TABLE OF CONTENTS This book is in part a detailed map of how to construct models of business situations in general, although it focuses on those particular business models that can usefully be explored, informed, clarified, and applied using the computationally intensive analytic techniques known collectively as data mining. Discovering opportunities or solving problems is the usual rationale for modeling a business situation; however, none of the components of the situation exist in a vacuum they all carry a considerable load of baggage with them.
It is quite possible to dive straight into detailed descriptions of the tools and techniques for developing, exploring, outlining, clarifying, and constructing models of business situations without preamble. It's also possible to get straight down to the "brass tacks" of data mining without looking at any of the surrounding issues or caveats. However, doing so ignores an enormous amount of potentially useful knowledge. Immediately looking at tools and techniques leaves out entirely any idea of the general sense of what it means to be immersed in the live situation: what sort of thoughts and approaches are generally worthwhile; what assumptions might lurk unnoticed until too late; what kind of thought process the modeler or miner may need to follow, explore, or exercise with caution. In other words, what diving into techniques and tools misses is a look at the broader sweep of the actual process of...
