On December 9, students from Niagara College’s Business Analytics post-graduate program presented their final capstone projects, showcasing their work and data-driven solutions across a diverse range of industries.
The two-semester program, which includes 12 courses covering topics such as statistics, strategic decision-making, predictive analytics, and data ethics, culminates in the capstone course Practices in Business Analytics. In this course, students work individually or in teams to complete strategic business plans using data-driven insights for real-world industry partners.
Students presented their findings at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus to professors, industry partners, classmates, and members of the NC community, offering insights into strategic directions while answering questions from the audience.
School of Business Management Professor Nick Farnell highlighted the value of these projects, highlighting the unique experiential learning they offer students.
“Rather than pulling data out of a dusty textbook, students are working on real projects that solve real business problems, and many of these solutions can be implemented immediately,” said Farnell. “In many cases, these experiential learning projects get students away from keyboards and screens and help them step into the physical spaces such as restaurants, museums, fire stations, and more, to learn first-hand about the needs of these organizations.”
These projects not only challenge students to come up with tangible solutions for local businesses and organizations, but also allow students to directly contribute to the growth and development of their operations, leaving a positive impact on the local community.
To showcase this impactful work, the projects will be featured on the Project Portfolio website, an initiative created by Farnell to highlight the contributions of Business Analytics students, their industry partners, and the academic program. The website will highlight the innovative solutions, tools, and strategies that students have developed this term.
An overview of the Fall 2024 Business Analytics Capstone Projects:
Bench Brewing
This project examined the relationship between weather patterns and guest attendance at Bench Brewery. Using historical guest count and weather data, the team developed a predictive model that enables the hospitality manager to forecast guest numbers based on weather conditions and the day of the week.
Welland Fire Department
Leveraging over four years of emergency call data and publicly available census information, this project identified correlations between call types and neighbourhood characteristics. The model they developed offers insights to tailor fire prevention messaging for different communities in Welland.
Big Brothers Big Sisters
This project analyzed regional characteristics in Niagara to help Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) improve their outreach campaigns. By comparing volunteer numbers with local data, the team offered actionable insights to support BBBS’ future initiatives.
Last Call Analytics (Tequila)
With a data set of over 90 million rows, this project forecasted the sales of tequila products in Ontario. Using advanced predictive analytics, they created a reliable sales forecast for the next 12 months.
Last Call Analytics (Vodka)
This project built a relational database and explored the price elasticity of vodka in Ontario. They developed models to assess the impact of price changes on the quantity demanded across various vodka brands.
Welland Museum
Focusing on the digital marketing efforts of the Welland Museum, this project analyzed website traffic, email campaigns, and social media data. They examined how these marketing initiatives influenced the number of visitors to the museum.
Niagara College Marketing
This project explored the relationship between website visits to Niagara College program pages and the number of program applications. They built a predictive model using page views as an indicator of future applicants and identified geographic patterns in prospective student populations.
Niagara Health Inspections
Using publicly available open data from Niagara Region, this project analyzed patterns in public health inspections across restaurants, grocery stores, pools, and spas over several years.
Stay tuned for more details, as these projects will soon be available on the Project Portfolio website.
To read about the Winter 2024 Business Analytics Capstone Projects, read the April 22 InsideNC article here.
