Scribd
Upload
16 views2 pages

ML Project Life Cycle With Example

Uploaded by

Jai Kabdal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
16 views2 pages

ML Project Life Cycle With Example

Uploaded by

Jai Kabdal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Machine Learning Project Life Cycle with Example: Predicting Customer

Churn

1. Problem Definition
The first step is to clearly define the problem and understand the objectives. In this
example, we aim to predict customer churn for a telecom company. The goal is to identify
customers likely to cancel their service, so the company can take preventive actions. This is
a classification problem because we want to categorize customers into two classes: 'Churn'
or 'No Churn'.

2. Data Collection
Collect relevant data that will be used to train and evaluate the model. For our churn
prediction example, we collect data from the company’s customer database, including
customer demographics, service usage, call logs, billing information, and customer support
interactions. Ensuring that the dataset captures relevant features (like contract type and
tenure) is crucial for building an effective model.

3. Data Exploration and Preprocessing


Explore the data to understand its structure, identify patterns, and find any anomalies. This
involves visualizing data distributions and calculating summary statistics. For example, we
might visualize the distribution of contract types among customers and see if there is any
pattern related to churn. Next, we preprocess the data: handling missing values (e.g.,
replacing missing 'tenure' values with the median), normalizing numerical features (e.g.,
monthly charges), and encoding categorical variables (e.g., gender).

4. Feature Engineering
Create new features or transform existing ones to improve model performance. In the churn
example, we might create a new feature that indicates if a customer has had multiple
support interactions in a short period, which could be a sign of dissatisfaction. Other
examples include converting 'tenure' into categories (e.g., short, medium, long) or creating
interaction terms between service types and monthly charges.

5. Data Splitting
Split the dataset into training, validation, and test sets. Typically, the split might be 70% for
training, 15% for validation, and 15% for testing. For the churn prediction example, this
means we randomly divide the customer data so the model can learn from the training set,
fine-tune using the validation set, and finally be evaluated on the test set.

6. Model Selection and Training


Choose a suitable model based on the problem type and dataset characteristics. In our
example, we might start with models like Logistic Regression, Random Forest, or Support
Vector Machine (SVM), as they work well for binary classification. The model is trained
using the training data, and hyperparameters are tuned using the validation set to optimize
performance.

7. Model Evaluation
Evaluate the model’s performance using appropriate metrics. For the churn prediction
model, we use metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and AUC-ROC. For example,
precision tells us the percentage of predicted 'churn' cases that were actually churners,
while recall indicates how many actual churners were correctly identified. The AUC-ROC
curve helps us understand the model’s ability to distinguish between churners and non-
churners.

8. Model Tuning
Optimize the model’s performance by fine-tuning hyperparameters using techniques like
Grid Search or Random Search. In the churn example, we might adjust the maximum depth
of a Decision Tree, the number of estimators in a Random Forest, or the regularization
strength in Logistic Regression. The aim is to find the best combination of parameters that
maximizes performance on the validation set.

9. Model Deployment
Deploy the model to a production environment, making it accessible through APIs or
integrating it into an existing system. For the churn model, the company might deploy it as
an API that customer service applications can call to get real-time churn predictions when
interacting with customers. This allows the business to take proactive steps (e.g., offering
special deals) when a high-risk customer is identified.

10. Monitoring and Maintenance


Monitor the model’s performance in production to detect issues like model drift or
performance degradation. For the churn prediction model, we continuously check whether
the model’s predictions remain accurate as customer behavior or market conditions change.
Regularly retraining or updating the model with new data ensures that it remains effective
over time.

11. Documentation and Reporting


Document the entire project, including data sources, preprocessing steps, model details, and
evaluation results. In the churn example, a report might include findings on the most
important factors influencing churn, like contract type and monthly charges. This
documentation helps in maintaining the project, ensuring reproducibility, and
communicating results to stakeholders.

You might also like