I am a Data Junkie

Submitted by Paul McGinley
Regional Loss Prevention Mgr, Dollar Financial Group

I am a data junkie. That is to say, I have become one. I can't claim that I always loved data. I used it as a tool to further investigations, target specific incidents, and assist in audits, but I didn't appreciate data for what it was. Now I realize that data is the single most important tool we have, yet it seems completely useless at the same time (I promise there is no contradiction here). My transformation from data user to data junkie came at the hands of that realization.

To illustrate how useless data can be, while still being extremely powerful, let us take a look at one of the reports I receive on a daily basis. The absolutely most useful report in my arsenal is 11 columns wide and between 9,500 and 10,500 rows. This means that, on average, this single report has 110,000 data points. With 30 daily reports (both smaller and larger than the aforementioned), on any given day I receive between 2.75 and 3.25 MILLION data points to review. That amount of data is clearly, in and of itself, useless. But there is nothing wrong with that, the gold is in there but you must mine for it. To find that gold, one must accept that, on its own, data is useless. Data is like that shiny new Porsche in your driveway. It sure is beautiful, and you can brag to your friends about it, but doesn't do anything without gas in it. The same is true with data. You can pull in as many data points as you want to brag about how much data you are pulling, but unless you have the proper fuel it is useless. That fuel is analysis.

Analysis drives your data into a usable format. One that individuals beyond your team will react to and interact with. Analysis turns your data into information. A few months back I saw a Tweet that stated "People don't want data. They want information." This couldn't be more accurate. Data, as we saw above, is overwhelming. Furthermore, any of those individual 3 million data points don't mean anything on their own. It is up to us to leverage our analytical skills to provide the information for further audiences (other Loss Prevention entities, Operations, Executive Management). To do this, it is critical that we truly understand our data. I was lucky enough to be able to design our analytics program from scratch. This resulted in full knowledge and transparency of the data flow process. It allowed us to ask highly specific and tailored questions to our Point of Sale system without making assumptions that will result in us missing a new twist, or force us into onerous upgrades as fraudulent activity evolves. This understanding allows one to understand the story the data tells. Ultimately, this is a story about the interaction of data points, what they mean when taken together and what front end processes got them there. This is a story about employee theft and external entity process manipulation. But the story is written in another language.

Data needs an interpreter to become usable. It needs a story teller to communicate the plot. As we build more robust data collections systems its critical to not loose sight of these necessities. Build a solid team of analysts, or become that person yourself. You might not ever be a data junkie, but maybe you will end up as a story teller.