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RFID, Business Intelligence (BI), Mobile Computing, and the Cloud

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Source Line: Recovery.gov.

FIGURE 8-3 Recovery.gov’s top 10 awards for states from the Recovery Act

Question:
1. Go to the Recovery.gov Web site, and run a set of analytics to compare
Recovery Act spending for your state with that of a neighboring state.
Determine the top three projects funded in each state, and provide a brief
description of them in a memo to your instructor.

ANOTHER LOOK

Real-Time Business Intelligence (BI)

BI is now used for real-time monitoring of systems and is capable of sending out alerts
based on the results of the BI. United Parcel Service (UPS) uses complex computerized
event processing to monitor the transactions related to the millions of packages it ships
daily around the globe. In its old system, reports would be run each evening to monitor
the server loads on the computers that maintained these important transactions. If a
problem occurred, UPS would find out about it the next morning. With real-time BI,
which includes easy-to-understand dashboards and analytics, problems are identified
immediately, and automatic emails are sent to alert employees of any problems with the
company’s computer systems.
Another example of the use of real-time BI is at Insurance.com, where its new
IBM Cognos Now system helps the company cope with its e-commerce transactions. With
Cognos Now, Insurance.com is able to monitor network performance and make any
necessary changes immediately. For example, when a new call comes in to
Insurance.com’s call center, the business intelligence system scans for available agents
and alerts the CRM software, which routes the call to one of the free agents.
Question:

1. How could real-time BI help an organization like Fitter monitor its IT
systems? Be specific in your answer.

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