JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND

TECHNOLOGY

BIT 2210 BUSINESS INTELIGENCE

___________________________-

COURSE OF STUDY: B.Sc. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

PRESENTED BY:

LAMECK O. ODODO

REG. NO: ____________________________

DEPARTMENT:
PURE AND APPLIED SCIENCE & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
 1. Using a well labelled illustration, explain the main components and architecture of a
data warehouse [8]

TopTier
This tier is the front-end client layer. This layer holds the Query tools and reporting tools,
analysis tools and data mining tools.

Middle Tier - In the middle tier, we have the OLAP Server that can be implemented in
either of the following ways:
i. By Relational OLAP (ROLAP), which is an extended relational database management
system. The ROLAP maps the operations on multidimensional data to standard relational
operations.
ii. By Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP) model, which directly implements the
multidimensional data and operations.

Bottom Tier - The bottom tier of the architecture is the data warehouse database server. It is
the relational database system. We use the back end tools and utilities to feed data into the
bottom tier. These back end tools and utilities perform the Extract, Clean, Load, and refresh
functions.

Querry/
Analysis
Data Mining Reporting
100 Tools
80 Top Tier
60
40
20
0
1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr

OLAP Server

ROLAP or Middle Tier

MOLAP Model

Administration Data Warehouse Data Mart

Bottom Tier

Operational External
Database Sources Data
2. Discuss the benefits of using DSS in organizations [6]
A DSS can be defined as an interacting computer-based system that helps the decision maker in the
use of data and models in the solution of unstructured problems, Scott-Norton, (1971).
Fromm the definition we can extract the uses or features of a DSS to include:
i. It support rather than replace the human decision making.
ii. It assists managers in performing unstructured and/or semi-structured tasks.
iii. It combines on features (i.e. the use of models or analytical techniques with data access
functions) to enhance user interaction.
iv. Emphasizes on flexibility and adaptability to initiate changes in decision context.

3. What is Natural Language Processing (NLP), describe the steps involved in NLP and
outline its application in business [4]

Diagram illustrating NLP steps

 Morphological Processing – In this step, strings of language input are broken into sets of tokens
corresponding to discrete words, sub-words and punctuation forms. This helps in recognising how
base words have been modified to form other words with similar meanings but often with different
syntactic categories.

Syntax Analysis – involves checking that a string of words (a sentence) is well-formed and breaking
the sentence into a structure that shows the syntactic relationships between the different words. This
is done using lexicons and a set of syntax rules.

Semantics Analysis – associates meaning with isolated utterances or sentences

Pragmatics Analysis– interprets the results of semantics analysis from the perspective of a specific
context.

4. Explain how a GIS software can help an organization gain competitive advantage in integrated
in the organizations information system [6]
i. Combining the analytical power of (BI) databases with the geographic capabilities of GIS
software allows business users to explore and analyse relationships between geographic data and
business data.
ii. GIS can assist bridge the gap between the internal datasets (under MIS) and external data assets
by tying together locality features and data of varying type and system sources hence speeding up
the process of finding, filtering and comparing data to find answers.
iii. A GIS’s adoption of graphics and maps’ ability to condense information and compare multiple
variables of a problem enhances management reports with intuitive graphics and maps that are
easier to understand and take less time to evaluate.
iv. Information only has business value if it reaches the decision maker at the right time in an easily
understandable format. GIS helps BI experts locate more data and information faster by tying
many internal and external data channels together through location.
v. GIS processes like geocoding, mapping or spatial analysis helps detect errors that may be difficult
or even impossible to detect in tabular database. This improves fata quality and credibility
vi. A GIS’ ability to map an organization’s information drives business awareness of location
exploitation for commercial exploitation.

5 . Explain the purpose of metadata as used in data warehousing [2]

i. Metadata contains the algorithms for summarization (i.e. dimension algorithms, data
on granularity, aggregation, summarizing, etc).
ii. Metadata acts as a directory and it is this directory that helps the decision support
system to locate the contents of a data warehouse.
6. Given the following data warehouse schemas, draw the star, snowflake and fact constellation
schema from the data [9]
Item (itemkey, itemname, brand, type, supplier)
Time (timekey, day, dayoftheweek, month, quarter,year) Branch (branchkey, name, branchtype)
Location (locationkey, street, city, province, country)

a. Star Schema

Item dimension Item fact Location dimension

table table table
item_key
item_name item_key Location_key
Brand item_name Street
Type item_key City
supplier Branch_key Province
Location_key Country

time dimension branch dimension

table table
Time_key
Branch_key
Day
Name
Day_of_the_week
Branch_type
Month
Quarter
year

b. Snowflake Schema
branch dimension
c. table
time dimension Item fact
table table

item_key
item_name item_key Branch_key
Brand time_key Name
Type item_name Branch_type
Supplier_key Branch_key
Location_key
Location dimension table
time dimension
Location_key
table time dimension Street
table City_key
Supplier_key day dimension
Supplier_branch Time_key
Month table
City dimension
Quarter Day_key table
year Day City_key
Day_key Day_of_the_week City
Province
Country
 c. Fact Constellation Schema

7. Data backup is very important in the management of business operations and more so
intelligence. Describe the following terminologies used in data backup. [5]

d. Cold backup - Cold backup is taken while the database is completely shut down. In
multi-instance environment, all the instances should be shut down.
e. Online backup - It is quite similar to hot backup.
f. Partial backup - As the name suggests, it does not create a complete backup of the
database. Partial backup is very useful in large databases because they allow a
strategy whereby various parts of the database are backed up in a round robin fashion
on a day-to-day basis, so that the whole database is backed up effectively once a
week.
g. Complete backup - It backs up the entire database at the same time. This backup
includes all the database files, control files, and journal files.
h. Hot backup - Hot backup is taken when the database engine is up and running. The
requirements of hot backup varies from RDBMS to RDBMS.