Page 22 -

PREFACE

Analytics has become the technology driver of this decade. Companies such as IBM,
Oracle, Microsoft, and others are creating new organizational units focused on analytics
that help businesses become more effective and efficient in their operations. Decision
makers are using more computerized tools to support their work. Even consumers are
using analytics tools directly or indirectly to make decisions on routine activities such as
shopping, healthcare, and entertainment. The field of decision support systems (DSS)/
business intelligence (BI) is evolving rapidly to become more focused on innovative appli-
cations of data streams that were not even captured some time back, much less analyzed
in any significant way. New applications turn up daily in healthcare, sports, entertain-
ment, supply chain management, utilities, and virtually every industry imaginable.
The theme of this revised edition is BI and analytics for enterprise decision support.
In addition to traditional decision support applications, this edition expands the reader’s
understanding of the various types of analytics by providing examples, products, services,
and exercises by discussing Web-related issues throughout the text. We highlight Web
intelligence/Web analytics, which parallel BI/business analytics (BA) for e-commerce and
other Web applications. The book is supported by a Web site (pearsonglobaleditions.
com/sharda) and also by an independent site at dssbibook.com. We will also provide
links to software tutorials through a special section of the Web site.
The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to these technologies that are
generally called analytics but have been known by other names. The core technology
consists of DSS, BI, and various decision-making techniques. We use these terms inter-
changeably. This book presents the fundamentals of the techniques and the manner in
which these systems are constructed and used. We follow an EEE approach to introduc-
ing these topics: Exposure, Experience, and Explore. The book primarily provides
exposure to various analytics techniques and their applications. The idea is that a student
will be inspired to learn from how other organizations have employed analytics to make
decisions or to gain a competitive edge. We believe that such exposure to what is being
done with analytics and how it can be achieved is the key component of learning about
analytics. In describing the techniques, we also introduce specific software tools that can
be used for developing such applications. The book is not limited to any one software
tool, so the students can experience these techniques using any number of available
software tools. Specific suggestions are given in each chapter, but the student and the
professor are able to use this book with many different software tools. Our book’s com-
panion Web site will include specific software guides, but students can gain experience
with these techniques in many different ways. Finally, we hope that this exposure and
experience enable and motivate readers to explore the potential of these techniques in
their own domain. To facilitate such exploration, we include exercises that direct them
to Teradata University Network and other sites as well that include team-oriented exer-
cises where appropriate. We will also highlight new and innovative applications that we
learn about on the book’s companion Web sites.
Most of the specific improvements made in this tenth edition concentrate on three
areas: reorganization, content update, and a sharper focus. Despite the many changes, we
have preserved the comprehensiveness and user friendliness that have made the text a
market leader. We have also reduced the book’s size by eliminating older and redundant
material and by combining material that was not used by a majority of professors. At the
same time, we have kept several of the classical references intact. Finally, we present
accurate and updated material that is not available in any other text. We next describe the
changes in the tenth edition.
21

A01_SHAR9209_10_PIE_FM.indd 21 1/25/14 7:47 AM