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RUNNING HEADER: IMPROVING DATA PRESENTION WITH BI 1

How can Business Intelligence Software

Improve Data Presentation?

The Center for Advanced Studies at Wheeler High

Andrew Mayne
IMPROVING DATA PRESENTION WITH BI 2

Table of Contents
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Rationale of Study

Data presentation, the process of showing any set of data to an audience through visual means,

has become increasingly prevalent in all industries. However, as Wesseigerber et al. (2015)

noted, the number of people correctly presenting data in all fields is not high (p. 4). Most people

need their data presented to them in a clear and concise way, but some researchers take this too

far and create misleading or false statistics that also prevent the audience from creating their own

insight. It is important to find an effective way to present data correctly while preventing data

from being over summarized and displayed incorrectly. This study aims to determine if Business

Intelligence (BI) is an effective tool to accomplish this task.


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Concept Map
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Statement of Problem

How can Business Intelligence (BI) Software Improve Data Presentation? The two main

problems with data presentation is the time to create presentations and the quality of them. One

of Microsoft Excel's limitations is that when dealing with large data sets and complex graphs, it

operates at a significantly slower speed. This extra time reduces the time analysts have to

evaluate their presentations and make them visually appealing. In addition, Excel is not designed

to present a visually appealing presentation and possess a limited ability to integrate into other

programs as a presentation. BI offers a solution to these limitations as it is designed to create

visual presentations with ease.

Subproblems and Hypothesis

FSP 1: What is data presentation and what are the common mistakes in data presentation?

FSP 2: What is BI and BI software and what are its uses?

ASP 1: How can BI Software lead to the quicker creation of visual data presentations?

Hypothesis: Microsoft Power BI software will decrease the time it takes to create and

update presentations by 50%

Independent Dependent

ASP 2: What components of visual presentations make them more effective?


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Hypothesis: Presentations created in Power BI and that show overall trends will be 20%

more effective than those created in Excel.

Independent Dependent

Definition of Terms

• Business Intelligence – an umbrella term that includes the applications, infrastructure and

tools, and best practices that enable access to and analysis of information to improve and

optimize decisions and performance (Business Intelligence, 2018).

• SQL – (pronounced Sequel) a standardized programming language used for managing

relational databases and performing various operations on the housed data. Initially

created in the 1970s, SQL is regularly used by database administrators, as well as by

developers writing data integration scripts and data analysts that are preparing and

running analytical queries (SQL, 2016).

• SQL Server – Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system, or

RDBMS, that supports a wide variety of transaction processing, business intelligence,

and analytics applications in corporate IT environments (Microsoft SQL server, 2017).

• R-Script – The R programming language is an open source scripting language for

predictive analytics and data visualization (R programming language, 2017).

• Data Presentation – includes the description of the table contents, with their data

breakdowns. It should also include summary information on units of measurement, time

span covered, adjustments to data (e.g., seasonal adjustments for time series) and
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availability of textual analysis of current-period development with the dissemination of

the data (Data Presentation, 2006).

• Visualization - Visualization is the process of representing abstract business or scientific

data as images that can aid in understanding the meaning of the data (Visualization,

2005)

• Effectiveness – The degree to which objectives are achieved and the extent to which

targeted problems are solved (Effectiveness, 2018).

• Dashboard – A business intelligence dashboard is a data visualization tool that displays

the current status of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) for an enterprise.

Dashboards consolidate and arrange numbers, metrics, and performance scorecards on a

single screen. They may be tailored for a specific role and display metrics targeted for a

single point of view or department. The essential features of a BI dashboard product

include a customizable interface and the ability to pull real-time data from multiple

sources (Business Intelligence Dashboard, 2010).

• Slicer – A Microsoft Power BI that is an alternate way of filtering that narrows the

portion of the dataset shown in the other visualizations in a report (Slicer 2018).

• Big Data - high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand

cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and

decision making (Big Data, 2015).

Acronyms

• BI – Business Intelligence

• SQL – Standard Query Language


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Assumptions

• It is assumed that large data sets are being utilized

• It is assumed that the data provided to the analyst is correct

• It is assumed that the analyst already has knowledge of Excel

• It is assumed that the researcher has equal skill in Excel and Power BI

• It is assumed that the researcher knows what graphs are used for a report before they are

made

Delimitations and Limitations

• The study will only use Microsoft Power BI

• The study will not look at R-scripted visuals

• The study will only be looking at the direct impact within PT Solutions, i.e. Only

considering how this organization currently tracks metrics

• The study will not compare any BI systems

• The study will be constrained in terms of complexity of reports due to time

Importance of Study

The outcome of this study is vital due to the time it can take a financial analyst to create data

presentations. While they spend a significant amount of time creating these presentations, they

utilize time that could be spent analyzing the data and trends. By utilizing BI, the automation of

building presentations could be accomplished, allowing for the analysts to allocate their time to
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the analysis of data and discovery of trends. This would also allow for them analyze their

presentations in more detail and determine how to make them more effective.

Introduction

Weissegerber et al. (2015) said “Data presentation is the foundation of our collective

scientific knowledge, as readers’ understanding of a dataset is generally limited to what the

authors present in their publications” (p. 1). However, many scientific researchers do not show

the full data set, and this can cause problems when data sets are shown in certain graphical

forms. This problem is prevalent throughout all fields, and as data science continues to grow in

prevalence in all fields, an adequate solution becomes more pressing to find. As Weissegerber et

al. (2015) found, “The summary statistics shown in bar graphs, line graphs, and boxplots are

only meaningful when there are enough data to summarize. Histograms are difficult to interpret

when there aren’t enough observations to clearly show the distribution of the data” (p. 5). This

has led many researches to study what makes a good presentation, and what can be done to

improve data presentation. In addition, Diong et al. (2018) have found that an editorial series

published in 2011 did nothing to improve statistical reporting practices in the years following (p.

7). Djalalinia et al. (2014) also notes that a solution to these malpractices is setting rules to make

sure researchers establish standard practices and choose their data to present carefully (p. 832).

Research has also been conducted to look into the most effective way to fix the problems

presented in the previous paragraph. Shah and Hoeffner (2002) suggest presenting the same data

in multiple ways to increase understanding (p. 62). This option could help people who better

understand certain data form a complete understanding. Valentine et al. (2015) discusses how

creating visual presentations always involves some sort of ambiguous judgment on the
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researcher’s part, but by focusing “on rich description will help us arrive at an approximate

answer to the right question, instead of a precise answer to the wrong question” (p. 268). Part of

this research aims to determine what components of a visual presentation makes it effective. For

a visual presentation to be effective it must allow the reader to completely understand the subject

matter presented, and allow for the reader to make inferences on why the data set appears as it

does, and how to fix problems if they exist.

Data is a critical part of scientific papers, so it is important to ensure that data is presented

correctly. In order to accomplish this task, data analysts need to be able to spend time ensuring

that data is being presented correctly and logically, and not just spending their time creating a

presentation. In order to help with quickly creating an in-depth presentation, Business

Intelligence (BI) software was created. BI software is defined by Belcheva and Yankova (2017)

as “an architecture and a collection of integrated operational applications, applications for

analysis and database, which provide a company with simpler ways of using its own

information” (p. 298). These BI systems can be used to create dashboards, which can offer an in

depth look at several graphs and charts.

An important thought when discussing BI systems, as noted by Lewandowski et al.

(2012) is that “modern database systems are very efficient and capacious; therefore, the actual

problem is not how to store data but how to use it effectively” (p. 89). This can be best be

accomplished by having specific goals for dashboards in order to convey useful information to

all levels of employee who will see the report. In order to meet this goal-oriented approach,

Acosta et al. (2016) suggest that a “dashboard should be intended to achieve the goals of

decisionmakers. Thus, the metrics of a dashboard must be aligned with the goals of decision-
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makers” (p. 682). This means that when a dashboard is designed, it should be done in a way that

management can easily draw conclusions about specific topics and make decisions.

Additionally, BI software can be used to focus on dealing with data sets that are

extremely large and complicated. In Mihai Andronie’s (2015) study of BI software in the Airline

industry, it was found that “dedicated airline industry business intelligence systems are not only

useful to airline companies, but also to others involved in related businesse” (p. 160). These BI

systems allow for a quicker and simpler way to manage big data. However, Marian Pompiliu

Cristescu (2017) notes that a BI solution should be capable of providing evaluations not possible

through other means (p.270). This offers up the idea that a BI software should not be used

opposed to another software, but in tandem with others. This would allow for a more

comprehensive presentation, as different softwares could contribute different aspects to the

presentation.

The use of BI software could allow for analysts to create powerful and accurate

presentations even faster leaving time for analysts to analysis the data they work with. This

would greatly increase the usefulness of a data analyst in any field and increase the effectiveness

of a company. This would also give the analyst more time to ensure that their reports are accurate

and effective. This study aims to find out if Microsoft Power BI is a viable tool to complete this

task, by experimentation within the PT Solutions financial department.


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Methodology

This study will consist of two separate parts. The first part will determine the time it takes

to create presentations in Microsoft Excel vs. Microsoft Power BI. This will be tested by

constructing presentations in both softwares and timing the process to determine which program

allows for less time to create presentations. The tasks will be planned before they are executed

and timed. The tasks will vary by data set used to create them. The different presentations will be

ones for actual referrals, visits, and units; budgeted amount of referrals, visits, and units, and

differentiating clinic structure. After collecting this data, total times and average times will be

compared to determine the percent difference between the two softwares. From this data it will

be possible to determine if Power BI is at least 50% faster.

Table 1.1 Times to complete tasks

Task Time for Excel Time for Power Percent


BI Difference
Task #1
Task #2
Task #3
Etc…
Total Time N/A
Average

The second part of the research will be testing the effectiveness of the presentations to

provide valuable data via a decision matrix completed by end users of a data set. Participants will

view the presentations and afterwards will rate the presentation on a 1-7 scale, with 1 being

worst and 7 being best, in two categories: comprehension and inference. Comprehension refers

to how well the end user understands the data being presented. Inference refers to the ability of

an end user to identify problems and possible solutions from a given data set. These

presentations will have both a BI form and an Excel form, for comparison between the two
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softwares. These results will then be averaged and compared to see what features the

presentations that were highly rated have that differ from lowly rated ones. It will then be

determined if these characteristics show overall trends or not according to the hypothesis:

Presentations created in Power BI and that show overall trends will be 20% more effective than

those created in Excel.

Table 2.1 Scores for presentation #1

Comprehension Inference Average Comprehension Inference Average


(Excel) (Excel) (Excel) (Power BI) (Power BI) (Power BI)
Participant
#1
Participant
#2
Participant
#n
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