Chapter 1

1. Newell and Simon (1972).

2. It is not widely known that the spectacular market success of Wal-Mart supermarkets also has its roots in the pioneering implementation of BI. Obviously, every chain follows the principle of “the right product at the right place, time, and price.” Theoretically speaking, it is very simple, but it turns out to be incredibly difficult when it comes to realization. In practice, one tries to minimize costs connected with a logistics chain from a manufacturer’s storehouse to a customer’s basket by means of a manager’s intuition rather than by any formal analyses. This chain is influenced by thousands of factors, such as season, fashion, region, price, and promotions, to name just a few. Wal-Mart was the first chain of supermarkets that had already started in the 1980s to electronically register events in the whole chain and aggregate them in a data warehouse. The conclusions drawn from a history of sales allowed the chain to globally reorganize logistics and reduce costs. This led to low prices that destroyed competitors (Westerman, 2000).

3. Inmon (2005).

4. The phrase“business intelligence” was introduced in Luhn (1958).

5. Gartner (2003).

6. Management IT systems fall into three generations: first-generation transaction systems, second-generation management information systems and data retrieval, and third-generation support systems, including BI ones (Kisielnicki, 2008).

7. Davenport and Harris (2007).

8. Simon (1977).

9. This is sometimes called a golden loop. A proposal of a solution from the BI system goes straight to the source system (the transaction one) as a parameter. For instance, in a company that manufactures chocolates for a storehouse, demand forecast generated by the analytical system automatically becomes a parameter. One can, on the basis of this parameter, determine both an order to suppliers and a manufacturing plan.

10. The analyses in the chart are usually based on information about sales or daily orders in a shop. However, sometimes the analysis is so detailed that it requires the consideration of data from single-till receipts (e.g., market basket analysis), but a buyer still remains anonymous. Loyalty programs introduced into some chain stores are a new value in this respect because they link the “market basket” with a certain customer. Having this information enables businesses to make planned and precisely targeted marketing campaigns, which help retain present customers and attract new ones.