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Text Data Processing in Data Services blog #3

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11/4/2012

This is the third blog entry in what becomes the unstructured text data processing series. The first two entries discussed data acquisition into SAP BusinessObjects Data Services from various sources using JSONAdapter, and in this one I will discuss using Data Services for consumer sentiment analysis of the data collected from Twitter.

As discussed in the first blog entry, Twitter Search API has been accessed, with the word ‘cityrail’ as the search term. To those not in the know, Cityrail is the train network of Sydney (Australia) metropolitan area. It was a very obvious target: with relatively big customer base it was guaranteed to get enough unstructured data. Over time (2-3 months) Data Services collected a few thousands tweets supposedly related to Cityrail.
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SAP Data Services JSON Adapter, part 2: load of Facebook and RSS feeds unstructured text data

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02/3/2012

In the previous blog entry I have introduced an idea of a Data Services custom adapter accessing unstructured data from sources in the Web, using JSON as the medium, and demonstrated how that JSONAdapter can obtain data from Twitter. In this one I am going to extend the case to Facebook and RSS feeds.

Facebook data is based on so called social Graph using Open Graph Protocol. Every object in that Graph — a person, a feed, a post etc — is a node in that Graph, having an ID and a few properties. These properties can be accessed using Graph API, which, by no surprise, uses JSON: an inquisitive developer can play with Graph Explorer to get the idea. There are a couple of implications following from that observation: a) every type of Graph node has its own ‘schema’ when described in JSON, b) nodes represent either objects (say, a person) or feeds (wall posts, events etc).

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Data Services JSON Adapter helps to load unstructured text data into SAP ecosystem

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16/12/2011

In the recent couple of years I became convinced in what researchers had been telling for quite a long time – in the rise of unstructured data, or, simply put, plain text in natural language. Some analysts go as far as predicting that volume of unstructured data available to companies will exceed one of the ‘traditional’ structured data, which we read from database tables and are accustomed to build intelligence on. Analytical potential of unstructured data is well discussed (to mention a couple of uses, that would be consumer sentiment analysis and entities finding), so why don’t we talk about some practicalities of text data processing, and how SAP products could be of use.

I would like to start this series of blogs with discussion on how unstructured data from social media can be loaded to a data warehouse.

In this context appears the name JSON — an open source text-based data interchange format. The acronym stands for JavaScript Object Notation – the name points to the roots of the format, but, actually, the standard is used outside of Javascript, with implementations of JSON for various platforms referenced at its homepage, http://json.org.

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What BI Means in Today’s World

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25/10/2010

Throughout this article, Pratik Mukherjee discusses what BI means in today’s world in terms of implementation, the physics of an enterprise, creating a foundation for BI and effectively ensuring its future.
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Beyond the basics: SAP Business Intelligence advanced products

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19/8/2010

In this article, Adrian Paino outlines some of the more advanced tools that go beyond the normal data warehousing and reporting functions. It is impossible to cover the full range of SAP BI products in just a few pages, so don’t worry if your favourite product is not listed here.

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Visual design of analytical information for better decision-making

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27/7/2010

One of the core activities for all levels of management within organisations is decision-making. This includes decisions about the strategic direction of the organisation, right through to decisions made by operational leadership and front-line staff deep within business and operational processes.

Good decisions should be based on evidence with a mixture of quantitative and qualitative information. How this information is designed and presented can be described as information visualisation or ‘infoviz’. It is practised every day within organisations in the production of formal and informal reports such as financial reports, monthly management reports and weekly or daily sales or operational reports. Essentially, the objectives of infoviz are to communicate with the intended audience with efficiency and elegance, while communicating the core business message.

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The bird’s eye view: an overview of SAP Business Intelligence technology

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15/7/2010

With the acquisition of BusinessObjects, SAP has greatly enhanced its Business Intelligence (BI) product offering. This new, enhanced BI suite now consists of more than 20 distinct and exciting BI tools and technologies.

In this article Dimitri Zarganikis provides the reader with some insights into the most commonly used SAP BI products and tools. It has been written for non-technical readers who’d like to know more about the tools without delving too deeply into the ‘techy’ details.

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Enterprise Performance Management: how can I ensure my organisation gets it right?

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07/7/2010

In this article Giusappe Dal Col provides an overview of Enterprise Performance Management and the key factors for achieving success with EPM projects.

Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) refers to an integrated management approach that links strategic goals directly to the operational and financial activities necessary to reach those goals. From an application perspective, EPM encompasses a suite of solutions that are targeted at an organisation’s decision-makers, including those that coordinate the budgeting, reporting and consolidation activity. EPM solutions provide insight into budgets and seek information from the actuals in order to facilitate variance analysis through different reporting tools. In general, an EPM suite offers tools for effective budgeting, financial consolidation and reporting, profitability management, strategy management, and decision support. EPM solutions are an extension to Business Intelligence (BI) and leverage OLAP (On Line Analytical Processing) technologies. The key differentiator between BI and EPM is that whilst BI may provide the analytics to assist an organisation in setting its goals and monitoring progress towards them, EPM goes further and leverages that information in order to guide the organisation to its goals.

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Overhauling reporting and analysis

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24/6/2010

Innogence was engaged by retail giant Woolworths to provide the BI strategy component for its massive project to replace core merchandising systems, Program Galaxy.

Woolworths Limited, Australia’s biggest retailer, operates supermarkets, petrol stations, hotels, liquor stores, consumer electronics, hardware and general merchandising stores across Australia and New Zealand. Employing over 191,000 people,Woolworths Limited is considered one of the largest private sector employers in Australia.

Woolworths established a program of works, called Program Galaxy, comprising a number of projects to collectively deliver the replacement of the majority of Woolworths’ core merchandising systems over a tight five-year timeframe. Innogence was selected by Woolwor ths to provide leadership and direction for the SAP BI solution.The first step in this process was to develop a five-year Reporting and Analysis Strategy, to be utilised by Program Galaxy’s Business Intelligence (BI) implementation team.

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Enterprise Performance Management in action

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15/6/2010

A fully integrated online planning solution and enterprise KPI reporting solution has helped executives within Franklins to access and capitalise upon the wealth of information stored within their SAP system for more effective data analysis and better decision-making. By Giuseppe Dal Col.

Franklins is an established retailer in Australia currently operating around 80 supermarkets and franchise stores across greater NSW. The organisation faced challenges with its existing budgeting and KPI reporting systems. Innogence’s custom-designed solution leverages information already held in Franklins’ SAP system and eliminates manual process to free up planners to produce far more accurate reports and track expenses much more closely than was possible previously. Decision-makers are also now less reliant on the IT and Finance functions to provide data analysis. » Read more…

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