INFORMS Narrows the Big Data Skills Gap, Offering Intensive Continuing Education Courses for Analytics Professionals

Two-day Courses Focus on Essential Skills for Analytics Professionals and Data Exploration & Visualization Best Practices Applicable in Today's Business Environments

CATONSVILLE, Md., Sept. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) – the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the fields of analytics, operations research (O.R.) and management science – announced today it will offer the analytics industry's most advanced continuing education courses for elite analytics professionals, beginning in the fall of 2013. 

Building on INFORMS leadership, and following the introduction of its rigorous Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) program – the first designation in the industry – the organization continues to raise the bar for elite analytics and OR professionals, with its continuing education programs. Each in-person course was developed to ensure practitioners and academic experts have the most advanced knowledge at their fingertips and are able to immediately put that information to use within their organizations.

INFORMS Course Offerings:

Essential Skills for Analytics Professionals – provides the essential tools for solving real-world problems in businesses and other organizations. Drawing on best practices from the field, this course helps analytics professionals add value from beginning to end: listening to clients, framing the central problem, scoping a project, defining metrics for success, creating a work plan, assembling data and expert sources, selecting modeling approaches, validating and verifying analytical results, communicating and presenting results to clients, driving organizational change, and assessing impact.

• September 26-27, 2013 – Redwood City, CA
• November 7-8, 2013 – Washington, DC

Registration information can be found at https://www.informs.org/Certification-Continuing-Ed/INFORMS-Continuing-Education/Essential-Skills-for-Analytics-Professionals.

Data Exploration & Visualization – offers hands-on training that focuses on the critical steps in the process of analyzing data: accessing and extracting data, cleaning and preparing data, exploring and visualizing data. The course will use several of the most popular software tools intensively, and provide an overview of the range of software options.

• September 30-October 1, 2013 – Redwood City, CA
• October 3-4, 2013 – Minneapolis, MN

Registration information can be found at https://www.informs.org/Certification-Continuing-Ed/INFORMS-Continuing-Education/Data-Exploration-Visualization.

Utilizing these unique courses, data analytics practitioners will develop new skills or enhance existing skill sets, while hiring managers can be assured that graduates are well equipped to improve all areas where analytics have impact – from business to government to health and wellness.

About INFORMS
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) is the leading professional society made up of the foremost minds in the world of analytics. More than 10,000 members worldwide, including Nobel Prize laureates, turn to INFORMS to provide leading industry best practices, training and events focused on data analytics and operations research. Members of INFORMS work in business, government and academia and represent fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, financial services, retail, engineering and telecommunications. The Society serves the scientific and professional needs of operations research analysts, experts in "big data" and analytics, consultants, scientists, students, educators and managers, as well as their institutions. It publishes a variety of journals, hosts conferences, extends certification in analytics (CAP), offers continuing education courses, and provides its members with a large choice of special interest groups and local chapters. Further information about INFORMS can be found online at www.informs.org.

SOURCE INFORMS