Project Botticelli

Useful articles

How to Succeed with Your First Data Science Projects

I have had my share of successful and failed projects since I have embarked on data science ten years ago. While I am happy to say that the rate with which I now succeed on customer projects is much better than in the past, that is not just because I know my field better. It is because I am better at setting my own and my customer’s expectations, and by being more careful in choosing the projects that I want to dive into. I would like to share some of my observations with those of you who are newer to this field. I would like to save you some frustration and to help you succeed as often as possible. Read on!

  • 25 October 2016
  • 2275 views

What is Advanced Analytics, Data Science, Machine Learning—and What is their Value?

The most common question Rafal gets asked by budding data scientists is: how can I explain the value of data science to my customers? This article explains the five key reasons for doing advanced analytics in terms of the short-term and strategic value it provides to business customers. Rafal also takes time to explain the terminology, covering the differences between data mining and machine learning, what is data science and advanced analytics, and he also explains the concept of the scientific method of reasoning.

Azure ML: A Brief Introduction

Azure ML tasks

In order to do predictive analytics with Azure Machine Learning, you just upload, or import current or historical data, build and validate a model, and create a web service that uses your models to make fast, live predictions. This article, by Rafal, introduces these concepts, outlines the supported machine learning algorithms, and overviews the key functions of the ML Studio development tool.

Apache Hadoop, Big Data, Microsoft

Apache Hadoop technologies integrate with the entire Microsoft Application Platform on many levels. The purpose of this article is to outline some of those integration points, and to outline the possibilities of solutions and applications that this combination enables. Rafal discusses the business potential of this technology in some detail, focussing on both already-tested, and the more future-oriented applications, at all times trying to answer the question “Why should we use Apache Hadoop in conjunction with the Microsoft platform?”.

PI: Performance Intelligence

What is the purpose of Business Intelligence? Wouldn’t the term Performance Intelligence make more sense, especially if we consider that BI is perfectly useful for non-business domains such as: government, education, military, healthcare, and many others? This article discusses Rafal’s experience working with BI as a tool for achieving better performance, even if that performance is not directly related to a financial perspective of an organisation.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence (Article)

SQL Server 2012 Logo

This article, by Rafal, discusses pivotal BI aspects of Microsoft SQL Server 2012: BI Semantic Model (BISM), PowerPivot 2, Data Analysis Expressions (DAX), the future of OLAP Cubes and MDX (Multidimensional Expressions), and, briefly, it touches on the role of the Cloud for analytics.