Book Image

Practical Predictive Analytics

By : Ralph Winters
Book Image

Practical Predictive Analytics

By: Ralph Winters

Overview of this book

This is the go-to book for anyone interested in the steps needed to develop predictive analytics solutions with examples from the world of marketing, healthcare, and retail. We'll get started with a brief history of predictive analytics and learn about different roles and functions people play within a predictive analytics project. Then, we will learn about various ways of installing R along with their pros and cons, combined with a step-by-step installation of RStudio, and a description of the best practices for organizing your projects. On completing the installation, we will begin to acquire the skills necessary to input, clean, and prepare your data for modeling. We will learn the six specific steps needed to implement and successfully deploy a predictive model starting from asking the right questions through model development and ending with deploying your predictive model into production. We will learn why collaboration is important and how agile iterative modeling cycles can increase your chances of developing and deploying the best successful model. We will continue your journey in the cloud by extending your skill set by learning about Databricks and SparkR, which allow you to develop predictive models on vast gigabytes of data.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

An analytics methodology outline specific steps


This section will look at each of the analytics methodology steps individually. I will use CRISP-DM as the template, because it covers model deployment, and we have already mentioned the benefits of sampling (which is the first step in SEMMA).

Step 1 business understanding

Many predictive modelers assume that the actual modeling phase is where the most insightful model development takes place. However, much of the groundwork and insight can be discovered early on, and a good understanding of business objectives can avoid pitfalls later on.

Communicating business goals the feedback loop

I must admit, business people and technical people can be better at communicating with each other. How business goals are communicated can run the gamut. It can be anything from a business partner stating, "Tell me how sales need to be increased" or "Tell me something I don't know."

So, it really starts with understanding what the specific business objectives are...