Overview of the Business Analyst Toolbox

Business Analyst tools are designed to allow users to evaluate their business applications utilizing a variety of wizard-driven, business-oriented tools. This toolbox provides advanced analysis tools and an extensive library of data from industry-leading data providers to help make better business decisions regardless of the size of an organization. The following lists the toolsets and the tools available in the Business Analyst toolbox and provides a brief description of each.

Analysis toolset: When taking an in-depth look at the characteristics of stores and/or customers, the Analysis tools allow you to identify and target your customers, locate new store locations, find potential sites based on existing premier sites, and extract business data based on custom trade areas.

Analysis toolset tools	Description
Customer Profiling	Profiles the demographic attributes of customers based on a selected demographic or custom data layer that is loaded.
Customer Prospecting by Demographic Data	A tool designed to search for areas that contain a certain type of customer.
Customer Prospecting by Using PCA	A tool designed to search for areas that contain a certain type of customer, using Principal Components Analysis.
Desire Lines	Draws a series of rays from each customer to the store, like a spider diagram.
Find Similar	Scores potential sites against a known, well-performing site called a master site.
Mean Store Center	Creates a centroid in the mean geographic center of your customer points.
Spatial Overlay	Extracts data from one layer, such as block groups, to an overlay layer, such as a trade area you have created in ArcMap.

Analysis toolset summary

Customer Setup toolset: This toolset provides tools to set up customer data and format it for use in Business Analyst by geocoding address data, creating new customer layers, using existing point data, and generating customer assignments.

Customer toolset tools	Description
Assign By Closest Stores Location	Assigns customers to stores by closest location by a straight-line distance method.
Assign By Trade Area	Assigns customers to stores based on one or more existing trade areas.
Assign Customers by ID	Assigns customers to stores based on existing store IDs.
Assign Customers by SOLAP ata	Designed to use multiple fields which are extracted from OLAP cubes to build criteria for assigning customers to stores.
Create a Customer Layer with Address Data	Geocodes tabular data and defines the output feature class as a store file for use in the Analysis and the Trade Areas tools.
Create an Empty Customer Layer	Generates a new blank feature class (or store layer) and allows the user to create blank fields to be populated later.
Setup Customers Using Existing Data	Defines an output feature class based on an existing feature class as a customer file for use in the Analysis and the Trade Areas tools.
Setup Customers Using Tabular Data	Geocodes tabular data and defines the output feature class as a customer file for use in the Analysis and the Trade Areas tools.
Setup Customers Using XY Data	Translates x,y (latitude-longitude) coordinate data into a customer layer.

Customer Setup toolset summary

Modeling toolset: This toolset provides tools to generate sale predictability model outputs based on basic and advanced approaches utilizing the Huff model approach.

Modeling toolset tools	Description
Advanced Huff Model	Creates a probability surface to predict the sales potential of an area based on distance and at an attractiveness factor. This tool allows multiple measures of attractiveness and can be statistically calibrated with survey or customer data.
Huff Model Calibration by Real Data	Statistically calibrates the Advanced Huff Model with real data.
Huff Model Calibration by Survey Data	Statistically calibrates the Advanced Huff Model with survey data.
Original Huff Model	Creates a probability surface to predict the sales potential of an area based on distance and at an attractiveness factor.

Modeling toolset summary

Reports toolset: This toolset provides tools to generate reports based on standard demographic or custom data, allowing market ranking and geographic analysis, site location, customer distribution, and standard demographic reports.

Reports toolset tools	Description
Average Drive Time Report	Calculates the average drive time for a trade area.
Batch Reports	Batches reports and runs them at a later time.
Benchmark Report	A comparative report that benchmarks two or more trade areas based on volumetric data (typically demographic data).
Business Point Reports	A report that shows information for business and/or shopping center locations.
Customer Demographic Comparison Report	Compares the demographic profiles or two different sets of customer locations.
Customer Geographic Summary Report	Lists standard geographic distributions for your customer layer.
Distance Decay Report	Calculates market penetration for a number of ring or drive-time polygons around your stores.
Export Reports	Allows you to select existing reports and export to different formats.
Locator Report	Generates a report based on the relation of stores to competitors.
Map Layout Report	Generates a report of your map layout.
Map Series Report	Instantly generates a report or map image of several trade areas.
Market Ranking Report	Generates a report to rank data based on a selected variable.
Quick Reports	Quickly runs reports for single or multiple sites.
Summarize Points Report	Generates total points and sums database attributes within a trade area.
Wind Rose Report	Offers a visual representation of the frequency and direction of customer locations.

Reports toolset summary

Segmentation Analysis toolset: Segmentation analysis provides an accurate, detailed analysis of America's neighborhoods. U.S. residential areas are divided into 65 segments based on demographic variables such as age, income, home value, occupation, household type, education, and other consumer behavior characteristics. These characteristics are used to classify and evaluate your data utilizing these tools.

Segmentation Analysis toolset tools	Description
Core and Developmental Segments Report	Displays core and developmental segments in a table with customer count and percent, market area count and percent, and index.
Customer Demographic Profile Report	Summarizes the demographic makeup of the geographies where your customers live.
Customer Tapestry Profile Segmentation Report	Shows the Tapestry segments and summary groups that most accurately reflect customer records and compares customer profiles to the tapestry profile of your base geography.
Game Plan Chart	Divides segments into four quadrants based on percent composition and index.
Game Plan Map	Divides segments into one of four categories and thematically shades each segment based on the output from the Game Plan Chart.
Gap Analysis Report	Creates a report to analyze a market by displaying total households, percent core households, percent developmental households, actual customers, customer penetration, expected customers, and the gap for a given level of geography.
Market Potential Report	Market Potential data measures the likely demand for a product or service for your market area by a specific geography level. You can use this report to make decisions about where to offer products and services.
Market Potential Volume Report	Market Potential data measures the likely demand a product or service has for your market area by a specific geography level by household counts and volume (sales). You can use this report to make decisions about where to offer products and services.
Match Level Summary Report	Creates a report that assigns customer records to one of four match levels based on the geographic code assigned to each customer, using the address information from your Customer file.
MRI Segmentation Report	Creates a report to compare the tapestry profile of your core and developmental customers to the tapestry profile of a syndicated survey.
Segmentation Charts	Graphically displays index values for each segment when comparing two or more profiles.
Segmentation Penetration Map	Thematically shades the percent penetration of selected segments.
Profile Volume Segmentation Report	Shows the tapestry segments and summary groups that most accurately reflect customer records and compares customer profiles to the tapestry profile of your base geography based on households or adult population and volume (sales).
Target Map	Thematically shades selected segments a single color.

Segmentation Analysis toolset summary

Segmentation Profiles toolset: This toolset provides tools that allow profiles to be created for use in other Business Analyst modeling and segmentation analyses.

Segmentation Profiles toolset tools	Description
Create Profile by Area Summation	Creates segmentation area profiles with standard geography units, study areas, trade areas, and other polygon layers.
Create Profile by Customer Layer	Creates a segmentation profile with an existing customer layer.
Create Profile by Import From Table	Creates a profile from a table of aggregated segmentation information.
Create Profile by Table Geocoding	Creates a profile from a table of address records.
Create Profile From Segmentation Coded Table	Creates a profile from a table of records that have segmentation codes already appended.
Create Target Group	Creates target groups of profile segments.

Segmentation Profiles toolset summary

Store Setup toolset: This toolset provides tools to set up store data and format it for use in Business Analyst by geocoding address data, creating new store layers, and using existing point data.

Store Setup toolset tools	Description
Create a Store Layer With Address Data	Geocodes tabular data and defines the output feature class as a store file for use in the Analysis and the Trade Areas tools.
Create an Empty Store Layer	Generates a new blank feature class (or store layer) and allows the user to create blank fields to be populated later.
Setup Store Using Existing Data	Imports stores that are in a shapefile format (this means they have already been geocoded) and identifies them as stores for further analysis.
Setup Store Using Tabular Data	Transforms tabular data (.dbf, .txt, or RDBMS format) into stores (or points) on a map (that is, geocodes data) for further analysis.
Setup Store Using XY Data	Transforms x,y coordinate data into stores (or points) on a map (that is, geocodes data) for further analysis.

Store Setup toolset summary

Territory Design toolbox: This toolbox provides toolsets to create and balance territories for point and polygon datasets. There are seven toolsets which can facilitate in the management of territory solutions.

Toolset	Description
Create Territories	The Create Territories toolset provides a set of tools to create and balance territories for point and polygon datasets. The available tools allow you to automate workflows and share across your organization.
Create Territory Solution	The Create Territory Solution toolset provides a set of tools to set up, modify, and manage territories in a variety of ways. Territory creation options can be performed manually, from seed points, optimal locations, centers of density and from a database.
Delete Territory Solution	The Delete Territory Solution toolset provides the capability for managing layers of specified territory solutions. The available tools allow you to automate workflows and share across your organization.
Export Territories	The Export Territories Toolset provides multiple options to export your territories for analysis in other programs. For example, you can create a set of territories, then export them for use in Business Analyst.
Improve Territories	The Improve Territories toolset provides the capability for balancing territories. Users can balance multiple variables and weights according to their preference.
Reports	The Reports toolset provides a set of tools to summarize your territory solutions and disseminate the information. Types of reports that can be generated allow users to show the key differences or similarities between two territory solutions or show a quick snapshot of selected territories and their levels.
Setup Territory Solution	The Setup Territory Solution toolset provides a set of tools to set up, modify, and manage territories in a variety of ways. This toolset allows user to build territory hierarchy, manage external variables, setup barriers and constraints, and difine territory extents.

Toolsets in the Territory Design toolbox

Thematic Maps toolset: This toolset is full of wizard-driven thematic tools to help you thematically map your feature classes.

Thematic Maps toolset tools	Description
Symbolize by Chart	Thematically maps a feature class based on a numeric field and displays it as a symbolized chart.
Symbolize by Dot Density	Thematically maps a feature class based on a numeric field as dots on the map.
Symbolize by Line Thickness	Thematically maps a feature class based on a numeric field and displays it as a symbolized line.
Symbolize by Non-Numeric Field	Thematically maps a feature class based on a nonnumeric field.
Symbolize by Numeric Field	Thematically maps a feature class based on a numeric field.
Symbolize by Point Size	Thematically maps a feature class based on a numeric field and displays it as a symbolized point.

Thematic Maps toolset summary

Trade Areas toolset: Trade areas are used to generate market areas based on many inputs, including customer data, standard geographies, attribute information, drive times, and static rings.

Trade Areas toolset tools	Description
Create Trade Area From Geography Levels	Generates trade areas based on standard geographic units.
Create Trade Area From Subgeography Layer	Generates trades areas from the features of an input polygon layer that intersect a defined boundary layer.
Customer Derived Trade Areas	Creates market areas around your stores based on the number of customers or some other characteristic of the customers.
Data Driven Rings	Creates a new feature class of ring trade area features. The radii are determined by a field in the ring centers (store) layer.
Dissolve By Attribute Range	Aggregates features based on specified attributes.
Drive Time	Creates a new feature class of trade area features based on drive times or driving distance.
Grids	Generates equidistant grids based on users' input.
Huff's Equal Probability Trade Areas	Generates boundaries between stores weighted on one or more variables.
Market Penetration	Calculates the market penetration based on customer data within an area.
Measure Cannibalization	Measures the overlap between trade areas (cannibalization)
Monitor Trade Area Change	Monitors change between trade areas.
Remove Trade Area Overlap	Removes overlap (cannibalization) between trade areas.
Static Rings	Creates a new feature class of ring trade area features using a set of radii.
Thiessen Polygons	Generates apportioned trade areas for each store by creating boundary lines equidistant from each of the store locations.
Threshold Data Driven Ring	Creates rings around your stores using a radius that is proportional to a store characteristic, such as total sales.
Threshold Trade Areas	Creates simple rings or drive-time polygons around your stores using a radius that is determined by expanding from the store location until it meets your criteria.

Trade Areas tools summary Feedback on this topic?