Methods of Analyzing Data in Data Warehouse

Methods of Analyzing Data in Data Warehouse Data Mining methods for Customer Relationaship Management Abstract-Data warehousing and data mining, applied to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), are a relatively fresh sector for organizations considering their immense advantage. Through data mining, organizations can identify key customers, predict future behaviors and take proactive and knowledge driven decisions. In this article, we discuss few data mining techniques for various CRM activities. Keywords- Customer relationship management (CRM); Data mining The crucial element of any successfull business is value creation for a customer. CRM basically tries to pull in, maintain and manage customers. Business intelligence analyses and interprets large amounts of customer data to provide organizations with practical information which can be used to devise strategies for improvement and growth. The ease of data collection in todays world coupled with the low cost of maintaining a data warehouse has increased the accessibility of huge customer data. Data mining has become a backbone for CRM activities. Few years back, data analysis was linked with expensive computing and complicated logic which only mathematicians could understand but this has changed now due to the availability of user friendly desktop tools. Data mining has become a backbone for CRM activities. Data mining and data analysis methods when used properly help to better all CRM phases. In order to retain important customers and to continue to provide the best customer satisfaction, availability of timely and actionable information is very critical. Such information plays a key role in facilitating smart organizational decisions which enables in creating better value for the customer. For maintaining a successful CRM strategy, investments in the understanding of data mining techniques is crucial.ÂÂ   This paper would try and mention some of the data mining techniques for optimization of CRM activities and also to find which technique is important. Pulling in new customers, minimizing defection by important customers and enhancing the experience of existing customers are the key aspects which an effective CRM business strategy assists with. .This article mentions some of the data mining techniques for optimizing CRM activities. A. Content analysis for identifying the right customer The method of deciding on the units of analysis based on the direction of the study is known as content analysis. The conceptÂÂ   of computable and specifiable, categories are defined which help in grouping the processed units of data, quantify and analyze the samples. Content analysis is often used on various advertisements styles, in email communications and on social media. The figure below shows information flow from data collection to useable knowledge. Figure: Knowledge discovery process. [2] First step applies pre-established rules to select data and categorize them into relevant groups. Next step is to clean up and reorder data by disposing off unnecessary information, to establish record-keeping formats and for the purpose of maintaining the integrity and consistency of data which helps in the construction a data platform. The organised data is refined further by grouping into related subjects using data transformation methods. Models and interconnections are developed after analysis which in turn help with decision support. This data when applied to a companies unstructured data is used to find the core (right) customer which in turn helps in planning efficient business strategies and providing appropriate customer service to different customers. B. Mining Customer behavioural changes In an ever changing business environment, trying to analyse customer behaviour is very helpful. Customer, transaction and product databases can be used for change mining. Below figure shows the flow of change mining. Fig. 2. Flowchart for mining changes in customer behavior. [3] Generally some usefull information is concealed in the huge amount of raw data and this needs to be extracted using data transformation. Customer and transaction databases can be used to analyse customer behaviour by using data integration and transformation. As per the figure above, customer, product and transaction databases are used to analyse the customer behavioural variables: Recency, Frequency, Monetary (RFM). Recency represents most recent transaction time, frequency is the number of purchases during a certain period and monetary isÂÂ   the standard amount of expenditure. The attributes, frequency and monetary, are used to segment the customer into different categories namely: Uncertain, Frequent, Spender, Best. The Recency variable can be combined with the above study to develop a target market. Association rules are used for mining customer behaviour by analyzing the relationship of products purchased by a customer in retail stores. A classic application of association rules is the market basket analysis where products bought by a customer during a visit to the supermarket are analysed. This can be used to identify corelations between product purchase and customer profile represented by demographic variables. Customer behavioural data are most effective for generating predictive data which optimizes the CRM. The study of investigating change in customer behaviour is called change mining. Change mining looks at changing customer behaviour to develop some pointers which can be used to mathematically quantify the change in beahviour.ÂÂ   The output of all the above is analysed data which can be used to support efficient marketing. C. Learn and Usage model for Customer retention Loosing current customers to a rival company is termed as customer churn.ÂÂ   Finding better methods for customer retention is very crucial as acquiring new customers proves to be very expensive.This is two phase model: Learning and Usage. The learning phase constructs a churn model which tests and predicts the probablity of defection for a certain customer based on historic data. A policy model is also constructed which clusters the churners by grouping them based on notable attributes. These are then used for creating proper policies for individual groups. During the usage phase the churn model predicts if a certain customer would defect and when there are strong chances of defection, the policy model comes up with relevant policies to retain them. This method not only predicts churning but also helps in reducing it. The following figure shows the learner mode architecture: Fig3: Architecture for learning mode [5] During the learning mode the churn model learner is constructed using histiorical data of individual subscriber like loyalty history, deactivation data, payment history, usage patterns, etc. The churn model can be represented as a decision tree which is used to comment on the likelihood of a specific customer defecting based on their previous data. The policy model constructor is used to build retention strategies for potential churners. The policy model builds retention strategies in two steps, first step is to consult learned churn model to recognize the attributes which have strong relation to the churning and based on these attributes the churners are classified into diferent groups and labelled as per the most significant attribute. Second step is to analyse the significance of these attributes and reccomends policies for retaining the group of churners. In the usage phase the churner model is consulted to predict the chances of customer churn based on the customer data. If the churn probablity is more than 60% then it is considered that the customer has high chances of churning and so policy model proposes a policy response based on the attribute of the group to which the customer belongs for the purpose of retention. This journal reviews the literature concerned with data mining techniques and its applications in CRM. Considering the current competition in the market all organizations suffer from a lot of customer churn which results in huge losses as the cost for acquiring new customers is ten times more than that of retaining existing customers. Hence a lot of research has been made on customer retention. This is also evident from the number of reasearch papers submitted between the years 2000 2006 [1]. The area of customer retention definetly seems to be crucial and requires further research. Data mining methodologies help in providing better understanding of raw data and hence would always be one of the major areas to be researched upon in the futire. References E.W.T Ngai, Li Xiu and D.C.K Chau, Application of data mining techniques in customer relationship management Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 36, Issue 2, part 2, March 2009, pp. 2592 2602. C.W Chang, C.T Lin, L.Q Wang, Mining the text information to optimizing the customer relationship management, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 36, Issue 2, Part 1, March 2009, pp. 1433-1443. Mu Chen Chen, Ai Lin Chiu, Hsu Hwa Chang, Mining changes in customer behavior in retail marketing, Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 28 (2005), pp. 773-781 W. Buckinx, D.V.D. Poel, Customer base analysis: Partial defection of behaviorally-loyal clients in a non-contractual FMCG retail setting, European Journal of Operational Research, 164 (2005), pp. 252-268. Bong-Horng Chu, Ming Shian Tsai, Cheng Seen Ho, Towards a hybrid data mining model for customer retention, Knowledge-Based systems, Volume 20, Issue 8, December 2007, pp. 703-718 Y.L. Chen, K. Tang, R.J. Shen, Y.H. Hu, Market basket analysis in a multiple store environment, Decision Support Systems, 40 (2005), pp. 339-354. YangSeog Kim, W. Nick Street, An intelligent system for customer targeting: a data mining approach, Decision Support Systems, Volume 37, Issue 2, May 2004, pp. 215-228.

All public behavior is ultimately private behavior

Ever since Stephen Covey established himself with his phenomenal book The Seven Habits of highly Effective People, people are on the lookout for what is deemed quality reading that he had then became known for. In First Things First, it is expected that it is going to be a repeat of the success of the previous material (Covey et al. , 1994). People of today are mostly living in harried and often-times exhausted schedules.The pressure to juggle jobs, family and other jobs primarily due to financial needs is a common experience of people today and this has led to a number of complications both to the mental and physical existence of individuals, and the devastation of some of their precious relationships, that necessitate adjustments constantly. Covey refers to this as time management dilemmas and leadership problems (Covey et al. , 1994).This paper attempts to draw some important discussions and assumptions that relate to the book’s content and the authors’ understanding of how several principles are applied to address what makes a person effective ultimately in the public arena or workplace and in his personal life. Discussion It is inevitable that juggling work and family life will be one of a person’s demanding experiences. The rationale for having a job is not only to have a livelihood, achieve personal satisfaction in the expression of his abilities and trainings, and receive his remuneration and perks on the side.Preparation for family stability to be able to provide and thus create an atmosphere of care, for bachelors/maidens, is also the foremost and logical reason for having a job. However, the thin thread that separates between the two polarities becomes blurred, and there lies the tension that pulls a person in different directions (Covey et al. , 1994). The Center for Mediation and Dispute Resolution opens its website with the following quote: â€Å"Our life is one giant balancing act (http://www. cmdronline. com/workshops. htm) . † Perhaps, no person will ever disagree with that statement.The goal then is to know how to do the balancing act, to gain competencies in achieving a rewarding, flourishing kind of life that holds work in one hand, while maintaining a well-nurtured and healthy family on the other hand. The array of questions that confront couples or families with this dilemma is quite limitless. Stress is a psychological factor and a common feature of almost every kind of work (Covey et al. , 1994). Two reasons may be suggested why there is a growing recognition of the importance of stress on the job.First, there is the general awareness that stress-related diseases have reached epidemic proportions. More people die or are disabled today as a result of stress than at any other time. Because stress is so physically damaging and pervasive in people’s lives and because it is primarily psychological in nature the discipline of psychology as a whole and especially the specialty area of hea lth psychology is interested in studying and treating stress and other psychosomatic disorders (Covey et al. , 1994; Chang et al. , 2006). The second reason for the growing awareness of the importance of stress at work is practical.The effects of stress on the job are costly and are reflected in a lower productive efficiency. Stress has been known to reduce drastically employee motivation and the physical ability to perform the task well thus, increasing absenteeism, turnover, and tardiness (Covey et al. , 1994; Cahill, 2003; Chang et al. , 2006; Williams, 2003). The main assumption that this paper asserts therefore, is that given the impact of stress to people, it is expected that the average individual look for solutions to minimize its impact and certainly, Covey’s principles in time management is nothing else but timely.The importance of sorting through what is important and the urgent as illustrated in the four quadrants or time matrix is understandably logical, but dete rmining what’s what in somebody’s schedules and activities are then entirely different. People have to go through â€Å"painful† realizations of what activities should stay and what should go in accordance to established priorities. The latter, concerning priorities, the book â€Å"First things first,† took time to guide in making every reader understand.Overall, then, each person must confront and deal with a large and recurring number of stress-producing events everyday both at home and at work. Although most people experience at least some of the harmful effects of stress at one time or another, most people, fortunately, do manage to cope (Covey et al. , 1994; Landy, 1985; Williams, 2003). One effect of stress on the job resulting from overwork is called burnout. The employee becomes less energetic and less interested in the job.He or she becomes emotionally exhausted, apathetic, depressed, irritable, and bored; finds fault with everything about the wo rk (Cahill, 2003; Chang et al. , 2006; Landy, 1985; Williams, 2003). Employees with burnout become rigid about their work, following rules and procedures blindly and compulsively because they are too exhausted to be flexible or consider alternative solutions to a problem (Covey et al. , 1994; Landy, 1985; Williams, 2003). There is a price to pay for such overwork over a long period of time. Stress accumulates and leads to the psychological and physiological ailments described earlier.These people work so hard that they burn away their energy faster than the body can replace it. Such persons have been described as workaholics, or employees addicted to work (Cahill, 2003; Landy, 1985; Williams, 2003). There is no person existing who may not possibly experience inefficiency and ineffectiveness (as the book implies); by-products of this highly stressed culture as a result off wrong choices of what is really deemed important. The urgent takes control of the important matters that renders a person conducting unhealthy and often destructive lives (Covey et al., 1994). Conclusion Ultimately, people lead their lives in public as a result of personal choices or how they conducted their lives in private. The choices they make in life and work are best seen as results of private behavior; i. e. the important aspects of one’s life (the â€Å"compass† as Covey states it) (Covey et al. , 1994) takes precedence over the seemingly urgent yet unimportant activities. In general, people become satisfied and fulfilled when success comes to both important areas in his/her life.Work brings personal gratification and provision for family is secured somehow, while having a happy and contented family is considered miracle in a dog-eat-dog world. This is the aspiration of many if not all working couples and individuals. When employed in an institution that really takes care of their workers, taking into consideration the things that their employees hold dear by providing a s much as the employee needs, the worker or employee settles into a condition wherein he/she can focus on the work or be inspired of it.In addition, the worker can afford more quality time to spend with his/her family. The strategies mentioned are time-and tested approaches. These have greatly helped a lot of people or families in their search for a balanced work-family life. At the stake when a family works to achieve a balance are principles or values they uphold (Covey et al. , 1994). These are the values of family togetherness, rearing and nurturing their offspring, and providing for all aspects of each household member. References: 1. ______Centre for Mediation & Dispute Resolution, Retrieved May 2, 2008 in http://www.cmdronline. com/workshops. htm 2. Cahill, C. A. 2001. Women and stress. In Annual Review of Nursing Research, 19, 229-249. 3. Chang, E. M. , Daly, J. , Hancock, K. M. , Bidewell, J. W. , Johnson, A. , Lambert, V. A. , & Lambert, C. E. 2006. The Relationships Among Workplace Stressors, Coping Methods, Demographic Characteristics, and Health in Australian Nurses. Journal of Professional Nursing, 22(1), 30-38. 4. Covey, Stephen R, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill. 1994. First things first: to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy.New York: Simon & Schuster. 5. Landy, F. J. 1985. Psychology of Work Behavior. 3rd Ed. Dorsey Press. 6. Sauter, Steven, et al. , â€Å"Stress at Work† NIOSH publication. Retrieved May 2, 2008 7. Spinks, Nora. 2006. Choosing the Right Metaphor to Ensure Work-Life Quality for All . Article originally published by WFC Resources, (Accessed in http://www. workfamily. com/Work- lifeClearinghouse/GuestColumns/gc0036. htm). 8. Williams, C. 2003. Stress at Work. Canadian Social Trends, Autumn, 7-13.

Life Span Perspective Essay

The definition of a person’s lifespan is from the moment that they are conceived to the moment that they pass away. The development of this life is defined through the various stages in which that person develops. When a person is looking at the perspective of this lifespan development, they are trying to understand what changes during the development and why it happens. There have been many psychologists that have looked at this and developed many different theories about development, and you can see that there are many influences that help push these theories into reality. Definition of Lifespan Development A person and their lifespan start out when they are conceived and then grow and develop for nine months in the womb. During this time that person will develop into either a male or a female. Once they are born they will continue to experience changes and different developments while they age. There are different stages in their life that will show different changes within them. The study of how we understand how humans change over a lifetime is called the study of human development, (Berger, 2008). When looking at the development of a person, you can make a pattern out of it from one person to another, but there are cases that the development does not follow a set path. The most common stages of development are birth, infancy, adolescence, adult, elderly, (old age), and death. Lifespan Perspective Lifespan perspective has three different domains in looking at the development of a person. These domains are physical, cognitive, and social domains. Physical domain is looking into the aging and growth of the physical being, (Sigelman & Rider, 2009). The cognitive domain looks into the mind and examines memory, language, perception, and problem solving. The last domain looks at the person’s personality, emotions, and relationships. This study of the human development is one that will probably never end, since there are so many factors when looking at the development of a person. Theories There have been many different theories that go into this portion of psychology. With these theories, people need to examine what are actually in these theories before trying to understand what lifespan development actually is. Piaget Piaget’s theory on development puts a lot of emphasis on the development of thought process. His cognitive theory has been in the front of this study since the 1980s and has had many different versions formed from it, (Berger, 2008). He had figured out that since children are so curious that there are age related stages to the development of the mind. Piaget put these into four different stages. The stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The sensorimotor stage is from birth to the age of two where the child uses their motor skills and different senses to try and understand the world around them. The preoperational stage is from the ages of two and six. This is where the child tries to use language to understand everything that is around them. The concrete operational stage happens from the ages of six and eleven. This is where the child starts to understand and use different logical operations to understand the world. The last sate happens from the age of twelve through adulthood. This is where they start to think with different hypothetical concepts and reason without having emotions interfere. Freud Sigmund Freud had a similar but different look on the stages of development. Freud believed that there were three stages of development and that all of them revolved around sexual pleasure. He thought that that infancy was an oral stage, early childhood was an anal stage, and that the years around the age of going to preschool was the phallic stage, (Berger, 2008). With this theory the interpretation of an adult would be a constant struggle in the person’s unconscious from childhood on up. Nature and Nurture There have been many debates over the influence of nature and nurture in this field. When looking at this field a person can see that there is help from both influences when shaping the development of a person. Nature is where genetics is passed down from one person to the next and nature is a person’s abilities and temperaments, (Guest, 2011). Everything that is around a person can affect their development, such as friends, schools, and religion. Each of these takes most effect when the child is in early development, which is one of the most crucial times for a person and their development. Conclusion The development of a person from life to death is the scientific study of lifespan development. This perspective can be seen in three different domains and five different stages of characteristics. There were many different theories on this subject, but Piaget thought there were four stages that happened in the mind while Freud thought there were three stages that was focused on sexuality.

Anti Utopian Media In The Handmaids Tale - 1220 Words

What happens to society if all things that are related to media are regulated or banned? There are books, movies, and television shows that explore and discuss this idea. These forms of media usually are centred around an apocalyptic society. That is why analyzing anti utopian media is fascinating because it opens the door to different scenarios that could take place if society lost its ability to freedom of expression and rights. The Hulu Original: â€Å"The Handmaid’s Tale† is based off of the 1985 Reagan era novel â€Å"The Handmaid’s Tale,† by Margaret Atwood. This television show creates a modern twist on the novel, and connects it to certain events that happened in the twenty first century. â€Å"The Handmaid’s Tale† is about the rise of a†¦show more content†¦Offred never fully encompasses the life of a handmaid, because she has the hopes of being united with her husband and daughter. Even when Offred was sent to the Rachel and Leah Center, where all fertile women were sent to denounce their former lives and accept their new roles in society, she still tried to find a way to escape with her friend Moira. Offred lets the viewers know that she is not going to conform to the society by some of the remarks she makes. For instance, Offred says, â€Å"We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices† (Atwood, 1985, p.136) . This hints to the audience that she knows her place in this society, and it is not the place she wants to be in for a long time. A major theme in this television show is the treatment and placement of women in society. The article, â€Å"A Cunning Adaptation of the ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’† talks about the different status of men and women in this television series. It states, â€Å"In Gilead, men run the state, and women are split into types. Wives, dressed in blue, oversee the home; Marthas, in green, cook and clean; Handmaids, in long red cloaks, with white bonnets that hide their faces, have intercourse once a month, in a ritualized threesome, a state-sanctioned rape† (Nussbaum, 2017). In the episodeShow MoreRelatedThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1249 Words   |  5 PagesDystopian Research Essay: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood In the words of Erika Gottlieb With control of the past comes domination of the future. A dystopia reflects and discusses major tendencies in contemporary society. The Handmaid s Tale is a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. The novel follows its protagonist Offred as she lives in a society focused on physical and spiritual oppression of the female identity. Within The Handmaid s Tale it is evident that through theRead MoreEssay on Silent Spring - Rachel Carson30092 Words   |  121 Pagesfrom Gales For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.  ©1998-2002;  ©2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design ® and Thomson