Question: Project Instructions: Each week you will submit your response to the business situation presented. NOTE: There are two parts to this week's milestone. Use an APA formatted paper 750-1000 with a Title page and a References page. Your paper should be double-spaced and written in Times New Roman size 12 font. The paper will be written in an essay format. Do not use a question and answer format.

Data are raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event. Characteristics of a sales event could include the date, item number, item description, quantity ordered, customer name, and shipping details. Information is data converted into a meaningful and useful context. Information from sales events could include best-selling item, worst-selling item, best customer, and worst customer.

Business intelligence is a broad, general term describing information that people use to support their decision-making efforts. An early reference to business intelligence occurs in Sun Tzu's book titled The Art of War. Sun Tzu claims that to succeed in war; one should have full knowledge of one's strengths and weaknesses and full knowledge of the enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Lack of either one might result in defeat. A certain school of thought draws parallels between the challenges in business and those of war, specifically:

• Collecting information.

• Discerning patterns and meaning in the information.

• Responding to the resultant information.

PROJECT FOCUS:

Part 1: • Analyze the data below and determine if you will be able to use it to mail your newsletters.

• Be sure to highlight all of the issues with the data, potential causes of the issues, and solutions you can follow to correct the issues.

It is not data; it's competitive intelligence. Information is competitive intelligence that drives strategic business decisions. Decisions that are made by a global organization with the power to change the world.

Information - business intelligence - is no longer the exclusive domain of IT or research departments. From marketing and finance to management and operations, intelligence is applied strategically throughout the enterprise. Moreover, professionals who know how to gather and leverage it are the ones who will lead organizations, control decisions, and be relied upon to steer their companies.

Part 2: Business Decisions

You have a great deal of data available to turn into information to help you set the strategic direction for the cafe.

• Look at the following dimensions and determine which ones you want in your data mart for performing sales and market analysis.

• Categorize the different dimensions ranking them from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating that the dimension offers the highest value and must be in your data mart and 5 indicating that the dimension offers the lowest value and does not need to be in your data mart.

• Which variables would you choose if your data mart could only contain 10 dimensions?