| dc.description.abstract | Latest technological advancements in computer storage, networking and processor speeds
have enabled organizations to develop innovative ways to intelligently collect data that was
not possible before. However, this has led to the explosion of data and unprecedented
challenges in making strategic and effective use of the available data. The current
information systems such as executive information systems and decision support systems,
among others, have not been able to provide crucial reports to decision makers. Decision
makers require reports that are timely, accurate, actionable, and depicting the whole
„business picture‟. Business Intelligent (BI) systems come to the rescue of decision makers.
BI systems provide timely, accurate, and actionable information to the right person
enabling quick and correct decisions. Higher learning institutions like universities, being
one of the organizations, require such systems for effective management. Past studies
reveal little adoption of BI in Kenyan Universities. This research project was geared
towards implementing a Business Intelligence System for Kenyan Universities; taking a
case of the Technical University of Kenya. Kimball‟s dimension modeling was used in
designing a data warehouse. The system was implemented using Hadoop cluster integrated
with R Statistical Software. Data warehouse was developed and analysis achieved using
Hive Query Language and R through data visualization and dashboards. Comparison with
the state-of-art open source BI tools was conducted. The project revealed great
opportunities for open source tools in data analytics for universities. The study
recommended a real-time BI system that would relay live status of events for effective
decision-making and also incorporation of unstructured data from social media in
improving the University analytics | en_US |
