Although many authors and consultants have defined it slightly differently, one can view analytics as the process of developing actionable decisions or recommendation for actions based upon insights generated from historical data. The Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) has created a major initiative to organize and promote analytics. According to INFORMS, analytics represents the combination of computer technology, management science techniques, and statistics to solve real problems. Of course, many other organizations have proposed their own interpretations and motivation for analytics. For example, SAS Institute Inc. proposed eight levels of analytics that begin with standardized reports from a computer system. These reports essentially provide a sense of what is happening with an organization. Additional technologies have enabled us to create more customized reports that can be generated on an ad hoc basis. The next extension of reporting takes us to online analytical processing (OLAP) type queries that allow a user to dig deeper and determine specific source of concern or opportunities. Technologies available today can also automatically issues alerts for a decision maker when the performance issues warrant such alerts. At a consumer level we see such alerts for weather or other issues. But similar alerts can also be generated in specific settings when the sales fall above or below a certain level within a certain time period, or say when the inventory for a specific product is running low. All of the above applications are made possible through analysis and queries on data being collected by an organization. The next level of analysis might entail statistical analysis to better understand patterns. These can then be taken a step further to develop forecasts or models for predicting how customers might respond to a specific marketing campaign or ongoing service/product offerings. When an organization has a good view of what is happening and what is likely to happen, it can also employ other techniques to make the best decisions under the circumstances. These eight levels of analytics are described in more detail in a white paper by SAS.