On June 10^th, in partnership between Women in Big Data and Women in Analytics, Anne Marie Weber, Kelly Denney, and Divya Santhamurthy presented the details of the data lifecycle. This session covered everything from understanding data in a business context, the design and execution of modeling/analysis, to the process of visualization and delivering insights. Participants discovered the approach to identifying and understanding business needs, exploring and deriving insights from data, communicating those insights, and integrating them into overall business operations and decisions.

Regina Karson, Women in Big Data Chapter Director and Board Member kicked off the session. View presentation.

Rehgan Avon, Founder & CEO of Women in Analytics, opened the discussion with an overview of the data lifecycle: 1) business understanding, 2) design and explore, 3) build solution, 4) validate and operationalize. View presentation.

Anne Marie shared how business understanding is critical to project success. Using tools like the business model canvas can help you understand how your company makes money, where your company sees itself in the future, and how to align projects to these priorities. Anne Marie referenced the AI canvas from the book Prediction Machines as a way of developing use cases that have actions with value. View presentation.

Kelly presented the data scientist perspective, emphasizing the need to focus on the project’s value proposition. She emphasized the importance of data discovery and understanding at the beginning of the project, understanding the business requirements, and being conscious of regulation and compliance issues. She closed encouraging everyone to think through how feedback is incorporated into improving models over time. View presentation.

Divya wrapped up the session explaining how to develop effective visualizations and insights. She emphasized the importance of collaboration and communication. It is important to consider the audience and how they will use the dashboard. She talked through layout, color, and graph choices, and how it is important to keep the dashboard simple. View presentation.

Thank you to all the speakers, participants, and the organizers (Lauren Burke) from Women in Analytics and Women in Big Data!

Link to YouTube recording of the event.