Business analytics is the practice of collecting, validating, organizing, and interpreting data to support a decision. A useful analysis begins with a business question, not with a chart.
Descriptive analytics explains what happened. Diagnostic analytics explores why it happened. Predictive analytics estimates what may happen. Prescriptive analytics recommends an action and its trade-offs.
A metric becomes useful only when its definition, denominator, time period, segment, data source, owner, and decision rule are clear.