CONCEPT AND PURPOSE This text provides a foundation for teaching the basic concepts of data mining, warehousing, and visualization. The contents emphasize both technical and managerial issues and the implication of these modern emerging technologies on those issues. I find it somewhat counterintuitive that the primary goal of the business school is to develop a thorough understanding of these emerging technologies from a user's perspective, yet the texts available to teach the subject to students in business schools tend to be written from a designer's perspective. In response, this text places strong emphasis on helping the student thoroughly understand the value of data warehouses and their associated technologies. The content focuses on a distinctly "real-world" orientation that emphasizes application and implementation over design and development in all topic areas. Managers of tomorrow need to understand data warehouse design, but they also must possess the skills necessary relate to the effective and strategic application of these technologies to advance the quality of problem identification and the associated solutions. Taking a multidisciplinary user/manager approach, this text looks at data warehousing technologies necessary to support the business processes of the twenty-first century. In short, this book was motivated by my belief in the importance of preparing our future managers to be conversant with and capable of deploying data warehouse, mining, and visualization technologies. Application and understanding of use are, and will continue to be, more important to our managers of today and tomorrow than design. WHO SHOULD USE THIS BOOK This book is directed to business school students who aspire to a career in management with a firm that is a significant user of technology or is a member of a technology-driven industry--in others words, all students in business school. The primary course targets for this text are upper-level undergraduate or graduate information systems (IS) or operations and decision technologies (ODT) electives. These types of courses are regularly offered at 4-year universities as well as many community colleges. Ideally, students should have completed an introductory MIS program and possibly a semester of both systems analysis and design and database concepts before moving on to a focus on data warehousing. In addition, the further students are in their business curriculum, the more relevant the data mining and visualization coverage in the text becomes. In addition to being directed to students, many of the chapters in this text offer a good reference for practitioners in the course of their daily managerial activities. ELEMENTS OF PEDAGOGY The text makes appropriate use of many traditional pedagogical features commonly found in top business school curricula. The writing style is intended to strike a useful balance between a professional and conversational approach. The text uses graphics and examples of each concept introduced. Each chapter contains an introductory minicase highlighting the concepts introduced in that chapter. The end-of-chapter structure contains a summary of the key concepts introduced, review questions and problems, and references and additional support readings. A brief description of each of the pedagogical features of the text is listed here. CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES A statement of learning objectives for each chapter is presented in both performance and behavioral terms. In other words, the objectives state what the student should be capable of doing and understanding as a result of reading the chapter. CHAPTER MINICASES The minicases are all derived from actual situations and were selected to allow the student a point of reference for the material about to be presented in the chapter. In addition, each minicase makes specific reference to each of the key players in the scenario so that additional investigation using a variety of research tools could be conducted by either an individual student or a student team to further explore the situation presented. FIGURES AND TABLES Clear, carefully designed figures and tables can aid in the student's understanding of the material. Wherever possible, the diagrams contained in each chapter are not only referenced in the body of the text, but are positioned in such a way that they serve as a repeated visual reference for the textual discussion. NARRATIVE VIGNETTES To further the explanation of some of the concepts associated with the process of making a decision, the technique of narrative vignette is employed. Here, a situation using a fictitious cast of characters is presented to allow the student not only to see how the particular technique under discussion is applied but also to relate it to a set of circumstances or a context in which it might be considered relevant or applicable. DATA MINING AND DATA VISUALIZATION EXERCISES Of particular value to this first edition is the bundling of Megaputer's PolyAnalyst and TextAnalyst data mining and visualization software applications. This software suite represents the leading edge in data mining and visualization applications and is being distributed exclusively with this textbook. To purchase a commercial version of this software would cost more than $10,000. The version included with the text is fully enabled but has a time-out built into it such that the software will only be available for use by the student during the semester in which they are studying with this text. Included with the Megaputer applications is access to several actual datasets to be used in both the tutorials for the application and for many of the Megaputer exercises included at the end of relevant chapters. IMPORTANT NOTE: The software bundled with this text is intended for use only in conjunction with adoption or purchase of this text. Following the installation and registration process, the software will be fully functional for a period of 6 months from the date of the installation. The software cannot be copied to another machine or reinstalled without purchasing an additional software license. KEY CONCEPTS Immediately following each chapter summary is an outline of the key concepts presented in the order of their appearance in the chapter. This section can aid the student in reviewing the material contained in the chapter in preparation for class discussion or examination. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW Each chapter contains a list of 10 to 20 questions intended to support student retention and understanding of the material contained in the chapter. Each question is phrased in such a manner that a detailed and precise answer can be readily found in the chapter. Sample responses to each question are provided in the instructor materials supplied with adoption of the text. FURTHER DISCUSSION Several questions at the end of each chapter expand upon the material presented to allow the student to engage in a richer thought process and discussion than would occur using the review questions. Each of the discussion questions can be used to engage students in an open class discussion and many of them can be easily expanded into individual or team miniprojects. NOTE TO THE INSTRUCTOR COMPANION WEBSITE ( WWW.PRENHALL.COM/MARAKAS ) The instructor support materials contain a number of useful support elements and materials. PowerPoint files, intended for use in preparing class lectures, are provided for each chapter. The review questions found in the text are also posted online so students can conveniently e-mail their answers directly to their professors. Access to the instructor's section of the Web site requires a valid user ID and password. You simply need to register yourself as the instructor of the course by going to the Web site and completing the initial instructor registration process. Upon completion of the process, your registration request will be forwarded to your sales representative for validation. If you have any problems with your authorization, please contact your Prentice Hall sales representative. Once you are granted access to the instructor's section of the Web site, you will be able to download the Instructor's Manual and Test Item File for the text. MEGAPUTER POLYANALYST AND TEXTANALYST SOFTWARE Also note that the Megaputer software bundled with this text is designed to be installed on one machine only and, upon completion of the installation and registration process, will operate for a period of 6 months from the date of installation. Sample copies of the software for review can be obtained from your Prentice Hall representative. CHAPTER DESCRIPTIONS CHAPTER 1--INTRODUCTION TO DATA MINING, WAREHOUSING, AND VISUALIZATION Logically enough, we begin at the beginning. This first chapter outlines the scope of the coverage for each of the three technologies of interest and lays a foundation for a more detailed study of each. In addition, a brief history of each of the technologies is presented so that the evolution and velocity of these powerful new business tools can be better realized. CHAPTER 2--THE DATA WAREHOUSE A detailed focus on the modern data warehouse is contained in Chapter 2. In this chapter, we explain the goal of the data warehouse and its associated characteristics. In addition, definitions and examples of the various data warehouse configurations are presented along with a detailed coverage of the role of metadata in the design and implementation of a successful data warehouse. CHAPTER 3--DATA MINING AND DATA VISUALIZATION Extending the concepts introduced in Chapters 1 and 2, this chapter looks at the realm of data mining and complex pattern extraction. The concept of online analytical processing (OLAP) and its variations are introduced. In addition, the chapter contains a discussion of the techniques used to mine data, their current limitations, and their application in data visualization contexts. The second portion of this chapter focuses on data visualization and data mining analysis. To date, this book is the only text available on these subjects that includes a real, commercially available data mining and data visualization software package and integrates it into the content and pedagogy. CHAPTER 4--MACHINES THAT CAN LEARN The newest members of the world of artificial intelligence and data mining are the focus of this chapter. The concepts of decision trees, fuzzy logic, and linguistic ambiguity are introduced in detail as a precursor to a discussion of artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms. These analytical approaches are commonly employed in a typical data mining environment. Appended to Chapter 4 is an overview of a popular software application within this realm. In addition, a mathematical derivation of the most popular artificial neural network learning algorithm is also provided. CHAPTER 5--EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS This chapter turns our attention to one of the most often implemented interfaces in a modern data warehouse environment--the executive information system (EIS). Here, we look at the domain of the executive and the application of various enabling technologies to the development and application of an EIS. Coverage includes a definition of EIS technology, a brief history of its evolution, the unique characteristics of executive-level decisions and decision makers, as well as issues related to the successful introduction of an EIS into an organizational environment. CHAPTER 6--DESIGNING AND BUILDING THE DATA WAREHOUSE Chapter 6 delves deeper into the processes, procedures, tools, and techniques commonly found in conjunction with the development of an organizational data warehouse. This material allows students to better understand the unique challenges associated with this new and powerful approach to data storage. CHAPTER 7--THE FUTURE OF DATA MINING, WAREHOUSING, AND VISUALIZATION In this final chapter, we explore some of the trends and predicted future applications for data warehousing, mining, and visualization. Challenges to the advancement of these technologies into new realms are also discussed. Excerpted from Modern Data Warehousing, Mining, and Visualization: Core Concepts by George M. Marakas All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
