As a simulation exercise, SAS has created a fictitious oil portfolio, VirtualOil, which readers can use as a generic benchmark against their physical oil commodity book’s performance. Each month, we reflect on what the visual analytics can tell us about the portfolio’s movement, with additional commentary and granular chart views
Every day there are news stories of fraud perpetrated against federal government programs. Topping the list are Medicaid and Medicare schemes which costs taxpayers an estimated $100 billion a year. Fraud also is rampant in other important federal programs, including unemployment and disability benefits, health care, food stamps, tax collection,
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the INFORMS Annual Meeting in San Francisco. For those of you not familiar with this organization or conference, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of operations
Today’s healthcare system is under tremendous pressure to reduce overall costs without losing track of the patient. Legislative changes and challenging economic realities make it increasingly difficult to deliver both improved outcomes and cost savings for the most complex patients. The Physicians Pharmacy Alliance (PPA) recognizes the changing healthcare landscape
I recently traveled to a Consumer Packaged Company (CPG) headquarters to discuss ways to improve their inventory positions compared to those of their chief competitors. I got to meet with many of the top managers and analysts involved in their supply chain group, and I came away with a new
Many vendors claim they have analytics, and a lot of users have embraced the belief that analytics is the way to go. But what does analytics really mean, especially to business users without statistics backgrounds, and how much do they need to know about analytics to be able to make
Perhaps nowhere is the saying “time is money” more true than in the construction industry. There is no better indicator of project cost and budget over/underrun than the number of days on-site. Reducing that number has a near 1:1 relationship with cost cutting, so it’s no wonder that days on-site
Big data is already dead!!! Long live big analytics! In good writing, apparently, someone needs to die in the first line and big data is a sensational, front-page victim. Some trends indicate that the “big data hype” has already peaked. Regardless of whether this is true and a post-hype hangover
Big data is of no use unless you can turn it into information and insight. For that you need big analytics. Every piece of the analytics cycle has been impacted by big data, from reporting, with the need to quickly render reports from billions of rows of data, through advanced
Perhaps forecasting is a little of both, crystal ball and competitive edge. It’s a crystal ball of sorts because it helps leaders get answers to questions like, “How many? Or, “How much?” to decide what actions best help the business. And it’s definitely a competitive edge when it results in
