending on the industry sector and other parameters, but it may be sufficient to throw some lights on the pricing. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">At MeghaServe Technologies our Ad Campaign Management Solution is geared towards increasing operational efficiency and gaining visibility of campaigns. It improves business's ability to analyze key measures campaigns after campaigns, agency after agencies and improve over all brand bottom line. Even if it means 1% its good. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Kiran Padiyar</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">www.meghaserve.com </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-51526766110282996912010-08-11T03:08:00.000-07:002010-12-15T01:16:27.249-08:00Points to remember while doing Ad-hoc Analysis with spreadsheets in BI EnterpriseIn my previous blog entry, I mentioned about unstoppable urge of Analysts to use Excel spreadsheets for some analysis purposes. Very important factor there was using the controlled data for this analysis. Now, if you are an analyst and you are constrained with implemented BI system here are few things to make your life bit comfortable.<br />
<br />
1. Use standard BI reporting/analysis tools for doing preliminary filtering of your data stored in Enterprise Datawarehouse<br />
2. Check if there is an add-on to spreadsheet(excel/open office etc) from BI tool<br />
3. Export filtered data from BI system to spreadsheet and start playing with it<br />
4. Remember to tag spreadsheet with key information for BI data filtering like 'As of Date' and filter criteria used<br />
5. Do not delete/alter any data originally exported from BI tool in spreadsheet, refer that data using formulas (this makes your checks and balance easy)<br />
6. Use spreadsheets only for features not supported by your BI tools like 'What if' analysis, one off formula calculations etc.<br />
<br />
Communicate your hardships to IT leaders, but adhere to IT data governance and security rules all the times.<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-14973754489491681252010-08-07T07:40:00.000-07:002010-08-07T07:40:10.912-07:00Why Analysts love using Excel so much? : do better job at provisioning data instead.<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""> <span class="text">Based on my comments on linkedin TDWI group<span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b>discussion </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;">"Self Service BI: Balancing Ad Hoc with Tailored Delivery to Achieve Widespread Adoption of BI"</span><br />
<br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text">In my experience with BI implementations, I have observed that however hard IT tries for adoption of the BI Systems, users mostly revert back to dearest spreadsheets for their ad-hoc analysis work. This happens mainly because human analytical abilities are not systematic, rather its fluid and can lead anywhere. BI systems are not so fluid enough. So its the ability to do what-if and on the fly formulas etc that gives analyst more power than the single version of truth stored in a complex system. </span></span><br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><br />
Now as a BI Practitioners in IT its our duty to push the usage of uniform data, however the delivery of it to the user group should be simple enough. Like guidelines on how and where to search for right data in enterprise, report templates in BI systems as well as in spreadsheets, developing BI connectors within spreadsheets etc. </span></span><br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><br />
Self Service only becomes successful if the system has loosely controlled process for Analysis/visualization, But tightly controlled and easy to access source of data. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text">What this ultimately mean to IT?. a best Architecture that supports standard organizational reporting and provisioning single version of truth to various other channels for self-service analysis/reporting etc for strategic and tactical decision making. There is no wonder then why almost all the BI majors have developed Excel connectors and plugins. Such usage of central Data Warehouse also promotes to Data as a Service in organizations. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text">So don't hold neck of Analysts for trying Excel, but see how to improve provisioning of controlled data to empower their fluid analytical thought processes.</span></span><br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><a href="http://meghaserve.com/">meghaserve.com</a> BI Team </span></span><br />
<span class="comment-body" data-li-comment-text=""><span class="text"><br />
</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-64713668735935553222010-07-07T09:57:00.000-07:002010-12-15T01:13:44.552-08:00Influential factors for deciding to do business with a company (from TOI dtd 07/07/10)Today's Times of India newspaper visual on 'Influencing factors in deciding business with a company' (Study of Indian market) got my attention because of two subjects which i am very much into nowadays. 1. Media Marketing 2. Business Intelligence (especially visual representation).<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQWWXbjfZh-lSnl622w7dkk5UPXT068PDCYPIzjBFk7ooIs9h2GbgStMJAFvCIjY5BqHGmK9O4hPX1kN2LTzER9J1YF4Q6KFAKn3SxM5x32QtereY5OMGfv1dk8LnQWwdNO_X-IXrD2Wz/s1600/07072010210_nlt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQWWXbjfZh-lSnl622w7dkk5UPXT068PDCYPIzjBFk7ooIs9h2GbgStMJAFvCIjY5BqHGmK9O4hPX1kN2LTzER9J1YF4Q6KFAKn3SxM5x32QtereY5OMGfv1dk8LnQWwdNO_X-IXrD2Wz/s320/07072010210_nlt.jpg" /></a><br />
Let me take them one by one.<br />
<b>Media Marketing</b> <b>Research</b><br />
The visual shown on the paper is expected to convey influence with color coding of Orange for 'Very important' and Light blue for 'Somewhat important'. Most people voted Personal experience as Very important in making decisions followed by Brand reputation.<br />
Now you know personal experience is based on past service + experience during the shopping. This is where loyalty is built.<br />
Second comes Brand, which per me is image built over time based on personal experiences and how company projects itself.<br />
These two clearly stands out of rest of the categories.<br />
Interestingly the ratio turns around for other influencers, where more people feel that recommendations, Media, and Social media 'Somewhat important'. There might be more intelligent analysis than this from marketing perspective, I leave that to marketing experts..<br />
<br />
<br />
Now for the second part of my interest: <b>Business Intelligence - Visual representation</b><br />
Did you see that paper clipping had a third category shown in black. At first i had a problem in connecting it with other two categories i.e Very and Somewhat. It is to show total influence along with individual influences. In this process one particular aspect of visual representation is missed out and that is size of those square colored boxes. Their equal sizes does not visually communicate quantitative importance. Secondly, black box should have represented on different level if at all it was required.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6W1Ecoeye4jQdL71rLc_zblj5x6FUttkJAAZ6-148mrosh90_tLlJY3rShxn6LT59nlSeoAS_Py3CuNlGLmkDrRUtwmnF-104vZ6xjhYJ2fpMqmsUAzjK7aFi7sQ35Xwh6XRa5lKWOzv/s1600/kiran's+chart.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6W1Ecoeye4jQdL71rLc_zblj5x6FUttkJAAZ6-148mrosh90_tLlJY3rShxn6LT59nlSeoAS_Py3CuNlGLmkDrRUtwmnF-104vZ6xjhYJ2fpMqmsUAzjK7aFi7sQ35Xwh6XRa5lKWOzv/s320/kiran's+chart.png" width="320" /></a></div>On right is what i consider better visual for such communication. We could add a label on right of each measure series showing totals if necessary. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So,don't just see. look and learn<br />
<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<br />
MeghaServe.com BI Team<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-60436959342898930642010-06-24T20:54:00.000-07:002010-12-15T01:11:18.276-08:00Campaign Hierarchy and Advertisement Management<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Campaigns are normally managed as hierarchies. Like in following case for a brand activation, there may be various channels to generate awareness and finally bring leads in. Traditional Advertisement is one of the channel which is being used very widely along with other trending channels like Internet social media.<br />
Its relatively easy to integrate effectiveness of Internet campaigns as most of the data is generated and managed on <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat repeat;">internet</span> itself. Whereas for traditional media like Newsprint, TV, Radio, OOH there is no much direct mechanism to measure the outcome.<br />
Challenge 1: Plan effective medium for geographies and demographics in focus<br />
Challenge 2: Monitor spending on each of the medium and then do analysis on effectiveness for future campaigns<br />
Challenge 3: Manage relations with Ad agencies and Media Owners for better accountability and control<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJcsGBt9gIMaKNIp252if7ysqwJeF9ieoGvSepUL7qginRxP9WpPutMpZPkxBWWTNgPgl0C-pzaJLMpCVO01T4wQsGFaqMTMYlTvkawDJJdvhBd06Lnlc_ew4AzcGbefm3X3FKn-6HFP2/s1600/Campaign+Hierarchy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbJcsGBt9gIMaKNIp252if7ysqwJeF9ieoGvSepUL7qginRxP9WpPutMpZPkxBWWTNgPgl0C-pzaJLMpCVO01T4wQsGFaqMTMYlTvkawDJJdvhBd06Lnlc_ew4AzcGbefm3X3FKn-6HFP2/s400/Campaign+Hierarchy.png" width="400" /></a></div>(Please click on on above image for bigger size) <br />
In most of the <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat repeat;">CRMs</span> one can enter high level measures like expected revenues, budgeted cost, actual cost of campaigns etc. However to collect details on individual medium operations like which creative has been shown, which TV channels are costing more or which OOH locations are generating buzz for the campaigns are difficult or it requires customizations. Usually these data are spread across Ad agencies, Monitoring agencies and Research teams.<br />
As Ad spend all over the world is considerably high percentage of the product cost, getting easy access to all these data at one place is per me very important success factor. <br />
<br />
Thank you<div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112869609752226385.post-19748140537253377752010-06-09T09:33:00.000-07:002010-12-06T21:38:42.384-08:00Data Crunching is a speciality - Enterprise Story Tellers (EST)In large businesses nowadays you will find a new kind of headache. Understanding the data, lot of them!. <br />
Just like your books and other things you purchase overtime, which becomes organizing nightmare one day. Enterprises keep on accumulating mammoth amounts of data and when it comes to projects initiatives like Data Warehousing, its not about technology that most bother. Its what to move and what not. The debate goes on and when in doubt all is moved!<br />
<br />
Now this mammoth requires special attention and making sense is really a specialty business. Although most of the consulting companies nowadays will have data warehousing as their expertise, the real guys differentiate a lot with passion they have and proven teams.<br />
<br />
<br />
Data Crunching is a specialty skill and it requires:<br />
<ul><li>Openness to possibilities</li>
<li>Analytical ability</li>
<li>Patience</li>
<li>Expert background of querying databases </li>
<li>Visual thinking</li>
<li>Visual Communication </li>
</ul>and why you require a Data Cruncher (Data Analyst is a better sounding term right!)?<br />
<br />
I quote them as Enterprise Story Tellers(EST), they crunch data, analyze and tell you interesting things which you should know. You know what most of the selfservice dashboards, reports still a great and must tool for routine works, but when it comes to bringing life to certain findings its these ESTs. Without them its like a movie without sound track! May still work with different interpretations.<br />
<br />
I will leave you with this very interesting video from TED. Thank you.<br />
<object height="326" width="446"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/HansRosling_2007-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/HansRosling-2007.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=140&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty;year=2007;theme=spectacular_performance;theme=rethinking_poverty;theme=presentation_innovation;theme=what_s_next_in_tech;theme=numbers_at_play;event=TED2007;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/HansRosling_2007-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/HansRosling-2007.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=140&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty;year=2007;theme=spectacular_performance;theme=rethinking_poverty;theme=presentation_innovation;theme=what_s_next_in_tech;theme=numbers_at_play;event=TED2007;"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">www.meghaserve.com</div>Kiran Padiyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17699250677912108537noreply@blogger.com0