The Utility of Databases - Yahia El-Shall

By Yahia El-Shall

Databases are the backbone of business intelligence. A properly setup database can give us layers of insight into the performance of our business or project.

When setting up our database, we need to identify all of the filters that we'd like to use to extract data. For example, a database of sales reps and their respective performances should include filters such as revenue, product, date range, and region, if applicable. We can further specify our data by filters such as number of years of experience for the sales rep, number of sales per date range, average revenue per sale, or other relevant filters.

Ultimately, we will choose our filters based on what we want to know from the database so we can use this information to accurately analyze performance.

OrderDate	Region	Rep	Item	Units	Cost	Total
1/6/2014	East	Jones	Pencil	95	1.99	189.05
1/23/2014	Central	Kivell	Binder	50	19.99	999.50
2/9/2014	Central	Jardine	Pencil	36	4.99	179.64
2/26/2014	Central	Gill	Pen	27	19.99	539.73
3/15/2014	West	Sorvino	Pencil	56	2.99	167.44
4/1/2014	East	Jones	Binder	60	4.99	299.40
4/18/2014	Central	Andrews	Pencil	75	1.99	149.25
5/5/2014	Central	Jardine	Pencil	90	4.99	449.10
5/22/2014	West	Thompson	Pencil	32	1.99	63.68
6/8/2014	East	Jones	Binder	60	8.99	539.40
6/25/2014	Central	Morgan	Pencil	90	4.99	449.10
7/12/2014	East	Howard	Binder	29	1.99	57.71
7/29/2014	East	Parent	Binder	81	19.99	1,619.19
8/15/2014	East	Jones	Pencil	35	4.99	174.65
9/1/2014	Central	Smith	Desk	2	125.00	250.00
9/18/2014	East	Jones	Pen Set	16	15.99	255.84
10/5/2014	Central	Morgan	Binder	28	8.99	251.72
10/22/2014	East	Jones	Pen	64	8.99	575.36
11/8/2014	East	Parent	Pen	15	19.99	299.85
11/25/2014	Central	Kivell	Pen Set	96	4.99	479.04
12/12/2014	Central	Smith	Pencil	67	1.29	86.43
12/29/2014	East	Parent	Pen Set	74	15.99	1,183.26
1/15/2015	Central	Gill	Binder	46	8.99	413.54
2/1/2015	Central	Smith	Binder	87	15.00	1,305.00
2/18/2015	East	Jones	Binder	4	4.99	19.96
3/7/2015	West	Sorvino	Binder	7	19.99	139.93
3/24/2015	Central	Jardine	Pen Set	50	4.99	249.50
4/10/2015	Central	Andrews	Pencil	66	1.99	131.34
4/27/2015	East	Howard	Pen	96	4.99	479.04
5/14/2015	Central	Gill	Pencil	53	1.29	68.37
5/31/2015	Central	Gill	Binder	80	8.99	719.20
6/17/2015	Central	Kivell	Desk	5	125.00	625.00
7/4/2015	East	Jones	Pen Set	62	4.99	309.38
7/21/2015	Central	Morgan	Pen Set	55	12.49	686.95
8/7/2015	Central	Kivell	Pen Set	42	23.95	1,005.90
8/24/2015	West	Sorvino	Desk	3	275.00	825.00
9/10/2015	Central	Gill	Pencil	7	1.29	9.03
9/27/2015	West	Sorvino	Pen	76	1.99	151.24
10/14/2015	West	Thompson	Binder	57	19.99	1,139.43
10/31/2015	Central	Andrews	Pencil	14	1.29	18.06
11/17/2015	Central	Jardine	Binder	11	4.99	54.89
12/4/2015	Central	Jardine	Binder	94	19.99	1,879.06
12/21/2015	Central	Andrews	Binder	28	4.99	139.72

Source: http://www.contextures.com/xlSampleData01.html

Above is a very basic example of our database of sales reps and their respective performances. The data for your database needs to be formatted as a table. Your table should contain no blank cells. 

Simple. 

The next step is to extract the data and display it how we'd like it. For that, we can use pivot tables and charts.