
Identify how diagnostic analytics asks why events happen, using COVID-19 case trends as examples to tag reasons for rises and drops, such as lockdowns or vaccination.
Prescriptive analytics uses predictions and what-if analysis to explore options and take actions to optimize outcomes, completing the four analytics stages: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive.
Define the scope of application in business understanding, set objectives to minimize loan defaulters under constraints, and use survival analytics to balance installments and profits.
Explore business understanding and use cases in fraud prediction and optimization, balancing minimizing fraud with user convenience, illustrated by credit card alerts and precision farming with drones.
Explore data understanding by identifying data types and scales of measurement, review key terms, and compare primary and secondary data collection techniques for forecasting.
Explore how data is measured and analyzed to build models, make predictions, and optimize with what-if analysis, guiding management decisions using sales data.
Compare continuous data, representable in decimals such as time and weight, with discrete data that cannot be decimal, such as counts, while noting categorical and count data within discrete types.
Learn the difference between categorical data and count data in time series forecasting, with binary and multiple categorical kinds and practical churn and loan default examples.
Examine practical data understanding through real-time examples, comparing nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio data with travel, temperature, and pricing.
Explore the scale of measurement across nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio data, detailing counts, rankings, additions, and multiplications. Emphasize that ratio data enables the broadest statistical analysis for data-driven decisions.
Differentiate quantitative data from qualitative data, including continuous and count data and categorical data, and see how numbers and categories inform decisions.
Identify primary and secondary data sources, distinguish output variables (response, dependent, target, label, outcome) from input variables (explanatory, predictors, covariates), and convert semi-structured data to structured form.
Understand primary data sources and how external signals, social media analytics, and IoT sensor data augment internal data, while distinguishing primary from secondary data and privacy considerations.
Understand secondary data sources and distinguish them from primary data sources. Learn how combining internal data with free sources like Google Maps and drone analytics improves predictions and decision making.
Explore how to conduct data collection using survey to diagnose root causes, set research objectives, and translate constructs into survey questions across time, constraint, and strength dimensions.
Design of experiments reveals how discount expiry, distance, and timing affect coupon redemption in mobile promotions, guiding upfront decisions on discount level, radius, and day and time.
Identify and avoid random and systematic errors in data collection by ensuring reliable measurement devices, safeguarding IoT sensors, and applying gauge R&R with standard operating procedures.
Explain the probability formula as number of interesting events over total events, using a six-sided die to show outcomes bigger than three, smaller than four, or between two and six.
Explore probability and its application through probability distributions, random variables, and discrete versus continuous data using the iPad sales example, shown in table or graph.
Explain normal distribution as a continuous probability distribution for a random variable from minus infinity to plus infinity, where area under the curve is one and values have zero probability.
Inferential statistics draw conclusions about a population from a sample using a sampling frame and simple random sampling to avoid bias, and cover hypothesis testing and parametric versus nonparametric methods.
Explore measures of central tendency—mean, median, and mode—as first moment business decisions, comparing population parameters and sample statistics, with outliers and data types.
Understand measures of dispersion, the second moment in business decisions, by analyzing monthly profits across locations, plotting deviations from the average, and using control charts to forecast with lower dispersion.
Explore box plot concepts of percentile, quantile, and quartile, distinguish percentiles from quantiles, and identify quartiles Q1–Q4 and their relation to min, max, and the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles.
Explore how the normal q-q plot formalizes checking normality by comparing sample quantiles to theoretical quantiles; data aligning with the line indicate normal distribution, guiding forecasting techniques.
Download and install Python from python.org, discover the OS-agnostic, open-source language (latest 3.10.7) free for individuals and organizations, and learn basics from Guido van Rossum’s 1991 origins.
Learn how to download and install the Anaconda distribution across Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, with pre-installed libraries. Understand how it avoids library version conflicts and streamlines data science work.
Explore Anaconda Navigator and Spyder to run Python code and compare IDEs. Learn core libraries like numpy, pandas, and matplotlib for data analysis and loading CSV data.
Explore using Jupyter and Google Colab for Python practice, running code, and loading data with pandas. Upload files, use pd.read_csv, and enable hardware accelerators for faster runs.
Recap concepts on scatterplots, correlation direction and strength (strong/moderate/weak) and linear versus non-linear patterns, with correlation coefficients, covariance, and phase two data preparation.
Learn how to perform data cleansing and typecasting with Python and pandas by inspecting dtypes, converting columns with astype, and handling integers, floats, and objects to prepare datasets.
Explore data cleansing and pre-processing fundamentals, including organizing data into structured formats, typecasting, and handling duplicates, as you convert unstructured log data into usable Python types.
Master data cleansing and typecasting in Python with pandas, loading csv data, inspecting dtypes, and converting columns to appropriate object, integer, or float types.
Course Overview:
Time series data is prevalent in various fields, from finance and economics to climate science and industrial applications. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to time series analysis and forecasting techniques, enabling participants to understand and model time-dependent data patterns. Through a combination of theoretical concepts, practical exercises, and real-world projects, participants will develop the skills necessary to analyze historical data, identify trends, seasonality, and make accurate predictions for future observations.
Assessment and Certification:
To ensure a comprehensive understanding of the course material, participants will be assessed through various means. Assignments will be given regularly to reinforce theoretical knowledge and apply it to practical scenarios. These assignments may involve data analysis, forecasting, and model evaluation tasks.
Additionally, participants will undertake a final project that spans multiple weeks, where they will work on a real-world time series forecasting problem of their choice. They will be required to collect and preprocess data, apply appropriate forecasting techniques, and present their findings in a written report and a final presentation. The project will assess their ability to apply the acquired knowledge independently.
Target Audiences:
The course is tailored to suit the needs of the following target audience:
Data Science and Analytics Professionals: Data scientists, analysts, and researchers who want to add time series analysis and forecasting techniques to their skillset for understanding patterns and making predictions in time-dependent data.
Business and Economics Professionals: Individuals working in business and economics fields who need to analyze historical data to make informed decisions, conduct demand forecasting, inventory management, and business cycle analysis.
Finance Professionals: Finance experts dealing with financial market forecasting, risk management, and portfolio optimization, as well as those interested in modeling financial time series data and volatility.
Operations Research and Supply Chain Management Professionals: Individuals involved in optimizing supply chain processes, inventory management, and production planning, where understanding time-dependent patterns is crucial.
Course Materials and Resources:
Throughout the duration of the course, participants will have access to a comprehensive set of resources to support their learning journey. The course materials include lecture slides, code examples, and reference materials. These resources will be provided before each session to enable participants to follow along with the instructor's explanations and engage more actively.
Participants will also receive a curated list of recommended textbooks, research papers, and online resources for further self-study and exploration. These additional resources will allow motivated learners to delve deeper into specific topics or areas of interest beyond the scope of the course.
Conclusion:
The Time Series Analysis and Forecasting course offer a comprehensive and practical learning experience to participants interested in exploring time-ordered data, identifying patterns, and making informed predictions. With a blend of theoretical concepts, hands-on projects, and industry insights, participants will acquire the skills and knowledge needed to apply time series analysis techniques in diverse domains.