Bizminer Tutorial

by Dr. Del Hawley
Senior Associate Dean
School of Business

This is an academic license, and as such is for student and instructional (not personal) use. The data is not the current data that is available only to commercial subscribers, but rather is archived data that is generally one year older than the current data.

According to the BizMiner website, raw data utilized in BizMiner reports is sourced from the nation's most acknowledged business credit reporting agencies and other private databases. In total, BizMiner accesses over half a billion sourced data points from eighteen million business operations for each of its twice annual updates. Census and other government data
is used incidentally to inform and test projections for non-reporting firms.

To access the site, go to http://www.BizMiner.com if you are on the UM campus, or use the J. D. Williams' library gateway (you must have a valid UM ID card) if you are not on campus (www.olemiss.edu/depts/general_library/ ) and click on ARTICLES AND DATABASES and then find and click on BIZMINER). If you do not see the heading "Bizminer Academic Site" on the first page that loads, you have not been authenticated as a UM academic user and are instead in the commercial site. Check your location and try to login again.

The first time you access any of the data you will need to register to create a user name and password, but you can use the same name and password after that whenever you return to the site.

Use any of the search tools to obtain a report. Note, however, that when you access reports they should have a "licensed" label in red where the price would otherwise be. If you don't see the "licensed" label and instead see a price or "purchase", you have managed to get off into the commercial site and need to exit and reenter the academic site.

Let's try an example. Suppose we want to start a Chinese restaurant in Oxford, MS. In order to do our business plan and budgets, we need to have some idea of the cost structure for Chinese restaurants, and we also need to know something about the demographics of the Oxford market. An easy way to start is to enter something in the INDUSTRY SEARCH box on the left of the screen. Enter "Chinese restaurant" and click SEARCH. Scroll down the resulting screen until you see "Chinese restaurant" in the list. Two types of reports are listed; Financial Analysis and Market Research.

Click on the icon for the financial analysis reports. The next screen lists three financial reports that you can retrieve: an industry-wide version, a small business version, and a startup version. Since we want to do a startup, click on ADD TO CART for the startup version report. THe next screen will show your shopping cart, which should have one item in it. Click on ACCESS NOW.

Here is where you have to create a login username and password or login with your preciously created username and password if you were here before.

After logging in, you should see the report you requested. Click on VIEW to see it. Wow! You get average income statement and balance sheet items along with major ratios for based on several thousand business in the category (Eating Places/Startup).

Close that window and repeat your search on Chinese restaurant again, but this time click on the icon for the Marketing Research reports. You should see two reports listed on the next screen: a US Marketing Research Profile and a Local Marketing Research Profile. We are concerned with the market in Oxford, MS, so let's use the local report.

Click in the drop-down menu for that report and select MISSISSIPPI from the list. Note that below the states in the list there are many municipalities listed, but (surprise) Oxford is not in the list. With Mississippi selected as the state, click on ADD TO CART, and then on ACCESS NOW on the next screen. You should see a listing on the next screen for this report. Click VIEW to see the report. Wow Again! You get a lot of very useful information on the breakdown of businesses by type and size, trends in sales, information to help you know how many employees you will need, trends in the business category, and more.

Close that window and click on LOCAL BUSINESS SUMMARY under INDUSTRY REPORTS on the left-side menu. In the drop-down list on the resulting screen, find Lafayette County MS in the list and select it, then click on ADD TO CART, and then on ACCESS NOW in the next window. View that report from the next window. You get some very useful vitality measures for the county with a breakdown on those measures by broad industry categories.

Close that window and try one last search. Click on MARKETING RESEARCH under INDUSTRY REPORTS in the left-side menu, then click on SEARCH BY INDUSTRY on the right side of the screen. Click on "R" in the alphabet list, and then find RESTAURANT, FAMILY, INDEPENDENT in the list, since we want to open a one-location restaurant that is a family operation. In the next screen, select MISSISSIPPI in the drop-down list and then click ADD TO CART and then ACCESS NOW. View the resulting report, which gives valuable information on businesses in that particular niche in Mississippi.

Spend some time exploring what is available in this truly vast resource. You will find many uses for this data in your class assignments and projects.