“In God we trust; all others bring data.”
W. Edwards Deming
Structure is the first building block of the structure-pattern–perspective approach. A structural analysis from the business analytics perspective begins with a data strategy that supports the organizational strategy. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) often face the challenge of operating under limited resources. As a result, they devote the limited resources first to key functional areas, operations or marketing. However, a data strategy can be implemented gradually starting from one of the critical business functions. A sound data strategy can strengthen operations efficiency, enhance customer outreach, and improve the cost structure just from the quality decisions derived from accurate and timely information. This is achieved even before contemplating a business analytics strategy. The data strategy at the beginning stage focuses on scalability, integrity, and security.
The first step is to establish an integrated information system to correctly and timely collect, store, and organize data into a data management system. This doesn’t necessarily mean all data need to reside in a single hardware/software system. Many small businesses use different software packages to process different business operations due to resources concerns. Whenever there is an update on one system, this change must be reflected on either a centralized data repository where all systems draw input data from, or communicated with all those systems to update its stored data.