A Practical Approach to Data Mining: I Have All These Data; Now What Should I Do?

ABSTRACT

Information technology increases our ability to use data to develop and improve processes. Professionals are being asked to make sense out of large volumes of data. Today's literature provides little guidance on how to approach such problems. Addressing this void, this article places a keen focus on the pedigree of the data: process that generated the data, measurement, and data collection process including sampling schemes used. The importance of using subject matter knowledge and recognition of the sequential nature of problem solving is also emphasized. A guiding framework for the execution of data-rich projects is presented and illustrated with case studies.

KEYWORDS:

• analytics
• data mining
• data pedigree
• model validation
• project strategy