This document discusses leveraging data to improve decision making. It outlines a data value chain within an organization involving identifying data sources, making data available and accessible, presenting data visually to enhance understanding, manipulating data for decision support systems and forecasting, and using insights generated to evaluate alternatives and support decision making. IT competencies are needed to discover, ingest, process, preserve, integrate and analyze data to generate insights and expose them for decision making. The goal is to use data to understand reality, explain causes of outcomes, and transform reality through informed decisions.

1. From data to decisions
Leverage data to improve decision making
process
Andrea Terzaghi
September 2016

2. Data to understand and transform reality
 Data is key to steer business: it is just the way
in which we read and understand reality
around us,
 We want to take decisions to transform reality
 Business Analytics and Insights:
1. Present data in such a way that everybody understands reality
2. Analyze it to explain the causes that determine reality
3. Use the understanding to support the decision making process
to transform reality

3. Data value chain within an Organization
Organize Exploit
«data
aware»
decision
• Identify data sources and
make them available in a
standard and re-usable way
internally in the
organization.
• Allow everybody to access
the same data set and have
internally a «unique truth»
to avoid useless discussions
about data quality
• Use data in meaningful
ways for Business.
• Data presentation and data
visualization allow
enhanced communication
of insights and pain points
• Storytelling capabilities
make the difference and
allow for a more profound
understanding
• Capability to manipulate data
and use it for Decision Support
Systems
• Forecasting capabilities allow
to understand «inertial»
outlook
• What-if analysis and scenario
planning allow to evaluate
alternatives for change
management
Providing data through a nice report is not enough:
what really matters is what you do with it!

4. IT competencies are core in Data Organization
Discover Ingest Process Preserve Integrate Analyze Expose
Identify
valuable data
sources:
• Internal data
• External data
• Social media
data
Drivers:
• Cost,
• Coverage
• Quality
Load effectively
external data
into internal
tools
Drivers:
• File formats
• Frequency
• Data volume
Transform data
into a format
that allows re-
use
Store
effectively and
with reliability
data and make
it available to
applications
Different data
sources are
connected to
generate new
connections
among data to
allow new ways
to analyze data
Insights are
generated
using
integrated data
New KPI are
generated from
integrated data
Generated KPIs
and reports are
presented and
made available
to all levels of
organization
Use BI tools to
generate
reports
You need a strong IT infrastructure to generate good
quality data to enable further steps

5. Data exploitation generate understanding…
Visualize Describe Explain
• Typically BI tools are used, most
common are:
• Business Objects
• Microstrategy
• Qlick View
Other Business Performance
Management tools are available
such as
• SAP BPC
• Hyperion Essbase
New Trend: Infographics
• A common “way to see look at
the business” within the
organization with standard
reporting
• Need to focus on specific issues:
Ad-hoc specific reporting is
needed every time to eviscerate
the new issue.
• Storytelling is what you need.
• The need to answer to Senior
management question about «Why»
things are as they are, implies the
identification of the business causes
• Most of the time, for any question, a
specific analysis has to be newly
generated
• Flexible Budget and other framework
can be implemented
Data exploitation allows to explain reality as it is

6. .. to support decision making process
• Incorporate market and
business understanding in
the current inertial
scenario.
• Incorporate already taken
decisions
• Evaluate alternative
scenarios of already known
elements of the business
• Risk assessment based of
different scenarios to
evaluate worst case and its
acceptability. Parameters of
the business model vary
within a certain range
• One off decisions to modify the
Business model require deep
dive analysis
• Examples:
• evaluate a JV,
• open a new market,
• open a new factory/Point
of sales/Channel
• Introduce a new product
Forecast
Scenario
Planning
Business
Case
evaluation
Decision making tools allow you to understand how
bend reality at your will

7. I can offer to you:
• IT skills are needed: how to
gather data, organize data,
store data, maintain data,
manage data into a DWH
• I can help your IT
department to shape the
data in the most useful way
for Business perspective
• I know how to manipulate
data to generate insights
with Excel/VBA, R and
intelligence
• Analyze and explain data
are the skills you need
• I’m strong in reading data
and providing explanations
of what ‘s happening. I can
easily merge together
Financial and Market and
industrial information to
provide a comprehensive
view of reality
• Use data to take decisions
such as Business cases
evaluations, forecasting,
Risk assessments
• I can run any kind of
Business Analysis to
support your decision
making process,
communicate it simply and
effectively and ensure
accuracy and consistency
I can to deliver you high level decision
making support systems and tools
Organize Exploit
«data
aware»
decision

8. Thank you
http://www.andreaterzaghi.eu
Andrea Terzaghi
Geneva Area – Switzerland
andrea.terzaghi@gmail.com
+41 79 127 0993
https://ch.linkedin.com/in/andreaterzaghi

9. References
• Data value chain: http://www.hs-schmalkalden.de/Englmeier-p-790/_/ValueChainBigData.pdf
• Quote around data: http://www.slideshare.net/CharlieQuirk1/planning-for-the-future-of-planning-54865575
• Data analytics and storytelling: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/staffing-your-marketing-
measurement-team.html