Phase 3 Discussion Board

Business Intelligence Systems & Methods

IT622-1404B-01
December 2, 2014
Strategic Business Decisions
Expansion: Business Intelligence will be able to help SkiFree determine whether
expansion and diversification is feasible. Executives will be able to keep a close eye on Key
Performance Indicators to determine whether the company is meeting projected benchmarks.
Scenarios can be built to help forecast the impacts of major decisions and will help to determine
the thresholds that may support or discourage major changes to a companys business model
(IBM Corporation, 2014). The system would utilize sales data and researched market trend
information in the form of a regularly delivered or on demand report.
Targeted Marketing: By analyzing consumer demographics, SkiFree will be able to
determine who to market their product to. Data warehousing, surveying, and consumer trend
reporting can help determine patterns (Mulcahy, 2007). This can help highlight what markets are
detractors, what markets can easily be leveraged, and what markets are untapped. Sales data,
lodging records, survey results, web analytics, and market trend information would all be utilized
to help deliver on demand reports indicating market projections and list sources.

Pricing: By utilizing forecasting tools, SkiFree will be able to determine potential

impacts of increasing and reducing pricing. Business forecasting can utilize past business levels
and trends to map out hypotheticals (IBM Corporation, 2014). This will help determine where
the pricing sweet spot by optimizing the value chain. Dynamic dashboards allowing for easy
changes in pricing should leverage sales and market trend data to display potential outcomes.
Operational Business Decisions
Staffing: Business Intelligence will provide operations management with the ability to be
responsive with staffing, determining the proper amount of staff to handle the anticipated volume
(Mulcahy, 2007). Real time dashboards displaying KPIs such as wages, skier counts, and current
sales volume can help determine whether managers send staff home early or call in extra hands.
Timeclock data would be merged with payroll and sales data to show target labor hours in a realtime dashboard.
Quality Control: BI tools can help analyze machine use and product development to
make informed decisions to enforce quality control (Oracle, 2004). Reports on efficiency and
quality control can help ensure that equipment is operating to its fullest extent. Machine outputs,
monitoring data, inventory data, and quality control results would be used to monitor and send
alerts in the form of a report if quality levels drop below specified standards.
Process Flow: Analytics and forecasting can help build scenarios for changes in process
flow to determine where and how to create process efficiencies. The same forecasting tools that
can be used to analyze and evaluate large changes in business can also be used to evaluate simple
changes to process flow (IBM Corporation, 2014). Unlike measuring large decisions, smaller

operational decisions would likely involve a onetime analysis in report form. Data would source
from sales data, test data, observations, and survey data.
References
IBM Corporation. (2014). Cognos Business Intelligence. Retrieved from IBM.com:
http://www-03.ibm.com/software/products/en/business-intelligence
Mulcahy, R. (2007, March 6). Business Intelligence Definition and Solutions.
Retrieved from CIO: http://www.cio.com/article/2439504/businessintelligence/business-intelligence-definition-and-solutions.html?page=2
Oracle. (2004, November). Oracle Business Intellegence Concepts Guide. Retrieved
from docs.oracle.com: http://docs.oracle.com/html/B13970_01/title.htm