Advanced Analytics and Applications (M. Sc.)
Welcome to Advanced Analytics and Applications [AAA]. This course and the accompanying reading materials aim to provide you with knowledge and skills required for advanced data analytics using information systems that drive business success.
Business analytics is the use of data-driven decision making. Companies, governments, and other organizations now collect and have access to large amounts of data about suppliers, clients, employees, citizens, transactions, etc. Data Mining and predictive analytics provide a powerful toolkit for detecting actionable patterns in data and generating predictions. These methods are used in many industries:
- Mobile companies use their customer database to predict customer churn or to personalize SMS messages for improving customer service
- Financial institutions use past loan data to predict defaulting chance for loan applicants
- Charities use data from a campaign in one location to target the right people in another location
- Politicians use databases of supporters to segment and best target each audience
- Movie rental and eCommerce websites provide recommendations based on users online behavior
- Renewable energy providers use weather forecasts to predict their electricity generation to better trade in different types of markets.
Most business analytics applications are geared towards benefiting the company, often at the expense of the individual, community, and society. The focus of this course is on humane and socially-responsible business analytics, especially with the focus on sustainability.
In the course we will work with real business problems and real data. We will examine types of questions that data mining can answer and the appropriate data mining tools for answering different questions. The emphasis is on understanding the concepts and logic behind a wide set of data mining techniques and their relation to specific business analytics situations. The course is not about mastering the theoretical underpinnings of the techniques. The course is focused on a business analytics team project that will encapsulate the learnings. In your team project, you will develop the idea, the business justification, and the analytics for a compelling (sustainable) business application.
You will learn about the process of data analytics. You will learn to identify problems, to define the structure of an information system, to evaluate competing solutions for a business problem, and you will start to “speak business and analytics”. You will gain an insight into how important these activities are in creating information systems that are truly aligned with business needs. Throughout the course, you will also learn about selected topics in sustainability, especially in terms of renewable electricity.