Hands-on business analytics projects equip students for real-world scenarios

Seth Freeman didn't realize how crucial clear communication is in the workplace until he was involved in a project through the Pooles Business Analytics Initiative (BAI) internship program.

The project quickly convinced him.

In last fall's internship, before graduating with an accounting major in December, his team addressed a business challenge for Labcorp, a life sciences and healthcare company.

What I took away was working with an actual client, trying to understand what they needed, clarifying what we asked for, and following through on our request so they knew what we needed, Freeman says. It showed me the true nature of that type of work and gave me good experience in a real world scenario.

Those real-world scenarios give students invaluable, semester-long opportunities to use their skills in an increasingly analytics-driven global marketplace to help drive companies' success. Students apply the knowledge they have acquired in the classroom to face challenges in practicals.

Practical business analytics courses offer Poole-employer partnerships for students in the Business Analytics Honors undergraduate program and the two Masters of Management programs (Marketing Analytics and Risk and Analytics) and Business Analytics Graduate Certificate Program (which mainly includes Jenkins MBA students).

At Freemans practice, his team performed a cost analysis with data provided by Labcorp.

A lot of understanding how to break down the problem that Labcorp presented us with and create a solution was based on the processes that the honors program classes taught us, Freeman says. He used what he learned in courses on databases, data organization, and analytics.

In another internship through the Business Analytics Honors Program, the Garrett Aurienes team created a forecasting model for retailer Sonic Automotive.

A class that focused on forecasting and predictive modeling really transferred to practice, says Auriene, who learned to manipulate data with software tools.

Terry Song completed the business analytics graduate certificate program, part of the Pooles Jenkins MBA, and internship last fall. He worked in a team to develop a forecasting model related to some of Volvo Groups' freight carriers and distribution centers.

The certificate program provided a smooth transition from foundational knowledge to practical application in solving real-world data science problems, Song says. He is a staff systems engineer at Parker Hannifin, a motion and control systems manufacturer in Cary, North Carolina.

Song, a student in the online MBA program, cites several MBA analytics classes that were helpful on the Volvo Group project. These courses equip students with a strong foundation of knowledge and tools needed to tackle real-world analytics challenges in a hands-on project context, he says.

These courses equip students with a strong foundation of knowledge and tools needed to tackle real-world analytics challenges in a practical project context.

Student success in internships comes in part from employer resources.

Amit Prakash, who was on the Pooles business analytics honors programme, led the practical project for his team with Envestnet, which developed a framework for customer profiling.

The company provided a list of its project requirements and any technical support needed by the students. That really helped us adapt to them, says Prakash, a business administration and computer science major in 2023.

Pooles' employer partners have skin in the game because of the value they get from internships.

I'm a big believer in university-industry relationships, says Matt Mallard, head of transportation flow optimization for Volvo Group North America, based in Greensboro, North Carolina.

I'm interested in what the students can accomplish for us that I can't accomplish with my team, mostly because of the time we can't accomplish those things. And with some projects, we don't have the necessary expertise in-house, says Mallard.

For several semesters, Poole students have been working with Volvo Group on predictive analytics projects. The model the students have developed will assist the Mallards team with the sales and operations planning process related to supply chain logistics flows.

We were far enough along to have a model that we could put into production and use soon. I envision that this should become an integral part of that process, says Mallard, who is himself enrolled in Pooles' business analytics graduate certificate program.

The students have been really engaged in the work. They have good questions, he says. Projects are progressing in a good way.

Poole graduates use their BAI internship experience to further their careers too.

In his practice, Prakash assigned tasks to colleagues based on their areas of specialty: economics, IT, finance. I learned a lot about what project management looks like, what I need to improve, and what I do best, says Prakash, an associate web developer at Prometheus Group, a Raleigh-based software company.

Auriene uses business analytics every day as a database engineer with First Citizens Bank.

On the internship you get real work experience, working with company data, it was very helpful in transitioning to the full time role I have now and the perfect preparation for me, working with database management and learned about forecasting, says Auriene.

Freeman, an audit intern with the accounting firm PwC in Raleigh, will enroll at Pooles Master of Accounting program this summer.

The business analytics internship and honors program will be extremely helpful in my long-term career approach. I am prepared for what can happen in the accounting industry because I have been exposed to data analysis, he says.

That gives Freeman an edge in a competitive field.

Talking to senior management at my accounting firm, they understand the importance of analytics, he says. It is a good tool for the future.