I am currently part of the pioneer batch of the Master in Applied Business Analytics (MABA) program of UA&P. It is a two-year, six-term program delivered in collaboration with the Analytics Association of the Philippines. The first of its kind in the country, MABA aims to train students on how to handle and transform data and gain insights to support decision making for target outcomes. It also aims to instill ethical management and leadership skills among its students.
Last September 2019, I had the opportunity to participate in the Accenture Graduate Research program, a partnership between MABA and Accenture where students can gain experience in practicing business analytics on topics of mutual interest. It was an interesting opportunity for me to see how analytics is applied and how it is deployed in a multinational company. I was assigned to work with their Human Resources, which has its office in Robinsons Cybergate along EDSA corner Pioneer Street.
Kickoff meeting
From the start, I was impressed with their use of apps and online tools to accomplish tasks. Accenture has a solid infrastructure in place that is secure and provides reliable access. It gave me an idea of how far technology has advanced and how it can be used to do what traditional office work requires more conveniently.
For example, most of my meetings were conducted online through screen-sharing and file-sharing apps. Doing online meetings made me realize how much more time conscious people are by getting their points across fast and efficiently and not letting things drag on.
My point person for the program was Ms. Jennifer “Jeng” Fortuna. She gave me a status rundown and what they were interested in examining with analytics. They also provided me a laptop to use that ensured security and ease of access to the data I needed.
Doing business analytics
Conducting the analytics project gave me an overview of what it is to work as a business analyst. I had to do a variety of things, such as finding a suitable framework for the analysis, collecting data, cleaning and formatting the data, then inputting the data for processing using Python in Anaconda Navigator. I had to coordinate with Ms. Jeng and her team on the kinds of data I needed to work with. I also kept Ms. Jeng and my MABA professors in the loop on how I was proceeding as I navigated through structured and unstructured data, making sure I understood the contexts of these data.
I developed a workflow and scripts to conduct all of these. I experimented with different types of algorithms and examined their suitability for the available data. I learned how to read confusion matrices, AUC curves, correlation coefficient heatmaps, etc. I also learned how to prepare a report that summarized my findings and recommendations.
Takeaways
Overall, it was a good learning experience, transitioning from old-school style of working with just Excel spreadsheets and updating myself with the use of modern data analysis tools through coding. The program taught me how to work with new tools and with other people on analytic projects as well as solidify my grasp on Python coding and understanding of algorithms.#
Banner photo by Ales Nesetril on Unsplash.
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