9/22/22, 2:07 PM Understand steps for regression - Training | Microsoft Learn

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Understand steps for regression

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You can think of the steps to train and evaluate a regression machine learning model as:

1. Prepare data: Identify the features and label in a dataset. Pre-process, or clean and
transform, the data as needed.
2. Train model: Split the data into two groups, a training and a validation set. Train a
machine learning model using the training data set. Test the machine learning model for
performance using the validation data set.
3. Evaluate performance: Compare how close the model's predictions are to the known
labels.
4. Deploy a predictive service: After you train a machine learning model, you need to
convert the training pipeline into a real-time inference pipeline. Then you can deploy the
model as an application on a server or device so that others can use it.

Let's follow these four steps as they appear in Azure designer.

Prepare data
Azure machine learning designer has several pre-built components that can be used to
prepare data for training. These components enable you to clean data, normalize features, join

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tables, and more.

Train model
To train a regression model, you need a dataset that includes historical features, characteristics
of the entity for which you want to make a prediction, and known label values. The label is the
quantity you want to train a model to predict.

It's common practice to train the model using a subset of the data, while holding back some
data with which to test the trained model. This enables you to compare the labels that the
model predicts with the actual known labels in the original dataset.

You will use designer's Score Model component to generate the predicted class label value.
Once you connect all the components, you will want to run an experiment, which will use the
data asset on the canvas to train and score a model.

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9/22/22, 2:07 PM Understand steps for regression - Training | Microsoft Learn

Evaluate performance
After training a model, it is important to evaluate its performance. There are many
performance metrics and methodologies for evaluating how well a model makes predictions.
You can review evaluation metrics on the completed job page by right-clicking on the
Evaluate model component.

Mean Absolute Error (MAE): The average difference between predicted values and true
values. This value is based on the same units as the label, in this case dollars. The lower
this value is, the better the model is predicting.

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Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE): The square root of the mean squared difference
between predicted and true values. The result is a metric based on the same unit as the
label (dollars). When compared to the MAE (above), a larger difference indicates greater
variance in the individual errors (for example, with some errors being very small, while
others are large).
Relative Squared Error (RSE): A relative metric between 0 and 1 based on the square of
the differences between predicted and true values. The closer to 0 this metric is, the
better the model is performing. Because this metric is relative, it can be used to compare
models where the labels are in different units.
Relative Absolute Error (RAE): A relative metric between 0 and 1 based on the absolute
differences between predicted and true values. The closer to 0 this metric is, the better
the model is performing. Like RSE, this metric can be used to compare models where the
labels are in different units.
Coefficient of Determination (R2): This metric is more commonly referred to as R-
Squared, and summarizes how much of the variance between predicted and true values is
explained by the model. The closer to 1 this value is, the better the model is performing.

Deploy a predictive service

You have the ability to deploy a service that can be used in real-time. In order to automate
your model into a service that makes continuous predictions, you need to create and deploy
an inference pipeline.

Inference pipeline
To deploy your pipeline, you must first convert the training pipeline into a real-time inference
pipeline. This process removes training components and adds web service inputs and outputs
to handle requests.

The inference pipeline performs the same data transformations as the first pipeline for new
data. Then it uses the trained model to infer, or predict, label values based on its features. This
model will form the basis for a predictive service that you can publish for applications to use.

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You can create an inference pipeline by selecting the menu above a completed job.

Deployment
After creating the inference pipeline, you can deploy it as an endpoint. In the endpoints page,
you can view deployment details, test your pipeline service with sample data, and find
credentials to connect your pipeline service to a client application.

It will take a while for your endpoint to be deployed. The Deployment state on the Details tab
will indicate Healthy when deployment is successful.

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On the Test tab, you can test your deployed service with sample data in a JSON format. The
test tab is a tool you can use to quickly check to see if your model is behaving as expected.
Typically it is helpful to test the service before connecting it to an application.

You can find credentials for your service on the Consume tab. These credentials are used to
connect your trained machine learning model as a service to a client application.

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Next unit: Exercise - Explore regression with Azure Machine

Learning designer

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