Combine business sense, statistics, and computers in a new and intuitive way, thanks to Big Data Predictive analytics is a branch of data mining that helps predict probabilities and trends. Predictive Analytics For Dummies explores the power of predictive analytics and how you can use it to make valuable predictions for your business, or in fields such as advertising, fraud detection, politics, and others. This practical book does not bog you down with loads of mathematical or scientific theory, but instead helps you quickly see how to use the right algorithms and tools to collect and analyze data and apply it to make predictions. Topics include using structured and unstructured data, building models, creating a predictive analysis roadmap, setting realistic goals, budgeting, and much more. Shows readers how to use Big Data and data mining to discover patterns and make predictions for tech-savvy businesses Helps readers see how to shepherd predictive analytics projects through their companies Explains just enough of the science and math, but also focuses on practical issues such as protecting project budgets, making good presentations, and more Covers nuts-and-bolts topics including predictive analytics basics, using structured and unstructured data, data mining, and algorithms and techniques for analyzing data Also covers clustering, association, and statistical models; creating a predictive analytics roadmap; and applying predictions to the web, marketing, finance, health care, and elsewhere Propose, produce, and protect predictive analytics projects through your company with Predictive Analytics For Dummies.

This book ties together big data, data mining, and analytics to explain how readers can leverage them to transform their business strategy.

A practical guide to deploying mathematical and statistical models when performing analytics The Heuristics in Analytics describes analytic processes and how they fit into the heuristic world around us. In spite of the strong heuristic characteristics of the analytical processes, this important book emphasizes the need to have the proper tools to engage analytics. It describes the analytical process from the exploratory analysis in respect to business scenarios and corporate environments, to model developments; and from statistics, probability, stochastic, mathematics, and artificial intelligence; to the deployments and possible outcomes. Describes the overall analytical process in terms of modeling, deployment, and application Offers a new perspective of the randomness in analytical modeling Presents distinct analytical approaches such as statistical, probabilistic, stochastic, and mathematical Includes case studies on the entire analytical process using telecom companies based in Brazil, Ireland, Turkey, United Sates, and Canada Randomness holds a strong impact in the everyday world. It makes sense, then, that analytics are put in place to understand business occurrences, marketplace scenarios, and consumer behavior. The Heuristics in Analytics uniquely shows how random events on a daily basis might completely change expectations, predictions, and behaviors, particularly in corporate environments, and how companies can build a proper analytical strategy to diminish the effect of randomness in business actions.

You can measure practically anything in the age of social media, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for, collecting mountains of data won’t yield a grain of insight. This non-technical guide shows you how to extract significant business value from big data with Ask-Measure-Learn, a system that helps you ask the right questions, measure the right data, and then learn from the results. Authors Lutz Finger and Soumitra Dutta originally devised this system to help governments and NGOs sift through volumes of data. With this book, these two experts provide business managers and analysts with a high-level overview of the Ask-Measure-Learn system, and demonstrate specific ways to apply social media analytics to marketing, sales, public relations, and customer management, using examples and case studies.

Whether you are brand new to data mining or working on your tenth predictive analytics project, Commercial Data Mining will be there for you as an accessible reference outlining the entire process and related themes. In this book, you'll learn that your organization does not need a huge volume of data or a Fortune 500 budget to generate business using existing information assets. Expert author David Nettleton guides you through the process from beginning to end and covers everything from business objectives to data sources, and selection to analysis and predictive modeling. Commercial Data Mining includes case studies and practical examples from Nettleton's more than 20 years of commercial experience. Real-world cases covering customer loyalty, cross-selling, and audience prediction in industries including insurance, banking, and media illustrate the concepts and techniques explained throughout the book. Illustrates cost-benefit evaluation of potential projects Includes vendor-agnostic advice on what to look for in off-the-shelf solutions as well as tips on building your own data mining tools Approachable reference can be read from cover to cover by readers of all experience levels Includes practical examples and case studies as well as actionable business insights from author's own experience

This new business analytics case study challenges readers to forecast donations, plan budgets, and manage cash flow for a religious institution suffering rapidly falling contributions. Crystallizing realistic analytical challenges faced by non-profit and for-profit organizations of all kinds, it exposes readers to the entire decision-making process, providing opportunities to perform analyses, interpret output, and recommend the best course of action. Author: Matthew J. Drake, Duquesne University.

This new business analytics case study challenges readers to project trends and plan capacity for a fast-growing craft beer operation, so it can make the best possible decisions about expensive investments in brewing capacity. Crystallizing realistic analytical challenges faced by companies in many industries and markets, it exposes readers to the entire decision-making process, providing opportunities to perform analyses, interpret output, and recommend the best course of action. Author: Eric Huggins, Fort Lewis College.

Tired of boring spreadsheets and data overload from confusing graphs? Master the art of visualization with Rapid Graphs with Tableau 8! Tableau insiders Stephen and Eileen McDaniel expertly provide a hands-on case study approach and more than 225 illustrations that will teach you how to quickly explore and understand your data to make informed decisions in a wide variety of real-world situations. Rapid Graphs with Tableau 8 includes best practices of visual analytics for ideas on how to communicate your findings with audience-friendly graphs, tables and maps. "A picture is worth a thousand words" is a common saying that is more relevant today than ever as data volumes grow and the need for easy access to answers becomes more critical. This book covers the core of Tableau capabilities in easy-to-follow examples, updated and expanded for Version 8. Learn how to be successful with Tableau from the team that started the original training program as the founding Tableau Education Partner! "A must read for anyone interested in Tableau. Clear explanations, practical advice and beautiful examples!" Elissa Fink – Chief Marketing Officer, Tableau Software What you'll learn Connect to and review data visually Create insightful maps and take advantage of view shifting Understand the types of views available in Tableau Take advantage of the powerful Marks card and much more Who this book is for Rapid Graphs with Tableau 8 is a great resource for those new to Tableau, and also contains useful tips and tricks for advanced users as well.

This book explains how to use business analytics to sort through an ever-increasing amount of data and improve the decision-making capabilities of an organization. Covering the key areas of business analytics, the book explores the concepts, techniques, applications, and emerging trends that professionals across a wide range of industries need to be aware of. It also examines legal and privacy issues and explores social media in analytics. With this book, readers can develop the understanding required to use Big Data and high-performance computing in complex environments to improve strategic decision making.

Statistical Computation for Programmers, Scientists, Quants, Excel Users, and Other Professionals Using the open source R language, you can build powerful statistical models to answer many of your most challenging questions. R has traditionally been difficult for non-statisticians to learn, and most R books assume far too much knowledge to be of help. R for Everyone is the solution. Drawing on his unsurpassed experience teaching new users, professional data scientist Jared P. Lander has written the perfect tutorial for anyone new to statistical programming and modeling. Organized to make learning easy and intuitive, this guide focuses on the 20 percent of R functionality you’ll need to accomplish 80 percent of modern data tasks. Lander’s self-contained chapters start with the absolute basics, offering extensive hands-on practice and sample code. You’ll download and install R; navigate and use the R environment; master basic program control, data import, and manipulation; and walk through several essential tests. Then, building on this foundation, you’ll construct several complete models, both linear and nonlinear, and use some data mining techniques. By the time you’re done, you won’t just know how to write R programs, you’ll be ready to tackle the statistical problems you care about most. COVERAGE INCLUDES • Exploring R, RStudio, and R packages • Using R for math: variable types, vectors, calling functions, and more • Exploiting data structures, including data.frames, matrices, and lists • Creating attractive, intuitive statistical graphics • Writing user-defined functions • Controlling program flow with if, ifelse, and complex checks • Improving program efficiency with group manipulations • Combining and reshaping multiple datasets • Manipulating strings using R’s facilities and regular expressions • Creating normal, binomial, and Poisson probability distributions • Programming basic statistics: mean, standard deviation, and t-tests • Building linear, generalized linear, and nonlinear models • Assessing the quality of models and variable selection • Preventing overfitting, using the Elastic Net and Bayesian methods • Analyzing univariate and multivariate time series data • Grouping data via K-means and hierarchical clustering • Preparing reports, slideshows, and web pages with knitr • Building reusable R packages with devtools and Rcpp • Getting involved with the R global community

Make healthcare analytics work: leverage its powerful opportunities for improving outcomes, cost, and efficiency.This book gives you thepractical frameworks, strategies, tactics, and case studies you need to go beyond talk to action. The contributing healthcare analytics innovators survey the field’s current state, present start-to-finish guidance for planning and implementation, and help decision-makers prepare for tomorrow’s advances. They present in-depth case studies revealing how leading organizations have organized and executed analytic strategies that work, and fully cover the primary applications of analytics in all three sectors of the healthcare ecosystem: Provider, Payer, and Life Sciences. Co-published with the International Institute for Analytics (IIA), this book features the combined expertise of IIA’s team of leading health analytics practitioners and researchers. Each chapter is written by a member of the IIA faculty, and bridges the latest research findings with proven best practices. This book will be valuable to professionals and decision-makers throughout the healthcare ecosystem, including provider organization clinicians and managers; life sciences researchers and practitioners; and informaticists, actuaries, and managers at payer organizations. It will also be valuable in diverse analytics, operations, and IT courses in business, engineering, and healthcare certificate programs.

This comprehensive guide introduces you to the functionalities of MicroStrategy for business intelligence, empowering you to build dashboards, reports, and visualizations using hands-on, practical recipes with clear examples. You'll learn how to use MicroStrategy for the entire BI lifecycle, making data actionable and insights accessible. What this Book will help me do Install and configure the MicroStrategy platform, including setting up a fully operational BI environment. Create interactive dashboards and web reports to visualize and analyze data effectively. Learn to use MicroStrategy on mobile devices, enabling access to data-driven insights anywhere. Discover advanced analytics techniques using Visual Insight and MicroStrategy Cloud Express. Master practical skills with real-life examples to implement robust BI solutions. Author(s) Davide Moraschi, an experienced professional in business intelligence and data analytics, brings his expertise to guiding readers through the MicroStrategy platform. He has years of experience implementing and developing BI solutions in diverse industries, offering practical perspectives. Davide's approachable teaching style and clear examples make technical concepts accessible and engaging. Who is it for? This book is tailored for BI developers and data analysts who want to deepen their expertise in MicroStrategy. It's also suitable for IT professionals and business users aiming to leverage MicroStrategy for data insights. Some existing knowledge of BI concepts, such as dimensional modeling, will enrich your learning experience. You need no prior experience with MicroStrategy to benefit from this book.

"IBM SPSS Modeler Cookbook" is your practical guide to mastering data mining with IBM SPSS Modeler. This comprehensive book takes you beyond the basics, offering expert insights, time-saving techniques, and powerful workflows to grow your skills and elevate your analytical abilities. You will learn to apply the CRISP-DM methodology, efficiently prepare and explore data, build advanced models, and confidently incorporate analytical results into your business decisions. What this Book will help me do Effectively apply the CRISP-DM standard process to organize your data mining projects. Leverage efficient techniques for data extraction, transformation, and preparation. Develop and evaluate predictive models for practical applications in your organization. Enhance your models by utilizing advanced features and expert tips. Automate and streamline your data mining process with scripting for ultimate control. Author(s) Keith McCormick and None Abbott are seasoned data mining professionals with deep expertise in IBM SPSS Modeler and predictive analytics. Together, they have extensive experience in consulting, training, and applying advanced analytical techniques across industries. Through their approachable and insightful writing style, they share practical knowledge and expert workflows to empower readers. Who is it for? This book is designed for individuals who have basic experience with IBM SPSS Modeler and aspire to deepen their expertise. Whether you are a data analyst looking to advance your analytical capabilities or a professional aiming to integrate data-driven solutions into your organization, this book provides the knowledge and practical guidance you need to take the next step in your data mining journey.

This book serves as a thorough introduction to using the Greenplum platform for big data analytics. It explores key concepts for processing, analyzing, and deriving insights from big data using Greenplum, covering aspects from data integration to advanced analytics techniques like programming with R and MADlib. What this Book will help me do Understand the architecture and core components of the Greenplum platform. Learn how to design and execute data science projects using Greenplum. Master loading, processing, and querying big data in Greenplum efficiently. Explore programming with R and integrating it with Greenplum for analytics. Gain skills in high-availability configurations, backups, and recovery within Greenplum. Author(s) Sunila Gollapudi is a seasoned expert in the field of big data analytics and has multiple years of experience working with platforms like Greenplum. Her real-world problem-solving expertise shapes her practical and approachable writing style, making this book not only educational but enjoyable to read. Who is it for? This book is ideal for data scientists or analysts aiming to explore the capabilities of big data platforms like Greenplum. It suits readers with basic knowledge of data warehousing, programming, and analytics tools who want to deepen their expertise and effectively harness Greenplum for analytics.

Mining big data requires a deep investment in people and time. How can you be sure you’re building the right models? With this hands-on book, you’ll learn a flexible toolset and methodology for building effective analytics applications with Hadoop. Using lightweight tools such as Python, Apache Pig, and the D3.js library, your team will create an agile environment for exploring data, starting with an example application to mine your own email inboxes. You’ll learn an iterative approach that enables you to quickly change the kind of analysis you’re doing, depending on what the data is telling you. All example code in this book is available as working Heroku apps. Create analytics applications by using the agile big data development methodology Build value from your data in a series of agile sprints, using the data-value stack Gain insight by using several data structures to extract multiple features from a single dataset Visualize data with charts, and expose different aspects through interactive reports Use historical data to predict the future, and translate predictions into action Get feedback from users after each sprint to keep your project on track

KNIME Essentials is a comprehensive guide to mastering KNIME, an open-source data analytics platform. Through this book, you'll discover how to process, visualize, and report on data effectively. Whether you're new to KNIME or data analytics in general, this resource is designed to equip you with the skills needed to handle data challenges confidently. What this Book will help me do Understand how to install and set up KNIME for data analysis tasks. Learn to create workflows to efficiently process data. Explore methods for importing and pre-processing data from various sources. Master techniques for visualizing and analyzing processed data. Generate professional-grade reports based on your data visualizations. Author(s) Gábor Bakos, the author of KNIME Essentials, leverages his expertise in data analytics and software tools to provide readers with a practical guide to mastering KNIME. With years of experience in working with analytics platforms, he crafts content that is accessible and focused on delivering real-world results. His user-focused approach helps readers quickly grasp complex concepts. Who is it for? This book is ideal for data analysts and professionals seeking to enhance their data processing skills with KNIME. No prior knowledge of KNIME is expected, but a foundational understanding of data analytics concepts would be beneficial. If you're looking to produce insightful analytics and reports efficiently, this guide is tailored for you.

Learn the concepts and methods for creating economic and business value with digital analytics, mobile analytics, web analytics, and market research and social media data. In , pioneering expert Judah Phillips introduces the concepts, terms, and methods that comprise the science and art of digital analysis for web, site, social, video, and other types of quantitative and qualitative data. Business readers—from new practitioners to experienced executives—who want to understand how digital analytics can be used to reduce costs and increase profitable revenue throughout the business should read this book. Phillips delivers a comprehensive review of the core concepts, vocabulary, and frameworks, including analytical methods and tools that can help you successfully integrate analytical processes, technology, and people into all aspects of business operations. This unbiased and product-independent primer draws from the author's extensive experience doing and managing analytics in this field. Digital Analytics Primer

Improve patient outcomes, lower costs, reduce fraud—all with healthcare analytics Healthcare Analytics for Quality and Performance Improvement walks your healthcare organization from relying on generic reports and dashboards to developing powerful analytic applications that drive effective decision-making throughout your organization. Renowned healthcare analytics leader Trevor Strome reveals in this groundbreaking volume the true potential of analytics to harness the vast amounts of data being generated in order to improve the decision-making ability of healthcare managers and improvement teams. Examines how technology has impacted healthcare delivery Discusses the challenge facing healthcare organizations: to leverage advances in both clinical and information technology to improve quality and performance while containing costs Explores the tools and techniques to analyze and extract value from healthcare data Demonstrates how the clinical, business, and technology components of healthcare organizations (HCOs) must work together to leverage analytics Other industries are already taking advantage of big data. Healthcare Analytics for Quality and Performance Improvement helps the healthcare industry make the most of the precious data already at its fingertips for long-overdue quality and performance improvement.

When ricocheting a solution that involves analytics, the mainframe might not be the first platform that comes to mind. However, the IBM® System z® group has developed some innovative solutions that include the well-respected mainframe benefits. This book describes a workshop that demonstrates the use of real-time advanced analytics for enhancing core banking decisions using a loan origination example. The workshop is a live hands-on experience of the entire process from analytics modeling to deployment of real-time scoring services for use on IBM z/OS®. In this IBM Redbooks® publication, we include a facilitator guide chapter as well as a participant guide chapter. The facilitator guide includes information about the preparation, such as the needed material, resources, and steps to set up and run this workshop. The participant guide shows step-by-step the tasks for a successful learning experience. The goal of the first hands-on exercise is to learn how to use IBM SPSS® Modeler for Analytics modeling. This provides the basis for the next exercise "Configuring risk assessment in SPSS Decision Management". In the third exercise, the participant experiences how real-time scoring can be implemented on a System z. This publication is written for consultants, IT architects, and IT administrators who want to become familiar with SPSS and analytics solutions on the System z.

Learn the secrets to using analytics to grow your business Analytics continues to trend as one of the hottest topics in the business community today. With ever-growing amounts of business data and evolving performance management/business intelligence architectures, how well your business does analyzing its data will differentiate you from your competition. Killer Analytics explores how you can use the muscle of analytics to measure new business elements. Author Mark Brown introduces 20 new metrics that can drive competitive advantage for your business, including social networks, sustainability, culture, innovation, employee satisfaction, and other key business elements. Shows organizations how to use analytics to measure key elements of business performance not traditionally measured Introduces 20 new metrics that drive competitive advantage Reveals how to measure social networking, sustainability, innovation, culture, and more Aside from the science and process of analytics, businesses need to think outside the box in terms of what they are measuring and how new analytical tools can be used to measure business elements such as innovation or sustainability. Opening the doors to a powerful new way of measuring your business, Killer Analytics saves you a small fortune on consultants with dynamic, forward-thinking advice for making the most of every component of your business.

Mondrian in Action teaches business users and developers how to use Mondrian and related tools for strategic business analysis. You'll learn how to design and populate a data warehouse and present the data via a multidimensional model. You'll follow examples showing how to create a Mondrian schema and then expand it to add basic security based on the users' roles. About the Technology Mondrian is an open source, lightning-fast data analysis engine designed to help you explore your business data and perform speed-of-thought analysis. Mondrian can be integrated into a wide variety of business analysis applications and learning it requires no specialized technical knowledge. About the Book Mondrian in Action teaches you to use Mondrian for strategic business analysis. In it, you'll learn how to organize and present data in a multidimensional manner. You'll follow apt and thoroughly explained examples showing how to create a Mondrian schema and then expand it to add basic security based on users' roles. Developers will discover how to integrate Mondrian using its olap4j Java API and web service calls via XML for Analysis. What's Inside Mondrian from the ground up -- no experience required A primer on business analytics Using Mondrian with a variety of leading applications Optimizing and restricting business data for fast, secure analysis About the Reader Written for developers building data analysis solutions. Appropriate for tech-savvy business users and DBAs needing to query and report on data. About the Authors William D. Back is an Enterprise Architect and Director of Pentaho Services. Nicholas Goodman is a Business Intelligence pro who has authored training courses on OLAP and Mondrian. Julian Hyde founded Mondrian and is the project's lead developer. Quotes A wonderful introduction to Business Intelligence and Analytics. - Lorenzo De Leon, Authentify, Inc. A great overview of the Mondrian engine that guided me through all the technical details. - Alexander Helf, veenion GmbH A significant complement to the online documentation, and an excellent introduction to how to think about designing a data warehouse. - Mark Newman, Heads Up Analytics Comprehensive ... highly recommended. - Najib Coutya, IMD Group

Today, successful firms compete and win based on analytics. Modeling Techniques in brings together all the concepts, techniques, and R code you need to excel in any role involving analytics. Thomas W. Miller’s unique balanced approach combines business context Predictive Analytics and quantitative tools, appealing to managers, analysts, programmers, and students alike. Miller addresses multiple business challenges and business cases, including segmentation, brand positioning, product choice modeling, pricing research, finance, sports, text analytics, sentiment analysis, and social network analysis. He illuminates the use of cross-sectional data, time series, spatial, and even spatio-temporal data. For each problem, Miller explains why the problem matters, what data is relevant, how to explore your data once you’ve identified it, and then how to successfully model that data. You’ll learn how to model data conceptually, with words and figures; and then how to model it with realistic R programs that deliver actionable insights and knowledge. Miller walks you through model construction, explanatory variable subset selection, and validation, demonstrating best practices for improving out-of-sample predictive performance. He employs data visualization and statistical graphics in exploring data, presenting models, and evaluating performance. All example code is presented in R, today’s #1 system for applied statistics, statistical research, and predictive modeling; code is set apart from other text so it’s easy to find for those who want it (and easy to skip for those who don’t).

Big Data Analytics will assist managers in providing an overview of the drivers for introducing big data technology into the organization and for understanding the types of business problems best suited to big data analytics solutions, understanding the value drivers and benefits, strategic planning, developing a pilot, and eventually planning to integrate back into production within the enterprise. Guides the reader in assessing the opportunities and value proposition Overview of big data hardware and software architectures Presents a variety of technologies and how they fit into the big data ecosystem

Companies face the challenge of measuring and analyzing the near-overwhelming quantities of data generated from their online businesses and then using that data to gain critical insights into their customersvto drive sales. Adobe Analytics (formerly SiteCatalyst) provides product and content managers, marketers, and analysts with real-time intelligence on customers’online behavior, helps businesses anticipate what their customers will want, personalizes their onlinev experience, and delivers relevant content across web and mobile channels. This quick lookup guide by Adobe Analytics expert Shane Closser uses clear, concise explanations and an easy-to-use format to jump in and start using Adobe’s powerful web analytics tool. You’ll learn the quickest way to: Create metrics Run and set options for reports Measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns Engage and retain customers Track customers through the conversion funnel Share reports and set up dashboards

Help your organization determine the value of its customer relationships with Segmentation and Lifetime Value Models Using SAS. This book contains a wealth of information that will help you perform analyses to identify your customers and make informed marketing investments. It answers core questions on customer relationship management (CRM), provides an overall framework for thinking about CRM, and offers real-world examples across a variety of industries.

Edward C. Malthouse introduces you to a number of useful models, ranging from simple to more complicated examples, and discusses their applications. You'll learn about segmentation models for identifying groups of customers and about lifetime value models for estimating the future value of the segments. You'll learn how to prepare data and estimate models using Base SAS, SAS/STAT, SAS/IML, and SQL.

Marketing analysts, CRM analysts, database managers, and anyone looking to address the challenges of allocating marketing resources to different customer groups will benefit from the concepts and exercises in this book. Analysts will learn how to approach unique business problems. Managers will gain a sense of what's possible and what to ask of their analytics departments.

This book is part of the SAS Press program.