Students, bring your classroom knowledge into the real world by applying critical thinking and innovative practices to assist decision makers by offering solutions to a practical, current Data Analytics Problems. Teams will submit their graphic and a brief description of their work and can work individually or in teams of up to four members.
The Analytics Challenge will take place through online submission, includes a reception at EKS&H offices on April 5, an Analytics panel and luncheon on April 6 on-campus and the winners will be announced at a reception held in Marcus Commons later that afternoon. Please check the website for additional updates between now and the event.
Winners Receive:
- 1st place: $2,500
- Runner-up: $1,000
- Honorable Mentions: $500
Questions? Email Andrew Urbaczewski, Chair, Department of Business Information & Analytics, Andrew.Urbaczewski@du.edu
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Q&A with Food Bank of the Rockies representative
Tuesday, January 30, 4 p.m., DCB 345
DU student submissions due
Friday, March 2
Representatives/Teams from other schools
Notify DU by Friday, March 16
Opening Reception
Thursday April 5, 5:30 p.m. at EKS&H in Greenwood Village
Analytics Challenge
Friday, April 6, all day
DU Student Teams
Why Participate and Who Can Participate?
- Graduates with experience in data intelligence disciplines are being hired in record numbers around the world and you will have the opportunity to network with top companies in the Industry.
- The DU Analytics Challenge is open to any and all students from Colorado State University, University of Colorado, University of Colorado Denver, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado School of Mines, Oklahoma State University, and University of Wyoming.
- Students can work individually or in teams of up to four members.
What Can You Use?
- To complete the challenge, you may use any software tool you choose.
What Are The Deliverables?
- A file with your graphic. It can be static (an image), but if you choose, it can also be an interactive representation (such as Flash).
- A one page or less (single spaced) brief description explaining your graphic and why you think it is effective.
- Please be sure to label which challenge you are addressing.
How You Should Submit?
- Work with your school’s coordinator to determine the submission date for each school’s team. DU should be notified by March 16.
- University of Colorado
- University of Colorado, Denver
- Colorado School of Mines
- Wyoming
- Colorado State University
- US Air Force Academy
- Oklahoma State University
- The subject line of your email should read “Entry for Analytics Challenge.”
- In the body of your email, state which challenge you are addressing, and provide the names, emails and phone numbers of all team members.
- At the bottom of your email, provide your graphic and your description as attachments (in PDF format) in separate files.
- Interactive visualizations must be viewable on any standard PC or Mac as part of the suggested student computing platforms. No other software beyond the standard OS (Windows or Mac) and a web browser should be required. You may want to check with the Business Information & Analytics department (bia@du.edu) before submitting.
- The names of all team members and school must be clearly displayed on the graphic and on the one-page description
External Student Teams
“I’m thrilled with what the students were able to not only do for us, but how they were able to use analytics to open our eyes to so many more possibilities. These efforts have changed the way we think about our coaches and how we support them. I’m so glad that we were able to work with all these talented students.”
MINDY WATROUS
President and CEO of Special Olympics Colorado
5th Annual DU Analytics Challenge: Helping Food Bank of the Rockies make better decisions through data
This year’s edition of the Challenge is presented by Westerra Credit Union, EKS&H, and OGX Consulting.
THE MISSION OF FOOD BANK OF THE ROCKIES IS TO HELP FAMILIES THRIVE BY EFFICIENTLY PROCURING AND DISTRIBUTING FOOD AND ESSENTIALS TO THE HUNGRY THROUGH THEIR PROGRAMS AND PARTNER AGENCIES
Food Bank of the Rockies (http://foodbankrockies.org) operates warehouses that are the central distribution program to provide food and essentials to more than 500 hunger-relief programs in Northern Colorado including Metropolitan Denver, the Eastern Plains, the Western Slope, and the entire state of Wyoming.
These hunger relief programs range from small faith-based food pantries to large charities serving hundreds of clients daily. Partner Agencies may choose from a variety of available food and household items from FBR to provide to their clients. As such, FBR’s warehouse does not serve the hungry directly, but acts as the clearing house for those who do.
Agencies do not purchase product. To help cover FBR’s transportation and warehouse expenses, agencies do contribute a very small Agency Support Fee (ASF) for some items. Last year, partner agencies contributed an average ASF of 2¢ per pound. To encourage consumption over spoilage, fresh produce, dairy and bread are always distributed without an ASF fee. In addition, no fee is ever passed on to agencies’ clients.
For more detail on their programming visit: https://www.foodbankrockies.org/programs/
Q&A Session with Food Bank of the Rockies representative
Because FBR needs to be as efficient as possible with their food and resources, they really need your help in making data-driven decisions to assist them in helping the most people possible. They would like to know the following:
- Do certain partner agencies receive more foods to encourage (FTE’s) (https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/resource/foods-to-encourage-background/) than others?
- Are certain counties underserved in terms of a specific food category?
- Do agency orders correlate to health outcomes in different counties?
- When do they receive the most donated product? / Do certain products come in at specific times?
- What items move the fastest? Does the ASF effect speed of movement out of the warehouse?
- Does the Western Slope or Wyoming location move a particular product faster than the main warehouse?
The Food Bank of the Rockies has provided you with the following data files, pulled from their management system called Ceres:
- Agency Ledgers from 2012 to 2017
- Identifies each agency transaction, orders for food, for the specified time frame
- Item Ledger Tables from 2013 to the fourth quarter of 2017
- Identifies each item transaction, coming into and exiting the food bank, for the specified time frame
- An Agency Table
- Lists the items and their associated tracking number for each item in FBR’s inventory including associated fees
- A Donor Table
- Lists the donors and their associated number along with other key identifiers such as the type of business
- An Item Table
- Lists each item in FBR’s inventory
They have also provided you a Data Dictionary to explain the fields.
You are encouraged to get data from other outside sources to help you in this analysis. These sources might include:
- Numbers of People possibly to be served
- Zipcode or other analysis about geospatial locations of needy people and agencies
- Colorado.Gov
- Census.Gov
- https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/
- http://map.feedingamerica.org/county/2015/overall/colorado
2017: Special Olympics Colorado
Read about the winning solution
2016: Denver Police Department.
Read about the winning solution»
2015: RTD, the public transportation company in Denver.
Read about the winning solution»
2014: Scenarios from the City & County of Denver, DU’s Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures, and the Clery Act.
Read about the winning solution»