THIS ISSUE OF ANALYTICS IS SPONSORED BY CUNY School of | Professional Studies |i Education That Works As Hard As You DoORG ala MAY/JUNE 2015 oem LG Preparing for the OCT L lard Pa ic ¢ Edelman Award & INFORMS Prize Best of the best analytics applications HR analytics: a quiet revolution Tha Sdivent of ‘peaple analytics’ tecma 2 cecative Edge © Deciding the right career for you a ane ‘An analytical approach to a job search Fig the problem of beng i ’ eee| INSIDE STORY Catch the analytics wave Every forward-looking organization hopes to catch and ride the next big tech- nology wave. INFORMS, which jumped on the analytics wave in a big way almost a decade ago, has established itself as a leader on a number of fronts by launching a series of analytics-oriented initiatives including continuing education, certifica- tion, corporate maturation and the publi- cation of Analytics magazine. Speaking of catching a wave, it was only fitting that the recent INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics & Op- erations Research was held at “Surf City, USA" — Huntington Beach, Calif. Beauti- ful weather and an oceanfront setting, a record number of attendees, an Oscar- like awards gala and a dynamic multi-day program headlined by a pair of inspiring plenary presentations added up to a phe- nomenal conference at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa. With the famed HB surf and beach con- stantly beckoning from seemingly every resort vantage point, i's a wonder any of the conference attendees made it to the parade of conference presentations, net- working events and receptions, but I'm pretty sure all of them did, and they were rewarded with an outstanding program from start to finish. The conference was highlighted by the Franz Edelman Award (for outstanding ANALYTICS-MAGAZINE.ORG achievement in operations research and analytics) competition and gala. Syngenta ‘eamed the 2015 Edelman for its innova- tive work in agriculture, where it uses ana- lytics, O.R. and optimization tools to breed a better soybean, resulting in nearly $300 million in development cost savings while simultaneously boosting crop production Up to 20 percent. The conference program was anchored by an impressive lineup of presentations from thought leaders at Google, IBM, Boeing, MIT, Disney, Intel, Chevron, Ford Motors, Mu Sigma, Stanford University, Accenture, Yahoo, FICO and many other ‘companies and universities. Staying with our watery theme and big waves, this issue’s cover story by data sci- entist Randy Bartlett, CAP, sends up a red flag warming about the “coming flood ... of statistical malfeasance.” Next, in “Unified analytics: A new mastery over the data wave," David Zakkam and Ankesh Ag- grawal of Mu Sigma make the point that exploding data is not necessarily a good thing because “organizations feel like they are drinking water from a fire hose.” Moral of the story: Don’t get pulled under by the sea of data. Instead, with apologies to the Beach Boys, “catch an analytics wave and you're sittin’ on top of the world.” ~ PETER HORNER, EDITOR peterhorner@mail.informs.org WWW.INFORMS.ORGAIMMS EXPERIENCE OPTIMIZATION LIKE NEVER BEFORE One Platform To: » Analyze, Model and Optimize » Explore Scenarios Visually » Provide Powerful Apps to End-Users » Seamlessly Integrate Into Your Business www.aimms.com | 425-458-4024 | info@aimms.com“Analytics DRIVING BETTER BUSINESS DECISIONS. MAYHUNE 2015 36 42 48 54 60 Brought to you by FEATURES STATISTICAL MALFEASANCE Preparing for the coming flood: Best practices for identifying cond understanding statistics problems By Randy Bartlett, CAP UNIFIED ANALYTICS ‘Mostering the big wave: Upcoming field sheds light on the interaction between date and insights By David Zakkam ond Ankesh Aggraveal HR ANALYTICS: A QUIET REVOLUTION People analytics’ teams now come from highly trained backgrounds looking to employ analytical tools By Ryon Hammond CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAREER Are you cut out fo be an analyst? An analytical approach to tasting before eating’ from the analytics buffet By Ajay Bhorgava ‘CORPORATE PROFILE: BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON Technology and consulting firm focuses on helping organizations capitalize on their biggest natural resource: data By David Kletter 4 ANALYTICS-MAGAZINE.ORG WWW.INFORMS.ORGANALYTIC SOLVER PLATFORM Easy to Use, Industrial Strength Predictive Analytics in Excel How can you get results quickly for business decisions, without a huge budget for “enterprise analytics” software, and months of learning time? Here’s how: Analytic Solver Platform does it all in Microsoft Excel, accessing data from PowerPivot and SQL databases. Data Mining, Text Mining, Predictive Analytics ~ with Surprising Performance on Large Datasets. 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Analytic Solver Platform can help you learn while {getting results in business analytics, with its Guided Mode and Constraint Wizard for optimization, and Distribution Wizard for simulation. You'll benefit from User Guides, Help, 30 datasets, 90 sample models, and rnew textbooks supporting Analytic Solver Platform. Find Out More, Download Your Free Trial Now. Visit www solver.com to learn more, register and download a free trial - or email or call us today. FRONTLINE WY Solvers The Leader in Analytics for Spreadsheets and the Web Tel 775 831 0300 + info@solver.com * www-solver.comDEPARTMENTS 2 Inside Story 8 Executive Edge 12. Analyze This! 16 Newsmakers 24 INFORMS Initiatives 28 Healthcare Analytics 32. Forum 66 Conference Preview 70 Five-Minute Analyst 74 7 inking Analytically Analyt (SSN 1938-1697) is published sic imes a yearby the Int fr pertons Research andthe Managemert Sinces (INFORNS) helargesinemberhipsocety inte word dated tothe arayis pression Fora foe subscpen reir at hpleralyiesinfomscorg. Adéress chor conespondence fo, Peter Home, peterhome@malormsog. The ccd in Analyics oe tose of te auhos, and rec ho opinion ofINFORUS,t Lonheart Publishing In. of th edo! staf of Arai, Analtes copyright 62015 by the lntile tr Operations Research and the Managemen Sdence. Al ight resoned. Analytics REGISTER FOR A FREE SUBSCRIPTION: hntp/analytis informs. org INFORMS BOARD OF DIRECTORS President. Rotin Kole, Universo Catton, nine President-Elect ora H Kaplan, Yale rivet Past President. Sten M. Robison Unies of Wears adson Secretary Bren Denton, Univers of higan ‘Treasurer Shon lecabson Uhersty hots ‘Vice President Meetings Roraid Asin Azo Sate Uivesty ‘Vice President Publications scratan F Bax, Uersy of Texas aan Vice President. Sections and Societies. Esra Gel zona Sat nivesty ‘ies President. Informatio Technology Maco Libbecke, RWTH Aachen Unversity Vice PresentPractice Activites. Jonathan Over, CAP Gener Mos ‘Vice Presidentinternational Activities. Gace Li, st fx nfomatonidusty Vice President Alembership ‘and Professional Recognition vem Ergin, Gera Tech ‘ies President-Ecucation MiMardn vison Norwest Unversty Vice President Marketing, ‘Communications and Outreach Andrew Andy Boys, Universiy of Houston aptersFora Dave Hut Olver Vyman Vice President. INFORMS OFFICES ‘www nforms erg + Te 1-800-INFORNS Executive Director Missa Nore ‘Mootings Director Laura Payne Diroctr, Public Relations & Marketing Jefiry M. Cohen Headquarters INFORMS (Marjand) 5521 Research Pak Dive, Sule 200, Calorie, MD 21228 Jey 443.757.3500 Ennai: infoms@nfoms.oy ANALYTICS EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING Uorheat Pubising nc, £05 Roswel Steet, Sue 220, Maiti, GA30D60 USA. Tol 770.431 0967 Fax: 770.432.6069 Presiden & Advertsing Sales. John Level [pin evell@yrallintorns rg “eh 770.431.0667, ext. 208 Editor Petar. Homer BeterhomerGit informs ry Fal 705873172 ‘Assistant Eltor Donna Brooks donna brooks infos. ‘ar Director Jim NeDonals Jim rosena(@mal infor org eh 770.431.0667, ext. 223 ‘Advertsing Sales Sharon Baber sharonbaker@mal.nvoms.org Tal 813.852.9002ANALYTIC SOLVER PLATFORM From Solver to Full-Power Business Analytics in Excel Solve Models in Desktop Excel or Excel Online. From the developers of the Excel Solver, Analytic Solver Platform makes the worle’s best optimization software accessible in Excel. Solve your existing models faster, scale up to large size, and solve new kinds of problems. 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BY ANUJ KUMAR, VICE PRESIDENT, FRACTAL ANALYTICS In their book “Freakonomics,” Levitt and Dubner note that the average adult in a global sample has one breast and one testicle ~ an extreme example of being precisely inaccurate. Unfortunately, not all sam- pling produces insights that are precisely inaccurate and as stark and easy to catch. Hence, they go unno- ticed or even worse, they are noticed and serve as the basis for decisions that lead to losses and heartache. Analytics is a combination of science and art (the left and the right brain) where the science may paint the picture of a one-testicle, single-breasted customer, but the art should ensure that the image that is identi- fied is incorrect and therefore should be modified. I have seen numerous cases where organizations tend to focus only on the science portion of analytics and then fail to realize the true benefits or, in some cases, any benefits. Before moving ahead, let us dif- ferentiate between accuracy and precision, which will form a backdrop for the rest of the article. Precision: How specific is the value predicted by the models versus the range of value Accuracy: How well a measurement matches or complies with a known standard or actual value 8 ANALYTICS-MAGAZINE.ORG WWW.INFORMS.ORGANALYTICS IN YOUR BROWSER Optimization, Simulation, Statistics in Excel Online, Google Sheets Advanced Analytics built on Business Intelligence Js moving to the Web. But you don’t have to learn 3 complex new tool to create your analytic models. Start and finish today in Excel Online or Google Sheets. 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