(The Modeling Agency: Pittsburgh) -- The Modeling Agency (TMA), a data-mining training, consulting, and solutions company, announces a restructuring of its popular “Predictive Analytics & Data Mining” course series. The two-course series offers two distinct orientations with complementary objectives: Model Development, to drill into model-building tactics and methods; and Strategic Implementation, for project design and discovering what really works.

The two courses span five days with the final two days in a hands-on lab setting. Each course within the series may be attended independently or in succession for a comprehensive view of data mining. The Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) provides an overview of the courses. The Model Development course focuses on the tactical CRISP-DM sections 3, 4, and 5, while the Strategic Implementation course covers the project design and deployment sections 1, 2 and 6.

New topics, expanded sections, and a more diverse faculty provide a pragmatic, nonpromotional orientation to data mining best practices and predictive analytics. Additional improvements include:

• A hands-on application workshop , which has been expanded into the final two days of the Strategic Implementation course, allowing participants to better experience and handle the “natural messiness” of predictive modeling.
• Two modeling process cycles through a use-case with real-world data, which is leveraged in the use-case application workshop.
• New topics and expanded sections for text mining, uplift and incremental modeling, and ensemble models
• Certification in predictive analytics and data mining, which is available after completing the series and passing an exam.

There is hardly a transaction that does not generate a computer record somewhere, and this has created an overwhelming glut of data. All this information has meaning with respect to making better business decisions or understanding customer needs and preferences. But how do you discover actionable, prospective insights in a database that contains gigabits of seemingly incomprehensible numbers and facts? Data mining and predictive analytics does just that.

The objective of TMA’s course series is for attendees to develop a solid grasp of the overall data mining process, to show attendees how to overcome limitations that cause the majority of predictive models to underperform, and reveal how to establish an internal predictive analytic practice with existing personnel. No other vendor-neutral event or mode of delivery can establish a sustained baseline of proficiency in predictive analytics within a week’s time.

Complete details for the new structure, including pricing, schedule, venue information, instructor experience, and syllabi are available at www.the-modeling-agency.com/training/series.