Cap exam, continuing education, analytics conference cluster

CAP exam offered at computer-based testing centers worldwide

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 and the publishers of Analytics magazine, announced that its Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®) exam will now be given at hundreds of computer-based testing centers worldwide through an agreement with Kryterion, the full-service provider of customizable assessment and certification products and services.

Candidates for the CAP certification exam can choose from Kryterion’s global network of online secured testing locations to schedule their exam at a convenient time and place. INFORMS’ online testing center partner Kryterion, through strategic partnerships with colleges and universities, as well as testing and training companies, provides over 700 testing locations in more than 100 countries. In the United States alone, more than 400 testing centers are available. CAP exams can now be scheduled almost any day of the week and at a time and location that best suits the candidate.

Candidates can apply at www.informs.org/applyforcertification. Upon acceptance into the program, candidates receive an online voucher to present on the Kryterion site.

Exam locations can be found at http://www.kryteriononline.com/host_locations/.

Introduced in the spring of 2013, the CAP program was created by subject matter experts, many of whom are INFORMS members. The CAP credential is designed for general analytics professionals in early- to mid-career and is based on a rigorous job task analysis and is vendor- and software-neutral. Benefits of analytics certification include gaining the ability to advance one’s career by setting a professional with CAP apart from the competition and obtaining the structure to make continuing professional development an integral part of one’s job performance. The CAP program assists hiring managers in finding competent analytics talent and shows that an organization hiring CAP professionals follows best analytics practice.

New INFORMS continuing education courses

The INFORMS Continuing Education program is offering two new courses this fall: “Introduction to Monte Carlo and Discrete-Event Simulation” and “Modern Predictive Analytics.”

The intensive, two-day, in-person courses, like the program’s popular current courses “Essential Practice Skills for Analytics Professionals” and “Data Exploration & Visualization,” provide real take-away value to implement immediately at work. Once you leave the classroom, you will be able to apply the real skills, tools and methods of analytics. The courses will give participants hands-on practice in handling real data types, real business problems and practical methods for delivering business-useful results.

In the course “Introduction to Monte Carlo and Discrete-Event Simulation,” taught by Barry Lawson, University of Richmond and Lawrence Leemis, College of William and Mary, participants will learn the basics of Monte Carlo and discrete-event simulation and how to identify real-world problem types appropriate for simulation. They’ll also develop skills and intuition for applying Monte Carlo and discrete-event simulation techniques.

Topic areas covered include Monte Carlo modeling, sensitivity analysis, input modeling and output analysis.

The course will be held at the INFORMS office, Catonsville (Baltimore area), Md., Sept 12-13, and Chicago, Oct. 16-17.

The second new course, “Modern Predictive Analytics,” will be taught by James Drew, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Verizon (ret.).

Modern predictive analytics, the science of discovering and exploiting complex data relationships, has rapidly changed in recent years, especially in today’s businesses. This course will give participants hands-on practice in handling real data types, real business problems and practical methods for delivering business-useful results.

Some of the topic areas to be covered in this course are: linear regression, regression trees, logistic regression and CART (classification and regression trees).

The course will be held in Washington, D.C., Sept. 15-16, and San Francisco, Nov. 7-8.

Learn more about these courses including course outlines, instructor biographies, program objectives and how to register at: www.informs.org/continuinged.

Analytics cluster set for INFORMS Annual Meeting in S.F.

The Analytics Section of INFORMS will present the analytics cluster of sessions and presentations at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in San Francisco Nov. 9-12. The cluster encompasses 20 sessions featuring the renowned analytics practitioners and leaders. Nine additional sessions will be jointly organized in collaboration with the Health Applications Society (HAS), CPMS (the Practice Section of INFORMS) and the Section on O.R. in Sports (SpORts).

The sessions/presentations within the cluster cover such topics as:

• Successful application of analytics in multiple industries such as healthcare, transportation, defense and sports
  
  
• Analytics focus areas such as big data, spreadsheets and predictive analytics
  
  
• Panel discussions on understanding the connection between O.R. and analytics, building analytics programs to support organizations’ needs and business analytics in healthcare industry
  
  
• Winners of the Innovative Applications in Analytics Award and the SAS Student Paper Competition
  
  
• Why’s, how’s and what’s of analytics certification

More information about the conference can be found at http://meetings2.informs.org/sanfrancisco2014/.