Predictive analytics for the

business analyst: your first

steps with SAP InfiniteInsight
Pierpaolo Vezzosi, SAP

SESSION CODE: 0605

Summary
Who said you need a PhD to do sophisticated predictive analysis?
Discover SAP InfiniteInsight and learn how you can achieve great
results without being a data scientist. No need to know algorithms,
you just have to be good at asking yourself the correct question.
Understand how SAP InfiniteInsight differentiates from typical data
scientist tools and how it enables you to easily create useful and
accurate models. Learn how SAP InfiniteInsight compares to SAP
Predictive Analysis.
Attend this session to view live demos on creating
recommendations, forecasting customer responses and doing
social analysis.

LEARNING POINTS
What is SAP InfiniteInsight and which type of user can
benefit from it
How does SAP InfiniteInsight relates with the SAP
Predictive Analytics offers
How to perform some fundamental workflows with SAP
InfiniteInsight
Future directions

Who is the business analyst

Skills involved in a predictive analytics project

Business skills

Math skills

Technical skills

Profiles involved in a predictive analytics project

Business
Users

Data
Scientist

IT

Business analyst as the profile who can understand

and manage all parts of a predictive project

Business
Analysts

Business analyst at the core of the project

Business
Users

Business
Analysts

Data
Scientist

IT

Profiles and tools

The profiles involved in a predictive analytics project

and the tools used today

Developer

Data
Scientist

Business
Analysts

Business
Users

Data services, DBA studios,

development UI, etc.
Predictive analytics
Business Intelligence
Apps

The profiles involved in a predictive analytics project

and the tools used today, in SAP terms

Developer

Data
Scientist

Business
Analysts

Business
Users

Data services, HANA Studio

Predictive analysis,
InfiniteInsight
BI 4, Lumira
Apps

SAP Advanced Analytics Portfolio

SAP
Predictive
Analysis

SAP
InfiniteInsigh
t

SAP Business
Intelligence

SAP
Applications

SAP Rapid
Deployment
Solutions

Partner
Analytical
BI & Tools

SAP PIO Services

SAP HANA
Search

Non-exhaustive SAP HANA capabilities

below:

Rules Engine

Text Mining

Smart data
access

PAL+ APL

SAP Sybase ESP

Spatial

Business Function
Library

HANA
Studio

SAP Data
Services

Data
Transaction
data

Big
Data

Real-time
Data

Location
Data

Machine
Data

Data
warehouses

SAP InfiniteInsight:
a great solution at the core of
predictive projects

Typical predictive project

vs. SAP InfiniteInsight approach
Time (and Cost)

Typical data scientis tools approach

Prepare data

Choose model

Run model

Analyze results

Productize

SAP InfiniteInsight

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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Prepare

Data preparation made easy

Use the Data Explorer interface in SAP InfiniteInsight to build and enrich your model
dataset
Add as many variables (columns) as you want: the more the better
Dont worry about how to deal with text
Dont worry about missing values
Dont worry about outliers

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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Model choice

No need to choose the model

SAP InfiniteInsight doesnt expose models but actions

Yes or no? How much ?
What are the groups ?
Who is influencing ? What are the communities?
Which events are going to happen together?
What should be the recommendation?

SAP InfiniteInsight automatically finds the best model using the

Structural Risk Minimization methodology invented by Vladimir Vlapnik

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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The idea behind the scenes

Model error

Complexity

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

Public

17

The idea behind the scenes

Model error

Complexity

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

Public

18

The idea behind the scenes

Model error

1
2

Complexity

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

Public

19

The idea behind the scenes

Model error

1
2
3

Complexity

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

Public

20

The idea behind the scenes

Model error

1
2
3
4

Complexity

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

Public

21

The idea behind the scenes

Model error

1
2
3

5
4

Complexity

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

Public

22

The idea behind the scenes

Model error

1
2
3
Minimum error

5
4

Complexity

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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23

The idea behind the scenes

Model error

1
2
3

5
4
High cost for reducing the error

Complexity

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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Analyze

Analyzing the model accuracy

Ki: model quality

How well the input variables explain the target variable in
the model

Kr: model generalization capability

How accurate is the model on new data not availble in the
training set

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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Productize

Automatically export the model

The model can be exported and embedded in your applications

SQL
Java
C++
C

Factory
An agent to automatically update
and re-deploy models

Visual Basic
PMML
SAS
etc.

2014 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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SAP InfiniteInsight:
Demo
(I know that you all have been waiting for this but I
really had to present the previous slides)

SAP predictive analytics:

Future directions

The profiles involved in a predictive analytics project

and the tools used today, in SAP terms

Developer

Data
Scientist

Business
Analysts

Business
Users

Data services, HANA Studio

Predictive analysis,
InfiniteInsight
BI 4, Lumira
Apps

The vision: enable collaboration and process

simplification in predictive analytics projects

Developer

Data
Scientist

Business
Analysts

Business
Users

HANA Studio
with PAL, APL,
Data Services

Next generation solution

BI4, Lumira
Apps

KEY LEARNING
What is SAP InfiniteInsight and which type of user can
benefit from it
How does SAP InfiniteInsight relates with the SAP
Predictive Analytics offers
How to perform some fundamental workflows with SAP
InfiniteInsight
Future directions

THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING

Please provide feedback on this session by completing a
short survey via the event mobile application.
SESSION CODE: 0605
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