Demand Analytics

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/demand-analytics

Introduction

**Course Review: Demand Analytics on Coursera** In today's data-driven business landscape, the ability to accurately forecast demand for products and services has become indispensable for professionals in supply chain management and marketing. If you're keen on honing these crucial skills, look no further than the "Demand Analytics" course available on Coursera. This course is not only insightful but also highly practical, designed to equip you with the tools necessary for improving forecasting accuracy and effectively influencing customer demand. ### Overview "Demand Analytics" offers a comprehensive dive into the world of demand planning and forecasting. With a focus on a real-life case study of AK MetalCrafters, a prominent cookware manufacturer in North America, this course weaves storytelling with actionable data analytics techniques. By the end of the course, you will be adept at building and validating demand prediction models, enhancing forecasting precision, and identifying key drivers behind consumer behavior—all essential components for any business seeking to optimize its supply chain operations. ### Course Structure The course is structured into four enlightening weeks, each building upon the last: 1. **Welcome!** - The journey begins with an overview of the challenges faced by AK MetalCrafters in launching new products. This real-world context set against the backdrop of Demand Analytics illustrates the significance of accurate forecasting in overcoming operational hurdles. Additionally, you'll explore the foundational principles of demand planning and how they integrate into a company’s broader business strategy. 2. **Predicting Trend** - In the second week, you put theory into practice by constructing and interpreting a linear model to predict trends, particularly in new product introductions. This week emphasizes essential skills like data collection, pre-processing, and visualization—critical steps in the model-building workflow that will enhance your analytical capabilities. 3. **Predicting the Impact of Price and Other Environmental Factors** - Week three dives deeper as you refine your predictive model. Here, you'll analyze errors and identify missing variables to improve accuracy. You’ll learn to build a multiple regression model that not only captures trends but also quantifies the impact of pricing and various environmental factors that influence demand. 4. **Predicting Seasonality** - Finally, the course culminates in an exploration of seasonality. You'll enhance your previous model to include periodic patterns that reflect seasonal fluctuations in demand. This week covers how to effectively format and test categorical variables, providing you the skills to create robust forecasts. ### Recommendations I highly recommend the "Demand Analytics" course for anyone looking to elevate their skillset in supply chain management, data analytics, or marketing. Whether you are a beginner or have some experience, the structured format and practical approach make it accessible and engaging. **Key Benefits:** - **Practical Application:** By utilizing a real-world case study, the course reinforces the relevance of data analytics in everyday business challenges. - **Skill Development:** The focus on building models and interpreting data equips you with the hands-on skills needed to succeed in demand forecasting. - **Knowledge Expansion:** Delving into the areas of trend prediction, environmental influences, and seasonality enriches your understanding of the multifaceted nature of demand analytics. ### Conclusion In summary, the "Demand Analytics" course on Coursera is a valuable resource for anyone looking to excel in the domain of demand forecasting. By combining theoretical knowledge with practical applications, this course ensures that you emerge with a well-rounded understanding of demand analytics, equipped to tackle real-world business challenges effectively. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your professional skills and contribute more effectively to your organization's success!

Syllabus

Welcome!

Welcome to the exciting world of Demand Analytics! In Week 1, you will learn the crisis that AK MetalCrafters, a leading cookware manufacturer in North America, faced in launching new products, and how AK successfully resolved the crisis using Demand Analytics. You will also learn the general principles of demand planning and forecasting, and how it fits into a firm's integrated business planning.

Welcome to Week 2 of Demand Analytics! In Week 1, you learned the general principles, now in Week 2, you will put them to action by building and interpreting a linear model for predicting the trend (as in new product introduction). You will also learn data collection, pre-processing and visualization techniques, which are critical to model building.

Welcome to Week 3 of Demand Analytics! In Week 2, you built a linear model to predict the trend. In this week, you will validate and improve the model by first analyzing its errors to identify missing variables and then building a multiple regression model to capture not only the trend but also the impact of price and other environmental factors.

In this last week of Demand Analytics, you will further improve your demand forecasting model built in Week 3 by including seasonality to capture the periodic patterns in the errors; you will learn how to model and format categorical variables, and how to create and test your forecast.