3. PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS TOOLS › 3.2 Relative Importance › 3.2.1 Functional Description

3.2.1 Functional Description

Relative Importance (CA's U.S. patented Neugents(R)
technology facility) utilizes proprietary analytical
technology to understand and quantify the effect of a list of
data values (independent element) against a client specified
dependent element.  While a similar analysis can be performed
using standard statistical means such as correspondence
matrix, the Relative Importance facility can not only
determine linear relationships among data values but
non-linear relationships as well.  This is important when
exploring data that may not be well understood and can result
in a more accurate understanding of the relationships among
the data values.  As with other CA MICS Performance Manager
facilities, any files to be analyzed using Relative
Importance must reside in the CA MICS database.

The process itself is straightforward.  Determine the
dependent data element to use for analysis, and CA MICS
Performance Manager will produce a default list of all
quantitative independent data elements defined on the
Relative Importance Analysis screen.

During execution, the Relative Importance facility will
analyze the values of each selected independent element and
develop a weight that quantifies the effect of the data value
against the dependent element.  The sum of the weights for
all selected elements will be 100 and will quantify the
impact of each selected independent data element against the
dependent variable.  Those data values with a greater weight
have a more significant impact on the dependent element than
those with a lesser weight, and will likely be of more
interest in any future analysis.