Ad hoc analytics is analyzing data on demand to answer specific business questions. It can be used to fill gaps in regular reports or make investment decisions. The output varies and depends on the data used for analysis.
Ad hoc analytics is the discipline of analyzing data on a need or demand basis. This analysis is based on a set of data available to the person performing the analysis. The resulting analysis is only as good as the data on which it is based. Typically, this process is used to answer a specific business question.
The purpose of the ad hoc analysis could be to fill in the blanks left by the regular reports. This form of analysis could also be used to determine whether a company should make an investment or sell a business. The dataset used to complete the analysis depends on the question the analysis is attempting to answer. Each time a form of this analysis is completed to answer a question, the process and data used may be different.
A business might consider a purchase of new equipment. The company may have one of its employees complete some ad-hoc analysis to determine whether the new equipment purchase would bring the company any income over a given period of time, based on the company’s current contracts. The employee can perform a variety of variables based on information associated with the cost of purchasing new equipment, the cost of maintaining the new equipment, and the savings associated with using the new equipment.
Another company might be trying to decide whether to change payment terms for all or a group of customers. An employee or consultant hired by the company may be asked to complete the ad hoc analyzes necessary to determine if the company could change the payment terms. The person doing the review might review your current payment terms and how specific customers pay in general. After gathering the information, the auditor may find that some customers pay within payment deadlines, while other customers struggle to meet payment deadlines. Depending on the discrepancy between the current payment terms and the customer’s payment patterns, the company may choose to implement a new set of payment terms.
The output of any ad hoc analysis set can vary. Some analysts put together graphs or charts to show the results of the analysis graphically. Other people might develop a new report or other form of data summary. This type of analysis is completed for a particular business question, so the form in which the results of the analysis are presented will usually be an answer to the question.
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