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Data Science Capstone Project - F23

DAT 205
Closed
McMaster University Continuing Education
McMaster University Continuing Education
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Guido DiCesare
Instructor
(13)
6
Timeline
  • September 21, 2023
    Experience start
  • December 7, 2023
    Experience end
Experience
2/2 project matches
Dates set by experience
Preferred companies
Anywhere
Any company type
Any industries
Categories
Data analysis Market research Sales strategy
Skills
adult education data science computer science big data analytics big data
Learner goals and capabilities

The capstone course is part of the Big Data Analytics certificate program. Students in the program are adult learners with a post-secondary degree/diploma in computer science, engineering, business, etc. Students apply analytical models, methodologies, and tools learned in the program to create an analytics solution for your organization. Faculty mentors will work with students to ensure the capstone project reflects, and encompasses, best practices for big data analytics and project management.

Learners
Continuing Education
Any level
20 learners
Project
40 hours per learner
Learners self-assign
Teams of 3
Expected outcomes and deliverables

The final project deliverables will include:

  • A report on students’ findings and details of the analytics solution.
  • A final presentation of the solution and recommendations to your organization.
  • Future collaboration ideas will be identified based on current project outcomes.
Project timeline
  • September 21, 2023
    Experience start
  • December 7, 2023
    Experience end
Project Examples

The capstone project provides an opportunity for businesses and learners to collaborate to identify and translate a real business problem into an analytics problem. The project also includes data collection & preparation, data modeling and analysis with the potential to include predictive modeling, machine learning implementation, and a solution deployment plan. Capstone project results/ recommendations will be communicated in a report document and a final presentation.

You should submit a high-level proposal/business problem statement including relevant data sets and definitions, a list of acceptable tools (if applicable), and expected deliverables. Business datasets could be provided based on a non-disclosure agreement or in an anonymized/synthetic data format that is relevant to your organization and business problem. The capstone course instructors will review the documents to confirm the scope and timing of the proposed problem and its alignment with the capstone course requirements.

Analytics solution may be applicable for (however they are not limited to) the following topics:

  1. Demand for social services (healthcare, emergency services, infrastructure, etc.)
  2. Customer acquisition and retention
  3. Merchandising for trade areas (categories)
  4. Quantifying Customer Lifetime Value
  5. Determining media consumption (mass vs digital)
  6. Reduction of client churn (lower abandonment)
  7. Cross-sell and upsell opportunities
  8. Develop high propensity target markets
  9. Customer segmentation (behavioral or transactional)
  10. New Product/Product line development
  11. Market Basket Analysis to understand which items are often purchased together
  12. Ranking markets by potential revenue
  13. Consumer personification

To ensure students’ learning objectives are achieved, we recommend that the datasets are at least 20,000+ rows in size. Data need not be ‘clean’; it is advantageous to the students’ learning experience to require hygiene prior to analysis. Similarly, if more than one database is provided, which must be conjoined, students will be required to integrate them. This supports the learning experience and minimizes partner data preparation.

Companies must answer the following questions to submit a match request to this experience:

Share feedback and recommendations about the project deliverables with the students and instructor.

Provide an online video or link to your website to introduce the students to your organization prior to starting the project.

Provide a dedicated contact who will be available to answer periodic emails or phone calls over the duration of the project to address student’s questions or provide additional information. Minimum of 2-4 interactions with each student group leader (approximately 4-6 hours over the duration of the project). Let the students/instructor know if you will be away for an extended time (e.g., vacation).

Be available for a quick phone call with the organizer to initiate your relationship and confirm your scope is an appropriate fit for the experience. Advise the instructor if students will be required to sign an NDA prior to beginning the project.

There will be several student groups participating in the Riipen Assignment. 2 - 3 web conferences may be scheduled in advance with the lead of the participating organization. The Instructor may ask that you participate in an Instructor-led webinar session for students at the beginning of the project by providing an overview of your organization, project and desired/expected outcomes.

What's your dataset size? Please note that ideally the datasets should be at least 20,000+ rows in size.