Ermira Zifla

I use the KPI of my phone battery. My phone tells me what my battery percentage is at in the moment. It conforms to the SMART criteria because the number of battery percentage left is is specific and measurable. it’s achievable since I can use my phone less so that my battery percentage that is left will be higher. It’s relevant since my phone is very important to me and I use it all of the time. Finally, it’s time-variant since I can look at the percentage decrease over an hour or a couple of hours or even a couple of days.

An example of a KPI would be a heartbeat monitor used in hospitals. It specifically measures the heart rate in beats per minute for the purpose of keeping the patient alive, which is achievable. The heartbeat is also relevant to the success of the goal since the patient will die if there is no heart beat meaning if the heart is not beating you have failed your goal, and it is time based since we are measuring the heart rate in beats per minute.

An example of a KPI I use is my debit card/bank account. It is specific and measurable because the money in my account is a precise number that permits my debit card to work. It is achievable because I can alter my spending to save more money and earn interest, if possible. It is relevant because that money in my account helps me pay for daily essentials and bills. And lastly, it is time variant because I can see how the money in my account changes over a certain time period.

A KPI that I use in my day to day life is the app “My Fitness Pal.” It’s a combination calorie measurement, step-tracking, and exercise-tracking app. It is specific and measurable because it measures steps, calorie intake, and exercise. It is achievable because I am able to change or alter my calorie intake and the number of steps I take each day in order to achieve the goals it sets. It is a relevant KPI because tracking steps and calories directly impacts my health. The app is also time-relevant/specific because it measures these things over specific periods of times and I can compare my activity with days, weeks, or months.

A KPI that I use on a regular basis is the digital Thermostat in my home. This is specific and measurable because the temperature in my home is a precise measure. It is achievable, given that I can manipulate the temperature to fit the desired room temperature or even cut HVAC cost by shutting the system off. it’s relevant, the temperature in my home impacts how comfortable I am. And time-variant because I can look at the increase or decrease in room temperature over the course of a hour, or a day.

An example of a KPI is the fitness material on my Apple Watch. This is specific and measurable because it measures steps, calories burned, and amount of time walking/running. It is achievable because it sets goals for you based on weight and will tell you if you completed them. It is time-variant because it wants to achieve these goals everyday and will reset each day. It will even give you a report at the end of the week based on data it collects. You can then compare the information to other weeks and months to see when you were the most active and try to improve your fitness each week or month. This is a relevant KPI because it will impact my health and allow me to see how well I am doing with exercise.

An example of a KPI is the amount of calories I intake. This is specific and measurable because I can record the amount of calories each food has that I eat. I can add this up to get the total amount. It is achievable because I can alter the number of calories I eat depending on my diet. Its relevant because the number of calories I intake can affect my health and well-being. I am able to measure my daily calorie so it is time-variant.

An example of an KPI that I use on a regular basis is the UBER app on my phone. It is specific and measurable be it’s specific use is transportation and its measurable by its location and mapping function within the app. It can tell me the distance I traveled and the time it took me to get there. It is achievable because I can plan out estimated arrival times to my destinations and plan my day accordingly. It is relevant because it is my means, and many of others means of transportation. it is time-variant because I can see how many times I have used the app for trips and how much money I spent on them.

An example of a KPI I encounter each day is the page number count in any book I’m reading. It is specific because each number only refers to one page, the sequential ordering of the page numbers allow me to measure my progress. It is achievable because in order to finish the book, I simply have to keep on reading. Page numbers are relevant because they tell me quantitatively weather my progression is fast or slow. It is also time relevant because to finish a book, one simply needs to spend more time reading.

A KPI that I use on a regular basis is the log of the hours that I have worked at my job. This is specific because it tells me the exact amount of time that I have worked during each week. It is measurable because it calculates the time I have worked in minutes. It is achievable in that I can make goals as to how many hours I work in a week by maybe taking extra shifts and covering for my coworkers. This KPI is relevant in that I can track the amount of hours I have worked and recheck them with my calendar to make sure I am being paid for the correct amount of hours. It is time variant in that I can check the log daily or weekly depending on when I have time to check it.

An example of KPI that comes to mind is a dashboard I used to use at work. It was a pretty cool as it had a nice graph and bar chart that showed my sales and commission for that month. That dashboard monitored and totalled up the different types of transactions for the day. Also, it tallied up and showed commission totals and from what type of transactions the commission came from. It was specific because it drilled down into details of different types of transactions and commission. It is measurable because of transaction data. It is achievable because you can change what to monitor depending on what is important. It is relevant because it helps employees monitor their performance and show areas they need to improve. It is time-variant because the dashboard could be adjusted to measure and show data for various time intervals, monthly or weekly.

A KPI I use on a regular basis is the Wells Fargo app I have on my phone. It is specific because it tells me the amount of money I have in my bank account. It is measurable because if I purchase something using my card, the app shows me the amount of money deducted as well as the remaining money I have left in my bank account. It is achievable and relevant because it allows me to track how much money I have and with that information, control my spending. Lastly, it is time-variant because I can check the app whenever I want to since it is easily accessible.

An example of kpi could be the amount of sugar i take into my body everyday. It’s specific in that I am talking about a certain chemical compound that isn’t necessarily healthy. It’s measurable in that I can look at the number of grams I intake. It’s attainable in that I can write down what I eat over the day and find the sugar content within what I ate. It’s relevant because sugar isn’t very good for my body so I should limit my consumption of it. And finally, it is time specific in that I want to know how much sugar I eat on average day.

I have an app on my phone called Samsung Health. It is a leading product in android based phones for measuring one’s health. This is a great example of KPI cause the app is able to measure everything from calories burnt to SPo2 measurements from samsungs health sensor. With this sensor we are able to measure hydration and oxygen content in our bloods.

A KPI that I use daily is the “Sleep Analysis” tool in the Clock app on my iPhone. This tool is specific because the data collected is specifically from my sleeping habits. It is measurable because it measures the amount of sleep I get daily. It is achievable because I can sleep more or less to attain a certain sleeping goal for a week or a month. It’s relevant because I want to know how my sleeping habits compare to other people with the same demographics as me, i.e. age, sex. Finally, this tool is time-variant because it collects the data about my sleeping habits over time, from day to day to measure trends.

A KPI that I use on a regular basis is my Virtual DJ application on my computer. It is specific because it collects data of the first time a song was played and how many beats are in the song. It is measurable because it measures how many times I have played a song. It is achievable because I can create a playlist and make a mix that is the duration I desire. It is relevant because it compares the song and gives me a recommendation for another song to mix it with. It is time-variant because you can see the songs you played for each day.

A KPI that I use on a regular basis is my grade in a particular class. It is specific and measurable because it is an exact value, and it is achievable by means of using the most effective study and work methods to get the best grade possible. Furthermore, it is relevant to my success because it is a measure of that very thing, and finally it is time-variant because I can observe my grade progression over the course of the semester or school year.

An example of a KPI i use everyday is the “Nike fitness app” on my phone. It tracks the distance I run, walk and the steps i take in a day. It very specific and measurable because it tracks my distance through my location and give me a weekly summary of all the activities i performed that week. It is very important for me to know the distances i run in a week, and how long it took because i am able to see if i am improving.

One of the few KPI’s I consider on a daily basis is my daily water intake. This KPI is specific and measurable: water intake can be a precise measure of daily fluid ounces. It is achievable: I can consume more water on any day depending on my effort and conscientiousness. It’s relevant: amount of water intake has several positive health effects. It is also time-variant: I can observe my water intake over an hour, a day, or even a week.

One example of a KPI that I use daily is my performance on my iOS game, Clash Royale. The app tells you how many Crowns you’ve achieved in battle. Crowns measure the amount of battles you’ve won or lost against other players, where more crowns mean more wins, and less crowns means less wins. Thousands of people play this game regularly, and achieving Crowns is simple and easy. The correlation between how long you’ve had the game and amount of Crowns is generally positive, meaning that the time-relevant relationship between the two increases as time passes.

A KPI that I use on a regular basis is the treadmill at the gym. It tells me how far I’ve run, being specific and measurable. It also allows me to pick from different workout routines, being achievable. It lets me know how many calories I’ve burned, being relevant. And it lets me know how long I’ve been working out, referencing time.

A KPI I use on a regular basis is my phone battery life. It is the one thing I keep track of daily so I can determine my usage throughout the day. It is specific and measurable, it gives a specific percentage at which the battery level is at. It is achievable, I can check it at any minute and figure out when I need to use it less and when I can use it more. It is relevant, my phone has everything I need from a day to day basis. And it is time-variant, I can track my battery percentage levels within hours and how long I can use it till it dies.

I have not had any of these happen to me. However, I believe number three, “Start working on the database without doing a full backup first”, is the most important. I think this is the most important because as David Taber said in his article, not doing a backup could lead to losing the data entirely. Forgetting to save the original file while you work on the new one could cause you to lose everything you started on and force you to go back to the drawing board and start all over from point one. Saving the original data and saving the new data as you go along can not only save time, but can also allow people to take breaks from the data without the fear of losing everything they had already worked hard to accomplish.

I have not made any of the mistakes that the author listed, but if I had to choose a mistake that would be the most detrimental, I would think removing something from the server would be the worst. If you accidentally remove something from a server, it could possibly be gone forever. Also if the server you are working on is company-wide, then your company literally just lost a giant chunk of data or metadata. There is no telling how harmful this could be for a business.

A mistake I’ve made multiple times is #3. Many times I have worked on essays and forget to save them. It was probably the most frustrating thing ever. Its the fact that I have worked hard and spent time on an essay that is now lost. I took a couple hits before I decided it was time to turn on the auto-save option. It is the most life-saving option ever.

A mistake that I have made a few times is a converting error in excel. In looking at large data sets from various online sources the columns can be configured as anything. A common thing with excel files easily is to convert each column into text(string) values even if there are numbers in the rows to make for easy file transfer. So recently I was looking at this big data set of transaction records for local pharmacies and ran into this problem. I spent 15-20 minutes trying to figure out why my graphs weren’t correct and why all the data points weren’t showing. I had downloaded the and just went into creating graphs and not validated all the data and their field values. It was a great learning lesson to VALIDATE the data first before starting to analyse it.

A mistake I have made and learned from is number three, starting to work on a database without doing a full backup first. Throughout my assignments and projects from classes, I never really remember to make a copy or a backup of it, which after one incident helped me realize its importance. I’ve always been taught in my business classes and have seen, having even one backup is necessary. When I had one of my websites that I created, for a project, completely wiped because of a computer issue, I had to redo everything in one day. So i believe that is definitely one of the important mistakes to avoid.

I haven’t made any of these mistakes simply because I haven’t used Excel enough to actually make these mistakes in the first place. However I believe the most important mistake to avoid would probably be Number 6: Missing the Data Type. If you were to miss the data type that could lead to an error in the data as you are organizing it. If this error goes unnoticed and an analysis is then performed it could lead to an incorrect conclusion, and if this conclusion is then used for decision making, the effects could be catastrophic.

Even though I have not made any of these mistakes due to my lack of use of this tool I believe the most common one or the one that I would probably be less likely to avoid would be Number 1 which mainly consists of clicking “yes” when a message appears on the screen even though we are not sure what the message is trying to say or what the program would do if we click “yes”. For example, for major companies it can hide some data instead of deleting it having terrible effects or results of the process being conveyed. I know that it is a pretty simple mistake to avoid but most of the times we do not avoid it mainly because we do not feel like it will alter your research or results or think that the button “yes” represents something way to simple that could not alter anything meaningful.

I’ve made the third mistake on this list a couple of times. Not exactly when working on a database, but with other written assignments on a website and even on Word. It’s easy to forget to checkpoint save periodically to make sure your progress isn’t lost. Some websites are weird with things like replying to a post or creating a blog. If, after a while, you haven’t been active and then you try to post something the website will crash and lose your whole post if you didn’t save it. That’s why now I always make sure to have my documents typed on Google docs since it automatically saves everything without me doing a thing.

To be honest, I haven’t made any of these mistakes since I never used Excel prior to coming to this class. With this being said, I think number 3 (working on the database without doing a full backup first) is the most important to avoid. I’m pretty sure that most of us at one point forgot to save/backup an important document/data and ended up losing it, which is not pleasant. Once you lose it, you most likely can’t get it back and have to start over again. To avoid completely losing your data, it is vital to back it up beforehand.

One mistake I have made while using Excel was #9. I think everyone has done when they first use Excel but I was trying to use a formula that I used in a previous cell and totally forgot about the cell reference. It messed up my entire spreadsheet and I had to go back and fix each mistake I made for the rest of cells. It was extremely frustrating.

I haven’t made any of these mistakes because I haven’t extensively used Excel, but I think the most important mistake to avoid is number one. Accidentally saying “yes” to removing data from the server will result in not just data loss, but metadata and configurations. This also seems like a mistake that is very easy to make, because people tend to not fully read or try to comprehend warning or error messages that pop up while they are doing their work, so blindly clicking “yes” to those messages can result in data corruption.

I think the most important mistake to avoid is working on the database without doing a backup first. It sounds such like a very small and unimportant mistake but it actually has the most severe consequence. By making this mistake, someone could lose their entire body of work, something that they may have done perfectly just because they forgot to save their work. I can remember a few instances where I completed a document or data type and didn’t save my work. It’s the most frustrating thing in the world to happen because it ultimately reflects a huge waste of time. I think remembering to constantly backup your work is a very important habit every student should have.

I know for a fact that I have made mistake number 3. Backing up work is one of the most important parts of doing work. It seems frivolous at first, but I’ve lost complete projects with 4+ hours of work because of forgetting to hit that control s. I see a lot of people saying it’s a huge waste of time, I don’t think it’s a huge waste of time because by doing the work, you have some idea of what it should look like and you could improve on what you had before, but there is no doubt that it is very frustrating when it happens and is so demoralizing if you’re working under the pressure of a deadline.

Personally, I’ve made mistake #9, Copy formulas that use relative coordinates. When working with a large excel file at my internship, I double clicked to copy formulas down the rest of the rows without checking to make sure it actually filled to the bottom. I then sorted my data and noticed multiple blank cells because there were cells referencing the cells that should have contained the formula in them as well as the blank cells that should have had the formula.

I personally, have never used CRM data as I am new to working with big data and excel. However, I have made mistake #3 a few times when writing essays in Microsoft Word by not saving my work periodically through writing and losing my work because I hadn’t saved it properly. If I was actually working with CRM data, I feel as though mistake #4 would be most important to avoid. Sorting a spreadsheet seems like something you would have to do almost every time when working with data. It also seems like a pretty easy task, which is why I feel as though it would be the most common and easiest mistake to make. If you don’t include all the columns when sorting, you are going to be missing a lot of your data when you thought you had “all” of it.

The mistake I have made before was Number 3: “Start working on the database without doing a full backup first”. This have happened a couple times actually. Either when typing a paper or having to hard reset my phone without properly checking the last time everything has been auto-synced to cloud storage or backed up. The results were lost music files or pictures that I really liked that will never be recovered again.

A mistake I made and learned from was number 3 “start working on a database without doing a full back-up”. I had a marketing internship last semester and I was tasked with updating the company email list, I downloaded the list without doing a full back-up and in the middle of updating the list my computer crashed and when it came back on the entire list was gone. I guess this had happened before because when I told my boss what happened he told me he had done it before and he did a full back-up before giving me the list.

I believe that mistake #3 is the most important one to look out for. When working on data it is important to fully download and back up the assignment. Otherwise, your computer or data can crash and delete everything. In addition, once you exit out of the system it will delete everything that you worked on up until then. Then, you would have to start over. Last year in STAT I had started working on an assignment and before I saved my work my computer ended up crashing so I lost everything and had to start over.

Although I have never really made any mistakes with data, I would say #3, start working on the database without doing a full backup first, is the most important to avoid. I have been in situations where I forgot to press save and all my hard work was lost. I can only imagine how that would feel if I lost hundreds of columns of data information. It is important to save constantly throughout the process and even have the auto save turned on. If you’ve put in hours of work, its important that it is actually saved, that way you do not lose all of your hard work and have to start over.

I have made mistake number 3,4,6,7,8,9, and 10 while working with data in the past. In most of these instances, I realized at some point (sometimes later than I would like to admit) that I had made a mistake and was able to carefully “undo” anything I had done to corrupt the data. Eventually, I was always able to restore the data to its original state, learn from my mistake, and then start the process again. This is why I believe that mistake number 1 is the most important to avoid because it often will not allow a simple “undo” to restore the data. While it might be a great learning experience the first time it happens, it is not something I would want to experience more than once in a lifetime.

One big mistake I have made while working with data that is listed in the article is copying formulas that use relative coordinates. I made this mistake while working with tableau. I thought I could use similar formulas to receive correct calculations when creating a calculated filled. I quickly discovered copying formulas only leads to missed calculations.

I think the mistake to avoid the most would be #1, accidentally removing data from the server. This mistake raises a number of issues, but most of all it is an inconvenience to the user because it could delete all progress and ruin a data set or analysis that one may have made.

I feel that the biggest mistake that one could make on the list is starting a new database without doing a full backup. I say this because losing any amount of data without backing it up first is a risk. To lose minutes, hours, or even days of progress to a slip up as avoidable as backing up data isn’t worth the trouble.

Data for almost 1 million Coachella user accounts being sold on dark web

So this is a good one. Another case of stolen databases. This one is affecting the many people who go to Coachella every year. It is a large yearly festival in California and usually draws great bands and celebrities. Someone on the dark web is trying to sell the database of approximately 950,000 accounts for the festivals website. An outside website has verified the veracity of the accounts for sale. Just another reminder to be careful with your information online.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/25/technology/data-refuge-saving-data/
I find this article particularly interesting because it talks about a current problem in America concerning the president of the United States which is a popular topic right now. It talks about the concern of specifically, data scientists because what used to be open data is now private data and new tools like Data Refuge are making an effort to make data available to everyone again but the government has already removed some content from the site. It talks about open data and how it can be affected by the barriers set by entities and organizations and their unwillingness to share information and shows how the recently elected 45th president of the United States supports turning open data into private data.

http://www.macworld.com/article/3174344/consumer-electronics/nokia-will-use-its-withings-health-devices-to-send-data-to-your-doctor.html
This article is about how Nokia recently acquired a technology company (Withings), and plans to send health information gathered by your devices to your doctor. This is an interesting concept because it will allow doctors to have instant information about their patients’ health, but it also raises ethical concerns. Some may argue that this technology violates HIPPA legislation and should not be allowed. Nokia has already started testing this technology, so only time will tell what becomes of it.

http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2017/02/24/survey-roundup-companies-find-reputation-talk-difficult/
This article talks about and compares recent surveys taken by companies about how hard they think it is to properly communicate their company’s reputation to others. The factor of communication takes into account language barriers, time zones, and cultural differences. One of the surveys of 2,100 consumers and 1,050 senior executives found that 69% of them think reputation communication of their companies is difficult. This is important because the reputation of companies plays a pivotal role in their success in the marketplace, so communication of that reputation is essential.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/datablog/2017/feb/13/most-polluted-cities-world-listed-region

This article shows the cities around the world with the most dangerous air. They came up with these cities by comparing the means of micro-grams per cubic meter in the air. Then for several regions of the world they provided a bar graph showing the countries with the most dangerous air. They also provided a real-time map that shows with color each country and amount of air pollution.

I found this article interesting because they offered 2 ways of illustrating their point, with the bar graphs and map. Also because it shows that air pollution isn’t only a problem in certain parts of the world. It’s a world-wide problem that needs to be solved. It’s not only relevant to us, but also, imperative that we know what problems are going on so we’re able to do something about it all.

An Artificial Intelligence Story: The Robot Boss and Data Operations

This article talks about the robot the Japanese produced through their research in AI technology. This robot can assign employees in the company the right job that would make them the most efficient based on their past performance. Through Robot Boss the company experienced 8% productivity boost. I found this article really interesting because AI is the next big transformation that our society will go through. I found it very interesting that this robot was able to accomplish things that would take many people many days to do. For example, extracting intelligence from Big Data to respond to fluctuating work conditions like inclement weather, sudden spike in demand, or short periods of non-standard work load. It’s interesting to see how our technology and data will branch out to go through various areas of societal functioning.

Demystifying Advanced Data Visualization

The article above is about advanced data visualization and how it is emerging as a major source of presenting big data. This is important because it is making data visualization even more interactive and understandable through different dimensional views and outstanding animation. Basically it is changing how we view data by making it possible for more data to be presented at one time but still clear enough for one to understand and use to make conections.

This article describes data that analyzed how the health of the euro and the financial crisis in 2008 impacted Euro zones’ bank lending to each other. European Central Bank data shows that cross border lending has decreased significantly within the past year which is leading to fears about countries falling out of the currency union. As a Supply Chain major, I will have to be aware of the financial stability of countries that I may be supplying goods to or from. The analysis of historical data can help to predict future lending patterns and may impact decisions that will be made by supply managers.

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21716621-should-our-bankers-and-insurers-be-our-facebook-friends-big-data-financial

This article discusses social medias involvement with banks. It includes interesting data statistics involving a bankers ability to determine how likely someone is to pay back a loan, among other things. This can become problematic due to the fact that it can lead to discrimination and exclusion. For example, If using someone’s browsing history to exclude them from an offer for a cheap flight is OK, is it also reasonable to use those data to lock them out of health insurance (eg, by assuming that someone who Googles doughnut shops is a bad risk)?

http://www.cutimes.com/2017/02/28/credit-unions-sue-arbys-after-alleged-data-breach
This article addresses Arby’s recent data breach. Arby’s, the fast food chain, was breached by hackers due to malware on its point-of-sale system network. Between October 25, 2016 to January 19, 2017, the hackers stole data off of customer payment cards. Numerous credit unions are suing Arby’s and have filed complaints against the company for its lack of security and responsibility. I found this article interesting because it relates to the other breaches of companies we have talked about in our class. Also, I found it ridiculous how cardholder data was exposed for nearly 3 months; Arby’s should have fixed the issue as soon as it happened, however, they failed to do so.

Deloitte 2017 TMT Predictions: Machine Learning to Expand, Helping Save Lives

Deloitte predicts that over 300 million smartphones, or more than one-fifth of units sold in 2017, will have machine learning capabilities within the device in the next 12 months. This relates and is interesting to me because we are in a generation that is filled with new and exciting technology and having technology learn on its own will better our lives. It is said that overtime, machine learning will be a typical way of life and not just in smartphones.

How Americans Over 70 Spend Their Day

I found this really cool article and visualisation that shows how Americans Over 70 Spend Their Day. The overall things that Americans over 70 do that are measured are sleep, personal care, travelling, eating and drinking, work/education, household activities, socialising and recreation (other than tv), and watching TV. The research and visualisation also have time as an independent variable which really helps states the different time frames and what activities correlate to that. The article also has a base representation of how Americans spend their day also.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/oscars-night-was-predictable-until-the-very-end/
This article talks about the mishap that happened at the 2017 Oscar Awards. Unfortunately at the very end of the show “La La Land” was announced as best picture. However, “Moonlight” was the real winner. This was due to a mistake of the FiveThirtyEight Oscars Tracker that missed the top prize. I found it interesting to read because I was unsure about how the voting system worked. Now I know that it is based off of a model of historically, predictive Oscar winners and not just measuring voting directly.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/metabrown/2015/09/28/big-data-breakdown-use-the-right-analytics-for-the-business-problem/#71b0e5b63c62
I found this article to be very interesting. The article addresses business retailers and other businesses using big datasets to solve and analyzes problems. The article points out that many business leaders believe they need large datasets to solve business problems; however, this is not always true. On average Businesses are spending up to 2 million dollars to have big datasets broken-down and analyzed by experts. Smaller data sets are much cheaper than big datasets and more efficient in addressing problems. Businesses only need 1% of data to get the job done. I find it interesting that companies could potentially save millions of dollars by using smaller datasets and don’t know it. I would like to own my own business someday and after reading this article I will look to use small data samples to solve problems first.

https://www.nextbigsound.com/charts
This article shows which 20 artists listeners have been using to create the highest number of Pandora stations from over the past week, and reflect which up-and-coming artists are currently trending on the platform. It is interesting to see the numbers of Pandora stations for new artists and the comparisons between different artists and if they have elevated or dropped from their previous standing. It is interesting to see what impact Pandora listens have on determining the next big music artist.