Department of Operations and Information Management

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Proposal for establishing the

Center for the Advancement of Business Analytics (CABA)

...your HOME for solutions using analytics

I. Need and Opportunity

Data analytics is fast becoming a major driver in business decision making. More than

ever before, organizations are able to collect massive amounts of data in their routine

operating environments, whether it is telematics for automobile insurance, or point of sale

information on financial transactions. From customer purchase and feedback in e-commerce to

supply chain tracking and logistics, every aspect of commerce brings a plethora of data. The

key is to intelligently analyze the data and draw decision-making inferences. Consider

telematics sensors in automobiles, which can collect data on location, speed, and other

characteristics by the second if needed. It is not clear whether that level of granularity has or

would improve premium setting decisions for insurance.

Improved analytics is a critical capability for competitiveness in today’s businesses. It is

therefore essential to promote thought leadership in business analytics. Many of our peer and

aspirant schools already have Centers around Business Analytics and Data Science. Some

examples are:

NYU, Stern School of Business, Center for Business Analytics

University of Virginia, McIntire School, Center for Business Analytics

Carnegie Mellon Heinz School, Mobility Data Analytics Center

Olin Business School, Washington University, St. Louis,

Center for Customer Analytics and Big Data

University of California San Diego, Rady School of Management, The Center for

Business Analytics

We need the Center for the Advancement of Business Analytics (CABA) to support our

academic mission to serve area businesses, national organizations, students in our rapidly

expanding MS-BAPM program, and support faculty research applying and extending analytics

techniques. Our success in the MS program was partly because we moved first, fast, and at a

high quality level in addressing a major need. It is time to leverage our successes to date with a

top level Center to complete a full “Axis of Quality” in Education, Research, Thought Leadership,

and Executive Education. There is no other center at UConn that duplicates what we plan to do

with this Center. One could argue that there is big data and data analytics in areas such as

health, engineering, and sciences, and therefore there may be a need for a University wide

center. However, these fields are sufficiently distinct, and have gained critical mass such that a

center solely around business data analytics makes better sense. The creation of the Center

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should not hinder the creation of other specialty data analytics centers around other

disciplinary specialties.

We plan for the center to be inclusive and draw upon and involve experts from various

units within the University. However, for the inception of the center, we believe a focused

approach is appropriate and that other disciplines will be integrated in an organic manner. We

did this very successfully with our earlier ‘edgelab’ initiative. The core team comprised of

faculty from the OPIM department. As edgelab matured and grew, we brought in expertise

from other units (including computer science and actuarial science) to execute on projects.

II. Mission

The mission of the Center for the Advancement of Business Analytics (CABA) is to be a

One stop shop for ‘business analytics and data science’;

Value proposition for partnering organizations by developing and enhancing

their analytics capabilities;

Outlet for faculty engagement – research projects, business

interactions/projects;

Channel for knowledge dissemination – workshops, conferences, certifications,

short courses; and,

Focal point for community services – repository of data, thought leadership, and

newsletters.

Conduit for student engagement - projects, experiential learning, capstone,

internships;

III. Goals

The goals of the Center for the Advancement of Business Analytics (CABA) are to

Further enhance the rapidly growing reputation of the School of Business and

the University as drivers of the revolution in analytics and data science;

Support and expand existing programs focusing on business analytics, including

the MS in Business Analytics and Project Management (Hartford with Stamford

program in planning stage) and the BS in Business Analytics (Hartford,

Waterbury, and Stamford);

Foster and support cutting edge analytics research in business processes and

markets, operations, data science, and analytics-based modeling methods; and,

Serve as a catalyst for public/private partnering and interactions that yield win-

win outcomes for our business partners, our students, and our university.

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Our vision is to have a broad set of participation options for partner companies. Given

the mission of the proposed center, data confidentiality and execution of non-disclosure

agreements are paramount. Therefore, partnerships with “umbrella” organizations (such as

LIMRA) and multi-business conglomerates (such as UTC) are critical, as they offer a conduit to

industry level data that is palatable to the compliance departments of the consortia

organizations. As the center matures, we will explore new and useful partnership structures.

Student engagement is a critical mission of the center. The center will engage students

at all levels (undergraduate, Master’s and PhD) and at all campus locations (Storrs, Hartford,

Waterbury and Stamford). The programs that the center will directly support include MS-BAPM

(masters level program in Hartford and Stamford), BS-Business Data Analytics (undergraduate

major offered in Hartford, Stamford and Waterbury), undergraduate Minor in Analytics

(approved and will be offered starting Fall 2017 in the Storrs campus), BS-MIS (undergraduate

major offered in the Storrs campus), and OPIM Ph.D. program in Storrs. The center will also

work to engage students in related programs including the MBA programs, actuarial science,

and computer science as opportunities become available.

CABA’s student engagement activities will take the following forms:

1) facilitating student internships in business analytics;

2) supporting the capstone class in the MS-BAPM program through partner company

projects;

3) supporting the development of advanced electives in analytics;

4) facilitating guest and executive lectures and class visits to strengthen student

exposure to and understanding of the application of analytics; and,

5) providing experiential learning projects which will involve students, faculty, and

business leaders working on live analytics problems.

In addition to supporting the internal educational programs noted above, CABA will offer both revenue-generating and public service programs.

Revenue generating programs:

1) corporate education programs (Ram Gopal and Jim Marsden have been teaching a

specialized analytics course to Travelers executives for the past 5 years. The center

will work to grow similar opportunities);

2) executive training in analytics; and,

3) certificate programs.

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Public service programs: 4) topic specific workshops. For example, for the last two years we have conducted a

Visual Analytics Workshop in the Stamford Campus. The workshop was open to and

attended by students, faculty and local business people.

The figure below illustrates the multi-pronged activities of the proposed center. Bold and italicized text relates back to the specific elements of the center mission discussed in section II.

Budget

The following are the anticipated expenditure categories for the Center. It is expected that funding during the start-up phase (up to three years) will be provided by internal sources using surpluses from MSBAPM revenues.

Faculty Director 1 month

Faculty Associate Director – External Coordinator 1 month

Faculty Associate Director – Research Coordinator 1 month

Center Administrative Staff 12 months

Student support 3 RA's

Advanced software, supplies and miscellaneous

Anticipated Total Expenses Per Year $250,000 to $300,000

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Space for the Center would be required in Hartford and Stamford (see letter in appendix

from Dean Elliott). Fortunately, we have significant expertise and strengths in the department for the important roles of the center:

Director: Professor James Marsden (Jim co-founded and co-directed edgelab. He has a wealth of relevant experience and background to lead as the center director) Associate Director, External: Professor John Wilson, Instructor In-Residence (John has the deepest industry experience amongst our faculty. He has worked tirelessly with companies to procure capstone projects and has been very successful in bringing companies on board) Associate Director, Research: We have several research active faculty who have expressed interest in this role. We hope to fill this position shortly.

IV. Implementation

As the initial three years of funding is anticipated to be wholly from MSBAPM revenues, it is proposed that implementation begin with a focus on OPIM/MSBAPM related projects. As the Center matures, and as projects dictate, integration with other departments, both in the School of Business and across other University colleges, is anticipated to occur as opportunities and commitment arise. It is expected that revenue producing projects will allow the Center to be financially self-sufficient within three years.

In addition to the funding, the MSBAPM program already has extensive experience with

the types of initial projects that are expected within the Center. Additionally, as applied analytics is a quickly changing the landscape, the OPIM department, along with an advisory board, is best positioned to act in a nimble fashion to recommend and/or incorporate either technology changes or advanced analytics based application changes.

The Advisory Board will be comprised of business and knowledge leaders, including

experts from other top institutions (such as CMU and Minnesota). It is anticipated that the

Business School Dean will serve as an important member of the Advisory Board. The Advisory

Board provides insights regarding trends in the use and business integration of analytics, and

informs our efforts to keep the center up to date and relevant to industry needs. The Advisory

Board will meet twice a year, though additional meetings will be called as necessary. Typical

activities during and in-between meetings will include: (a) discussion and feedback on center

activity, (b) developing strategies to fine-tune and enhance marketing and promotional

activities, and, (c) structuring and supporting events and center activities.

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The overall implementation is expected to be phased in over a five-year time period with a preliminary schedule of milestones for years 1-5 as follows:

Year 1

Staffing of stated positions

Creation of advisory board

Establish partnerships within the illustrated cells o Insurance partnership is currently being discussed with LIMRA

Establish publishing ground rules and craft a template NDA

Solicit projects for student capstone, data challenges and faculty research

Establish marketing plan to both facilitate messaging and the dissemination of project results when appropriate

Create a “pay to play” pricing matrix Year 2-3

Develop educational programs o Corporate education programs similar to Travelers relationship o Executive training in analytics

Continue with the recruitment of corporate partners to fulfill cell based partnering agreements as necessary

Begin to integrate additional departments as part of the Center core offering (i.e. Marketing Analytics)

Year 4-5

Expanded offerings include more interdisciplinary based research projects

Center fully financially self-sufficient

V. Deliverables

The deliverables include revenue from programs together with the number of students

participating in projects, number of projects, number of presentations, number of

related/supported publications, and number workshops. At present, the center is seeking four

founding partners. We have one agreement in place and one is pending final agreement. We

have two more that are in the discussion phase. Eventually, we will look to add 2-3 more

partners. Given the varying needs and interests of potential partners, we anticipate certain

common elements relating to confidentiality, non-disclosure agreements and CABA-partner

interactions, but we expect each partnering agreement to contain unique elements directed at

yielding maximum benefits to UConn, our students, our faculty, and our partners.

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VI. Organization Structure

Departmental – Operations and Information Management, School of Business. Will report to OPIM Department Head and the Dean

Operational Structure: Center Director: Tenured faculty

Associate Director, External Associate Director, Research Administrative Staff Research Associates (3X) Affiliated faculty

Clearly various activities in the above figure will include research segments. CABA will serve as

the coordinating and integrating entity.

VII. Core and Participating Faculty

Below is a listing of the initial core and participating faculty. Core faculty is a designation

for faculty regularly involved in Center activities, some as regular members of Center projects,

research activities, or specialized coursework. The core set includes the Director and co-

Directors. Affiliated faculty refers to faculty that participate from time to time in any of the

Center activities.

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Anna Radziwillowicz, Instructor In-Residence Ramesh Shankar, Associate Professor

Cuihong Li, Associate Professor Robert Day, Associate Professor

David Bergman, Assistant Professor Sudip Bhattacharjee, Associate Professor

James Marsden, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Sulin Ba, Professor and Associate Dean

John Wilson, Instructor In-Residence Suresh Nair, Professor and Associate Dean

Jose Cruz, Associate Professor Tamilla Mavlanova, Assistant Professor In-Residence

Manuel Nunez, Associate Professor Xinxin Li, Associate Professor

Mark Tschiegg, Adjunct Professor Xue Bai, Associate Professor

Ram Gopal, Professor and Department Head Joseph Pancras, Associate Professor in Marketing

Jan Stallaert, Professor Jing Peng, Assistant Professor

Shu He, Assistant Professor Shun-Yang Lee, Assistant Professor

Jane Gu, Assistant Professor in Marketing

VIII. Internal/External Endorsements

CABA has received strong support from both internal and external constituencies.

LIMRA and SAS have both communicated their support for the center and have noted the need

for such an initiative (See Appendix). Both of these endorsements are noteworthy in that their

support is based not only on the concept of CABA, but on their positive experiences with the

UConn MS-BAPM program.

The OPIM department faculty is also in discussion with Tableau (Visual Analytics) and

DOMO (Cloud Solutions and Analytics) regarding ways in which their respective organizations

can get involved in supporting CABA. To date, both organizations have been enthusiastic in

their response and have indicated a strong desire to help CABA fulfill its mission.

CABA will seek to leverage existing business partnerships with companies that have

participated in MS-BAPM programs at various levels. These companies include Priceline, Swiss

Re, Clorox, LAZ Parking, Alteryx, Aetna, Travelers, and GE. By continuing to build a portfolio of

projects at the different levels, CABA will serve as a well-regarded portal by which to connect

business, technology and UConn resources in a manner which facilitates the mission of CABA.

Internally, Robin Coulter, Head of the Marketing Department, has stated that

collaboration between CABA and their department would result in a “win win for faculty,

students and business partnerships” (See Appendix). It is expected that as CABA continues to

mature, opportunities will arise that will require the integration of other departments at UConn

including, but not limited to, Statistics, Computer Science, and Applied Mathematics.

We foresee that other departments will take advantage of the CABA structure by

bringing in projects of their own. An example of this is a project that, at the time of this

proposal, is being discussed with the UConn athletic department. This project will allow the

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MS-BAPM Capstone students to help facilitate analysis of data sets being collected on athletes

at UConn.

There is strong support, both internally and externally, for the proposed CABA center.

CABA will have the infrastructure necessary to create and foster ongoing productive

relationships with existing constituencies, but will also be able to build new relationships in a

manner that provides a collaborative infrastructure for companies, technology partners and

UConn students and faculty.

Appendix

Letters of Support

&

Offer Letter Template

Dr. Susan Herbst Office of the President Gulley Hall 9 Oak Hill Road Storrs, CT 06269 Dear Dr. Herbst, As Senior Vice President and Director of Research for LIMRA, I would like to offer my support for the development of the University of Connecticut Center for Advancing the Science of Analytics (CASA). Based in Connecticut, LIMRA is a research trade association serving 850 financial services firms. For 100 years, LIMRA has been entrusted with facilitating the discussion of current topics, legislation, and technological advancements and the impact they have on our industry. In recent years advanced analytics has become an important topic for our members. To assist them, we formed a Big Data Analytics Study Group in 2013 and have hosted an annual Big Data Analytics Conference since 2014. Based on conversations and interactions with our members, the development of analytics and its impact to specific strategy and tactics is migrating from a curiosity to an integral part of company planning and process. At the same time, many companies have expressed concern over the lack of trained analysts, the inability to keep up with analytical trends and technology, and a relative confusion on what skills and software are relevant and necessary to complete a specific exercise. We feel that CASA would offer UCONN the opportunity to reach a significant audience of financial services managers and executives and create the academic/corporate partnerships that allow both parties to realize benefits. We believe LIMRA would also benefit. We recognize the growing needs of our members in this area and CASA could support our efforts to identify and resource projects, gather information, propose research topics and network with academia. As a trade association, LIMRA is committed to supporting a partnership with UCONN that allows all parties to realize benefits individually, and that facilitates industry discussion and advancement collectively. On behalf of LIMRA, please accept this endorsement of the creation of the CASA. It comes at a critical time for the financial services industry and it can create great value for both the university and for our membership. We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with CASA. Sincerely, Alison Salka, Ph.D. Senior Vice President and Director of Research LIMRA

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Gopal, Ram

From: Robin CoulterSent: Friday, October 21, 2016 3:27 PMTo: Ram GopalSubject: CASA

Follow Up Flag: Follow upFlag Status: Flagged

The Marketing Department is delighted to be collaborating with the Department of Operations and Information Management on CASA. Data analytics is key to strategic marketing decisions as related branding, pricing, promotion, distribution and retailing across service and manufacturing industries. Marketing and information systems faculty are working together on research projects, and many marketing students interested in digital marketing and marketing analytics, are rounding out their studies with courses in information systems. We see this collaboration as a “win-win” for faculty, students, and business partnerships. Robin A. Coulter Professor and Department Head VOYA Financial Fellow Marketing Department School of Business University of Connecticut 2100 Hillside Avenue Storrs, CT 96269-1041 Tele: 860.486.2889 Email: robin.coulter@business.uconn.edu