Hao & Yingqi, Fall-2014 graduate of MS BAPM shared their experience on Alteryx Data Challenge:
What a great excitement it was to win the first place in the Alteryx Data Challenge! As is known to every participant, the competition was quite an exhausting experience. We spent almost two days searching online and finally decided to work on a dataset about adult diabetes. Then we put even more effort on data exploration and cleaning. For example, we used tools in the Alteryx software to explore the data, trying to find out any patterns, distributions and correlations of variables. After finishing all these, we managed to get a better understanding of the data, so the next step was to sample the data and build models.
The most challenging part in the process was that the Alteryx platform was completely new to us, meaning that we had to try our best to get familiar with the software while attempting to model the data at the same time. That was easier said than done. Fortunately, the software is quite versatile and user-friendly. It helped us deliver a satisfactory solution in the end. Overall, my team agrees that it was a very rewarding learning experience. It not only tested our understanding of business analysis but also gave us an opportunity to connect with the business world.
Currently, my team is working on our poster for the Inspire 2015 Conference. We will get a chance to share our experience with the participants at the conference from the industry and academia. I feel that it would be a great honor for us and the MSBAPM program. My team is eagerly looking forward to the conference.