‘210123, 1:53PM ‘9HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR 9 HR Analytics Terms You Should Know Home / HR Analytics and Data-Driven HR / 9 HR Analytics Terms You, Posted by Erik van Vulpen mira aC oy anor terms you should know, Ag When we talk about HR data analytics, we use words such as machine learning, algorithms and data mining. However, do we actually know the meaning of these terms? To be honest, the first time | heard them, | didn't... This blog goes into some commonly used HR analytics terms. hitpssiwww.ain-comiblog/8-n-analytics-terms-know! ane.‘210123, 1:53PM ‘9HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR AlH Data mining is like digging for gold. Gold-diggers sift through piles of dirt and stone in the hope of discovering a piece of shiny gold. Data mining is the process of discovering patterns in piles of raw data and turning them into tangible information, which, in turn, can be used to make predictions about real life behavior or events. Remarkably, 99.5% of ali data in the world has never been analyzed. technique that is used in data mining is called machine learning. 2. Machine learning Machine learning is a technique that is commonly used in the data mining process. Through this technique, a machine (computer) will learn from your data by analyzing it and identifying patterns. This means that machine learning can be considered as a form of artificial intelligence (Al) as it provides computers with the necessary tools they need in order to absorb new information Online Certificate Program HR Business Partner 2.0 @ consutting skills @ Strategic HR Metrics Val Ca ene Partner 2,0 @ Business Acumen & Finance ‘ntps:twwwaihrconvbiog9-hr-anaytic-terms-know! aia‘210123, 1:53PM ‘9HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR AlH As | explained in a previous blog, a decision tree is a model that looks like a tree and consists of decisions and their possible consequences. This is a useful tool to make predictions about the (near) future. A decision tree allows you to predict what might happen by learning from existing data. This is very much like the way everyone learns from their past experiences. In a decision tree, every decision is represented as a node and every outcome option as a branch. In my previous blog on predictive analytics in HR, | explained the concept of a decision tree by means of an example: | tried to predict whether kids would play outside based on fourteen days of weather data. That decision tree looked like as follows: Decision tree Example Kids play outside? ‘ntps:twwwainr.comibiog'--anaytis-terms-know! site‘210123, 1:53PM ‘9HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR accuracy of 71%. Related: Learn more about Recruiting Metrics 4.R Many HR practitioners often use Excel. However, most predictive HR analysists use R. Ris arguably the most popular tool for data scientists. Ris a (free) open-source system for statistical computation and visualization. It also enables you to work with massive data sets that would be too big to handle in Excel. 5. Structured vs. unstructured data We talk about data a lot. There are two distinctions in data. When it is neatly organized in a spreadsheet or database it is called structured data. For instance, HR knows the names of its employees, their age, where they live, in which department they work, how they perform, et cetera. All this data is structured: by looking up a name or ID, you can easily find a person's details. Unstructured data is the opposite, Its lack of structure makes ordering this data a time and energy consuming necessity. Take emails, for instance. It is impossible to accurately order emails on subject or content (hence unstructured). This data most likely needs to be structured before it can be analyzed. 6. Supervised vs. unsupervised learning In supervised machine learning the output data is provided, meaning that the in f e 9 wv m ‘ntps:twwwaihrconvbiog9-hr-anaytic-terms-know! ina‘210123, 1:53PM ‘9HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR AlH company voluntarily. It then compares this data with the people who remained at the company at that same period of time. This information tells the computer who left the company and who did not and enables it to make a predictive model of the employees that are likely to leave. This is an example of supervised machine learning. There is no output data in unsupervised learning. A computer can still make predictions based on this data by clustering sets of related points of data. In the next example you will see how (supervised) clustering works, Related: An overview of Human Resources metrics Reedy elutes | bien Resource Library et Cra Soh aa CEU oe initiatives, and results to the next level Rte et nd People Analytics = =~ Resource Library DOWNLOAD none é ” 7. Cluste! is Clustering is a type of machine learning that makes predictions by clustering data. Clustering data means that the computer looks for groups that share some similarities. The following example shows 1,000 data points divided in three clusters. This is a supervised example because you know which data point belongs in f o « v = ‘ntps:twwwaihrconvbiog9-hr-anaytic-terms-know! sina‘219123, 1:53PM ‘9 HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR n Test algorithm Accuracy => Algorithm Training data If you do not separate these two data sets, you will test the accuracy of your PE ai cial algorithms on the same data you used to create the algorithm in the first place. This is a fundamental flaw and could lead to something called ‘overfitting’. Related: the HR dashboard, how to create it? 9. Overfitting Not all predictive models are equal. Machine learning is a complex technique and it can provide very detailed analyses. Because of this level of detail, itis at risk of ‘overfitting.. This means that anvone in f ° © vw x ‘ntps:twwwainr.comibiog'--anaytis-terms-know! ma‘210123, 1:53PM ‘9HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR This graphic shows a decision tree that can predict whether or not kids would play outside in the past 14 days with a 100% accuracy. This model is obviously very detailed because it is tailored to our specific data set. Compare this model to the model below. The model below is simple and self- explanatory. When the outlook is sunny, kids are likely to be present at the playground. When the outlook is rainy, kids are unlikely to be present at the playground. This model is simple and understandable with our current knowledge. The model above is unrealistically complex. We used 14 days (rows) of data to build this model, However, our model has 19(!) possible outcomes. This means that there are more possible outcomes than we put in data. In other words: this model is way too complex. The problem with overfitting is that the model perfectly ‘fits’ to the data we used to build it. However, it has no application in practice. When we would add new data to this model, the accuracy would drop immediately. The accuracy of the much in f ° © vw x ‘ntps:twwwaihrconvbiog9-hr-anaytic-terms-know! sina‘210123, 1:53 PM ‘SHR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR Sno So, do not be fooled when people say they have a predictive model that can make highly accurate predictions! Under the hood this model might not have that much value after all ers te ( Take a free 10-minute assessment and get a personal dashboard to see how in future-proof your HR skill set is. Oy 6 The 9 terms covered in this article obviously do not cover everything you need to know when it comes to HR Analytics. | do hope they will help you better understand What your data-scientist or consultant is talking about. If you know of any terms that should be on this list. feel free to add them by posting a comment. in f ° © vw x ‘ntps:twwwaihrconvbiog9-hr-anaytic-terms-know! aia‘210123, 1:53PM ‘9HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR AlH POPULAR Welcome to the Academy to Innovate HR Future-proof your career in HR by continuously expanding your skill set with the latest and most relevant HR skills. Browse courses Erik van Vulpen Erik van Vulpen is the founder and Dean of AIHR. He is an expert in shaping modern HR practices by bringing technological innovations into the HR context. He receives global recognition as an HR thought leader and regularly speaks on topics like People in f ° © vw x ‘ntps:twwwainr.comibiog'--anaytis-terms-know! oie‘210123, 1:53PM ‘9HR Analytics Terms You Should Know -AIKR AlH CURELATED CRELATED 1 RELATED C1 RELATED Becoming ChatGPT 4 People How to a Valued for People Analytics Createa Business Analytics: Operating Skills Partner A Models To Matrix for Practical Implement Success View now Guide [Free October With View now Template] 18, 2023, Examples August 31, 2023 View now View now July 14, October 2023 11, 2023 Are you ready for the future of HR? 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