Solving real problems for real clients with real data. Learn by doing as you put your data science skills to the test in our MS in Business Analytics practicum course.
MS in Business Analytics
Analytics Practicum
Real-World Data Science Experience
Serve as a Consultant. Deliver Results.
Overseen by our curriculum advisory board and your faculty, the business analytics capstone course provides valuable, real-world experience within an environment of support and mentorship. The skills and knowledge gained will be tested to the fullest as you work within a team to provide a viable business solution to a complicated business problem.
Clients range from Fortune 500 companies to small startups and cross a range of industries. You’ll combine your client’s proprietary firm data with other public data, including social media streams and use the skills and techniques developed in the MS in Business Analytics program to devise a solution your client may implement.
Clients range from Fortune 500 companies to small startups and cross a range of industries. You’ll combine your client’s proprietary firm data with other public data, including social media streams and use the skills and techniques developed in the MS in Business Analytics program to devise a solution your client may implement.
How the Analytics Practicum Project Works
You will work in a small team of student consultants, front-facing with a client, but supported by the Master's in Business Analytics program managing director and faculty. You will learn strategy consulting methodologies for breaking problems down and synthesizing recommendations as well as how to manage clients and meetings. At the end of the semester, you will be able to deliver the three core deliverables of a data science project: technical (code, cleansed data), dashboard visualization (Tableau, ggplot), executive deck (business result).
Select Past Analytics Practicum Projects
| Sponsor | Business Problem | Project Description |
|---|---|---|
| Realtor.com | Identify fraudulent listings | At Realtor.com, we take the obligation to validate listings for fraud seriously. Apply machine learning techniques to evaluate new listings for their potential to put consumers’ safety and finances at risk due to fraud. |
| Focus Brands | Moe’s Rewards churn reduction | Keeping existing customers is generally better for the business than trying to replace them. Predict customer churn likelihood to improve Moe’s Rewards retention efforts. |
| Best Buy | Reduce in-home service visits by enhancing phone problem resolution | Build intelligent assistants that aim to guide call center agents and technicians through the process of diagnosing and repairing problems with major appliances in our customers’ homes. |
| CONA Services – Technology Services for Coca-Cola Bottlers | In-store product assortment recommendation | Utilize in-store shelf image data and combine it with internal data like invoices, customer segmentation, and scan volume to optimize correct product assortment at the store. |
| Truist Bank | Customer complaint analysis using NLP | Leverage call center notes and topic algorithms to classify complaints for both prioritization of service capabilities and real-time routing. |
| Intercontinental Hotels Group | IHG Rewards Club Member churn | Predict likelihood of IHG Rewards Club members future trip behavior and guest preferences for personalized targeted communications. |
| The Home Depot | Space planning and visual recommendation | Develop a data-driven and modeling approach to categorize products and systematically recommend guidelines for visual design and space arrangement. |
| Stanley Black & Decker | Using digital customer feedback for product insights and sales volume forecasting | Using product commentary from retailer and influencer online presence, apply NLP to reviews/ratings data and use these to make investment decisions on new products or update an existing product. |
Practicum Clients
