Compiling the Business Background

Understanding your organization's business situation helps you know what you're working with in terms of:

• Available resources (personnel and material)
• Problems
• Goals

You'll need to do a bit of research on the current business situation in order to find real answers to questions that can impact the outcome of the data mining project.

Task 1--Determine Organizational Structure

• Develop organizational charts to illustrate corporate divisions, departments, and project groups. Be sure to include managers' names and responsibilities.
• Identify key individuals in the organization.
• Identify an internal sponsor who will provide financial support and/or domain expertise.
• Determine whether there is a steering committee and procure a list of members.
• Identify business units that will be affected by the data mining project.

Task 2--Describe Problem Area

• Identify the problem area, such as marketing, customer care, or business development.
• Describe the problem in general terms.
• Clarify the prerequisites of the project. What are the motivations behind the project? Does the business already use data mining?
• Check on the status of the data mining project within the business group. Has the effort been approved, or does data mining need to be "advertised" as a key technology for the business group?
• If necessary, prepare informational presentations on data mining to your organization.

Task 3--Describe Current Solution

• Describe any solutions currently used to address the business problem.
• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the current solution. Also, address the level of acceptance this solution has had within the organization.