Seven Methods for Transforming Corporate Data Into Business Intelligence (Trade Version)

by Vasant Dhar and Roger Stein

Book Overview

Offering seven techniques for transforming data into decisions, this text covers these approaches in depth, for both the business decision-maker and the technologist. It shows how to enhance... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0132820064
• ISBN13: 9780132820066
• Release Date: December 1996
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 269 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Revealing the Practical without Being Sidetracked by Gee-Wiz

In my college days, I really got into exotic/fun stuff like Fuzzy Logic, Expert Systems, and Case-Based Reasoning. I read lots of books that delved into some author's view of the subtle nuances of some technical refinement or another. I even fancied myself as knowledgeable about Genetic Algorithms and published a research paper on the topic. [Yes, I'm a really exciting guy.] Since then I've come to appreciate that none of these "fancy" methods is perfect and they all have their strengths, weaknesses and best applications. The strength/contribution of "Seven Methods..." is that it rises above the Gee-Wiz details (many of which have come and gone) and instead takes a results oriented approach that summarized where each approach would best succeed in a practical business setting. It has consistently placed in the "top ten" of data-mining reviewers' lists and I think it will continue there for years to come because of this high-level/practical perspective. Each chapter illustrates an alternative data-mining approach using simple/tangible examples. The book ends with seven nontrivial and real world case studies to further illustrate how corporations have come to apply these methods to make (or save) real money.

Comments on the Vocabulary of Intelligence Density

The authors provide interesting and useful insights on Data Mining; I liked chapters 2 and 3 because of the original approach to measure the concept of intelligence density. However chapter 3 is not clear, especially the "Stretch Plot" on figure 3.5; they do not explain how the factors are positioned on the map . In fact the position of the factors along the axes suggests that there is a logical reason for placing them as such but there is no explanation on this placement. Furthermore, in figure 3.6 the authors provide an example of Intelligence Density Profile but the number of squares scattered across the graph implies that there are additional factors represented on the graph that are not mentioned before:why?

Same book, different title, half the price?!!

I have read another book by the same authors entitled "Intelligent Decision Support Methods". It is a clear book with solid conceptual foundations and good examples. To my surprise, this book (published about one year before the other book) has the very same table of contents and some of the reviewers here seem also to be the same. I must confess I am lost. Anyway, this one book costs half the price of the other one!

An excellent introduction to cutting-edge methodologies

I found the book extremely well-designed for three reasons: First, the description of the "seven methods" is accompanied by a conceptual framework where the pros and cons of each are discussed and compared. Second, despite being a business-oriented book, it provides the reader with all the quantitative details needed to access more technical readings. Third, the authors use a very readable language throughout the book.

Brings esoteric concepts down to earth.

This is the first book I read that did two things simultaneously: described data mining concepts in a simple and clear way, and showed examples of their use in business.