Data Mining: Its Description and Uses

Data Mining: Its Description and Uses

Data mining also known as the process of analyzing the KDD which stands for Knowledge Discovery in Databases is a part of statistics and computer science. It is a process which aims to find out many various patterns in enormous sets of relational data.

It uses ways at the fields of machine learning, database systems, artificial intelligence, and statistics. It permits users to examine data from many various perspectives, sort it, and summarize the identified relationships.

In general, the objective of data mining process is to obtain info out of a data set and convert it into a comprehensible outline. Also, it includes the following: data processing, data management and database aspects, visualization, complexity considerations, online updating, inference and model considerations, and interestingness metrics.

On the other hand, the actual data mining assignment is the semi-automatic or automatic exploration of huge quantities of information to extract patterns that are interesting and previously unknown. Such patterns can be the unusual records or the anomaly detection, data records groups or the cluster analysis, and the dependencies or the association rule mining. Usually, this involves utilizing database methods like spatial indexes. Such patters could be perceived as a type of summary of input data, and could be used in further examination or, for example, in predictive analysis and machine learning.

Today, data mining is utilized by different consumer-focused companies like those in the financial, retails, marketing, and communications fields. It permits such companies to find out relationships among the internal aspects like staff skills, price, product positioning, and external aspects like customer information, competition, and economic indicators. Additionally, it allows them to define the effect on corporate profits, sales, and customer satisfaction; and dig into the summary information to be able to see transactional data in detail.

With data mining process, a retailer can make use of point-of-scale customer purchases records to send promotions based on the purchase history of a client. The retailer can improve products and campaigns or promotions that can be appealing to a definite customer group by using mining data from comment cards.

Generally, any of the following relationships are obtained.

1. Associations: Data could be mined to recognize associations.
2. Clusters: Data are sorted based on a rational relationships or consumer preferences.
3. Sequential Patters: Data is mined to expect patterns and trends in behavior.
4. Classes: Data that are stored are utilized to trace data in predetermined segments.

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Data Mining and Financial Data Analysis

Data Mining and Financial Data Analysis

Introduction:

Most marketers understand the value of collecting financial data, but also realize the challenges of leveraging this knowledge to create intelligent, proactive pathways back to the customer. Data mining - technologies and techniques for recognizing and tracking patterns within data - helps businesses sift through layers of seemingly unrelated data for meaningful relationships, where they can anticipate, rather than simply react to, customer needs as well as financial need. In this accessible introduction, we provides a business and technological overview of data mining and outlines how, along with sound business processes and complementary technologies, data mining can reinforce and redefine for financial analysis.

Objective:

1. The main objective of mining techniques is to discuss how customized data mining tools should be developed for financial data analysis.

2. Usage pattern, in terms of the purpose can be categories as per the need for financial analysis.

3. Develop a tool for financial analysis through data mining techniques.

Data mining:

Data mining is the procedure for extracting or mining knowledge for the large quantity of data or we can say data mining is "knowledge mining for data" or also we can say Knowledge Discovery in Database (KDD). Means data mining is : data collection , database creation, data management, data analysis and understanding.

There are some steps in the process of knowledge discovery in database, such as

1. Data cleaning. (To remove nose and inconsistent data)

2. Data integration. (Where multiple data source may be combined.)

3. Data selection. (Where data relevant to the analysis task are retrieved from the database.)

4. Data transformation. (Where data are transformed or consolidated into forms appropriate for mining by performing summary or aggregation operations, for instance)

5. Data mining. (An essential process where intelligent methods are applied in order to extract data patterns.)

6. Pattern evaluation. (To identify the truly interesting patterns representing knowledge based on some interesting measures.)

7. Knowledge presentation.(Where visualization and knowledge representation techniques are used to present the mined knowledge to the user.)

Data Warehouse:

A data warehouse is a repository of information collected from multiple sources, stored under a unified schema and which usually resides at a single site.

Text:

Most of the banks and financial institutions offer a wide verity of banking services such as checking, savings, business and individual customer transactions, credit and investment services like mutual funds etc. Some also offer insurance services and stock investment services.

There are different types of analysis available, but in this case we want to give one analysis known as "Evolution Analysis".

Data evolution analysis is used for the object whose behavior changes over time. Although this may include characterization, discrimination, association, classification, or clustering of time related data, means we can say this evolution analysis is done through the time series data analysis, sequence or periodicity pattern matching and similarity based data analysis.

Data collect from banking and financial sectors are often relatively complete, reliable and high quality, which gives the facility for analysis and data mining. Here we discuss few cases such as,

Eg, 1. Suppose we have stock market data of the last few years available. And we would like to invest in shares of best companies. A data mining study of stock exchange data may identify stock evolution regularities for overall stocks and for the stocks of particular companies. Such regularities may help predict future trends in stock market prices, contributing our decision making regarding stock investments.

Eg, 2. One may like to view the debt and revenue change by month, by region and by other factors along with minimum, maximum, total, average, and other statistical information. Data ware houses, give the facility for comparative analysis and outlier analysis all are play important roles in financial data analysis and mining.

Eg, 3. Loan payment prediction and customer credit analysis are critical to the business of the bank. There are many factors can strongly influence loan payment performance and customer credit rating. Data mining may help identify important factors and eliminate irrelevant one.

Factors related to the risk of loan payments like term of the loan, debt ratio, payment to income ratio, credit history and many more. The banks than decide whose profile shows relatively low risks according to the critical factor analysis.

We can perform the task faster and create a more sophisticated presentation with financial analysis software. These products condense complex data analyses into easy-to-understand graphic presentations. And there's a bonus: Such software can vault our practice to a more advanced business consulting level and help we attract new clients.

To help us find a program that best fits our needs-and our budget-we examined some of the leading packages that represent, by vendors' estimates, more than 90% of the market. Although all the packages are marketed as financial analysis software, they don't all perform every function needed for full-spectrum analyses. It should allow us to provide a unique service to clients.

The Products:

ACCPAC CFO (Comprehensive Financial Optimizer) is designed for small and medium-size enterprises and can help make business-planning decisions by modeling the impact of various options. This is accomplished by demonstrating the what-if outcomes of small changes. A roll forward feature prepares budgets or forecast reports in minutes. The program also generates a financial scorecard of key financial information and indicators.

Customized Financial Analysis by BizBench provides financial benchmarking to determine how a company compares to others in its industry by using the Risk Management Association (RMA) database. It also highlights key ratios that need improvement and year-to-year trend analysis. A unique function, Back Calculation, calculates the profit targets or the appropriate asset base to support existing sales and profitability. Its DuPont Model Analysis demonstrates how each ratio affects return on equity.

Financial Analysis CS reviews and compares a client's financial position with business peers or industry standards. It also can compare multiple locations of a single business to determine which are most profitable. Users who subscribe to the RMA option can integrate with Financial Analysis CS, which then lets them provide aggregated financial indicators of peers or industry standards, showing clients how their businesses compare.

iLumen regularly collects a client's financial information to provide ongoing analysis. It also provides benchmarking information, comparing the client's financial performance with industry peers. The system is Web-based and can monitor a client's performance on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis. The network can upload a trial balance file directly from any accounting software program and provide charts, graphs and ratios that demonstrate a company's performance for the period. Analysis tools are viewed through customized dashboards.

PlanGuru by New Horizon Technologies can generate client-ready integrated balance sheets, income statements and cash-flow statements. The program includes tools for analyzing data, making projections, forecasting and budgeting. It also supports multiple resulting scenarios. The system can calculate up to 21 financial ratios as well as the breakeven point. PlanGuru uses a spreadsheet-style interface and wizards that guide users through data entry. It can import from Excel, QuickBooks, Peachtree and plain text files. It comes in professional and consultant editions. An add-on, called the Business Analyzer, calculates benchmarks.

ProfitCents by Sageworks is Web-based, so it requires no software or updates. It integrates with QuickBooks, CCH, Caseware, Creative Solutions and Best Software applications. It also provides a wide variety of businesses analyses for nonprofits and sole proprietorships. The company offers free consulting, training and customer support. It's also available in Spanish.

ProfitSystem fx Profit Driver by CCH Tax and Accounting provides a wide range of financial diagnostics and analytics. It provides data in spreadsheet form and can calculate benchmarking against industry standards. The program can track up to 40 periods.

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Data Scrapping

Data Scrapping

People who are involved in business activities might have came across a term Data Scrapping. It is a process in which data or information can be extracted from the Portable Document Format file. They are easy to use tools that can automatically arrange the data that are found in different format in the internet. These advanced tools can collect useful information's according to the need of the user. What the user needs to do is simply enter the key words or phrases and the tool will extract all the related information available from the Portable Document Format file. It is widely used to take information's from the no editable format.

The main advantage of Portable Document Format files are they protect the originality of the document when you convert the data from Word to PDF. The size of the file is reduced by compression algorithems when the file are heavier due to the graphics or the images in the content. A Portable Document Format is independent of any software or hardware for installation. It allows encryption of files which enhances the security of your contents.

Although the Portable Document Format files have many advantages,it too have many other challenges. For example, you want to access a data that you found on the internet and the author encrypted the file preventing you from printing the file, you can easily do the scrapping process. These functions are easily available on the internet and the user can choose according to their needs. Using these programs you can extract the data that u need.

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Data Extraction - A Guideline to Use Scrapping Tools Effectively

Data Extraction - A Guideline to Use Scrapping Tools Effectively

So many people around the world do not have much knowledge about these scrapping tools. In their views, mining means extracting resources from the earth. In these internet technology days, the new mined resource is data. There are so many data mining software tools are available in the internet to extract specific data from the web. Every company in the world has been dealing with tons of data, managing and converting this data into a useful form is a real hectic work for them. If this right information is not available at the right time a company will lose valuable time to making strategic decisions on this accurate information.

This type of situation will break opportunities in the present competitive market. However, in these situations, the data extraction and data mining tools will help you to take the strategic decisions in right time to reach your goals in this competitive business. There are so many advantages with these tools that you can store customer information in a sequential manner, you can know the operations of your competitors, and also you can figure out your company performance. And it is a critical job to every company to have this information at fingertips when they need this information.

To survive in this competitive business world, this data extraction and data mining are critical in operations of the company. There is a powerful tool called Website scraper used in online digital mining. With this toll, you can filter the data in internet and retrieves the information for specific needs. This scrapping tool is used in various fields and types are numerous. Research, surveillance, and the harvesting of direct marketing leads is just a few ways the website scraper assists professionals in the workplace.

Screen scrapping tool is another tool which useful to extract the data from the web. This is much helpful when you work on the internet to mine data to your local hard disks. It provides a graphical interface allowing you to designate Universal Resource Locator, data elements to be extracted, and scripting logic to traverse pages and work with mined data. You can use this tool as periodical intervals. By using this tool, you can download the database in internet to you spread sheets. The important one in scrapping tools is Data mining software, it will extract the large amount of information from the web, and it will compare that date into a useful format. This tool is used in various sectors of business, especially, for those who are creating leads, budget establishing seeing the competitors charges and analysis the trends in online. With this tool, the information is gathered and immediately uses for your business needs.

Another best scrapping tool is e mailing scrapping tool, this tool crawls the public email addresses from various web sites. You can easily from a large mailing list with this tool. You can use these mailing lists to promote your product through online and proposals sending an offer for related business and many more to do. With this toll, you can find the targeted customers towards your product or potential business parents. This will allows you to expand your business in the online market.

There are so many well established and esteemed organizations are providing these features free of cost as the trial offer to customers. If you want permanent services, you need to pay nominal fees. You can download these services from their valuable web sites also.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Data-Extraction---A-Guideline-to-Use-Scrapping-Tools-Effectively&id=3600918

Scraping in PDF Files - Improving Accessibility

Scraping in PDF Files - Improving Accessibility

Scraping of data is one procedure where mechanically information is sorted out that is contained on the Net in HTML, PDF and various other documents. It is also about collecting relevant data and saving it in spreadsheets or databases for retrieval purposes. On a majority of sites, text content can be easily accessed in the source code however a good number of business houses are making use of Portable Document Format. This format had been launched by Adobe and documents in this format can be easily viewed on almost any operating system. Some people convert documents from word to PDF when they need sending files over the Net and many convert PDF to word so that they could edit their documents. The best benefit that one gets for making use of it is that documents look a replica of the original and there is no form of disturbance in viewing them as they appear organized and same on almost all operating systems. The downside of the format is that text in such files is converted into a picture or image and then copying and pasting it is not possible any more.

Scraping in this format is a procedure where data is scraped that is available in such files. Most diverse of the tools is needed in order to carry out scraping in a document that is created in this format. You'd find two main forms of PDF files where one is built from a text file and the other firm is where it is built from some image. There is software brought by Adobe itself which can capably do scraping in text based files. For files that are image-based, there is a need to make use of special application for the task.

OCR program is one primary tool to be used for such a matter. Optical Recognition Program is capable in scanning documents for small picture that can be segregated into letters. The pictures are compared with actual letters and given they match well; the letters get copied into one file. These programs are able to do scraping in an apt way in image-based files pretty much aptly however it cannot be said that they are perfect. Once the procedure is done you could search through data so as to find those areas and parts which you had been looking for. More often than not it is difficult to find a utility that can obtain exact data that is needed without proper customization. But if thoroughly checked, you cou

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How to scrape search results from search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo

How to scrape search results from search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo

Search giants like Google, Yahoo and Bing made their empire on scraping others content. However, they don’t want you to scrape them. How ironic, isn’t it?

Search engine performance is a very important metric all digital marketers want to measure and improve. I’m sure you will be using some great SEO tools to check how your keywords perform. All great SEO tool comes with a search keyword ranking feature. The tools will tell you how your keywords are performing in google, yahoo bing etc.

 How will you get data from search engines If you want to build a keyword ranking app?

 These search engines have API’s but the daily query limit is very low and not useful for the commercial purpose. The only solution is to scrape search results. Search engine giants obviously know this :). Once they know that you are scraping, they will  block your IP, Period!

 How do Search engines detect bots?

 Here are the common methods of detection of bots.

* IP address: Search engines can detect if there are too many requests coming from a single IP. If a high amount of traffic is detected, they will throw a captcha.

 * Search patterns: Search engines match traffic patterns to an existing set of patterns and if there is huge variation, they will classify this as a bot.

 If you don’t have access to sophisticated technology, it is impossible to scrape search engines like google, Bing or Yahoo.

 How to avoid detection

There are some things you can do to  avoid detection.

    Scrape slowly and don’t try to squeeze everything at once.
    Switch user agents between queries
    Scrape randomly and don’t follow the same pattern
    Use intelligent IP rotations
    Clear Cookies after each IP change or disable them completely

Thanks for reading this blog post.

Source: http://blog.datahut.co/how-to-scrape-search-results-from-search-engines-like-google-bing-and-yahoo/

Tapping The Mining Services Goldmine

Tapping The Mining Services Goldmine

In Australia, resources booms tend to come and go. In a recent speech, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Ric Battellino identified five major booms over the last two hundred years - from the gold rush of the 1850s, to our current minerals and energy boom.

Many have argued that the current boom is different from anything we've experienced before, with the modernisation of the Chinese and Indian economies likely to keep demand high for decades. That's led some analysts to talk of a resources supercycle. And yet a supercycle is still a cycle.

By definition, cycles are uneven, with commodity prices ebbing and flowing in response to demand, economic conditions and market sentiment. And the share prices of resources companies tend to move with them.

Which raises the question: what's the best way for investors to tap into the potential of the mining boom, without the heart-stopping volatility that mining stocks sometimes deliver?
Invest in the store that sells the spade

Legend has it that the people who really profited from Australia's gold rush weren't the miners who flocked to the fields, but the store-owners who sold them their spades and pans. You can put the same principle to work today by investing in mining services and engineering companies.

Here are five reasons to consider giving mining services companies a place in your portfolio:

1. Growing demand

In November, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics reported that mining and energy companies plan to invest a record $132.9bn in new projects, a 58% increase from the previous year. That includes 72 projects at an advanced stage of development, such as the $43bn Gorgon LNG project and the $20bn Olympic dam expansion. The mining services sector is poised to benefit from all of them.

The sector also stands to benefit from Australia's worsening skills shortage, with more companies looking to contractors to provide essential services in remote locations.

2. Less volatility

Resource stocks tend to fluctuate with commodity prices, which are subject to international economic forces and market sentiment beyond the control of any individual company. As a result, they are among the most volatile companies on the Australian sharemarket. But mining services stocks, while still exposed to the commodities cycle, tend to be more stable.

3. More predictable cash flow

One reason for the comparative volatility of commodity companies is that their cash flow can be very variable. In the development phase, they need to make significant capital expenditure, often leading to negative cash flows. And while they enjoy healthy revenues in the production phase, that revenue may diminish as a resource is exhausted, unless they make further investments in exploration and development.
In contrast, mining services companies require comparatively little capital investment, with more predictable cash flows over the long-term.

4. Higher dividends
Predictable cash flows and lower capital expenditures often allow services companies to pay out more of their earnings as dividends, making them more appealing for income-oriented investors.

5. No need to pick winners

Many miners are highly leveraged to demand for a single commodity, whether it's gold, coal, copper or iron ore. Some are reliant on a single mine or field. Whereas services companies generally have a more diversified customer base.

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