SƚƵĚĞŶƚ͛Ɛ Handbook

Data Science

(Electives: Model Risk Assessment/ Model Business

Performance/ Visualizations)

QP Code: SSC/Q8104

QP Version: 2.0

Model Curriculum Version: 1.0

1
Table of Contents
SI. No Module Pg. No

1 Artificial Intelligence & Big Data Analytics ʹ An 4

Introduction

2 Basic Statistical Concepts 11

3 Advanced Statistical Concepts 12

4 Statistical Tools and Usage 15

5 Importing Data 18

6 Pre-processing Data 23

7 Exploring Data 29

8 Data Structures and Algorithms 33

9 Graph Algorithms 38

10 String Algorithms 41

11 Neural Networks 42

12 Programming for Data Science 48

13 Applications of pre-designed Algorithms 51

14 Manage and plan work requirements 57

15 Communication and collaboration with colleagues 63

16 Workplace data management 70

17 Relationship management at the workplace 81

18 Client relationship management 92

19 Persuasive Communication 103

20 Inclusive and environmentally sustainable workplaces 107

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3
 Module-1
Artificial Intelligence & Big Data Analytics ʹ An Introduction

What is Big Data?

The term big data refers to massive, complex and high velocity datasets. As stated above, big
ĚĂƚĂŝƐƚŚĞĨƵĞůƚŚĂƚƉŽǁĞƌƐƚŚĞĞǀŽůƵƚŝŽŶŽĨ/͛Ɛdecision making. Big data can be explored and
analyzed for information and insights. Big data analytics is the use of processes and
technologies, including AI and machine learning, to combine and analyze massive datasets with
the goal of identifying patterns and developing actionable insights. This helps you make faster,
better, data-driven decisions that can increase efficiency, revenue and profits.

What is AI?

The term artificial intelligence refers to a set of technologies which enable computers to
simulate human intelligence. Examples of AI include speech recognition, such directing virtual
assistants like Alexa to perform tasks, image recognition for identification, and autonomous
driving. AI also makes augmented analytics tools more powerful and accessible, helping you
explore and analyze sprawling, unstructured data to gain greater clarity and understanding of
the many factors influencing your business.

Subfields of AI include AutoML and machine learning, which refers to the use of algorithms to
learn and execute tasks without human intervention, deep learning, which uses neural
networks to identify complex patterns in high-volume data, cognitive computing, which is used
to simulate the functioning of the human brain to solve complex problems, and natural
language processing, which helps computers understand and interpret human language.

Relationship between AI and Big Data

Big data and artificial intelligence have a synergistic relationship. AI requires a massive scale of
data to learn and improve decision-making processes and big data analytics leverages AI for
better data analysis. With this convergence, you can more easily leverage advanced analytics
capabilities like augmented or predictive analytics and more efficiently surface actionable
insights from your vast stores of data. With big data AI powered analytics, you can empower
your users with the intuitive tools and robust technologies they need to extract high-value
insights from data, fostering data literacy across your organization while reaping the benefits of
becoming a truly data-driven organization.
By bringing together big data and AI technology, companies can improve business performance
and efficiency by:

x Anticipating and capitalizing on emerging industry and market trends.

x Analyzing consumer behavior and automating customer segmentation
x Personalizing and optimizing the performance of digital marketing campaigns
x Using intelligent decision support systems fueled by big data, AI, and predictive analytics

AI Big Data Analytics.

AI can assist users in all phases of the big data cycle, or the processes involved in the
aggregation, storage, and retrieval of diverse types of data from various sources. These include

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 data management, pattern management, context management, decision management, action
management, goal management, and risk management.

AI can identify data types, find possible connections among datasets, and recognize knowledge
using natural language processing. It can be used to automate and accelerate data preparation
tasks, including the generation of data models, and assist in data exploration. It can learn
common human error patterns, detecting and resolving potential flaws in information. And it
can learn by watching how the user interacts with an analytics program, surfacing unexpected
insights from massive datasets fast. AI can also learn subtle differences in meaning, or context-
specific nuances, in order to help users better understand numeric data sources. And it can
alert users to anomalies or unexpected patterns in data, actively monitoring events and
identifying potential threats from system logs or social networking data, for example.

Top 5 Big Data Applications and Use Cases in Various Industries

Big data is revolutionizing the way businesses manage, analyze, and leverage data. Using big
data technologies, organizations can perform manipulations on large volumes of data, uncover
hidden patterns, gain insights, and make informed decisions that lead to greater ROI. Today,
every company, whether big or small, is investing in big data applications to improve the
quality of its services. Here are a few top big data applications in industries where big data is
changing the face of businesses these days.

Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI)

BFSI is one of the most data-intensive domains in the world economy. Financial institutions
have huge amounts of customer data, such as information on customer profile data collected
for KYC, deposits and withdrawals at ATMs, online payments, and more. Big data technologies
enable financial institutions to easily access data and eliminate redundancy and overlapping.

Big Data use cases in the BFSI industry

x Improved levels of customer insight

x Customer engagement
x Fraud detection and prevention
x Market trading analysis
x Risk management
x New data-driven products and services

Retail

The retail industry collects a huge amount of data through RFID, customer loyalty programs,
and more. Big data analytics enable businesses to uncover patterns and trends in a large
volume of data to improve pricing, supply chain movement, personalized shopping experiences,
and enhance customer loyalty. Businesses also use retail analytics data to forecast trends and
make strategic decisions. This helps increase their competitiveness in the market to a great
extent.

Big Data use cases in the Retail industry

x Personalized customer experience

x Predicting demands
x Dynamic pricing

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x Customer journey analytics
x Fraud detection and prevention

Healthcare

Healthcare institutions gather a large amount of data in the fŽƌŵŽĨƉĂƚŝĞŶƚĚĞƚĂŝůƐ͕ƉŚLJƐŝĐŝĂŶ͛Ɛ

prescriptions, medical imaging, lab reports, insurance, and other administrative data. Using big
data, the vast amount of data can be stored systematically and easily accessed when needed.

Big Data use cases in the Healthcare industry

x Improved patient predictions

x Real-time alerts
x Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
x Better patient engagement
x Fraud prevention and detection
x Smoother hospital administration

Education

In the education sector, a lot of data is collected in the form of names of students enrolled in a
program/course, enrollment year, course details, student ID, marks obtained in each subject,
and more. Using big data, educators can store this information efficiently and identify patterns
and trends to spot opportunities for positive change in the performance of both the students
and the educational institutions.

Big Data use cases in the Education industry

x Create customized programs

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x Reduce dropouts
x /ĚĞŶƚŝĨLJůĞĂŶĞƌ͛ƐƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚƐ
x Data-driven decision making

Manufacturing

Regardless of what type of data a business has, it plays an important role when it comes to
outperforming the competition. In manufacturing, data is gathered from machines, devices,
and operators at every stage of production. Big data help manufacturers store this data
efficiently. The use of big data also allows firms to identify new ways to save costs and improve
product quality. Using big data analytics, companies can find patterns to solve existing
problems and improve the overall process.

Big Data use cases in the Manufacturing industry

x Customize product design

x Predictive quality
x Anomaly detection
x Better management of supply chain
x Production forecasting
x Yield improvement

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x Risk evaluation

General AI vs Narrow AI

Back in the 1950s, Alan Turing was asked whether machines can think. At the time, Turing said
that the question was too meaningless for discussion, as we don't even understand what
thinking is in the first place.

Fast-forward to the 2020s, and we have Amazon telling us what products we want to buy,
Netflix knowing the shows we want to watch, and Google predicting the questions we want to
ask. However, are machines genuinely thinking or just simulating cognition?

Post Covid-19, 86% of participants in a PwC survey say AI will be a mainstream technology at
their company in 2021.

What's the difference between Narrow AI and General AI?

Narrow AI is created to solve one given problem, for example, a chatbot. Artificial General
Intelligence (AGI) is a theoretical application of generalized Artificial Intelligence in any domain,
solving any problem that requires AI. Though still unfulfilled, AGI inches ever closer.

What is Narrow AI?

Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), sometimes known as "weak AI", refers to any AI that can
outperform a human in a narrowly defined and structured task. It is designed to perform a
single function like an internet search, face recognition, or speech detection under various
constraints and limitations. It is the constraints that lead people to refer to these functions as

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The benefits of Narrow AI

Every minor success in Narrow AI is typically a stepping stone toward Artificial General
Intelligence (AGI). We will break Narrow AI into three core benefits.

1. Productivity and efficiency

The news often cites AI as being a catalyst for large-scale redundancies for low-skilled workers.
However, although there could be some short-term job losses, the objective of AI is to augment
the roles of people rather than cutting them out completely. For example, chatbots are not
being developed to replace traditional human customer service. They handle basic queries to
allow skilled humans to deal with the more complex or sensitive issues and not waste their time
with mundane work.

2. Smarter decision making

AI can analyze trends to help companies make better strategic decisions. Algorithms are
unbiased (as long as trained correctly) and devoid of the emotions that can often inhibit
humans from making the correct decision.

3. Better customer experiences

Narrow AI solutions such as chatbots, recommender systems, and intelligent searches can
significantly enhance the customer experience. Everything is fully personalized to the user,
making brands, products, and services more relevant than ever.

What is General AI (AGI)?

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 In simple terms, Narrow AI is where we have been, and General AI is where we want to head
towards. Artificial General Intelligence is known as "strong AI" and allows machines to apply
knowledge and skills in different contexts.

Where ANI applications can run single, automated, and repetitive tasks, the objective of AGI is
to create machines that can reason and think just like a human is capable of doing. General AI is
where we are heading but is still in its very nascent stages.

6 Major Branches of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

͞ƌƚŝĨŝĐŝĂů/ŶƚĞůůŝŐĞŶĐĞ;/ͿŝƐƚŚĞƉĂƌƚŽĨĐŽŵƉƵƚĞƌƐĐŝĞŶĐĞĐŽŶĐĞƌŶĞĚwith designing intelligent

computer systems, that is, systems that exhibit characteristics we associate with intelligence in

human behavior ʹ ƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐůĂŶŐƵĂŐĞ͕ůĞĂƌŶŝŶŐ͕ƌĞĂƐŽŶŝŶŐ͕ƐŽůǀŝŶŐƉƌŽďůĞŵƐ͕ĂŶĚƐŽŽŶ͘͟ -

(Barr & Feigenbaum, 1981)

In the commencement of this blog, we will gain expertise in Artificial Intelligence and its major

six branches.

Prefacing Artificial intelligence

In terms of easy definition, Artificial Intelligence is the capability of a machine or computer

device to emulate human intelligence (cognitive process), acquire from experiences, adapt to

the latest information and operate humans-like-activities.

Apart from this, AI has various fundamental application incorporating NLP, healthcare,

automotive, gaming, speech recognition, finance, vision system, etc. and required for;

x To design expert systems equipped with the knowledgeable practice that is proficient to

acquire, manifest, decipher and justify to its users.

x Stimulating devices to identify results for complicated issues like humans do and implement

them in the mode of algorithms in computers.

Branches of Artificial Intelligence As AI Capabilities

There is a broad set of techniques that come in the domain of artificial intelligence such as

linguistics, bias, vision, planning, robotic process automation, natural language processing,

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 decision science, etc. Let us acquire information about some of the major subfields of AI in

deep;

2. Neural Network

Incorporating cognitive science and machines to perform tasks, the neural network is a branch

of artificial intelligence that makes use of neurology ( a part of biology that concerns the nerve

and nervous system of the human brain). Neural network replicates the human brain where the

human brain comprises an infinite number of neurons and to code brain-neurons into a system

or a machine is what the neural network functions.

3. Robotics

This has emerged as a very sizzling field of artificial intelligence. An interesting field of research

and development mainly focuses on designing and constructing robots.

x Robotics is an interdisciplinary field of science and engineering incorporated with mechanical

engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and many others.
x Robotics determines the designing, producing, operating, and usage of robots. It deals with
computer systems for their control, intelligent outcomes, and information transformation.

Six major branches of Artificial Intelligence

4. Expert Systems

Expert systems were considered amid the first successful model of AI software. For the first

time, they were designed in the 1970s and after that escalated in the 1980s.

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Under the umbrella of an AI technology, an expert system refers to a computer system that

mimics the decision-making intelligence of a human expert. It conducts this by deriving

5. Fuzzy Logic

In the real world, sometimes we face a condition where it is difficult to recognize whether the

condition is true or not, their fuzzy logic gives relevant flexibility for reasoning that leads to

inaccuracies and uncertainties of any condition.

6. Natural Language Processing

/ƚŝƐŚĂƌĚĨƌŽŵƚŚĞƐƚĂŶĚƉŽŝŶƚŽĨƚŚĞĐŚŝůĚ͕ǁŚŽŵƵƐƚƐƉĞŶĚŵĂŶLJLJĞĂƌƐĂĐƋƵŝƌŝŶŐĂůĂŶŐƵĂŐĞ͙

It is hard for the adult language learner, it is hard for the scientist who attempts to model the

relevant phenomena, and it is hard for the engineer who attempts to build systems that deal

with natural language input or output. These tasks are so hard that Turing could rightly make

fluent conversation in natural language the centerpiece of his test for intelligence. Ͷ Page 248,

Mathematical Linguistics, 2010.

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 Module 2:

Basic Statistical Concepts

Statistics: Distributions
Normal distribution describes continuous data which have a symmetric distribution, with a
characteristic 'bell' shape.
Binomial distribution describes the distribution of binary data from a finite sample. Thus it gives
the probability of getting r events out of n trials.
Poisson distribution describes the distribution of binary data from an infinite sample. Thus it
gives the probability of getting r events in a population.

The Normal Distribution

It is often the case with medical data that the histogram of a continuous variable obtained from
a single measurement on different subjects will have a characteristic `bell-shaped' distribution
known as a Normal distribution. One such example is the histogram of the birth weight (in
kilograms) of the 3,226 new born babies shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Distribution of birth weight in 3,226 newborn babies (data from O' Cathain et al 2002)

To distinguish the use of the same word in normal range and Normal distribution we have used
a lower and upper case convention throughout.
The histogram of the sample data is an estimate of the population distribution of birth weights
in new born babies. This population distribution can be estimated by the superimposed smooth
`bell-shaped' curve or `Normal' distribution shown. We presume that if we were able to look at
the entire population of new born babies then the distribution of birth weight would have
exactly the Normal shape. We often infer, from a sample whose histogram has the approximate
Normal shape, that the population will have exactly, or as near as makes no practical
difference, that Normal shape.

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 Module 3:

Advanced Statistical Concepts

What Does a Posterior Probability Tell You?

Bayes' theorem can be used in many applications, such as medicine, finance, and economics. In
finance, Bayes' theorem can be used to update a previous belief once new information is
obtained. Prior probability represents what is originally believed before new evidence is
introduced, and posterior probability takes this new information into account.

Posterior probability distributions should be a better reflection of the underlying truth of a data
generating process than the prior probability since the posterior included more information. A
posterior probability can subsequently become a prior for a new updated posterior probability
as new information arises and is incorporated into the analysis.

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Prior Probability

Prior probability, in Bayesian statistical inference, is the probability of an event based on

established knowledge, before empirical data is collected.

Conditional Probability: Formula and Real-Life Examples

Conditional probability is the likelihood of an event or outcome occurring based on the

occurrence of some other previous event or outcome.

Bayes' Theorem: What It Is, the Formula, and Examples

Bayes' theorem is a mathematical formula for determining conditional probability of an event.

Learn how to calculate Bayes' theorem and see examples.

Unconditional Probability

An unconditional probability is an independent chance that a single outcome results

Empirical probability uses the number of occurrences of an outcome within a sample set as a

Structured vs. Unstructured Data

Data is the lifeblood of business, and it comes in a huge variety of formats Ͷ everything from
strictly formed relational databases to your last post on Facebook. All of that data, in all
different formats, can be sorted into one of two categories: structured and unstructured data.

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Structured vs. unstructured data can be understood by considering the who, what, when,
where, and the how of the data:

1. Who will be using the data?

2. What type of data are you collecting?
3. When does the data need to be prepared, before storage or when used?
4. Where will the data be stored?
5. How will the data be stored?

What is structured data?

Structured data is data that has been predefined and formatted to a set structure before
being placed in data storage, which is often referred to as schema-on-write. The best example
of structured data is the relational database: the data has been formatted into precisely defined
fields, such as credit card numbers or address, in order to be easily queried with SQL.

Pros of structured data

There are three key benefits of structured data:

1. Easily used by machine learning algorithms: The largest benefit of structured data is how
easily it can be used by machine learning. The specific and organized nature of structured
data allows for easy manipulation and querying of that data.
2. Easily used by business users: Another benefit of structured data is that it can be used by
an average business user with an understanding of the topic to which the data relates.
There is no need to have an in-depth understanding of various different types of data or
the relationships of that data. It opens up self-service data access to the business user.
3. Increased access to more tools: Structured data also has the benefit of having been in
use for far longer, as historically it was the only option. This means that there are more
tools that have been tried and tested in using and analyzing structured data. Data
managers have more product choices when using structured data.

Cons of structured data

The cons of structured data are centered in a lack of data flexibility. Here are some potential
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1. A predefined purpose limits use: While on-write-schema data definition is a large benefit
to structured data, it is also true that data with a predefined structure can only be used
for its intended purpose. This limits its flexibility and use cases.
2. Limited storage options: Structured data is generally stored in data warehouses. Data
warehouses are data storage systems with rigid schemas. Any change in requirements
means updating all of that structured data to meet the new needs; this results in massive
expenditure of resources and time.

What is unstructured data?

Unstructured data is data stored in its native format and not processed until it is used, which
is known as schema-on-read. It comes in a myriad of file formats, including email, social media
posts, presentations, chats, IoT sensor data, and satellite imagery.

Pros of unstructured data

As there are pros and cons of structured data, unstructured data also has strengths and
weaknesses for specific business needs. Some of its benefits include:

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 1. Freedom of the native format: Because unstructured data is stored in its native format,
the data is not defined until it is needed. This leads to a larger pool of use cases, because
the purpose of the data is adaptable.
2. Faster accumulation rates: Another benefit of unstructured data is in data accumulation
rates. There is no need to predefine the data, which means it can be collected quickly and
easily.
3. Data lake storage: Unstructured data is often stored in cloud data lakes, which allow for
massive storage. Cloud data lakes also allow for pay-as-you-use storage pricing, which
helps cut costs and allows for easy scalability.

Cons of unstructured data

There are also cons to using unstructured data. It requires specific expertise and specialized
tools in order to be used to its fullest potential.

1. Requires data science expertise: The largest drawback to unstructured data is that data
science expertise is required to prepare and analyze the data. A standard business user
cannot use unstructured data as it is, due to its undefined/non-formatted nature. Using
unstructured data requires understanding the topic or area of the data, but also of
understanding how the data can be related to make it useful.
2. Specialized tools: In addition to the required expertise, unstructured data requires
specialized tools to manipulate. Standard are intended for use with structured data,
which leaves a data manager with limited choices in products for unstructured data,
some of which are still in their infancy.

Structured data vs. unstructured data

Structured data vs. unstructured data comes down to data types that can be used, the level of
data expertise required to use it, and on-write versus on-read schema.

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 Module 4:

Statistical Tools and Usage

Python IDEs and Code Editors (Guide)

Writing Python using IDLE or the Python Shell is great for simple things, but those tools quickly
turn larger programming projects into frustrating pits of despair. Using an IDE, or even just a
good dedicated code editor, makes coding funͶbut which one is best for you?

Fear not, Gentle Reader! We are here to help explain and demystify the myriad of choices
ĂǀĂŝůĂďůĞƚŽLJŽƵ͘tĞĐĂŶ͛ƚƉŝĐŬǁŚĂƚǁŽƌŬƐďĞƐƚĨŽƌLJŽƵĂŶĚLJŽƵƌƉƌŽĐĞss, but we can explain
the pros and cons of each and help you make an informed decision.

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exclusively for Python development and the ones built for general development that you can
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are mutually exclusive, so you can try them out on your own with very little penalty.

What Are IDEs and Code Editors?

An IDE (or Integrated Development Environment) is a program dedicated to software

development. As the name implies, IDEs integrate several tools specifically designed for
software development. These tools usually include:

x An editor designed to handle code (with, for example, syntax highlighting and auto-
completion)
x Build, execution, and debugging tools
x Some form of source control

Requirements for a Good Python Coding Environment

So what things do we really need in a coding environment? Feature lists vary from app to app,
but there are a core set of features that makes coding easier:

x Save and reload code files

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x Run code from within the environment
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much more than a simple text editor.
x Debugging support
Being able to step through your code as it runs is a core feature of all IDEs and most
good code editors.
x Syntax highlighting
Being able to quickly spot keywords, variables, and symbols in your code makes reading
and understanding code much easier.
x Automatic code formatting
Any editor or IDE worth it͛ƐƐĂůƚǁŝůůƌĞĐŽŐŶŝnjĞƚŚĞĐŽůŽŶĂƚƚŚĞĞŶĚŽĨ
a while or for statement, and know the next line should be indented.

General Editors and IDEs with Python Support

15
/ĨLJŽƵ͛ǀĞƐƉĞŶƚĂŶLJĂŵŽƵŶƚŽĨƚŝŵĞŝŶƚŚĞŽƉĞŶ-ƐŽƵƌĐĞĐŽŵŵƵŶŝƚLJ͕LJŽƵ͛ǀĞŚĞĂƌĚĂďŽƵƚĐůŝƉƐĞ͘
Available for Linux, Windows, and OS X at, Eclipse is the de-facto open-source IDE
for Java development. It has a rich marketplace of extensions and add-ons, which makes Eclipse
useful for a wide range of development activities.

One such extension is PyDev, which enables Python debugging, code completion, and an
interactive Python console. Installing PyDev into Eclipse is easy: from Eclipse, select Help,
Eclipse Marketplace, then search for PyDev. Click Install and restart Eclipse if necessary.

Pros: /ĨLJŽƵ͛ǀĞĂůƌĞĂĚLJŐŽƚĐůŝƉƐĞŝŶƐƚĂůůĞĚ͕ĂĚĚŝŶŐWLJĞǀǁŝůůďĞƋƵŝĐŬĞƌĂŶĚĞĂƐŝĞƌ͘WLJĞǀŝƐ
very accessible for the experienced Eclipse developer.

Cons: /ĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞũƵƐƚƐƚĂƌƚŝŶŐŽƵƚǁŝƚŚWLJƚŚŽŶ͕ or with software development in general, Eclipse

can be a lot to handle. Remember when I said IDEs are larger and require more knowledge to
use properly? Eclipse is all that and a bag of (micro)chips.

Python tools:

Built by Microsoft, Visual Studio is a full-featured IDE, in many ways comparable to Eclipse. Built
for Windows and Mac OS only, VS comes in both free (Community) and paid (Professional and
Enterprise) versions. Visual Studio enables development for a variety of platforms and comes
with its own marketplace for extensions.

Python Tools for Visual Studio (aka PTVS) enables Python coding in Visual Studio, as well as
Intellisense for Python, debugging, and other tools.

Pros: If you already have Visual Studio installed for other development activities, adding PTVS is
quicker and easier.

Cons: sŝƐƵĂů^ƚƵĚŝŽŝƐĂďŝŐĚŽǁŶůŽĂĚĨŽƌũƵƐƚWLJƚŚŽŶ͘WůƵƐ͕ŝĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞŽŶ>ŝŶƵdž͕LJŽƵ͛ƌĞŽƵƚŽĨůƵĐŬ͗
ƚŚĞƌĞ͛ƐŶŽsŝƐƵĂů^ƚƵĚŝŽŝŶƐƚĂůůĨŽƌƚŚĂƚƉůĂƚĨŽƌŵ͘

Python-Specific Editors and IDEs

One of the best (and only) full-featured, dedicated IDEs for Python is PyCharm. Available in both
paid (Professional) and free open-source (Community) editions, PyCharm installs quickly and
easily on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms.

Out of the box, PyCharm supports Python development directly. You can just open a new file
and start writing code. You can run and debug Python directly inside PyCharm, and it has
support for source control and projects.

Spyder
Spyder is an open-ƐŽƵƌĐĞWLJƚŚŽŶ/ƚŚĂƚ͛ƐŽƉƚŝŵŝnjĞĚĨŽƌĚĂƚĂƐĐŝĞŶĐĞǁŽƌŬĨůŽǁƐ͘^ƉLJĚĞƌĐŽŵĞƐ
included with the Anaconda package manager distribution, so depending on your setup you
may already have it installed on your machine.

tŚĂƚ͛ƐŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚŝŶŐĂďŽƵƚ^ƉLJĚĞƌŝƐƚŚĂƚŝƚ͛ƐƚĂƌŐĞƚĂƵĚŝĞŶĐĞŝƐĚĂƚĂƐĐŝĞŶƚŝƐƚƐƵƐŝŶŐWLJƚŚŽŶ͘
zŽƵ͛ůůŶŽƚŝĐĞƚŚŝƐƚŚƌŽƵŐŚŽƵƚ͘&ŽƌĞdžĂŵƉůĞ͕^ƉLJĚĞƌŝŶƚĞŐƌĂƚĞƐǁĞůůǁŝƚŚĐŽŵŵŽŶWLJƚŚŽŶĚĂƚĂ
science libraries like SciPy, NumPy, and Matplotlib.

^ƉLJĚĞƌĨĞĂƚƵƌĞƐŵŽƐƚŽĨƚŚĞ͞ĐŽŵŵŽŶ/ĨĞĂƚƵƌĞƐ͟LJŽƵŵŝŐŚƚĞdžƉĞĐƚ͕ƐƵĐŚĂƐĂĐŽĚĞĞĚŝƚŽƌ
with robust syntax highlighting, Python code completion, and even an integrated
documentation browser.

Pros: zŽƵ͛ƌĞĂĚĂƚĂƐĐŝĞŶƚŝƐƚƵƐŝŶŐƚŚĞŶĂĐŽŶĚĂWLJƚŚŽŶĚŝƐƚƌŝďƵƚŝŽŶ͘

16
Cons: More experienced Python developers might find Spyder too basic to work with on a daily
basis and instead opt for a more complete IDE or customized editor solution.

Thonny
A recent addition to the Python IDE family, Thonny is billed as an IDE for beginners. Written and
maintained by the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Tartu in Estonia, Thonny is
available for all major platforms, with installation instructions on the site.

LJĚĞĨĂƵůƚ͕dŚŽŶŶLJŝŶƐƚĂůůƐǁŝƚŚŝƚƐŽǁŶďƵŶĚůĞĚǀĞƌƐŝŽŶŽĨWLJƚŚŽŶ͕ƐŽLJŽƵĚŽŶ͛ƚŶĞĞĚƚŽŝŶƐƚĂůů
anything else new. More experienced users may need to tweak this setting so already installed
libraries are found and used.

Pros: zŽƵ͛ƌĞĂďĞŐŝŶŶŝŶŐWLJƚŚŽŶƵƐĞƌ͕ĂŶĚǁĂŶƚĂŶ/ƚŚĂƚ͛ƐƌĞĂĚLJƚŽƌŽůů͘

Cons: More experienced Python developers will find Thonny too basic for most uses, and the
built-in interpreter is something to work around, not with. Plus, as a new tool, there may be
issues you find which may not have immediate solutions.

/ĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚĞĚŝŶƵƐŝŶŐdŚŽŶŶLJĂƐLJŽƵƌWLJƚŚŽŶĞĚŝƚŽƌ͕ďĞƐƵƌĞƚŽƌĞĂĚour dedicated article

on Thonny which goes into more depth and shows you additional features.

Which Python IDE is Right for You?

Only you can decide that, but here are some basic recommendations:

x New Python developers should try solutions with as few customizations as possible. The
less gets in the way, the better.
x If you use text editors for other tasks (like web pages or documentation), look for code
editor solutions.
x /ĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞĂůƌĞĂĚLJĚĞǀĞůŽƉŝŶŐŽƚŚĞƌ software, you may find it easier to add Python
capabilities to your existing toolset.

17
 Module 5:

Importing Data

4 Types Of Data ʹ Nominal, Ordinal, Discrete and Continuous

Introduction ʹ Importance of Data

͞ĂƚĂŝƐƚŚĞŶĞǁŽŝů͘͟dŽĚĂLJĚĂƚĂis everywhere in every field. Whether you are a data scientist,

marketer, businessman, data analyst, researcher, or you are in any other profession, you need
to play or experiment with raw or structured data. This data is so important for us that it
becomes important to handle and store it properly, without any error. While working on these
data, it is important to know the types of data to process them and get the right results. There
are two types of data: Qualitative and Quantitative data, which are further classified into:

The data is classified into four categories:

x Nominal data.
x Ordinal data.
x Discrete data.
x Continuous data.

Types of Data

Qualitative or Categorical Data

YƵĂůŝƚĂƚŝǀĞŽƌĂƚĞŐŽƌŝĐĂůĂƚĂŝƐĚĂƚĂƚŚĂƚĐĂŶ͛ƚďĞŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚŽƌĐŽƵŶƚĞĚŝŶƚŚĞĨorm of
ŶƵŵďĞƌƐ͘dŚĞƐĞƚLJƉĞƐŽĨĚĂƚĂĂƌĞƐŽƌƚĞĚďLJĐĂƚĞŐŽƌLJ͕ŶŽƚďLJŶƵŵďĞƌ͘dŚĂƚ͛ƐǁŚLJŝƚŝƐĂůƐŽ
known as Categorical Data. These data consist of audio, images, symbols, or text. The gender of
a person, i.e., male, female, or others, is qualitative data.

Qualitative data tells about the perception of people. This data helps market researchers
ƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚƚŚĞĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐ͛ƚĂƐƚĞƐĂŶĚƚŚĞŶĚĞƐŝŐŶƚŚĞŝƌŝĚĞĂƐĂŶĚƐƚƌĂƚĞŐŝĞƐĂĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐůLJ͘

The other examples of qualitative data are :

x What language do you speak

x Favorite holiday destination
x Opinion on something (agree, disagree, or neutral)
x Colors

18
The Qualitative data are further classified into two parts :

Nominal Data

Nominal Data is used to label variables without any order or quantitative value. The color of
ŚĂŝƌĐĂŶďĞĐŽŶƐŝĚĞƌĞĚŶŽŵŝŶĂůĚĂƚĂ͕ĂƐŽŶĞĐŽůŽƌĐĂŶ͛ƚďĞĐŽŵƉĂƌĞĚǁŝƚŚĂŶŽƚŚĞƌĐŽůŽƌ͘

Ordinal Data

Ordinal data have natural ordering where a number is present in some kind of order by their
position on the scale. These data are used for observation like customer satisfaction, happiness,
ĞƚĐ͕͘ďƵƚǁĞĐĂŶ͛ƚĚŽĂŶLJĂƌŝƚŚŵĞƚŝĐĂůƚĂƐŬƐŽŶƚŚĞŵ͘

Categorical data vs Numerical data

When you are collecting your data for research, it is important to know the form of your data
for you to effectively interpret and analyze the. In a research study, there are mainly two types
of data types: Categorical data and Numerical data.

What is categorical data?

Categorical data refers to a data type that can be stored and identified based on the names or
labels given to them. A process called matching is done, to draw out the similarities or relations
between the data and then they are grouped accordingly.

The data collected in the categorical form is also known as qualitative data. Each dataset can be
grouped and labelled depending on their matching qualities, under only one category. This
makes the categories mutual exclusive.

There are two subtypes of categorical data namely: Nominal data and Ordinal data.

x Nominal data ʹ this is also called naming data. This is a type that names or labels the data
ĂŶĚŝƚƐĐŚĂƌĂĐƚĞƌŝƐƚŝĐƐĂƌĞƐŝŵŝůĂƌƚŽĂŶŽƵŶ͘džĂŵƉůĞ͗ƉĞƌƐŽŶ͛ƐŶĂŵĞ͕ŐĞŶĚĞƌ͕ƐĐŚŽŽů
name.
x Ordinal data ʹ this includes data or elements of data that is ranked, ordered or used on a
ƌĂƚŝŶŐƐĐĂůĞ͘zŽƵĐĂŶĐŽƵŶƚĂŶĚŽƌĚĞƌŽƌĚŝŶĂůĚĂƚĂďƵƚŝƚĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚĂůůŽǁLJŽƵƚŽŵĞĂƐƵƌĞŝƚ͘

19
What is numerical data?

Numerical data refers to the data that is in the form of numbers, and not in any language or
descriptive form. Often referred to as quantitative data, numerical data is collected in number
form and stands different from any form of number data types due to its ability to be
statistically and arithmetically calculated.

It doĞƐŶ͛ƚŝŶǀŽůǀĞĂŶLJŶĂƚƵƌĂůůĂŶŐƵĂŐĞĚĞƐĐƌŝƉƚŝŽŶĂŶĚŝƐƋƵĂŶƚŝƚĂƚŝǀĞŝŶŶĂƚƵƌĞĂŶĚŝƚŝƐƵƐĞĚƚŽ
ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞƋƵĂŶƚŝƚŝĞƐůŝŬĞĂƉĞƌƐŽŶ͛ƐŚĞŝŐŚƚ͕ĂŐĞ͕/Y͕ĞƚĐ͘

It also has two subtypes known as Discrete data and Continuous data.

x Discrete data ʹ Discrete data is used to represent countable items. It can take both
numerical and categorical forms and group them into a list. This list can be finite or
infinite too.
x Continuous data ʹ As the name says, this form has data in the form of intervals. Or
simply said ranges. Continuous numerical data represent measurements and their
ŝŶƚĞƌǀĂůƐĨĂůůŽŶĂŶƵŵďĞƌůŝŶĞ͘,ĞŶĐĞ͕ŝƚĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚŝŶǀŽůǀĞƚĂŬŝŶŐĐŽƵŶƚƐŽĨƚŚĞŝƚĞŵƐ͘
x Interval data ʹ interval data type refers to data that can be measured only along a scale
at equal distances from each other. The numerical values in this data type can only
undergo add and subtract operations.
x Ratio data ʹ unlike interval data, ratio data has zero points. Being similar to interval data,
zero point is the only difference they have.

x Internal data

Internal data is captured by your organisational processes. It can be transactional data

such as customer purchases, or payments for staff and contractors. Your organisation
might have machine-generated data from sensors or devices used to manufacture a
product, or recorded by the product itself (e.g. smartphones or IoT devices). Finally, you
might capture engagement data from your customers or clients.

Third-party analytics
Third-party ĂŶĂůLJƚŝĐƐĂƌĞƵƐĞĨƵůŝĨLJŽƵĚŽŶ͛ƚŚĂǀĞƚŚĞĐĂƉĂĐŝƚLJƚŽĐĂƉƚƵƌĞĚĂƚĂ͘dŚĞƐĞĂƌĞ
available for a number of business functions. Web analytics are the most well known.

External data

External data can include almost anything ʹ from historical demographic data to market prices,
from weather conditions to social-media trends. Organisations use external data to analyse and
model economic, political, social, or environmental factors that influence their business.

20
External data can be derived from a variety of sources. There are open initiatives (e.g.
data.gov.uk), social-media services (e.g. Twitter or Linkedin), and paid services (e.g. Thompson
Reuters or Westlaw).

Open data
KƉĞŶĚĂƚĂŝƐĂĐĐĞƐƐŝďůĞƚŽĞǀĞƌLJŽŶĞĂŶĚŝƐĨƌĞĞƚŽƵƐĞ͘,ŽǁĞǀĞƌ͕ŝĨŝƚ͛ƐŚŝŐŚ-level daƚĂ͕Žƌŝƚ͛Ɛ
heavily summarised and aggregated, it might not be very relevant to you. It might also not be in
the format you need, or it might be very difficult for you to make sense of. All of these
challenges can require a lot of time to make the data usable.

Accessing data through APIs

ƉƉůŝĐĂƚŝŽŶƉƌŽŐƌĂŵŵŝŶŐŝŶƚĞƌĨĂĐĞƐ;W/ƐͿĂƌĞŶ͛ƚĂƐŽƵƌĐĞŽĨĚĂƚĂďƵƚƚŚĞLJĚŽƉƌŽǀŝĚĞĂǁĂLJƚŽ
share data ʹ you can take it from one app to another and route, translate, and prepare it for
use. APIs can be used for a range of applications, from social (e.g. Twitter, Facebook), to utilities
(e.g. Dropbox) and commerce (e.g. Mailchimp, Slack), to name a view.

Open Source and Open Data

The proliferation of the internet, smart devices, and increasing applications have driven the
digital transformation that leads to the rapid growth of data. Over 2.5 quintillion of data
generated every day. Around the world, there are 44 zettabytes of data generated in the year
2020 which is likely to be expected 144 zettabytes by the year 2025. The primary sources of
contribution in the extension of data are mainly social media data, machine data, and
transactional data. But what actually data is? Data refers to the known facts and figures. It can
be text or numbers, or it can be in the form of bytes that we can store in memory of a
computer that gives a piece of information after processing which later is used for decision
making and analysis. Data has become not only unlocking the door of innovation and
productivity but also gave birth to ͚KƉĞŶ ^ŽƵƌĐĞ͛ and ͚KƉĞŶ ĂƚĂ͛. The common between the
two is the word ͚KƉĞŶ͛ which means freely accessible from the internet. Let get into the depth
of these terms:

Open- Source

The term Open Source is used for free software that anyone can view, alter and redistribute, as
its source code is also available along with the software. This software is freely accessible by
anyone without paying any cost and mostly comes with all the functionalities. The source code
is the actual program written in a specific programming language, through which programmers
can modify it to improve the software by adding new features. The open-source software is
based on a decentralized and collaborative way to create software with collective ownership or
community production.
Importance of Open Source: As we know that Open-Source is a collaborative work where
programmers all over the world shared their knowledge to redesign and add new improved
features that benefit the entire community and undenied business profits. Unlike Proprietary
software which is not allowed to alter and redistribute because of the non-availability of the
source code, open source comes with the source code. When we say Open Source is free, it
ĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚŵĞĂŶǁŝƚŚŽƵƚĐŽƐƚƌĂƚŚĞƌŵĞĂŶƐ͗
x Freedom to use
x Freedom to study and alter the software
x Freedom to share its copy
x Freedom to use and distribute the derivative or modified version of the software

21
Open Data

Open data consists of information that anyone can access, use and share without any
restrictions. Although open data can be freely accessible, some privacy protections such as
copyright or patents restrict the use. Open data is available from the external sources of any
organization throughout the world. It can be generated by smartphones and computers
through which data from web pages, emails, chatting conversations, music streaming,
videogames are collected and transmitted to the global network of computers using OSS. This
data can be used for forecasting, unveiling buying patterns of demographic groups, predictive
analysis, and finding new opportunities for innovation, etc. In a precise way, open data must
have the following features:
x The data must be accessible in a convenient and changeable format.
x The data must be available by downloading over the internet at no cost.
x The data must be re-usable and redistributable under certain terms and conditions.

Uses of Open data: Open Data allows data to be interoperable as many organizations and
researchers are sharing and working together on different datasets, which not only increases
communication but also increases possibilities for further research. Open Data helps
individuals, businesses, or the government to bring environmental, economic, and social
benefits. Some of the uses of Open-Data are:
x It creates opportunities to connect businesses with customers.
x It provides transparency between government and citizens about the policies and services.
x It helps in early warning of natural disasters and can alert concerned people.

Difference between Open Source and Open Data

Often described as data about data, metadata is a foundational element used to transform data
into an enterprise-wide asset. Metadata helps understand the data behind it and reflects how
data is used and is key to supporting data governance initiatives, regulatory compliance
demands, and data management processes.

Defining diverging perspectives

Metadata provides a comprehensive understanding of where data resides in an organization

and how it is deployed. To ensure all data users understand organizational metadata,
businesses must collect, arrange, and manage it from three different perspectives ʹ physical,
logical, and conceptual.

1. Physical metadata covers the specifics of: within which system data resides, the
schema, table, and column or key-value level of detail. This information is machine
generated and automatically pulled from software systems.
2. Logical metadata provides details on how data is linked together to form larger sets. It
also outlines how data flows through systems and processes, from creation, to storage,
ƚƌĂŶƐĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ͕ĂŶĚĐŽŶƐƵŵƉƚŝŽŶ͘/ƚĞƐƐĞŶƚŝĂůůLJĞƐƚĂďůŝƐŚĞƐĂƌŽĂĚŵĂƉŽŶĚĂƚĂ͛ƐƉĂƚŚ
through the data supply chain including its usage and alterations over time.
3. Conceptual metadata provides the business context for data ʹ ŝƚĚĞƚĂŝůƐĚĂƚĂ͛Ɛ meaning
and purpose within an enterprise. It provides critical information about the data usage,
including the acquired knowledge of subject matter experts within the organization.

22
 Module 6:

Pre-processing Data

What is a data set? Is it the same as a data file?

A data set is a catch-all phrase that covers anything related to data. It includes raw and
processed data, grids, images, maps, data spreadsheets and tables, and so on. Often, a data set
comprises a suite of data files collected or generated by one instrument or device. For example,
a multibeam bathymetry data set may contain hundreds of individual swath data files collected
from a sonar device during one cruise. If that collection of swath files undergoes data
processing, it will be classed as a separate, processed data set to distinguish it from the raw
data.

What is the difference between raw and processed data?

Raw data refers to data that have not been changed since acquisition. Examples include the
original swath files generated from a sonar system, a real-time GPS-encoded navigation file,
and the initial time-series file of temperature values from a heat probe. Editing, cleaning or
modifying the raw data results in processed data. For example, raw multibeam data files can be
processed to remove outliers and to correct sound velocity errors. The resultant files are
considered processed. Similarly, a bathymetric grid generated from either raw or processed
swath files is a processed data product.

What is the difference between data curated at IEDA and data curated at other repositories?

Data sets archived in the IEDA:MGDS facility generally fall into two categories: Those that have
undergone some level of processing or those for which no national repository currently exists.
Note that there may be rare instances of redundancy in data holdings. Usually, this resulted
from a data set being sent to IEDA:MGDS for archiving before being sent to a national
repository. When identified, the duplication is eliminated, leaving a link to the data served by
the national repository. In rarer cases still, IEDA:MGDS may serve a full data set where a
national repository archives only a subset.

Anomalies in DBMS
The term anomaly is used to describe a discrepancy between two parts of a database. In a retail
database, for example, you may have a customer and an invoice table. If you are no longer
selling to customers, you may want to purge them from your database periodically. If you
delete a customer but keep their invoices for the purchases they have made, you have an
anomaly. There is an invoice for a customer that doesn't exist anymore. By deleting all of a
customer's invoices when you delete a customer, this anomaly can be avoided. Be sure to close
the book on the year before you do this.

What are the Anomalies in DBMS?

23
A database anomaly is an inconsistency in the data resulting from an operation like
an update, insertion, or deletion. There can be inconsistencies when a record is held in multiple
places and not all of the copies are updated.

Anomalies occur when the data present in the database has too much redundancy and if the
tables making up the database are poorly constructed

Type of Anomalies in DBMS

There are different types of anomalies that can occur in a database. Redundancy anomalies`,
for instance, can cause problems during tests if you are a student, and during job interviews, if
you are looking for work. However, they are easily spotted and fixed. These are the ones we
need to pay attention to:

1. Update
2. Insert
3. Delete

Database anomalies fall into these three major categories:

1. Update anomaly:

Consider a college database that keeps student information in a table called student, which
contains four columns: stu_id for the student's id, stu_name for the student's
name, stu_address for the student's address, and stu_club for the student's club.

2. Insert anomaly:

Example

We use the same table in the previous example with modified data

For example, in the above table if a new student named Nanda has joined the college and he
has no department affiliation as the club allows intake of students only from second year. Then
we can't insert the data of Nanda into the table since the st_club field cannot accept null
values.

3. Delete anomaly:

Example In this example, we use modified data from the previous example

Suppose, for instance, the college at some point closes the club crypto, then deleting the rows
that contain s_club as crypto would also delete the information of student Mukesh since he
belongs only to this department.

Data Normalization Techniques in Data Mining Simplified 101

Data normalization is a fundamental component in data mining to ensure consistency in data

records. It entails data transformation or turning the original data into a format that enables
efficient data processing. The primary goal of data normalization is to reduce or eliminate
redundant data in one or more datasets.

Data duplicity is a severe problem because storing data in relational databases and retaining
similar data in several locations becomes difficult. In this article, we will discuss the contribution
of Data Normalization Techniques in Data Mining process.

What is Data Mining?

24
Data mining is the process of preparing quality data that can help in gaining insights either
through data analysis or building machine learning models. Organizations analyze vast amounts
of raw data to extract relevant customer trends and patterns by employing data mining
techniques, statistical analysis, and visualization technology to acquire fresh insights.

There are various procedures involved in data mining implementation.

Step 1: Conduct market research

ĞĨŽƌĞLJŽƵďĞŐŝŶ͕LJŽƵŵƵƐƚŚĂǀĞĂƚŚŽƌŽƵŐŚĂǁĂƌĞŶĞƐƐŽĨLJŽƵƌĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐŐŽĂůƐ͕ƌĞƐŽƵƌĐĞƐ͕
and existing circumstances in relation to its requirements. This would help develop a rigorous
ĚĂƚĂŵŝŶŝŶŐƐƚƌĂƚĞŐLJƚŚĂƚŵĞĞƚƐƚŚĞĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐŽďũĞĐƚŝǀĞƐ͘

Step 2: Data Validation

Data must be reviewed and matched as it is gathered from multiple sources to ensure there are
no bottlenecks in the data collection process. Quality assurance identifies any underlying
irregularities in the data, such as missing data interpolation.

Step 3: Data Cleaning

/ƚ͛ƐĞƐƚŝŵĂƚĞĚƚŚĂƚĐŽůůĞĐƚŝŶŐ͕ĐůĞĂŶŝŶŐ͕ƐƚƌƵĐƚƵƌŝŶŐ͕ĂŶĚĂŶŽŶLJŵŝnjŝŶŐĚĂƚĂƚĂŬĞƐϵϬйŽĨƚŚĞƚŝŵĞ
before analysis. Since data quality is improved using several techniques, it eliminates the data
wrangling job of data scientists so that they can focus on building models. Obtaining quality
data after data mining helps data scientists quickly build and optimize models for business
growth.

Step 4: Transformation

The activities engaged in this step, with five sub-stages, prepare data for final datasets. It
entails:

Noise is eliminated from the data during data smoothing.

x Data Summary: This procedure employs the aggregation of datasets.

x Data Generalization: This step replaces low-level data with higher-level
conceptualizations to make the data more generic.
x Data normalization: It is the process of defining data ranges so that data is similar
across all records.
x Data Attribute Construction: Before data mining, datasets must be in the set of
attributes.
x Data Smoothing: Noise or unnecessary outliers are removed from the required data.

Step 5: Model Building

Based on the type of data, you can build either machine learning or deep learning models for
classifying and finding in-depth patterns. For improved data pattern discovery, several
mathematical models based on various circumstances are incorporated during model building.

ZĞƉůŝĐĂƚĞĂƚĂŝŶDŝŶƵƚĞƐhƐŝŶŐ,ĞǀŽ͛ƐEŽ-Code Data Pipeline

Hevo Data, a Fully-managed Data Pipeline platform, can help you automate, simplify & enrich
LJŽƵƌĚĂƚĂƌĞƉůŝĐĂƚŝŽŶƉƌŽĐĞƐƐŝŶĂĨĞǁĐůŝĐŬƐ͘tŝƚŚ,ĞǀŽ͛ƐǁŝĚĞǀĂƌŝĞƚLJŽĨĐŽŶŶĞĐƚŽƌƐĂŶĚ
blazing-fast Data Pipelines, you can extract & load data from 100+ Data Sources straight into
your Data Warehouse or any Databases. To further streamline and prepare your data for

25
analysis, you can process and enrich raw granular data using HeǀŽ͛ƐƌŽďƵƐƚΘďƵŝůƚ-in
Transformation Layer without writing a single line of code!

What is Data Normalization?

Normalization is a method for dissecting tables to remove data redundancy (repetition) and
standardize the information for better data workflows. /ƚ͛ƐĂŵƵůƚŝ-step procedure for
converting data into a tabular format and removing duplicate data from relational tables.

EŽƌŵĂůŝnjĂƚŝŽŶdĞĐŚŶŝƋƵĞƐŝŶĂƚĂDŝŶŝŶŐŝƐƵƐĞĚĨŽƌƌĞĚƵĐŝŶŐƚŚĞƌĂŶŐĞŽĨĂŶĂƚƚƌŝďƵƚĞ͛ƐǀĂůƵĞƐ͕
such as -1.0 to 1.0. Data normalization is mainly used to reduce redundant data, thereby
assisting in reducing the size of data for expediting the processing of information. In most cases,
Data Normalization Techniques in Data Mining are implemented in classification models.

Normalization Techniques in Data Mining are helpful since it allows you to obtain the following
benefits:

x Applying Normalization Techniques in Data Mining to a collection of normalized data is

much easier.
x Normalization Techniques in Data Mining applied to a collection of normalized data
provide more accurate and effective results.
x Data extraction from databases becomes much faster once the data has been
standardized.
x On normalized data, more specialized data analysis methods may be used.

Why do you need Normalization Techniques in Data Mining?

When dealing with huge data sets, normalization is usually essential to ensure you do not take
data consistency and quality for granted. Since you cannot look for issues and resolve every
data record in big data, it is critical to use the Normalization Techniques in Data Mining to
transform data and ensure consistency.

When many characteristics exist, but their values vary, building models may result in inaccurate
predictions. Consequently, they are normalized to put all qualities on the same scale.

There are several reasons for using Normalization Techniques in Data Mining:

x The Normalization Techniques in Data Mining are becoming more effective and
efficient.
x The data is translated into a format that everyone can understand; the data can be
pulled from databases more quickly, and the data can be analyzed in a specified way.

Normalization Techniques in Data Mining

There are several data normalization techniques in data mining, but in this article, we will
discuss the top three ways: Z-score normalization, min-max normalization, and decimal scaling
normalization. The following Normalization Techniques in Data Mining are listed below:

Z-score Normalization

The Z-Score value is one of the Normalization Techniques in Data Mining that determines how
much a data point deviates from the mean. It calculates the standard deviations that are below
or above the mean. It might be anywhere between -3 and +3 standard deviations. Z-score
normalization techniques in data mining is beneficial for data analysis that requires comparing a
value to a mean (average) value, such as test or survey findings.

26
Methods And Tools For Process Validation

There are many statistical tools that can be used as part of validation. Control charts, capability
studies, designed experiments, tolerance analysis, robust design methods, failure modes and
effects analysis, sampling plans, and mistake proofing are but a few. Each of these tools will be
summarized and their application in validation described.

1. INTRODUCTION
Validation requires documented evidence that a process consistently conforms to
requirements. It requires that you first obtain a process that can consistently conform to
requirements and then that you run studies demonstrating that this is the case. Statistical tools
can aid in both tasks.

2. USES OF THE TOOLS

This section describes the many contributions that statistical tools can make to validation. Each
tool appearing in bold is further described in Section 4.

One tool that is particularly useful in organizing the overall validation effort is a failure modes
and effects analysis (FMEA) or a closely related fault tree analysis (FTA). An FMEA involves
listing out the potential problems or failure modes and evaluating their risk in terms of their
severity, likelihood of occurring and ease of detection.

3. STRATEGIES AND TOOLS FOR REDUCING VARIATION AND OPTIMIZATION

Each unit of product differs to some small degree from all other units of product. These
differences, no matter how small, are referred to as variation. Variation can be characterized by
measuring a sample of the product and drawing a histogram.

Instead, stable processes are desired as shown below. Stable processes produce a consistent
level of performance. The total variation is reduced. The process is more predictable.

However, stability is not the only thing required. Once a consistent performance has been
achieved, the remaining variation must be made to safely fit within the specification limits.
Such a process is said to be stable and capable. Such a process can be relied on to consistently
produce good product.

27
A capability study is used to determine whether a process is stable and capable. It involves
collecting samples over a period of time. The average and standard deviation of each time
period are estimated and these estimates plotted in the form of a control chart. These control
charts are used to determine if the process is stable. If it is, the data can be combined into a
single histogram to determine its capability. To help determine if the process is capable, several
capability indices are used to measure how well the histogram fits within the specification
limits. One index, called Cp, is used to evaluate the variation. Another index, Cpk, is used to also
evaluate the centering of the process. Together these two indices are used to decide whether
the process passes. The values required to pass depending on the severity of the defect (major,
minor, critical).

4. DESCRIPTIONS OF THE TOOLS

A brief description of each of the cited tools follows:

a. Acceptance Sampling Plan ʹ An acceptance sampling plan takes a sample of product

and uses this sample to make an accept or reject decision. Acceptance sampling plans
are commonly used in manufacturing to decide whether to accept (release) or to reject
(hold) lots of product. However, they can also be used during validation to accept (pass)
or to reject (fail) the process.
b. Analysis of Means (ANOM) ʹ Statistical study for determining if significant differences
exist between cavities, instruments, etc. It has many uses including determining if a
measurement device is reproducible with respect to operators and determine if
differences exist between fill heads, etc. Simpler and more graphical alternative to
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
c. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) ʹ Statistical study for determining if significant
differences exist between cavities, instruments, etc. Alternative to Analysis of Means
(ANOM).
d. Capability Study ʹ Capability studies are performed to evaluate the ability of a process
to consistently meet a specification. A capability study is performed by selecting a small
number of units periodically over time. Each period of time is called a subgroup.
e. Challenge Test ʹ A challenge test is a test or check performed to demonstrate that a
feature or function is working. For example, to demonstrate that the power backup is
functioning, power could be cut to the process. To demonstrate that a sensor designed
to detect bubbles in a line works, bubbles could be purposely introduced.

28
 Module 7:

Exploring Data

Data Types

General speaking, statistical techniques are determined by the type of data. A basic
understanding about the data types is helpful for choosing statistical procedures. In SPSS, a
column is for a variable and a row is for a case. There are, generally speaking, two major types
of data:

Qualitative variables: The data values are non-numeric categories.

Examples: Blood type, Gender.

x Quantitative variables: The data values are counts or numerical measurements. A

quantitative variable can be either discrete such as # of students receiving an 'A' in a
class, or continuous such as GPA, salary and so on.

Another way of classifying data is by the measurement scales. In statistics, there are four
generally used measurement scales:

x Nominal data: data values are non-numeric group labels. For example, Gender
variable can be defined as male = 0 and female =1.

x Ordinal data (we sometimes call 'Discrete Data'): data values are categorical and may
be ranked in some numerically meaningful way. For example, strongly disagree to
strong agree may be defined as 1 to 5.

What is Exploratory Data Analysis in Data Science?

Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) is one of the techniques used for extracting vital features and
trends used by machine learning and deep learning models in Data Science. Thus, EDA has
become an important milestone for anyone working in data science. This article covers the
concept, meaning, tools, and techniques of EDA to give complete awareness to a beginner
wanting to launch a career in data science. The article also enlists those fields that regularly
apply EDA efficiently in promoting their business activities.

Importance of EDA in Data Science

29
The Data Science field is now very important in the business world as it provides many
opportunities to make vital business decisions by analyzing hugely gathered data.
Understanding the data thoroughly needs its exploration from every aspect. The impactful
features enable making meaningful and beneficial decisions; therefore, EDA occupies an
invaluable place in Data science.

Objective of Exploratory Data Analysis

The overall objective of exploratory data analysis is to obtain vital insights and hence usually
includes the following sub-objectives:

x Identifying and removing data outliers

x Identifying trends in time and space
x Uncover patterns related to the target
x Creating hypotheses and testing them through experiments
x Identifying new sources of data

Types of Exploratory Data Analysis

There are three main types of EDA:

1. Univariate
2. Bivariate
3. Multivariate

In multivariate analysis, the outcome is more than two, e.g., type of product and quantity sold
against the product price, advertising expenses, and discounts offered. The analysis of data is
done on variables that can be numerical or categorical. The result of the analysis can be
represented in numerical values, visualization, or graphical form. Accordingly, they could be
further classified as non-graphical or graphical.

1. Univariate Non-Graphical

It is the simplest of all types of data analysis used in practice. As the name suggests, uni means
only one variable is considered whose data (referred to as population) is compiled and studied.
The main aim of univariate non-graphical EDA is to find out the details about the distribution of
the population data and to know some specific parameters of statistics.

2. Univariate Graphical

The graphs in this section are based on Auto MPG dataset available on the UCI repository. Some
common types of univariate graphics are:

30
 x Stem-and-leaf Plots: This is a very simple but powerful EDA method used to display
quantitative data but in a shortened format. It displays the values in the data set,
keeping each observation intact but separating them as stem (the leading digits) and
remaining or trailing digits as leaves. But histogram is mostly used in its place now.
x Histograms (Bar Charts): These plots are used to display both grouped or ungrouped
data. On the x-axis, values of variables are plotted, while on the y-axis are the number of
observations or frequencies. Histograms are very simple to quickly understand your
data, which tell about values of data like central tendency, dispersion, outliers, etc.

3. Multivariate Non-Graphical

The multivariate non-graphical exploratory data analysis technique is usually used to show the
connection between two or more variables with the help of either cross-tabulation or
statistics.

4. Multivariate Graphical

Graphics are used in multivariate graphical data to show the relationships between two or
more variables. Here the outcome depends on more than two variables, while the change-
causing variables can also be multiple.

What is Dimensionality Reduction?

The number of input features, variables, or columns present in a given dataset is known as
dimensionality, and the process to reduce these features is called dimensionality reduction.

A dataset contains a huge number of input features in various cases, which makes the
predictive modeling task more complicated. Because it is very difficult to visualize or make
predictions for the training dataset with a high number of features, for such cases,
dimensionality reduction techniques are required to use.

Dimensionality reduction technique can be defined as, "It is a way of converting the higher
dimensions dataset into lesser dimensions dataset ensuring that it provides similar
information." These techniques are widely used in machine learning for obtaining a better fit
predictive model while solving the classification and regression problems.

31
What Is Prescriptive Analytics?

Prescriptive analytics is a type of data analytics that attempts to answer the question "What
do we need to do to achieve this?" It involves the use of technology to help businesses make
better decisions through the analysis of raw data. Prescriptive analytics specifically factors
information about possible situations or scenarios, available resources, past performance, and
current performance, and suggests a course of action or strategy. It can be used to make
decisions on any time horizon, from immediate to long-term. It is the opposite of descriptive
analytics, which examines decisions and outcomes after the fact.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

x Prescriptive analytics is a form of data analytics that tries to answer "What do we need
to do to achieve this?"
x It uses machine learning to help businesses decide a course of action based on a
computeƌƉƌŽŐƌĂŵ͛ƐƉƌĞĚŝĐƚŝŽŶƐ͘
x Prescriptive analytics works with predictive analytics, which uses data to determine
near-term outcomes.
x When used effectively, it can help organizations make decisions based on facts and
probability-weighted projections instead of conclusions based on instinct.
x Prescriptive analytics isn't foolproof, as it's only as effective as its inputs.

Statistical Hypothesis Testing Overview

Hypothesis testing is a crucial procedure to perform when you want to make inferences about a
population using a random sample. These inferences include estimating population properties
such as the mean, differences between means, proportions, and the relationships between
variables.

This post provides an overview of statistical hypothesis testing. If you need to perform
hypothesis tests, consider getting my book, Hypothesis Testing: An Intuitive Guide.

32
 Module 8:

Data Structures and Algorithms

Top 10 Python Libraries for Data Science

Python has been a charmer for data scientists for a while now. The more I interact with

resources, literature, courses, training, and people in Data Science, proficient knowledge of

Python emerges as a good asset to have. Having said that, when I started flourishing my Python

ƐŬŝůůƐ͕/ŚĂĚĂůŝƐƚŽĨWLJƚŚŽŶůŝďƌĂƌŝĞƐ/ŚĂĚƚŽŬŶŽǁĂďŽƵƚ͘ĨĞǁŵŽŵĞŶƚƐůĂƚĞƌ͙

1. Pandas

Pandas is an open-source Python package that provides high-performance, easy-to-use data

structures and data analysis tools for the labeled data in Python programming language. Pandas

stand for Python Data Analysis Library. Who ever knew that?

2. NumPy

One of the most fundamental packages in Python, NumPy is a general-purpose array-processing

package. It provides high-performance multidimensional array objects and tools to work with

the arrays. NumPy is an efficient container of generic multi-dimensional data.

3. SciPy

The SciPy library is one of the core packages that make up the SciPy stack. Now, there is a

difference between SciPy Stack and SciPy, the library. SciPy builds on the NumPy array object

and is part of the stack which includes tools like Matplotlib, Pandas, and SymPy with additional

tools,

4. Matplotlib

This is undoubtedly my favorite and a quintessential Python library. You can create stories with

the data visualized with Matplotlib. Another library from the SciPy Stack, Matplotlib plots 2D

figures.

5. Seaborn

So when you read the official documentation on Seaborn, it is defined as the data visualization

library based on Matplotlib that provides a high-level interface for drawing attractive and

33
informative statistical graphics. Putting it simply, seaborn is an extension of Matplotlib with

advanced features.

6. Scikit Learn

Introduced to the world as a Google Summer of Code project, Scikit Learn is a robust machine

learning library for Python. It features ML algorithms like SVMs, random forests, k-means

clustering, spectral clustering, mean shift, cross-validation and more... Even NumPy, SciPy and

related scientific operations are supported by Scikit Learn with Scikit Learn being a part of the

SciPy Stack.

7. TensorFlow

Back in 2017, I received a TensorFlow USB as an appreciation for being an amazing speaker at a

Google WTM event, haha. The USB was loaded with official documentation of TensorFlow. With

no clue at that point of what TensorFlow was, I Googled it.

8. Keras

<ĞƌĂƐŝƐdĞŶƐŽƌ&ůŽǁ͛ƐŚŝŐŚ-level API for building and training Deep Neural Network code. It is an

open-source neural network library in Python. With Keras, statistical modeling, working with

images and text is a lot easier with simplified coding for deep learning.

9. Statsmodels

When I first learned R, conducting statistical tests, and statistical data exploration seemed the

easiest in R and avoided Python for statistical analysis until I explored Statsmodels or Python.

10. Plotly

Plotly is a quintessential graph plotting library for Python. Users can import, copy, paste, or

stream data that is to be analyzed and visualized. Plotly offers a sandboxed Python(Something

ǁŚĞƌĞLJŽƵĐĂŶƌƵŶĂWLJƚŚŽŶƚŚĂƚŝƐůŝŵŝƚĞĚŝŶǁŚĂƚŝƚĐĂŶĚŽͿEŽǁ/͛ǀĞŚĂĚĂŚĂƌĚƚŝŵĞ

understanding what sandboxing is but I know for a fact that Plotly makes it easy!?

Top 10 Algorithms for Data Science!!

What is a Stack Data Structure?

You can refer to Stack as a linear form of data structure. In this, a user can delete and insert
elements from only one side of a list. It is known as the top. The stack data structure

34
implements and follows the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle. It implies that the element that is
inserted last comes out first.
The process of inserting an element in the stack is known as the push operation. Here, the
deletion of elements is known as the pop operation. A user can feasibly keep track of the last
function/element of the list in a stack using a pointer (top).

What Is a Queue Data Structure?

You can also refer to Queue as a linear form of data structure. In this, a user can insert
elements from only one side of the list. It is known as the rear. Also, one can delete these
elements from another side- known as the front. This type of data structure implements and
follows the First In, First Out (FIFO) principle. It implies that the first element that inserts into a
list will come out first.
Common operations on various Data Structures
Data Structure ŝƐƚŚĞǁĂLJŽĨƐƚŽƌŝŶŐĚĂƚĂŝŶĐŽŵƉƵƚĞƌ͛ƐŵĞŵŽƌy so that it can be used easily
and efficiently. There are different data-structures used for the storage of data. It can also be
defined as a mathematical or logical model of a particular organization of data items. The
representation of particular data structure in the main memory of a computer is called as
storage structure. For Examples: Array, Stack, Queue, Tree, Graph, etc.

Operations on different Data Structure:

There are different types of operations that can be performed for the manipulation of data in
every data structure. Some operations are explained and illustrated below:
x Traversing: Traversing a Data Structure means to visit the element stored in it. It visits data
in a systematic manner. This can be done with any type of DS.

x Searching: Searching means to find a particular element in the given data-structure. It is

considered as successful when the required element is found. Searching is the operation
which we can performed on data-structures like array, linked-list, tree, graph, etc.
Below is the program to illustrate searching an element in an array, stack, queue and
linkedlist:

Pros and cons of various Machine Learning algorithms

There are many classification algorithms in machine learning. But ever wondered which

algorithm should be used for what purpose and what kind of application. If yes, then please read

the pros and cons of various machine learning algorithms used in classification. I have also listed

down their use cases and applications.

SVM (Support Vector Machine)

Pros

1. Performs well in Higher dimension. In real world there are infinite dimensions (and not just
2D and 3D). For instance image data, gene data, medical data etc. has higher dimensions
and SVM is useful in that. Basically when the number of features/columns are higher, SVM
does well

35
2. Best algorithm when classes are separable. (when instances of both the classes can be easily

separated either by a straight line or non-linearly). To depict separable classes, lets take an

example(here taking an example of linear separation, classes can also be non-linearly separable,

by drawing a parabola for e.g. etc).

3. Outliers have less impact.

4. SVM is suited for extreme case binary classification.

Applications:

Bag of words application(many features and columns), speech recognition data, classification of

images(non-linear data), medical analytics(non linear data), text classification(many features)

Naive Bayes

Pros

1. Real time predictions: It is very fast and can be used in real time.

2. Scalable with Large datasets

3. Insensitive to irrelevant features.

4. Multi class prediction is effectively done in Naive Bayes

5. Good performance with high dimensional data(no. of features is large)

Cons

1. Independence of features does not hold: The fundamental Naive Bayes assumption is that
each feature makes an independent and equal contribution to the outcome. However this
condition is not met most of the times.

2. Bad estimator: Probability outputs from predict_proba are not to be taken too seriously.

36
3. Training data should represent population well: If you have no occurrences of a class label

anĚĂĐĞƌƚĂŝŶĂƚƚƌŝďƵƚĞǀĂůƵĞƚŽŐĞƚŚĞƌ;Ğ͘Ő͘ĐůĂƐƐс͟EŽ͕͟ƐŚĂƉĞс͟KǀĞƌĐĂƐƚ͞ͿƚŚĞŶƚŚĞƉŽƐƚĞƌŝŽƌ

probability will be zero. So if the training data is not representative of the population, Naive

bayes does not work well.(This problem is removed by smoothening techniques).

Applications:

Naive Bayes is used in Text classification/ Spam Filtering/ Sentiment Analysis. It is used in text

ĐůĂƐƐŝĨŝĐĂƚŝŽŶ;ŝƚĐĂŶƉƌĞĚŝĐƚŽŶŵƵůƚŝƉůĞĐůĂƐƐĞƐĂŶĚĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚŵŝŶĚĚĞĂůŝŶŐǁŝƚŚŝƌƌĞůĞǀĂŶƚ

features), Spam filtering (identify spam e-mail) and Sentiment Analysis (in social media analysis,

to identify positive and negative sentiments), recommendation systems (what will the user buy

next)

37
 Module 9:
Graph Algorithms

What is a Minimum Spanning Tree?

The cost of the spanning tree is the sum of the weights of all the edges in the tree. There can be
many spanning trees. Minimum spanning tree is the spanning tree where the cost is minimum
among all the spanning trees. There also can be many minimum spanning trees.

Minimum spanning tree has direct application in the design of networks. It is used in algorithms
approximating the travelling salesman problem, multi-terminal minimum cut problem and
minimum-cost weighted perfect matching. Other practical applications are:

1. Cluster Analysis
2. Handwriting recognition

3. Image segmentation

There are two famous algorithms for finding the Minimum Spanning Tree:

<ƌƵƐŬĂů͛ƐůŐŽƌŝƚŚŵďƵŝůĚƐƚŚĞƐƉĂŶŶŝŶŐƚƌĞĞďLJĂĚĚŝŶŐĞĚŐĞƐŽŶĞďLJŽŶĞŝŶƚŽĂŐƌŽǁŝŶŐ
spanning tree. Kruskal's algorithm follows greedy approach as in each iteration it finds an edge
which has least weight and add it to the growing spanning tree.

Algorithm Steps:

x Sort the graph edges with respect to their weights.

x Start adding edges to the MST from the edge with the smallest weight until the edge of
the largest weight.
x Only add edges which doesn't form a cycle , edges which connect only disconnected
components.

Fast Pattern Machine of String Using suffix tree in java

1. Overview

In this tutorial, we'll explore the concept of pattern matching of strings and how we can make it
faster. Then, we'll walk through its implementation in Java.

2. Pattern Matching of Strings

2.1. Definition

In strings, pattern matching is the process of checking for a given sequence of characters
called a pattern in a sequence of characters called a text.
The basic expectations of pattern matching when the pattern is not a regular expression are:

x the match should be exact ʹ not partial

x the result should contain all matches ʹ not just the first match
x the result should contain the position of each match within the text

38
2.2. Searching for a Pattern

Let's use an example to understand a simple pattern matching problem:

Pattern: NA
Text: HAVANABANANA
Match1: ----NA------
Match2: --------NA--
Match3: ----------NACopy
We can see that the pattern NA occurs three times in the text. To get this result, we can think
of sliding the pattern down the text one character at a time and checking for a match.

2.3. Trie Data Structure to Store Patterns

We can improve the search time by storing the patterns in a trie data structure, which is known
for its fast retrieval of items.
We know that a trie data structure stores the characters of a string in a tree-like structure. So,
for two strings {NA, NAB}, we will get a tree with two paths:

3. Suffix Tree

A suffix tree is simply a compressed suffix trie. What this means is that, by joining the edges,
we can store a group of characters and thereby reduce the storage space significantly.
So, we can create a suffix tree for the same text HAVANABANANA:

4. Data Structure

Let's create a suffix tree data structure. We'll need two domain classes.
Firstly, we need a class to represent the tree node. It needs to store the tree's edges and its
child nodes. Additionally, when it's a leaf node, it needs to store the positional value of the
suffix.

5. Helper Methods for Adding Data

39
Before we write our core logic to store data, let's add a few helper methods. These will prove
useful later.
Let's modify our SuffixTree class to add some methods needed for constructing the tree.

6. Helper Method for Traversal

Let's now create the logic to traverse the tree. We'll use this method for both constructing the
tree and searching for patterns.

6.1. Partial Match vs. Full Match

First, let's understand the concept of a partial match and a full match by considering a tree
populated with a few suffixes:

To add a new suffix ANABANANA$, we check if any node exists that can be modified or
extended to accommodate the new value. For this, we compare the new text with all the nodes
and find that the existing node [A]VANABANANA$ matches at first character. So, this is the
node we need to modify, and this match can be called a partial match.

40
 Module 10:
String Algorithms

Suffix tree
In computer science, a suffix tree (also called PAT tree or, in an earlier form, position tree) is a
compressed trie containing all the suffixes of the given text as their keys and positions in the
text as their values. Suffix trees allow particularly fast implementations of many important
string operations.

The construction of such a tree for the string takes time and space linear in the length of Once
constructed, several operations can be performed quickly, for instance locating a substring in ,
locating a substring if a certain number of mistakes are allowed, locating matches for a regular
expression pattern etc. Suffix trees also provided one of the first linear-time solutions for
the longest common substring problem. These speedups come at a cost: storing a string's suffix
tree typically requires significantly more space than storing the string itself.

41
 Module 11:
Neural Networks

RNN vs LSTM vs GRU ʹ Which is the Best?

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are a type of neural network that are used for processing
sequential data, such as text, audio, or time series data. They are designed to remember or
͞ƐƚŽƌĞ͟ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶĨƌŽŵƉƌĞǀŝŽƵs inputs. It allows them to make use of context and
ĚĞƉĞŶĚĞŶĐŝĞƐďĞƚǁĞĞŶƚŝŵĞƐƚĞƉƐ͘dŚŝƐŵĂŬĞƐƚŚĞŵƵƐĞĨƵůĨŽƌƚĂƐŬƐ΀͙΁

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are a type of neural network that are used for processing
sequential data, such as text, audio, or time series data. They are designed to remember or
͞ƐƚŽƌĞ͟ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶĨƌŽŵƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐŝŶƉƵƚƐ͘/ƚĂůůŽǁƐƚŚĞŵƚŽŵĂŬĞƵƐĞŽĨĐŽŶƚĞdžƚĂŶĚ
dependencies between time steps. This makes them useful for tasks such as language
translation, speech recognition, and time series forecasting.

GRUs, on the other hand, are ĂƐŝŵƉůŝĨŝĞĚǀĞƌƐŝŽŶŽĨ>^dDƐ͘dŚĞLJƵƐĞĂƐŝŶŐůĞ͞ƵƉĚĂƚĞŐĂƚĞ͟ƚŽ

control the flow of information into the memory cell, rather than the three gates used in
LSTMs. This makes GRUs easier to train and faster to run than LSTMs, but they may not be as
effective at storing and accessing long-term dependencies.

Difference Between RNN vs GRU vs LSTM

42
 Here is a comparison of the key differences between RNNs, LSTMs, and GRUs:

Simpler
Structure Simple More complex than
LSTM

Easier
Can be more
Training Can be difficult than
difficult
LSTM

Can be
intermed
iate
Good for simple Good for between
Performance
tasks complex tasks simple
and
complex
tasks

Multiple
Hidden state Single Single
(memory cell)

Input, output, Update,

Gates None
forget reset

Intermed
iate
Ability to retain long-term between
Limited Strong
dependencies RNNs
and
LSTMs

How does RNN work?

Here is a brief summary of how RNNs work:

x RNNs are neural networks that can process sequential data, such as text, audio, or time
series data.
x They contain a ͞ŚŝĚĚĞŶƐƚĂƚĞ͟ƚŚĂƚŝƐƉĂƐƐĞĚĨƌŽŵŽŶĞĞůĞŵĞŶƚŝŶƚŚĞƐĞƋƵĞŶĐĞƚŽƚŚĞŶĞdžƚ͕
allowing the network to remember information from previous elements.
x At each time step, the RNN takes in an input and the current hidden state, and produces an
output and a new hidden state.

43
x The output and new hidden state are used as input for the next time step, and this process
continues until the entire sequence has been processed.
x RNNs are well-suited for tasks involving variable-length sequences and maintaining state
across elements.

How does LSTM work?

Here is a brief summary of how Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks work:

x LSTMs are a type of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) that can better retain long-term
dependencies in the data.
x They have a more complex structure than regular RNNs, consisting of input, output, and
forget gates that can selectively retain or discard information from the hidden state.
x The input gate determines which information from the current input to store in the hidden
state.
x The forget gate determines which information from the previous hidden state to keep or
discard.
x The output gate determines which information from the hidden state to output as the final
prediction.
x This combination of gates allows LSTMs to retain important information from long sequences
and discard irrelevant or outdated information.
x LSTMs are often used for tasks involving long-term dependencies, such as language
translation and language modeling.

How does GRU work?

Here is a brief summary of how Gated Recurrent Units (GRUs) work:

x GRUs are a type of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) that uses a simpler structure than LSTMs
and is easier to train.
x They have two gates: an update gate and a reset gate.
x The update gate determines which information from the previous hidden state and current
input to keep, and the reset gate determines which information to discard.
x The final hidden state is a combination of the information retained by the update gate and
the current input.
x This combination of gates allows GRUs to retain relevant information from long sequences
and discard irrelevant or outdated information.
x GRUs are often used for tasks involving sequential data, such as language translation and
language modeling.

Convolutional Neural Networks, Explained

44
A Convolutional Neural Network, also known as CNN or ConvNet, is a class of neural

networks that specializes in processing data that has a grid-like topology, such as an image. A

digital image is a binary representation of visual data. It contains a series of pixels arranged in a

grid-like fashion that contains pixel values to denote how bright and what color each pixel

should be.

The human brain processes a huge amount of information the second we see an image. Each

neuron works in its own receptive field and is connected to other neurons in a way that they

cover the entire visual field. Just as each neuron responds to stimuli only in the restricted region

of the visual field called the receptive field in the biological vision system, each neuron in a CNN

processes data only in its receptive field as well.

Convolutional Neural Network Architecture

A CNN typically has three layers: a convolutional layer, a pooling layer, and a fully connected

layer.

Figure 2: Architecture of a CNN (Source)

45
Convolution Layer

The convolution layer is the core building block of the CNN. It carries the main portion of the

ŶĞƚǁŽƌŬ͛ƐĐŽŵƉƵƚĂƚŝŽŶĂůůŽĂĚ͘

This layer performs a dot product between two matrices, where one matrix is the set of

learnable parameters otherwise known as a kernel, and the other matrix is the restricted portion

of the receptive field. The kernel is spatially smaller than an image but is more in-depth. This

means that, if the image is composed of three (RGB) channels, the kernel height and width will

be spatially small, but the depth extends up to all three channels.

Illustration of Convolution Operation (source)

During the forward pass, the kernel slides across the height and width of the image-producing

the image representation of that receptive region. This produces a two-dimensional

representation of the image known as an activation map that gives the response of the kernel at

each spatial position of the image. The sliding size of the kernel is called a stride.

Non-Linearity Layers

Since convolution is a linear operation and images are far from linear, non-linearity layers are

often placed directly after the convolutional layer to introduce non-linearity to the activation

map.

There are several types of non-linear operations, the popular ones being:

1. Sigmoid

46
The sigmoid non-ůŝŶĞĂƌŝƚLJŚĂƐƚŚĞŵĂƚŚĞŵĂƚŝĐĂůĨŽƌŵʍ;ʃͿсϭͬ;ϭнĞȍʃͿ͘/ƚƚĂŬĞƐĂƌĞĂů-valued

ŶƵŵďĞƌĂŶĚ͞ƐƋƵĂƐŚĞƐ͟ŝƚŝŶƚŽĂƌĂŶŐĞďĞƚǁĞĞŶϬĂŶĚϭ͘

However, a very undesirable property of sigmoid is that when the activation is at either tail, the

gradient becomes almost zero. If the local gradient becomes very small, then in backpropagation

ŝƚǁŝůůĞĨĨĞĐƚŝǀĞůLJ͞Ŭŝůů͟ƚŚĞŐƌĂĚŝĞŶƚ͘ůƐŽ͕ŝĨƚŚĞĚĂƚĂĐŽŵŝŶŐŝŶƚŽƚŚĞŶĞƵƌŽŶŝƐĂůǁĂLJƐƉŽƐŝƚŝǀĞ͕

then the output of sigmoid will be either all positives or all negatives, resulting in a zig-zag

dynamic of gradient updates for weight.

2. Tanh

Tanh squashes a real-valued number to the range [-1, 1]. Like sigmoid, the activation saturates,

but Ͷ unlike the sigmoid neurons Ͷ its output is zero centered.

3. ReLU

The Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) has become very popular in the last few years. It computes the

ĨƵŶĐƚŝŽŶ‫;ڏ‬ʃͿсŵĂdž;Ϭ͕ʃͿ͘/ŶŽƚŚĞƌǁŽƌĚƐ͕ƚŚĞĂĐƚŝǀĂƚŝŽŶŝƐƐŝŵƉůLJƚŚƌĞƐŚŽůĚĂƚnjĞƌŽ͘

In comparison to sigmoid and tanh, ReLU is more reliable and accelerates the convergence by six

times.

47
 Module 12:

Programming for Data Science

tŚĂƚ͛ƐƚŚĞĚŝĨĨĞƌĞŶĐĞďĞƚǁĞĞŶ^ĐƌŝƉƚŝŶŐĂŶĚWƌŽŐƌĂŵŵŝŶŐ>ĂŶŐƵĂŐĞƐ͍

Basically, all scripting languages are programming languages. The theoretical difference
between the two is that scripting languages do not require the compilation step and are rather
interpreted. For example, normally, a C program needs to be compiled before running whereas
normally, a scripting language like JavaScript or PHP need not be compiled.
Generally, compiled programs run faster than interpreted programs because they are first
converted native machine code. Also, compilers read and analyze the code only once, and
report the errors collectively that the code might have, but the interpreter will read and analyze
the code statements each time it meets them and halts at that very instance if there is some
error. In practice, the distinction between the two is getting blurred owing to improved
computation capabilities of the modern hardware and advanced coding practices.

Applications of Scripting Languages :

1. To automate certain tasks in a program
2. Extracting information from a data set
3. Less code intensive as compared to traditional programming languages

Applications of Programming Languages :

1. They typically run inside a parent program like scripts

2. More compatible while integrating code with mathematical models
3. Languages like JAVA can be compiled and then used on any platform

Let us see the differences in a tabular form -:

Scripting Language Programming Language

A scripting language is a language that A Programming language is a language which

uses a naive method to bring codes to a is used by humans to navigate their
1. runtime environment communication with computers.

Programming languages are of three types -:

low-level Programming language
These are made for a particular runtime Middle-level Programming language
2. environment. High-level Programming language

They are used to create dynamic web Programming languages are used to write
3. applications computer programs.

4. They are high-speed languages.

Scripting languages contain different

48
 libraries

5. Example -: Bash, Ruby, Python Example -: C++, Java, PHPHigh-level

Scripting languages can be easily ported Programming languages are translation free
6. among various operating systems. languages

7. These languages requires a host. These languages are self executable.

8. Do not create a .exe file. These generate .exe files.

Most of the scripting languages are Most of the programming languages are
9. interpreted language. compiled languages.

All the scripting languages are All the programming languages are not
10. programming languages. scripting languages.

What Languages Are Being Used

Before I give you my opinion, it is good to have a look around to see what languages and
platforms are popular in self-selected communities of data analysis and machine learning
professionals.

<ŶƵŐŐĞƚƐŚĂƐŚĂĚůĂŶŐƵĂŐĞƉŽůůƐĨŽƌĞǀĞƌ͘ƌĞĐĞŶƚƉŽůůŝƐƚŝƚůĞĚ͞What programming/statistics
languages you used for an analytics / data mining / data science work in 2013͘͞dŚĞƚƌĞŶĚƐĂƌĞ
almost identical to the previous year. The results suggest heavy use of R and Python and SQL
ĨŽƌĚĂƚĂĂĐĐĞƐƐ͘^^ĂŶĚDd>ƌĂŶŬŚŝŐŚĞƌƚŚĂŶ/ǁŽƵůĚŚĂǀĞĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ͘/͛ĚĞdžƉĞĐƚ^^
accounts for larger corporate (Fortune 500) data analysis and MATLAB for engineering,
research and student use.

Machine Learning Languages

I think of programming languages in the context of the machine learning activities I want to
perform.

MATLAB/Octave

I think MATLAB ŝƐĞdžĐĞůůĞŶƚĨŽƌƌĞƉƌĞƐĞŶƚŝŶŐĂŶĚǁŽƌŬŝŶŐǁŝƚŚŵĂƚƌŝĐĞƐ͘ƐƐƵĐŚ͕/ƚŚŝŶŬŝƚ͛ƐĂŶ

excellent language or platform to use when climbing into the linear algebra of a given method. I
ƚŚŝŶŬŝƚ͛ƐƐƵŝƚĞĚƚŽůĞĂƌŶŝŶŐĂďŽƵƚĂůŐŽƌŝƚŚŵƐďŽƚŚƐƵƉĞƌĨŝĐŝĂůůLJƚŚĞĨŝƌƐƚƚŝŵĞĂƌŽƵŶĚĂŶĚĚĞĞƉůLJ
when you are trying to figure something out or go deep into the method..

49
 R

R is a workhorse for statistical analysis and by extension machine learning. Much talk is given to
ƚŚĞůĞĂƌŶŝŶŐĐƵƌǀĞ͕/ĚŝĚŶ͛ƚƌĞĂůůLJƐĞĞƚŚĞƉƌŽďůĞŵ͘/ƚŝƐƚŚĞƉůĂƚĨŽƌŵƚŽƵƐĞƚŽƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚĂŶĚ
explore your data using statistical methods and graphs. It has an enormous number of machine
learning algorithms, and advanced implementations too written by the developers of the
algorithm.

Python

WLJƚŚŽŶŝĨĂƉŽƉƵůĂƌƐĐŝĞŶƚŝĨŝĐůĂŶŐƵĂŐĞĂŶĚĂƌŝƐŝŶŐƐƚĂƌĨŽƌŵĂĐŚŝŶĞůĞĂƌŶŝŶŐ͘/͛ĚďĞƐƵƌƉƌŝƐĞĚŝĨ
it can take the data analysis mantle from R, but matrix handling in NumPy may challenge
MATLAB and communication tools like IPython are very attractive and a step into the future of
reproducibility.
I think the SciPy stack for machine learning and data analysis can be used for one-off projects
(like papers), and frameworks like scikit-learn are mature enough to be used in production
systems.

Java-family/C-family

Implementing a system that uses machine learning is an engineering challenge like any other.
You need good design and developed requirements. Machine learning is algorithms, not magic.
When it comes to serious production implementations, you need a robust library or you
customize an implementation of the algorithm for your needs.

Other Concerns
x Not a Programmer: If you are not a programmer (or not a confident programmer) I recommend
playing machine learning via a GUI interface like Weka.
x One Language for Research and Ops: You may want to use the same language for prototyping
and for production to reduce risk of not effectively transferring the results.
x Pet Language: You may have a pet language of favorite language and want to stick to that. You
can implement algorithms yourself or leverage libraries. Most languages have some form of
machine learning package, however primitive.

50
 Module 13:

Applications of pre-designed Algorithms

What are Libraries, Frameworks and Packages?

We all have heard of Angular, React, Vue, Node packages and many of you would be even using
these on a regular basis.
But often we ƌĞĂůůLJĚŽŶ͛ƚŚĂǀĞĂĐůĞĂƌŝĚĞĂĂƐƚŽǁŚĂƚƚŚĞƐĞĂƌĞǁŚLJ do we need in the first
place.
^Ž͕ĂůŝďƌĂƌLJŝƐďĂƐŝĐĂůůLJĂĐŽůůĞĐƚŝŽŶŽĨƉƌŽŐƌĂŵƐŽƌĂďƵŶĐŚŽĨŚĂŶĚLJĐŽĚĞƐŽŵĞŽŶĞ͛ƐǁƌŝƚƚĞŶ
for you, which you can use in your programs.

A framework is usually a bunch of libraries, and sometimes (but not always) some external
utilities, all geared towards solving a particular task. For example, making a web site (web
framework), or displaying a user interface (UI framework), etc.

2. Python
pip or the PyPI is the central repository for all python packages. We usually incorporate these packages by
ƵƐŝŶŐƚŚĞĐŽŵŵĂŶĚ͞ƉŝƉŝŶƐƚĂůů͙͘͟

3. Java

Maven is industry standard when it comes to Java packages. In contrast to this, even Gradle is a

package manager which is relatively new but is rapidly gaining popularity.

4. .NET/ C#

NuGet is the package manager for .NET. Microsoft maintains and manages the packages for

.NET.

So probably by now you must have had a basic idea on how packages, frameworks work and

where are they maintained. Can you think of some idea or a piece of code which can be re-used

by other fellow developers?

How does a Recommendation System Work?

Recommendation systems use specialized algorithms and machine learning solutions. Driven by

the automated configuration, coordination, and management of machine learning predictive

analytics algorithms, the recommendation system can wisely select which filters to apply to a

particular user's specific situation. It facilitates marketers to maximize conversions and average

order value.

51
Recommender systems can forecast user ratings, even before they have provided one, making

them an effective tool. Mainly, a recommendation system processes data through four phases as

follows-

x Collection

Data collected can be explicit (ratings and comments on products) or implicit (page views, order

history, etc.).

x Storing

The type of data used to create recommendations can help you decide the kind of storage you

should use- NoSQL database, object storage, or standard SQL database.

x Analyzing

The recommender system finds items with similar user engagement data after analysis.

x Filtering

This is the last step where data gets filtered to access the relevant information required to

provide recommendations to the user. To enable this, you will need to choose an algorithm

suiting the recommendation system.

Types Of Recommendation Systems

Machine learning solves many problems but making product recommendations is a widely

known application of machine learning. There are three main types of recommendation systems

1. Collaborative Filtering

dŚĞĐŽůůĂďŽƌĂƚŝǀĞĨŝůƚĞƌŝŶŐŵĞƚŚŽĚŝƐďĂƐĞĚŽŶŐĂƚŚĞƌŝŶŐĂŶĚĂŶĂůLJnjŝŶŐĚĂƚĂŽŶƵƐĞƌ͛ƐďĞŚĂǀŝŽƌ͘

dŚŝƐŝŶĐůƵĚĞƐƚŚĞƵƐĞƌ͛ƐŽŶůŝŶĞĂĐƚŝvities and predicting what they will like based on the similarity

with other users.

52
For example, if user A likes Apple, Banana, and Mango while user B likes Apple, Banana, and

Jackfruit, they have similar interests. So, it is highly likely that A would like Jackfruit and B would

enjoy Mango. This is how collaborative filtering takes place.

2. Content-Based Filtering

Content-based filtering methods are based on the description of a product and a profile of the

ƵƐĞƌ͛ƐƉƌĞĨĞƌƌĞĚĐŚŽŝĐĞƐ͘/ŶƚŚŝƐƌĞĐŽŵŵĞŶĚĂƚion system, products are described using

keywords, and a user profile is built to express the kind of item this user likes.

3. Hybrid Recommendation Systems

In hybrid recommendation systems, products are recommended using both content-based and

collaborative filtering simultaneously to suggest a broader range of products to customers. This

recommendation system is up-and-coming and is said to provide more accurate

recommendations than other recommender systems.

53
Netflix is an excellent case in point of a hybrid recommendation system. It makes
ƌĞĐŽŵŵĞŶĚĂƚŝŽŶƐďLJũƵdžƚĂƉŽƐŝŶŐƵƐĞƌƐ͛ǁĂƚĐŚŝŶŐĂŶĚƐĞĂƌĐŚŝŶŐŚĂďŝƚƐĂŶĚĨŝŶĚŝŶŐƐŝŵŝůĂƌƵƐĞƌƐ

on that platform. This way, Netflix uses collaborative filtering.

Summing Up

/ŶƚŽĚĂLJ͛ƐĚŝŐŝƚĂůĂŐĞ͕ŝŶĐůƵĚŝŶŐƌĞĐŽŵŵĞŶĚĂƚŝŽns in systems is an investment worth making.

Recommendation systems not only enhance the user experience and engagement but also

generate more revenue for businesses.

However, developing a recommendation system takes a significant understanding of data. Your

recommendation system is only as effective as it is built to be. At Maruti Techlabs, our machine

learning experts can help you solve your business challenges with the help of machine learning

services. Our experts are well-versed in deep learning frameworks, supervised learning,

unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning, and more.

Pros & Cons of Open Source in Business

FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is software whose source code is openly shared with
anyone. In plain words, this means that anyone can freely access, distribute and modify such
software. Contrary to it, proprietary software is copyrighted and the source code is not
available.

Pro: Initial Cost

There are little to no upfront costs for open-source software. You just need to download the
code from a legitimate source and LJŽƵ͛ƌĞ good to go. If LJŽƵ͛ƌĞ on a tight budget it might be a
good idea to go open source instead of breaking the bank for costly solutions. After all, free
stuff is always good, right? But, no initial costs ĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚ mean that there ĂƌĞŶ͛ƚ ĂŶLJ͙ which leads
us to our first argument against it.

54
Con: Long-term Cost

Sometime down the road costs for FOSS software can stack up. If any problem occurs that
needs immediate attention ŝƚ͛Ɛ up to you to put out the fire and those costs. You ĐĂŶ͛ƚ yank
your ǀĞŶĚŽƌ͛Ɛ chain to fix the issue because there is none. Instead, you have to either deal with
it in-house or hire external help. Also, consider the costs of the implementation and staff
training associated with introducing new software in the office.

Pro: Reliability

Open-source software is highly reliable. Usually, thousands of expert developers work on

making and constantly improving the open-source software. This means ƚŚĞƌĞ͛Ɛ a greater
chance that someone will notice a flaw or a bug and fix it in no time. Another pair of eyes is
always a plus, or in this case, hundreds or thousands of eyes. A handful of paid developers
working for vendors ĐĂŶ͛ƚ compete with that.

Con: Support

The key advantage of commercial software is the service & support. Commercial vendors offer
ongoing support and this is a major thing if you ĚŽŶ͛ƚ possess technical skills. Open-source
software ĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚ possess user manuals and access to experts who are familiar with the
software. Although you can seek help in relevant communities for free, the support comes at a
time price and no one is obliged to help. If LJŽƵ͛ƌĞ having an urgent issue, proprietary software,
backed by top-tier, support might be a better choice

Pro: Longevity

Because anyone can access the source code, open-source software can evolve continuously.
Anyone can contribute to making the software better without any vendor confinements.
Furthermore, if a commercial company that created the software goes out of business, you lose
the support, patches and everything else their services included. This ĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚ apply to FOSS
because you can seek help in user communities or hire individual programmers if necessary.

Con: Orphan Software

There is always the possibility that the developers of a program lose interest in working further
on the software or just move on to another project. This being said, both open-source and
proprietary software can be discontinued for whatever reason.

Pro: Security

Open source advocates assert that open source software is more secure overall compared to
proprietary software. Bugs and other issues tend to be dealt with as soon as ƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞ caught by
the community members. On the other hand, this is not the case with commercial software.
Large enterprises can take weeks or months to deal with vulnerabilities and issue a fix.

Con: Security

Open-source software is not developed in a controlled environment. With hundreds of

developers working on the software, there is a chance that some of them could have malicious

55
intentions. All it takes for a disaster is a single programmer to incorporate some malware into
the software. In the case of closed software, only the vendor developers can see and edit the
source code. dŚĂƚ͛Ɛ why closed software is seen as safer, although the risk of hidden backdoor
Trojans is always a possibility.

Pro: Flexibility

OSS is all about flexibility. Users of open-source software benefit from the freedom to modify
the software in a way that suits their business needs. Unlike with commercial software, where
you have to adhere to the ǀĞŶĚŽƌ͛Ɛ requirements and limits, open source users have complete
control over their software. OSS is not confined by the rigid user agreement
associated with proprietary software.

Con: Usability

Compared to closed software, in most cases, open-source software is not as user-friendly. The
main point of criticism is that open-source software is more oriented towards the needs of the
developer and not the ͞ƵŶƐŬŝůůĞĚ͟ end user. >Ğƚ͛Ɛ face it, regular users will never even look at
the source code, let alone to tamper with it.

56
 Module 14:

Manage and plan work requirements

What are the Roles and Responsibilities of a Data Scientist

Businesses in many different areas use data science to guide their decisions. It is the
responsibility of a data scientist to take huge amounts of complex information and analyze it in
such a way that the decision-makers within a business, organization or other body can
ƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝƚ͘dŚĞƌŽůĞŽĨĂĚĂƚĂƐĐŝĞŶƚŝƐƚŵĂLJďĞŵŽƌĞĐƌƵĐŝĂůƚŚĂŶĞǀĞƌŝŶƚŽĚĂLJ͛ƐĚĂƚĂ-driven
environment. All the information you require to become a data scientist is provided here. In
ƚŚŝƐĂƌƚŝĐůĞ͕ůĞƚ͛ƐůĞĂƌŶŵŽƌĞĂďŽƵƚƚŚĞƌŽůĞƐĂŶd responsibilities of a data scientist.

Who is a Data Scientist?

Data scientists are analytical data experts who possess the technical skills to address complex
problems. They gather, analyze, and interpret vast amounts of data while working with a
variety of computer science, mathematics, and statistics-related concepts. They have a duty to
offer perspectives that go beyond statistical analysis. Data scientist positions are accessible in
both the public and private sectors, including finance, consulting, manufacturing,
pharmaceuticals, government, and education.

Data Scientist Roles and Responsibilities

Data scientists collaborate closely with business leaders and other key players to comprehend
company objectives and identify data-driven strategies for achieving those objectives. A data
ƐĐŝĞŶƚŝƐƚ͛ƐũŽďŝƐƚŽŐĂƚŚĞƌĂůĂƌŐĞĂŵŽƵŶƚŽĨĚĂƚĂ͕ĂŶĂůLJnjĞŝƚ͕ƐĞƉĂƌĂƚĞŽƵƚƚŚĞĞƐƐĞŶƚŝĂů
information, and then utilize tools like SAS, R programming, Python, etc. to extract insights that
may be used to increase the productivity and efficiency of the business. Depending on an
ŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƚŝŽŶ͛ƐŶĞĞĚƐ͕ĚĂƚĂƐĐŝĞŶƚŝƐƚƐŚĂǀĞĂǁŝĚĞƌĂŶŐĞŽĨƌŽůĞƐĂŶĚƌĞƐƉŽŶƐŝďŝůŝƚŝĞƐ͘dŚĞ
following is a list of some of the data scientist roles and responsibilities:

x Collect data and identify data sources

x Analyze huge amounts of data, both structured and unstructured
x Create solutions and strategies to business problems
x Work with team members and leaders to develop data strategy
x To discover trends and patterns, combine various algorithms and modules
x Present data using various data visualization techniques and tools
x Investigate additional technologies and tools for developing innovative data strategies
x Create comprehensive analytical solutions, from data gathering to display; assist in the
construction of data engineering pipelines

57
How to become a data scientist?

dŚĞŵĂũŽƌŝƚLJŽĨĚĂƚĂƐĐŝĞŶƚŝƐƚƐďĞŐŝŶƚŚĞŝƌĐĂƌĞĞƌƐǁŝƚŚĂĂĐŚĞůŽƌ͛ƐĚĞŐƌĞĞŝŶŵĂƚŚĞŵĂƚŝĐƐ͕
statistics, computer science, information technologies, data analytics or data science. Online
courses may be required to learn the specific skills required to obtain a higher post-graduate
degree in data science for those who choose to complete an undergraduate degree in a field
other than data science.

Gain Advanced Learning Through a Specialized Course in Data Science

/ŶƚŽĚĂLJ͛ƐĚŝŐŝƚĂůǁŽƌůĚ͕ĚĂƚĂŝƐďĞĐŽŵŝŶŐŝŶĐƌĞĂƐŝŶŐůLJŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚ͘/ƚ͛ƐĂƵƐĞĨƵůƚŽŽůĨŽƌĞǀĂůƵĂƚŝŶŐ
business stability and growth potential during times of uncertainty. In such a fast-paced
environment, data science and data analytics provide an additional boost to assist the
organization in meeting its goals.

Professional specialists with a data science certification are in high demand to handle and
evaluate data. Data scientists collect, organize, coordinate, analyze, integrate, and interpret
complex data from multiple sources. The market demand for data scientists is an excellent
opportunity to advance your career by enrolling in Emeritus /ŶĚŝĂ͛ƐƵŶŝƋƵĞĚĂƚĂƐĐŝĞŶĐĞĐŽƵƌƐĞƐ
online.

What is the requirements gathering process?

'ĂƚŚĞƌŝŶŐƉƌŽũĞĐƚƌĞƋƵŝƌĞŵĞŶƚƐĐĂŶĨĞĞůŽǀĞƌǁŚĞůŵŝŶŐ͕ďƵƚŝƚĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚŶĞĞĚƚŽďĞŽǀĞƌůLJ
complicated Ͷ especially if you break it down into three steps.

Step #1: Solicit requirements from stakeholders

Start by ŝĚĞŶƚŝĨLJŝŶŐƚŚĞƉƌŽũĞĐƚ͛ƐƐƚĂŬĞŚŽůĚĞƌƐĂŶĚƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐǁŚĂƚƚŚĞLJƚŚŝŶŬƚŚĞƉƌŽũĞĐƚ
needs to address or include.

Step #2: Documenting requirements

KŶĐĞLJŽƵ͛ǀĞŐĂƚŚĞƌĞĚLJŽƵƌƉƌŽũĞĐƚƌĞƋƵŝƌĞŵĞŶƚƐ͕LJŽƵŶĞĞĚƚŽĚŽĐƵŵĞŶƚƚŚĞŵŝŶĂĐŽŶĐŝƐĞĂŶĚ
well-organized document.

Step #3: Confirming understanding of requirements

KŶĐĞLJŽƵƌƉƌŽũĞĐƚƌĞƋƵŝƌĞŵĞŶƚƐĂƌĞĚŽĐƵŵĞŶƚĞĚ͕ĚŽŶ͛ƚĂƐƐƵŵĞƚŚĂƚĞǀĞƌLJďŽĚLJŚĂƐĂƐŚĂƌĞĚ
understanding.

Organizational Policies and Procedures

Organizations are described as a form of association, wherein men, material, and other
resources are engaged for the purpose of accomplishing a desired objective. The term
ŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƚŝŽŶŝƐĚĞƌŝǀĞĚĨƌŽŵƚŚĞǁŽƌĚ͚ŽƌŐĂŶŝĐŝƐŵ͕͛ǁŚŝĐŚŵĞĂŶƐĂŶŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĞĚďŽĚLJŽĨ
interdependent parts sharing common activity. Organization has been defined in different ways
such as (i) organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or
more persons, (ii) organization is a planned system of cooperative effort in which each
participant has a recognized role to play and duties and tasks to perform, (iii) organization is a

58
formal structure of authority, through which work sub-divisions are arranged, defined, and
coordinated for the defined objective, (iv) organization is concerned with the pattern of
ƌĞůĂƚŝŽŶƐŚŝƉƐďĞƚǁĞĞŶƉĞƌƐŽŶƐŝŶĂŶĞŶƚĞƌƉƌŝƐĞ͕ƐŽĐŽŶƐƚƌƵĐƚĞĚĂƐƚŽĨƵůĨŝůůƚŚĞĞŶƚĞƌƉƌŝƐĞƌ͛Ɛ
function, and (v) organization consists of the relationship of individual to individuals and of
group to groups, which are so related to bring about an orderly division of labour.

A procedure explains a specific action plan for carrying out a policy. It is a set of actions which
an employee takes to complete an activity within the confines of an organizational policy. It
exists as a reference for employees to understand their roles and responsibilities. Procedures
tell employees how to deal with a situation and when. Using policies and procedures together
gives employees a well-rounded view of the organization.

Fig 2 Maintenance cycle of policies and procedures

While organizational policies are roadmaps to action, organizational procedures are the actions
itself, which are undertaken by the organization in meeting the goals and objectives of
organization. In other words, organizational procedures are a clear step by step method for
implementing organizational policies or responsibilities. They describe logical sequence of
activities or processes which are to be followed to complete a task or function in a correct and
consistent manner. Hence, the policies of the organization are a vital component of the
organization. If the policies and procedures of the organization are effective, it is more likely
that the organization achieve success. Hence, success of the organization highly depends upon
the organizational policies and procedures adopted by the organization. The more organized,
systematic, and thorough the policies and procedures are, the less scope for misunderstandings
in the organization, with maximization of the outcome.

10 Common Time Management Mistakes

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

How well do you manage your time? /ĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞůŝŬĞŵĂŶLJƉĞŽƉůĞ͕LJŽƵƌĂŶƐǁĞƌŵĂLJŶŽƚďĞ

completely positive! Perhaps you feel overloaded, and you often have to work late to hit your

59
deadlines. Or maybe your days seem to go from one crisis to another, and this is stressful and
demoralizing.

Mistake #1: Failing to Keep a To-Do List

ŽLJŽƵĞǀĞƌŚĂǀĞƚŚĂƚŶĂŐŐŝŶŐĨĞĞůŝŶŐƚŚĂƚLJŽƵ͛ǀĞĨŽƌŐŽƚƚĞŶƚŽĚŽĂŶŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚƉŝĞĐĞŽĨǁŽƌŬ͍
If so, you pƌŽďĂďůLJĚŽŶ͛ƚƵƐĞĂdŽ-Do List to keep on top of things. (Or, if you do, you might not
be using it effectively!)

Mistake #2: Not Setting Personal Goals

ŽLJŽƵŬŶŽǁǁŚĞƌĞLJŽƵ͛ĚůŝŬĞƚŽďĞŝŶƐŝdžŵŽŶƚŚƐ͍tŚĂƚĂďŽƵƚƚŚŝƐƚŝŵĞŶĞdžƚLJĞĂƌ͕ŽƌĞǀĞŶϭϬ
years from ŶŽǁ͍/ĨŶŽƚ͕ŝƚ͛ƐƚŝŵĞƚŽƐĞƚƐŽŵĞƉĞƌƐŽŶĂůŐŽĂůƐ͊

Mistake #3: Not Prioritizing

Your assistant has just walked in with a crisis that she needs you to deal with right now, but
LJŽƵ͛ƌĞŝŶƚŚĞŵŝĚĚůĞŽĨďƌĂŝŶƐƚŽƌŵŝŶŐŝĚĞĂƐĨŽƌĂŶĞǁĐůŝĞŶƚ͘zŽƵ͛ƌĞƐƵƌĞƚŚĂƚ
yoƵ͛ǀĞ almost come up with a brilliant idea for their marketing campaign, but now you risk
ůŽƐŝŶŐƚŚĞƚŚƌĞĂĚŽĨLJŽƵƌƚŚŝŶŬŝŶŐďĞĐĂƵƐĞŽĨƚŚŝƐ͞ĞŵĞƌŐĞŶĐLJ͘͟

Mistake #4: Failing to Manage Distractions

Do you know that some of us can lose as much as two hours a day to distractions? Think how
much you could get done if you had that time back!

Mistake #5: Procrastination

Procrastination occurs when you put off tasks that you should be focusing on right now. When
LJŽƵƉƌŽĐƌĂƐƚŝŶĂƚĞ͕LJŽƵĨĞĞůŐƵŝůƚLJƚŚĂƚLJŽƵŚĂǀĞŶ͛ƚƐtarted; you come to dread doing the task;
and, eventually, everything catches up with you when you fail to complete the work on time.

Mistake #6: Taking on Too Much

ƌĞLJŽƵĂƉĞƌƐŽŶǁŚŽŚĂƐĂŚĂƌĚƚŝŵĞƐĂLJŝŶŐ͞ŶŽ͟ƚŽƉĞŽƉůĞ͍/ĨƐŽ͕LJŽƵƉƌŽďĂďůLJŚĂǀĞĨĂƌƚŽo
many projects and commitments on your plate. This can lead to poor performance, stress, and
low morale.

Mistake #7: dŚƌŝǀŝŶŐŽŶ͞ƵƐLJ͟

Some people get a rush from being busy. The narrowly-met deadlines, the endless emails, the
piles of files needing atteŶƚŝŽŶŽŶƚŚĞĚĞƐŬ͕ƚŚĞĨƌĂŶƚŝĐƌĂĐĞƚŽƚŚĞŵĞĞƚŝŶŐ͙tŚĂƚĂŶ
adrenaline buzz!

Mistake #8: Multitasking

To get on top of her workload, Linda regularly writes emails while she chats on the phone to
her clients. However, while Linda thinks that this is a good use of her time, the truth is that it
can take 20-40 percent more time to finish a list of jobs when you multitask, compared with
completing the same list of tasks in sequence. The result is also that she does both tasks poorly
ʹ her emails are full of errors, and her clients are frustrated by her lack of concentration.

Mistake #9: Not Taking Breaks

/ƚ͛ƐŶŝĐĞƚŽƚŚŝŶŬƚŚĂƚLJŽƵĐĂŶǁŽƌŬĨŽƌϴ-ϭϬŚŽƵƌƐƐƚƌĂŝŐŚƚ͕ĞƐƉĞĐŝĂůůLJǁŚĞŶLJŽƵ͛ƌĞǁŽƌŬŝŶŐƚŽĂ
ĚĞĂĚůŝŶĞ͘Ƶƚŝƚ͛ƐŝŵƉŽƐƐŝďůĞĨŽƌĂŶLJŽŶĞƚŽĨŽĐƵƐĂŶĚƉƌŽĚƵĐĞreally high-quality work without
giving their brains some time to rest and recharge.

60
Mistake #10: Ineffectively Scheduling Tasks

Are you a morning person? Or do you find your energy picking up once the sun begins to set in
the evening? All of us have different rhythms, that is, different times of day when we feel most
productive and energetic.

Why Work Accuracy is Important and How Accurate Time Cards Can Help

Accuracy is defined as the quality or state of being correct or precise. Another definition of
accuracy is the degree to which the result of a measurement, calculation, or specification
conforms to the correct value or a standard.

Knowing the importance of time card accuracy will boost your company to the next level;
understand the number of time employees invest in their work. As a result, you will see an
increase in payroll accuracy.

General Importance of Accuracy at Work

To be accurate and precise at work helps a company grow, profit, and function efficiently.
Accuracy can also help a company know its budget, employee expenses, and projections for
revenue.

tŚĞƚŚĞƌLJŽƵ͛ƌĞŝŶƚŚĞĐŽŶƐƚƌƵĐƚŝŽŶŝŶĚƵƐƚƌLJ͕ĂŶĂĐĐŽƵŶƚŝŶŐƉƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂl, or a healthcare
provider, accuracy in the workplace is crucial. But, beyond being accurate at the actual job at
hand, properly tracking time invested into your work is just as important. Having a clear
ƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐŽĨǁŚĞƌĞĂŶĚŚŽǁĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞƐ͛ƚŝŵĞŝƐƐpent allows employers to know if their
business is operating to its full potential.

How Does Inaccurate Work Accuracy Affect Your Company?

Did you know 33% of employers make payroll errors resulting in billions of dollars annually?
Unfortunately, these problems happen more frequently than you think. For
example, miscalculating or failure to pay overtime to employees is one of the most common
payroll mistakes made. However, with proper time card reporting, your business and team
members will avoid this type of payroll mistake and possible penalties.

A survey from the Workforce Institute reveals that an estimated 82 million Americans, more
than half of the U.S. workforce, experienced a problem with their paycheck during their career.
These paycheck errors include late payments, non-payments, over-payments, and incorrect
payments.

61
Inaccurate paychecks can result in high employee turnover and unhappy employees.

Why Time Card Accuracy is Important

In 2019, the Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor recovered more than $322
million in recovered wages for workers in a fiscal year which is up from 2016 when $266 million
in back wages for more than 280,000 workers whose employers failed to comply with federal
labor laws.

Much of this is contributed to how data for hours worked is collected. This can include time
tracking and time card reports on record from an employer.

A lack of time card accuracy could be costing you or your employees a lot of money. Here at
OnTheClock, we recommend that business owners look closely at their accounting, payroll
tracking, and employee time tracking to see if it is being documented accurately.

A Solution to Improving Time Card and Work Accuracy

The reality is that we are all humans, and mistakes are inevitable, but there are many solutions
to decrease errors from happening. Listed below are just a few ideas that seem to be commonly
used techniques, tools, and habits that can be adapted to benefit your proficiency.

1. Upgrade technology when needed. If your time tracking system is outdated, maybe it is
time to invest in a service that will suit your time card needs. Modern time clocks offer
tremendous accuracy, efficiency, and time-saving features.
2. Accurately and adequately document employee hours worked to avoid fines and
penalties. A service like OnTheClock keeps all of your time card data safely stored in the
cloud for convenient access when you need it.
3. Integrate your payroll software with time tracking software to streamline the payroll
process and improve payroll accuracy.

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 Module 15:

Communication and collaboration with colleagues

The Principles of Communication

This is an open-source article with the community providing support for it. For official Microsoft
content, see Microsoft 365 documentation.

Communication Professionals will sometimes refer to the 7 Principles of Communication; sadly,

these are not standardised (so probably level 200!), but there are some common themes which
were used to inform the Communication Competency within the Microsoft 365 Maturity
Model. If you are not a Communications professional you may find this interpretation of the
principles helpful as part of a communications strategy, maturity assessment or technology
selection.

Seven Principles

Effective

Every communication should have a clear purpose and should achieve that purpose to be
effective. This includes what is said, how it is delivered, when it is sent/published and why
people should take notice. You need to communicate your message in the fewest possible
words, have the consistency of tone, voice, and content so that you can save time. Short,
punchy statements are often more effective than rambling prose.

Comprehensive

WĞŽƉůĞƐŚŽƵůĚŶ͛ƚďĞůĞĨƚǁŽŶĚĞƌŝŶŐŝĨƚŚĞƌĞŝƐŵŽƌĞƚŽĐŽŵĞ͘dŚĞŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ communicated
should be adequate and complete. Where possible, it should fully address the purpose and
provide enough that the recipients can take the required action without delay, confusion or a
reduction in productivity or motivation. Where communication cannot be completed in a single
message etc. then it should clearly indicate that there is more to follow, with requisite when
and how. Links to supporting material are recommended

Clarity

The purpose of messages should be clear; worded in such a way that the receiver understands
ƚŚĞƐĂŵĞƚŚŝŶŐǁŚŝĐŚƚŚĞƐĞŶĚĞƌǁĂŶƚƐƚŽĐŽŶǀĞLJ͘ŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƚŝŽŶƐƐŚŽƵůĚŶ͛ƚůĞĂǀĞLJŽƵƌƚĞĂŵ
confused. Be clear of the format you want to say it in. Be clear about your goal or purpose. It is
also essential that the receiver is conversant with the language, inherent assumptions, and the
mechanics of communication. Typically, sentences should be short, in the active voice and key
elements stated it in separate bullet points.

Attention and Style

/ŶŐŽŽĚĐŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƚŝŽŶ͕ƚŚĞƌĞĐĞŝǀĞƌ͛ƐĂƚtention is drawn to the message. People are different

in behaviour, attention, emotions etc. so they may respond differently to the message. This
may require constructing different message formats for different roles and grades. Senior staff
should be seen to be acting in accordance with the messages, using the messaging tools and
supporting the messaging processes. Formal communication is generally used for transmitting
messages and other information; however, sometimes informal communication may prove

63
more effective. Informal communication can be helpful for assessing the reaction of employees
ƚŽǁĂƌĚƐǀĂƌŝŽƵƐƉŽůŝĐŝĞƐ͘ŽƚŚƚLJƉĞƐƐŚŽƵůĚĞŵďƌĂĐĞƚŚĞŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƚŝŽŶ͛ƐĞƚŚŽƐ͖ĐŽŵŵŽŶůLJƚŚŝƐŝƐ
positive, honest, respectful, open and polite.

Coherency

Communication ŽĨƚĞŶƚĂŬĞƐƉůĂĐĞĂĐƌŽƐƐŵƵůƚŝƉůĞƚŽŽůƐͬĨŽƌŵĂƚƐĂŶĚŽǀĞƌĂƉĞƌŝŽĚŽĨƚŝŵĞ͘/ƚ͛Ɛ
important that communication remains logical, well-planned, and self-reinforcing across these.
There should be a good connection with the main topic and, often linked to company values,
principles, and mission. Equally, communication should be consistent with the policies, plans,
programs and objectives of the organization and not in conflict with them.

Timeliness and Urgency

Communication should be done at proper time and with the appropriate level of impact and
urgency, to ensure that messages can be understood and acted upon to achieve their objective.
It should be possible to differentiate Urgent and Import information and understand the time
scale for any actions. There should be confidence that communication reaches their audience
when intended.

Importance of Feedback

Feedback is very important to confirm that communication has been effective and to resolve
questions, allow challenge, clarify actions etc. Sometimes there is a compliance requirement or
ŵŽŶŝƚŽƌŝŶŐĨƵŶĐƚŝŽŶƚŚĂƚŶĞĞĚƐƚŽďĞĂĚĚƌĞƐƐĞĚǀŝĂĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬŽƌĂ͚ƌĞĂĚƌĞĐĞŝƉƚ͛͘

Steps to establish a Communications approach

When planning an active Communications strategy which aims to raise the maturity of this
competency, completion of an audit to establish where the organisation currently is could be
helpful. Subjects to consider are:

x Existing reputation analysis [internally and externally]

x Audience analysis and segmentation. This is especially important in large organisations
with different divisions as not all messages will be relevant to everyone
x ͚ŽŵƉĞƚŝƚŽƌ͛ĂŶĂůLJƐŝƐĨƌŽŵĂƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞƉĞƌƐƉĞĐƚŝǀĞ
x ͚ŽŵƉĞƚŝƚŽƌ͛ĂŶĂůLJƐŝƐŝŶƚĞƌŵƐŽĨŵĞĚŝĂƉĞƌĐĞƉƚŝŽŶĂŶĚƌĞƉƵƚĂƚŝŽŶŝ͘Ğ͘ĚŽƚŚĞLJƌĞĐĞŝǀĞ
positive, neutral or negative media coverage on average, is their news covered or
ignored?
x Consumption. ,ŽǁĚŽƚŚĞƉĞŽƉůĞLJŽƵ͛ƌĞƚƌLJŝŶŐƚŽƌĞĂĐŚĐŽŶƐƵŵĞŶĞǁƐ͍ŽŶƐŝĚĞƌƚŚĞ
device they use and the format.

Before delivering corporate communications, regardless of the technology and process,

organisations need to spend time planning, covering:

x Branding. Is it clear and easily recognisable among staff, patients, media, stakeholders
etc. and chime with the overall strategy? Are all graphics, images, videos etc on-brand
and have a clearly identifiable style that belongs to the organisation? A brand guardian is
needed to ensure the correct use of logos, fonts, typefaces and colours for all scenarios
[print, online, email signatures, brochures, letterheads, social media channels, signage,
leaflets etc.]

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 x Key message development. What does the organisation stand for and how can these key
points be included across different comms formats?
x Inclusion. All marcomms divisions to be represented and involved in the process
x Process. A clear approval process established that is shared throughout the organisation
to ensure better control of messaging, timing, branding, avoids conflict and is joined up
x Spokespeople. Allocating spokespeople by topic so they become specialists and more
trusted
x Plan. A clear delivery plan is needed that integrates different services and platforms e.g.
intranet, website content, direct content, newsletters, email, apps, etc
x Metrics. Clear measurement and evaluation metrics agreed at the outset

Importance Of Being A Good Listener

ĞŝŶŐĂŐŽŽĚůŝƐƚĞŶĞƌŝƐƚŚĞĂďŝůŝƚLJƚŽĨŽĐƵƐŽŶƚŚĞŝŶĚŝǀŝĚƵĂůǁŚŽ͛ƐƐƉĞĂŬŝŶŐ͕ŶŽƚƚŽŝŶƚĞƌƌƵƉƚŽƌ
reply however as an alternative simply to hear them out. Good listeners take a passive position
in the conversation, however, they actively interact with the different individuals through the
use of body language and follow-up questions. They recognize the persŽŶǁŚŽ͛ƐƐƉĞĂŬŝŶŐ͕ĞǀĞŶ
if they disagree with them, and react at the moment without expectation. At the end of an
interplay with a good listener, the speaker has to feel respected and understood.

Respect

When you listen with full attention, you are speakinŐƌĞƐƉĞĐƚ͘LJƉƌĞƐĞŶƚŝŶŐƐƉĞĂŬĞƌƐ͛ƌĞƐƉĞĐƚ͕

you are probable to reap theirs in return. By being respectful whilst anyone is speaking,
additionally demonstrates to others around you, your leadership style and that you value
people through giving them your full attention.

Information

Attentive listening helps you to know more about others. Knowing extra about people is useful
in your expert existence as well as your personal life. Imagine the advantages when you
recognize your colleagues, manager, customers, partner, friends, and family members better.

65
Greater Clarity

Careful listening helps you virtually recognize what people are attempting to say and
consequently assists to keep away from confusion, misunderstandings, and viable conflicts that
are frequent in conversations. Careful listening affords a chance to clearly understand. As Covey
stated ʹ ͞DŽƐƚƉĞŽƉůĞĚŽŶŽǁŶŽƚŚĞĂƌǁŝƚŚƚŚĞŝŶƚĞŶƚƚŽƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚ͖ƚŚĞLJůŝƐƚĞŶǁŝƚŚƚŚĞ
ŝŶƚĞŶƚƚŽƌĞƉůLJ͘͟ƐŽŶĞŐůĞĐƚƚŚĞƌĞƉůLJ͕ƐŝŵƉůLJůŝƐƚĞŶ͕ĂŶĚĂƌĞƚƌLJŝŶŐƚŽĨŝŶĚƚŽŐĞŶƵŝŶĞůLJ
apprehend what the individual is saying.

Increased Likability

You might also additionally discover that as you hear people more, you discover extra in
common, in reality, apprehend their views and actually, you like them more.

Better Relationships

Listening creates a feeling of respect and a connection in personal and professional

relationships. Improve your relationships through listening non-judgmentally to what others
have to say. The extra you listen barring judgment, the more freedom speakers have to
discover their very own options to problems.

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You Become A Better Student

When you focus on the topic introduced in a classroom, you will be capable to perceive now
not only the words used in a lecture however their emphasis and their extra complicated
meanings. You will take better notes͕ĂŶĚLJŽƵǁŝůůŐƌĞĂƚĞƌƉƌĞĐŝƐĞůLJďĞĂǁĂƌĞŽĨƚŚĞŝŶƐƚƌƵĐƚŽƌ͛Ɛ
claims, information, and conclusions. Many times, instructors provide verbal cues about what
information is important, precise expectations about assignments, and even what material is in
all likelihood to be on an exam, so careful listening can be beneficial.

You Become A Better Friend

When you give your best interest to people expressing ideas and experiences that are vital to
them, these people are in all likelihood to see you as someone who cares about their well-
being. This truth is when you provide your full attention and refrain from interjecting opinions,
judgments, and advice you become a better listener and a better friend.

People Will Perceive You As Intelligent And Perceptive

When you listen properly to others, you divulge yourself as being curious and involved in
human beings and events. In addition, your capability to recognize the meanings of what you
hear will make you an extra educated and thoughtful person.

Good Listening Can Help Your Public Speaking

When you listen to others, you begin to pick up extra on the stylistic aspects associated with
how people shape arguments and current information. As a result, you have the capacity to
ĂŶĂůLJnjĞǁŚĂƚLJŽƵĂƐƐƵŵĞǁŽƌŬƐĂŶĚĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚǁŽƌŬŝŶŽƚŚĞƌƐ͛ĐŽŶǀĞƌƐĂƚŝŽŶƐ, which can assist
you to transform your conversation skills in the process. For example, actually paying interest in
how others cite sources orally during their speeches can also give you thoughts about how to
extra efficaciously cite sources in your presentation.

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7 project management paint points and how to ease them

Following on from our articles on managing remote project teams, we look at 7 project
management pain points that remote project teams may face and offer some techniques and
tips to ease these.

Gone are the days when a project team consisted of a close-knit group of workers in the same
location all closely monitored by supervisors and their project manager. Now, managing a
project in the modern world of remote working, outsourced providers and online collaboration
brings its own distinct set of challenges.

1. Planning and organisation

The organisation of a successful project is often the mosƚĐŚĂůůĞŶŐŝŶŐƉĂƌƚŽĨĂƉƌŽũĞĐƚ͛Ɛ

delivery. When dealing with remote workers and outsourced providers, planning and keeping
track of tasks can be particularly problematic. Planning, delegating tasks and then keeping track
of those tasks, are all processes which are vital to a project running smoothly. Once these
processes have been established, the project manager is then able to switch to other important
responsibilities.

2. Accuracy when estimating

Estimates are a forecast of the length of time needed to complete different project elements
and accurate estimates will determine the overall profitability of the project and achieve ROI.

3. The need for constant follow-up

Staying up-to-date with who is doing what and whether each element of the project is on track
ŝƐĂŶĞƐƐĞŶƚŝĂůƉĂƌƚŽĨƚŚĞƉƌŽũĞĐƚŵĂŶĂŐĞƌ͛ƐƌŽůĞ͘<ĞĞƉŝŶŐƵƉǁŝƚŚĞĂĐŚŵĞŵďĞƌŽĨƚŚĞƚĞĂŵ͕
particularly those working offsite and third-party service providers, can eat into your working
day.

4. Assigning accountability

This can be the hardest aspect of project management for people to deal with. It requires those
who have had a task delegated to them to carry it out to the best of their ability. No-one likes
to feel responsible for things which can go wrong on a project.

5. Evaluation

Providing feedback is a key responsibility which is a vital role for project management. Project
managers can only fulfil this responsibility when there are established processes which collect
ĚĂƚĂŽŶĂĐŽůůĞĂŐƵĞ͛ƐƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ͘

6. Providing feedback

Running alongside evaluation is feedback. Providing valuable feedback can be problematic for
ƉƌŽũĞĐƚŵĂŶĂŐĞƌƐǁŚŽĚŝƐůŝŬĞĐŽŶĨƌŽŶƚĂƚŝŽŶ͘tŚŝůĞŝƚ͛ƐĞĂƐLJƚŽŽĨĨĞƌĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬƚŽĐŽůůĞĂŐƵĞƐǁŚŽ
are doing well, the project manager must also be able to deal with situations where there is
improvement required.

7. Visibility

Having visibility of project resources, individual tasks and the project as a whole, will make a
ƉƌŽũĞĐƚŵĂŶĂŐĞƌ͛ƐũŽďŵƵĐŚĞĂƐŝĞƌ͘,ĂǀŝŶŐĂŶŝŶĚŝǀŝĚƵĂůůŽĐĂƚŝŽŶǁŚĞƌĞŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶŝƐƐƚŽƌĞĚŝƐ
a fantastic way to keep track of the progress of tasks and inform the participants of changes at
the same time.

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Importance of Shared Workload

͞dŽŐĞƚŚĞƌĞǀĞƌLJŽŶĞĂĐĐŽŵƉůŝƐŚĞƐŵŽƌĞ͘͟dŚŝƐĐŽŵŵŽŶƉŚƌĂƐĞŝƐĂůƐŽĂŶĂĐƌŽŶLJŵĨŽƌƚŚĞǁŽƌĚ
͞ƚĞĂŵ͟ĂŶĚƐƵŵƐƵƉƚŚĞĐŽŶĐĞƉƚŽĨĂƚĞĂŵĂƐǁĞůů͘͞ǀĞƌLJŽŶĞĂĐĐŽŵƉůŝƐŚŝŶŐŵŽƌĞ͟ŝƐǁŚĂƚ
happens when people bring their individual skills and talents together and work collectively
toward a common goal. A team is more efficient and faster at accomplishing goals than one
person working alone.

Learning Objectives:

x Understand the definitions and essential concepts of teams and teamwork

x Realize how much more efficient people are when they work in a collaborative
environment
x Learn about the different types of collaborative environments and best tips for
facilitating teams
x Discover how support networks and peer reviews can help teams take on challenges

69
 Module 16:

Workplace data management

5 things you need to know about Data Privacy [Definition & Comparison]

What is Data Privacy?

Data Privacy or Information privacy is a part of the data protection area that deals with
the proper handling of data focusing on compliance with data protection regulations.

Data Privacy is centered around how data should be collected, stored, managed, and
shared with any third parties, as well as compliance with the applicable privacy laws (such as
California Consumer Privacy Act- CCPA or General Data Protection Regulation GDPR).

Although sometimes used interchangeably, data privacy and data protection are not the same.
Data Privacy is a subset of the data protection area, as shown in the image above. Along with
data security, data privacy creates a Data Protection area with protected usable data as an
output.

This is what you need to know about data privacy:

1. There is no legal definition of Data Privacy

Even though the GDPR was not the first privacy law, it was the most comprehensive and
groundbreaking data protection law that reflected the new digital era in the way data is
created and managed in modern everyday business processes.

70
2. Data Privacy is not the same as Data Security

To properly protect data and comply with data protection laws, you need both Data
Privacy and Data Security. Even though these two terms can look similar, their distinctions are
clearer once you start to dissect them.

Data Privacy focuses on the rights of individuals, the purpose of data collection and processing,
privacy preferences, and the way organizations govern personal data of individuals. It focuses
on how to collect, process, share, archive, and delete the data in accordance with the law.

What is more important for your organization?

Imagine that your company introduces elaborate data security methods using all the necessary
means and available measures to protect data, but has failed to collect that data on a valid
lawful base.

No matter the measures of securing your data, this would be a violation of data privacy. This
example shows us that data security can exist without data privacy, but not the other way
around.

3. Why is Data Privacy important?

dŚĞŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶĐĞŽĨĚĂƚĂƉƌŝǀĂĐLJĐĂŶďĞĞdžĂŵŝŶĞĚĨƌŽŵĂŶŝŶĚŝǀŝĚƵĂů͛ƐƉŽŝŶƚŽĨǀŝĞǁĂŶĚĨƌŽŵĂ
business perspective:

ߥ FOR INDIVIDUALS:

Privacy laws around the world aim to give back individuals control over their data, empowering
them to know how their data is being used, by whom and why, giving them control over how
their personal data is being processed and used.

Organizations that collect personal data are obligated to respond to those questions and
manage personal data in a compliant way. According to 'ĂƌƚŶĞƌ͛ƐƉƌĞĚŝĐƚŝŽŶƐĨŽƌƚŚĞĨƵƚƵƌĞŽĨ
privacy, ƉƌŝǀĂĐLJŝƐƚŽĚĂLJǁŚĂƚ͞organic͟Žƌ͞cruelty-free͟ǁĂƐŝŶƚŚĞƉĂƐƚĚĞĐĂĚĞ͘

71
.

4. Importance of Transparency

In this age of data economy, true company value lies in the collected personal data. This means
data is an asset worthy of protecting and keeping.

What companies keep forgetting is that the personal data of individuals processed by the
companies are only borrowed.

5. There are more and more privacy regulations worldwide

GDPR is not the first privacy law, but many data privacy laws before GDPR were outdated, given
that both technology and the way we communicate and share our data have changed greatly
in just a few years.

5 CRUCIAL REASONS TO KEEP YOUR DATA UP TO DATE

Data is one of the most important and strategic assets of your business. However many
businesses are guilty of not giving their data the attention it needs.

According to ICAEW, customer data deteriorates so rapidly that if you fail to maintain it, much
of it could be useless within three years! In the new digital age knowing your customer can give
you a huge advantage over your competition. So ask yourself, can you afford to ignore your
data?

/ĨƚŚĂƚ͛ƐŶŽƚĞŶŽƵŐŚƚŽĐŽŶǀŝŶĐĞLJŽƵƚŽgive your data a good cleanse, read on to discover 5

reasons you must keep your data up to date.

72
1. You have a legal responsibility to keep your data accurate

dŚĞĂƚĂWƌŽƚĞĐƚŝŽŶĐƚƐƚĂƚĞƐ͞WĞƌƐŽŶĂůĚĂƚĂƐŚĂůůďĞĂĐĐƵƌĂƚĞĂŶĚ͕ǁŚĞƌĞŶĞĐĞƐƐĂƌLJ͕ŬĞƉƚƵƉ
to ĚĂƚĞ͘͟ůƚŚŽƵŐŚƚŚŝƐƐŽƵŶĚƐƉƌĞƚƚLJƐƚƌĂŝŐŚƚĨŽƌǁĂƌĚ͕ŬĞĞƉŝŶŐLJŽƵƌĚĂƚĂƵƉƚŽĚĂƚĞĐĂŶďĞ
harder than it seems. Inaccurate data is if the record is incorrect or misleading. One way to
make sure your data is compliant is to make sure you state what each record is meant to show.
For example current address or past address. This way, it will be easier to check your data is
accurate and correct when cleansing. Find out more about the Data Protection Act and how to
keep accurate data here.

Ϯ͘>ĞĂĚƐǁŝůůďĞŚĂƌĚĞƌƚŽƚƌĂĐŬĂŶĚůĞƐƐůŝŬĞůLJƚŽĞŶŐĂŐĞǁŝƚŚ͚ďĂĚ͛ĚĂƚĂ

Bad data is not just harmful from a legal point of view. With out of date data, leads will be
harder to track by your sales team and customers will be less likely to engage as they might not
ƌĞĐĞŝǀĞǁŚĂƚLJŽƵ͛ǀĞďĞĞŶƐĞŶĚŝŶŐƚŚĞŵ͘ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐƚŽ Reach Force around 2% of information in
a marketing departments leads databases goes stale every month. That means by the end of
the year a huge proportion of your customer database could have decayed. Imagine all the time
your sales team has possibly wasted calling inaccurate leads because your data is incorrect. 54%
of marketers say that a lack of data quality is the most challenging obstacle to success
(Business2CommunityͿ͘'ŝǀĞLJŽƵƌŵĂƌŬĞƚŝŶŐĂŶĚƐĂůĞƐƚĞĂŵĐůĞĂŶ͕ƋƵĂůŝƚLJĚĂƚĂĂŶĚLJŽƵ͛ƌĞƐƵƌĞ
to see better lead results.

3. High quality data results in better marketing decisions

Clean, high quality data improves the accuracy of results therefore providing you with the tools
you need to make better marketing decisions. If your customer data is correct you can make
decisions in terms of content creation and campaigns targeted at data segments which are
much more likely to give effective results. Customers are learning to expect personalisation and
customisation from companies both large and small, and with data you can effectively target
communications by demographics and interests.

4. Prehistoric data can harm your brand and customer perceptions

While high quality data can result in better marketing, old data can harm your brand image and
ƉĞƌĐĞƉƚŝŽŶǁŚŝĐŚLJŽƵǁŽƌŬƐŽŚĂƌĚƚŽĐƌĞĂƚĞ͘&ŽƌĞdžĂŵƉůĞ͕ŝĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞƐĞŶĚŝŶŐĞŵĂŝůƐƚŽ
ĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐǁŚŽŽƉƚĞĚŽƵƚŽĨƉƌŽŵŽƚŝŽŶƐďĞĐĂƵƐĞƚŚŝƐŚĂƐŶ͛ƚďĞĞŶƵƉĚĂƚĞĚŽŶLJŽƵƌ database
you could be destroying your reputation rather than creating leads.
Duplicate records can be as problematic as harmful data. Emailing customers twice can cause
annoyance.

5. Clean data can help you streamline business practices

By cleaning your ĚĂƚĂLJŽƵĐĂŶĂůƐŽŝŵƉƌŽǀĞŽƚŚĞƌďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐƉƌĂĐƚŝĐĞƐ͘/ƚ͛ƐŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚŶŽƚũƵƐƚƚŽ

keep your customer data accurate, but also your business, employee and product data. With
clean, accurate data you can see which products or services perform best through data
analytics and reliable sales information. You can also keep check of payroll and avoid employee
complaints, and even see if positions within the company are necessary or if they can be
integrated.

DATA TYPES & FILE FORMATS

73
After defining what we mean by data, it is helpful to consider what types of data you create
and/or work with, and what format those data take. Your data stewardship practices will be
dictated by the types of data that you work with, and what format they are in.

Data Types
Data types generally fall into five categories:
Observational
- Captured in situ
- ĂŶ͛ƚďĞƌĞĐĂƉƚƵƌĞĚ͕ƌĞĐƌĞĂƚĞĚŽƌƌĞƉůĂĐĞĚ
- Examples: Sensor readings, sensory (human) observations, survey results
Experimental
- Data collected under controlled conditions, in situ or laboratory-based
- Should be reproducible, but can be expensive
- Examples: gene sequences, chromatograms, spectroscopy, microscopy
Derived or compiled
- Reproducible, but can be very expensive
- Examples: text and data mining, derived variables, compiled database, 3D models
Simulation
- Results from using a model to study the behavior and performance of an actual or theoretical
system
- Models and metadata, where the input can be more important than output data
- Examples: climate models, economic models, biogeochemical models
Reference or canonical
- Static or organic collection [peer-reviewed] datasets, most probably published and/or curated.
- Examples: gene sequence databanks, chemical structures, census data, spatial data portals.

Data Formats
Research data comes in many varied formats: text, numeric, multimedia, models, software
languages, discipline specific (e.g. crystallographic information file (CIF) in chemistry), and
instrument specific.
Formats more likely to be accessible in the future are:
- Non-proprietary
- Open, documented standards
- In common usage by the research community
- Using standard character encodings (ASCII, UTF-8)
- Uncompressed (desirable, space permitting)

What is a CRM database? The ultimate guide

A CRM database makes it easy to improve the customer experience, while giving the company
the tools to increase sales and give their customers exceptional support.

It has never been easier for companies to connect with their customers. Between social media,
email, phone, messaging apps, and live chat, companies can quickly and easily engage their
customers in the channels that are most important to them. This omnichannel ecosystem
provides considerable benefits to customers and companies alike, and a key tool that optimizes
this support environment is the CRM database.

CRM, which stands for customer relationship management, employs databases that are used to
automatically collect, store, and analyze all the information that a company collects about its

74
ĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐ͕ǁŚĞƚŚĞƌŝƚ͛ƐĂƉŽƐƚŽŶĂƐŽĐŝĂůŵĞĚŝĂĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ͕ĂƉƵƌĐŚĂƐĞŵĂĚe at an online store, a
help desk call, or participation in a webinar. The CRM database then makes all of this
information available in one customizable dashboard.

What is a CRM database?

A CRM database is a customer relationship management tool that collects every interaction
that a business has with its customers in one place and then makes all of that information
ĂǀĂŝůĂďůĞƚŽƚŚĞĐŽŵƉĂŶLJŝŶŽŶĞĐƵƐƚŽŵŝnjĂďůĞĚĂƐŚďŽĂƌĚ͘dŚŝƐŵĞĂŶƐƚŚĂƚƐƵƉƉŽƌƚĂŐĞŶƚƐĚŽŶ͛ƚ
need to log in and out of multiple systems, copying and pasting account numbers into different
software tools to get basic information about a customer. With CRM, all of the data created
about customers across disparate tools, accounts, and systems is automatically stored in the
database and easily accessible to everyone on the team.

CRM databases have evolved a lot in the past 30 years. Originally, CRM was a place that
ŵĂŶĂŐĞƌƐĐŽƵůĚŐŽƚŽƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚƚŚĞŝƌĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐƐĂůĞƐƉŝƉĞůŝŶĞ͘KĨƚĞŶƚŝŵĞƐƚŚŝƐŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ
was kept in a simple tool like a spreadsheet, which helped sales reps and executive
management plan ahead for the next quarter or year. Modern CRM systems have since evolved
into sophisticated software databases that can connect to every tool that a company uses to
engage its customers. CRM databases make it easy to improve the customer experience, while
giving the company the tools to increase sales and give their customers exceptional support.

Examples of why you might need a CRM database

x Lead management

There are a number of things that companies should consider when evaluating if a CRM
solution is right for their business. First, does the business need help with lead
management? CRM can be very helpful for companies that have a high volume of leads,
because it creates timelines for each contact that are easy to track. CRM also allows
companies to set automatic reminders for each contact so prospects are assigned to
specific salespeople and nothing slips through the cracks.

x Long, complex sales cycles

A sales CRM can also be incredibly helpful for organizations whose sales leads have
multiple touchpoints inside a company, or have long, complex sales cycles. If a customer
is in touch with sales, support, and product, a CRM system will help companies make
sureͶby providing a 360-degree view of the customerͶƚŚĂƚƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞŶŽƚĚƵƉůŝĐĂƚŝŶŐ
work or inconveniencing a lead by asking for the same information multiple times.

x Siloed customer data

Data-driven companies also have a lot to gain by considering a CRM database. By

ďƌŝŶŐŝŶŐĂůůŽĨĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐĚĂƚĂƐŽƵƌĐĞƐŝŶƚŽŽŶĞƉůĂĐĞ͕ZDĐĂŶƌƵŶĂĐƚŝŽŶĂďůĞƌĞƉŽƌƚƐ
ŽŶũƵƐƚĂďŽƵƚĂŶLJĂƐƉĞĐƚŽĨĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐ͕ĨƌŽŵƐĂůĞƐĨŽƌĞĐĂƐƚƐƚŽĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌ
ƐĂƚŝƐĨĂĐƚŝŽŶŵĞƚƌŝĐƐ͕ůŝŬĞEĞƚWƌŽŵŽƚĞƌ^ĐŽƌĞƐ΢ĂŶĚ^d͘

x Marketing automation

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 CRM solutions are also valuable for companies that want to run marketing automation,
like email marketing campaigns. CRM makes it easy to do everything from sending
ŶĞǁƐůĞƚƚĞƌƐƚŽĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐĞŶƚŝƌĞĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌďĂƐĞƚŽŝŵƉůĞŵĞŶƚŝŶŐƐŽƉŚŝƐƚŝĐĂƚed
segmentation for highly targeted offers.

What are the core elements of building a CRM database?

CRM can be a powerful addition to almost any organization, but its impact will only be as good
as the data that is put into it, and the way it is used within an organization.

1. People management

The first core element of a CRM system is people management. As noted previously, CRM
makes it easy to deploy people in an organization to solve customer problems, follow up with
sales leads, or manage marketing automation campaigns.

2. Contact management

Contact management is also a critical element of customer relationship management platforms.

LJƐƚŽƌŝŶŐĂůůŽĨĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐĐŽŶƚĂĐƚƐŝŶŽŶĞƉůĂĐĞƚŚĂƚŝƐƵƉĚĂƚĞĚĂƵƚŽŵĂƚŝĐĂůůLJ͕ŝƚ͛ƐĞĂƐLJĨŽƌ
the entire company to have fast access to some of its most critical information. When sales reps
ĐĂŶƐƉĞŶĚŵŽƌĞƚŝŵĞǁŽƌŬŝŶŐǁŝƚŚĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐĂŶĚůĞƐƐƚŝŵĞƵƉĚĂƚŝŶŐĐŽŶƚĂĐƚŝŶĨŽ͕ƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞĂďůĞ
to close more deals, faster.

3. Lead management

Another element of CRM software is lead management. As leads are entered into the system,
CRM makes it easy to automatically assign salespeople, define next steps, and track their
progress. It also makes it easy to stay on top of next steps for leads that may have multiple
ƚŽƵĐŚƉŽŝŶƚƐĂƚĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͘tŝƚŚZDƚŚĞƌĞ͛ƐŽŶĞĐĞŶƚƌĂůŝnjĞĚƉůĂĐĞĨŽƌƵƉĚĂƚĞƐ͕ƐŽŵƵůƚŝƉůĞ
ƚĞĂŵŵĞŵďĞƌƐĂƌĞŶ͛ƚĐŽŶƐƚĂŶƚůLJƐĞĂƌĐŚŝŶŐĨŽƌŶĞǁŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ͘

4. Customer service

Customer service is also a core element of CRM databases. Since CRM brings in every
interaction with a customer into a unified dashboard, customer service agents have everything
they need to solve customer problemsͶno need for logging in and out of different systems to
get information like account numbers, order history, or previous interactions with service and
support.

5. Marketing automation

CRM databases can also play a key role in enabling marketing automation. By giving marketers
powerful ways to segment their customersͶand, crucially, integrating with common tools like
MailChimpͶCRM helps businesses conduct and measure the success of programs like email
marketing campaigns.

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6. Reporting and analytics

Finally, reporting and analytics are a central component of CRM systems. Companies can use
CRM to create dashboards and reporting based on their own unique KPIs and business
requirements. From tracking customer service ticket resolution times to understanding a
ĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐĞŶƚŝƌĞƐĂůĞƐƉŝƉĞůŝŶĞĨŽƌƚŚĞLJĞĂƌ͕ZDƐŵĂŬĞŝƚĞĂƐŝĞƌƚŽŝŵƉƌŽǀĞcustomer
relationships.

How do companies benefit from creating a CRM database?

Here are a few benefits of a CRM database.

x A centralized database for sales teams

One of the biggest benefits that companies can expect from using a CRM database is a
centralized database for its sales organization. By eliminating the need for individual
sales reps to do the tedious work required in maintaining their own personal databases,
CRM automates the process and makes it easy for anyone in the company to get the
latest information from the CRM dashboard.

x One place for all customer communications

CRM also makes it simple to manage communications with all customers and potential
customers ŝŶŽŶĞƉůĂĐĞ͘ŽŵƉĂŶŝĞƐƚŚĂƚƵƐĞZDĂƌĞĂďůĞƚŽƐĞĞƚŚĞĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐĞŶƚŝƌĞ
history communicating with each customer with the click of a button. The CRM
database also makes relationship management simple, with the ability to set reminders
and assign agents to keep deals moving, while providing managers the transparency to
make sure leads are being followed up on.

x Automated data entry

Automating data entry is another benefit for companies that implement a CRM solution.
ZĞƉƐĂŶĚĂŐĞŶƚƐĚŽŶ͛ƚŶĞĞĚƚŽƵƉĚĂƚĞŝŶĨormation about their calls or emails with
clients into a different system. Everything is logged automatically in the CRM solution,
freeing up employees to do higher value work to close deals and solve customer
problems.

x Organized company contacts

CRM ďĞŶĞĨŝƚƐĂůƐŽŝŶĐůƵĚĞƉŽǁĞƌĨƵůǁĂLJƐƚŽŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĞĂůůŽĨĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐĐŽŶƚĂĐƚƐ͘dŚĞ
CRM makes it easy to see whether the customer has visited a web site, contacted
support, requested a demo, as well as notes from agents who handled previous
interactions. The CRM also makes all of this data searchable, no matter where a
customer is in the pipeline.

x Customer segmentation

ŶŽƚŚĞƌŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚďĞŶĞĨŝƚŽĨZDƐLJƐƚĞŵƐŝƐƚŚĞĂďŝůŝƚLJƚŽĞĂƐŝůLJƐĞŐŵĞŶƚĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛Ɛ
customers. When marketing teams can segment their customeƌƐ͕ƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞĂďůĞƚŽĚĞůŝǀĞƌ

77
 email marketing campaigns that are more personalized and effective. With CRM,
segmentation by demographic and geographic information is possible, along with more
ŶƵĂŶĐĞĚŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ͕ůŝŬĞŚŽǁůŽŶŐŝƚ͛ƐďĞĞŶƐŝŶĐĞƚŚĞĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌǀŝsited a web site or
whether they͛ǀĞůŽŽŬĞĚĂƚĂƐƉĞĐŝĨŝĐŽĨĨĞƌ͘

2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center

The 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant report is available for complimentary download for a
limited time.

x Sales reports

CRM also gives businesses the ability to create sales reports, which help them manage
their pipeline with customized dashboards that are fine-ƚƵŶĞĚƚŽƚƌĂĐŬĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛Ɛ
most important KPIs. CRM reporting provides the kind of data that enables managers to
understand tŚĞǁŽƌŬƚŚĂƚ͛ƐŚĂƉƉĞŶŝŶŐƚŽĐůŽƐĞĚĞĂůƐ͕ǁŚŝůĞĂůƐŽƉƌŽǀŝĚŝŶŐŝŶƐŝŐŚƚŝŶƚŽ
revenue projections for leadership.

x Streamlined communications

Companies that use CRM also benefit from the ability to streamline communications
across many disparate teams. Since everyone is working in the same CRM dashboard,
ǁŚĞƚŚĞƌƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞŝŶƐĂůĞƐ͕ƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ͕ƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ͕ŽƌŵĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ͕ŝƚ͛ƐĞĂƐLJƚŽĂƐƐŝŐŶǁŽƌŬ͕
track progress, and collaborate with teammates to solve customer problems, keep deals
moving, and discover new opportunities.

x Stability

Another benefit of CRM for growing companies is the ability to keep the same software
as the business grows. Because CRM is versatileͶespecially cloud-based, software-as-a-
service (SaaS) versionsͶcompanies can add features and functionality not just as
customer expectations and needs change but as business software evolves, whether
ƚŚĂƚ͛ƐŶĞǁƐŚŝƉƉŝŶŐƐŽĨƚǁĂƌĞ͕ƐŽĐŝĂůŵĞĚŝĂŽƵƚůĞƚƐ͕ŽƌĂĐĐŽƵŶƚŝŶŐƚŽŽůƐ͘

What can a CRM database be used for?

ZDƐLJƐƚĞŵƐ͛ĨůĞdžŝďŝůŝƚLJŵĞĂŶƐƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞĞŵŝŶĞŶƚůLJcustomizable, providing the kind of pliability

that allows them to fit into the workflows of companies ranging from global enterprises to
entrepreneurial startups. By consolidating customer information into a single environment and
providing workflow customization, CRMs can, for example, help a sales team create a
repeatable sales process for greater efficiency. By having a playbook for how to close deals, and
a tool that automatically updates every contact with customers without any manual data entry,
sales teams can focus more on building relationships and less on rote work.

While employees can work more efficiently with a CRM, their supervisors can also use the tool
to help manage their teams. Those leaders can turn to a CRM for help with assigning work,

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gaining visibility into progress, and track metrics without needing to ask for laboriously created
reports from other teams.

Tools needed to create a CRM database

CRM databases are sophisticated pieces of software; creating a custom CRM database from
scratch requires extensive software engineering skills and expensive onsite servers for hosting.
While creating your own on-premise CRM database is an option, note that it requires a team of
IT professionals to administer the service, add features over time, and manage security to keep
customer data safe.

That said, popular CRM database software packages already exist that can serve the needs of
the vast majority of businesses. For most companies, it is easier to work with a service provider
to either purchase and install licenses of CRM database software, customize an open source
database, or use a cloud-based CRM.

Types of CRM databases

Here are the 3 main types of CRM databases.

1. Open source CRM systems

Open source CRM systems are software solutions that are available online and are downloaded
ĂŶĚŝŶƐƚĂůůĞĚŽŶĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐŽǁŶƐĞƌǀĞƌƐ͘KŶĞŽĨƚŚĞďĞŶĞĨŝƚƐŽĨŽƉĞŶƐŽƵƌĐĞZDŝƐŚŽǁŝƚ
enables companies to build and customize the solution for specific use cases. It also provides
total control of customer data and is inexpensive, with many free options available.

2. On-premise

On-premise is another type of CRM that businesses can evaluate. Like open source solutions,
on-ƉƌĞŵŝƐĞƐŽůƵƚŝŽŶƐƌĞƐŝĚĞŽŶĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐŽǁŶƐĞƌǀĞƌƐ͘KŶ-premise solutions also require
dedicated hardware and IT staff to manage, operate, and maintain the CRM software.

3. Cloud-based CRM

Cloud-based CRM is a great option for companies looking to quickly and easily get up and
running with CRM, without having to manage the actual software themselves. Cloud-based
CRM solutions are run by service providers and offered to companies in a SaaS model.

How does a CRM help you organize customer data?

One of the most impactful features of customer relationship management software is its ability
to help a business organize its customer data. Customer data can come from dozens of sources
ǁŝƚŚŝŶĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͕ǁŚĞƚŚĞƌƚŚĂƚ͛ƐĂǁĞďƐŝƚĞǀŝƐŝƚ͕ĂĐĂůůƚŽĂƐƵƉƉŽƌƚƚĞĂŵ͕ĂƌĞƋƵĞƐƚĨŽƌĂĚĞŵŽ͕
or a delivery address from an online order. The result is usually a chaotic blend of different
kinds of data, coming from a number of different software solutions, spreadsheets that are
managed manually, and email inboxes. CRM helps bring order to the chaos.

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When a business deploys a CRM platform, one of the most important things it doesͶif it wants
to make the most out of the solutionͶis develop a thoughtful CRM strategy. That takes
understanding the customer journey: the steps (and pain points) that begin with someone
being a potential customer to when they become a customerͶand, ultimately, a repeat
customer. The customer journey documents the ways a customer finds the business, how the
customers learns about the company, decides to become a customer, gets support from the
company, and later re-engages with it.

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 Module 17:

Relationship management at the workplace

How to build good working relationships in your new job

The first few months in any role are an important time in which we feel a certain amount of
pressure to prove our worth. This may take the form of impressing our new boss or delivering
an early result. Apart from these early wins, it is crucial to build the foundations of strong
working relationships with our new colleagues.

Building good working relationships is crucial to succeeding. Better working relationships lead
to better teamwork and will help you to be happier, more engaged, and more productive. They
are the foundation on which we succeed.

Here five key points to remember that can help you to establish good working relationships
with your new colleagues:

1. Be proactive and help where you can without being asked

As the new person in the team, your colleagues will be keen to see what you can deliver both to
wider team goals and also to projects they are working on. That will most likely take the form of
the work you are tasked with early on; bear in mind that new employees are typically not very
heavily loaded with work.

2. Make time for everybody, not just the senior stakeholders

There can be a tendency to focus all of your time and effort impressing more senior
stakeholders, and a temptation to discount junior colleagues and tasks you deem to be of low
ŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶĐĞ͘dŚĞƐĞƚŚŝŶŐƐĂƌĞŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚƚŽƐŽŵĞŽŶĞ͕ƐŽĚŽŶ͛ƚďĞĚŝƐmissive. This can be hard in
a new role where there is pressure to impress and make an impact, particularly when operating
remotely in a challenging market. However, remember that a reputation is built across all
levels, not just among your boss and the management team.

3. Deliver on work and always follow up with people

Nothing is worse than someone who fails to deliver on a promise or consistently misses
deadlines. There is no quicker way to spoil your reputation and damage potential working
relationships than failing to follow through on work or not replying to emails and requests for
information and help.

4. Show yourself in meetings

Professional relationships are built on respect and there is no better way to earn the respect of
your colleagues than by proving yourself an engaged and valuable member of the team. And
where better to prove that you are here to take part than in meetings. Turn up prepared, give
your opinion, support that of others, be proactive and partake in proceedings.

5. Be positive

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A key part of building healthy relationships is to retain a positive attitude towards your new
colleagues. There is sure to be some level of office politics and gossip ʹ this is just a reality of
working in close quarters. However, as a new face in the team, it is important that you distance
yourself from this activity.

6. Learn to communicate effectively

When learning to build solid relationships at work it's important first to learn about
communication, and the styles of communicating. When looking at the DiSC model, there's 4
key personality types that people can often be grouped into: the driver, the influencer,
supporter and controller.

Workplace ethics ensures positive ambience at the workplace. Workplace ethics leads to
happy and satisfied employees who enjoy coming to work rather than treating it as a mere
source of burden. Employees also develop a feeling of loyalty and attachment towards the
organization.

Organizations need to have fool-proof systems to measure the performances of individuals.

ƉƉƌĂŝƐĂůƐLJƐƚĞŵŶĞĞĚƐƚŽďĞĚĞƐŝŐŶĞĚŬĞĞƉŝŶŐŝŶŵŝŶĚĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞ͛ƐƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞƚŚƌŽƵŐŚŽƵƚ
the year and his/her career growth. Periodic reviews are essential.

It is mandatory for superiors to know what their subordinates are up to. You need to know who
all are going on the right track and who all need that extra push.

Workplace ethics ensures management guides and mentors their employees well. Appraisal
and salary hikes should not happen just for the name sake. Workplace ethics is important as it
enables management to treat all employees as equal and think from their perspective as well.
Employees must have a say in their appraisal system. Transparency is essential.

An employee is bound to move on after a year or so if he/she is not appreciated and rewarded
ƐƵŝƚĂďůLJ͘/ƚŝƐŝŶĚĞĞĚƚŚĞŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƚŝŽŶ͛ƐůŽƐƐǁŚĞŶĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞƐĂĨƚĞƌďĞŝŶŐƚƌĂŝŶĞĚƋƵŝƚĂŶĚŵŽǀĞ
ŽŶ͘ŽLJŽƵƚŚŝŶŬŝƚŝƐĞŶƚŝƌĞůLJƚŚĞĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞ͛ƐĨĂƵůƚ͍tŚLJǁŽƵůĚĂŶĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞŵŽǀĞŽŶŝĨŚĞͬƐŚĞ
is fully satisfied with his/her current assignment?

Employees change primarily because of two reasons - Career growth and monetary
benefits. Management needs to make employees feel secure about their job and career.
Unnecessary favouritism is against workplace ethics. If you favour anyone just because he is
your relative, the other team members are bound to feel demotivated and thus start looking
ĨŽƌŶĞǁŽƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƚŝĞƐ͘ŶŝŶĚŝǀŝĚƵĂů͛ƐŽƵƚƉƵƚƚŚƌŽƵŐŚŽƵƚƚŚĞLJĞĂƌƐŚŽƵůĚĚĞĐŝĚĞŚŝƐͬŚĞƌ
increment.

Organizations need to stand by their employees even at the times of crisis. You cannot ask
LJŽƵƌĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞƐƚŽŐŽũƵƐƚďĞĐĂƵƐĞLJŽƵĚŽŶ͛ƚŶĞĞĚƚŚĞŵĂŶLJŵŽƌĞŽƌLJŽƵƌǁŽƌŬŝƐŽǀĞƌ͘^ƵĐŚĂ
ƉƌĂĐƚŝĐĞŝƐƵŶĞƚŚŝĐĂů͘,ŽǁĐĂŶLJŽƵƉůĂLJǁŝƚŚƐŽŵĞŽŶĞ͛ƐĐĂƌĞĞƌ͍

If an individual has performed well all through but fails to deliver once or twŝĐĞ͕LJŽƵũƵƐƚĐĂŶ͛ƚ
kick him out of the system. Workplace ethics says that organizations need to retain and nurture
talents.

If you have hired someone, it becomes your responsibility to train the individual, make him/her
aware of the key responsibility areas, policies, rules and regulations and code of conduct of the
organization. Employees need to be inducted well into the system. They must be aware of the
ŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƚŝŽŶ͛ƐƉŽůŝĐŝĞƐĨƌŽŵƚŚĞǀĞƌLJĨŝƌƐƚĚĂLJŝƚƐĞůĨ͘

Workplace ethics also go a long way in strengthening the bond among employees and most
importantly their superiors. Employees tend to lie if you do not allow them to take leaves. If
you do not allow an employee to take leave on an important festival, what do you expect the

82
employee to do? What is the alternative left with him? He would definitely lie. Do not exploit
LJŽƵƌĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞƐĂŶĚĚŽŶ͛ƚƚƌĞĂƚƚŚĞŵĂƐŵĂĐŚŝŶĞƐ͘

No employee can work at a stretch without taking a break. It is okay if they talk to their fellow
workers once in a while or go out for a smoke break. Understand their problems as well. If you
feel the problem is genuine, do not create an issue. It is but natural that once or twice they
would definitely call their family members and enquire about their well-being. Superiors should
not have a problem with that.

It has been observed that organizations which are impartial to employees, lend a sympathetic
ear to their grievances and are employee friendly, seldom face the problems of unsatisfied
employees and high attrition rate.

7 Qualities of An Effective Team Player

In sports, a company, or even a household, the more effective the team, the happier the
ŝŶĚŝǀŝĚƵĂůƐ͘ĞƉĞŶĚŝŶŐŽŶĞĂĐŚŽŶĞ͛ƐĐĂƉĂďŝůŝƚŝĞƐŽƌƐƉĞĐŝĂůŝnjĂƚŝŽŶĂŶLJǁĞŝŐŚƚĐĂŶďĞƚĂĐŬůĞĚŝĨ
each one will be carrying their share. Being a team player is also one of the most prominent
traits or job skills that employer usually look for.

Qualities of an Effective Team Player

ŶĞĨĨĞĐƚŝǀĞƚĞĂŵƉůĂLJĞƌŚĂƐĂůŽƚŽĨĞdžĞŵƉůĂƌLJƋƵĂůŝƚŝĞƐ͘>Ğƚ͛ƐĐŽŶƐŝĚĞƌĂŶĚŚĂǀĞĂůŽŽŬĂƚ
these seven qualities of a good and competent team player:

Knowledgeable

A good employee knows the scope of their work, what is expected of them, and goes above and
beyond. Being knowledgeable also means being flexible and strategic to be able to absorb
useful information around you. Broaden your knowledge by reading, watching informative
videos on the internet, or working with a development coach.

Willing To Learn

Knowing things is not enough. You should be willing to learn new skills, traits and whatever is
needed from you to help your duties in your job. Willingness to learn also means being open to
LJŽƵƌĐŽůůĞĂŐƵĞ͛ƐŝĚĞĂƐ͘ƚƚĞŶĚĐŽŶĨĞƌĞŶĐĞƐ͕ƌĞĂĚŬƐ͕ŽƌƐĞĞŬŽƵƚĂŵĞŶƚŽƌƚŽŚĞůƉŐĂŝŶŶĞǁ
skills.

Always Ready to Give A Hand

Successful team players are always ready to give a hand and reach out to their members. Not
ŽŶůLJƚŚĂƚ͕ďƵƚƚŚĞLJĂƌĞĂůƐŽĂĚĂƉƚŝǀĞƚŽŽƚŚĞƌƉĞŽƉůĞ͛ƐǁŽƌŬŝŶŐƐƚLJůĞƐĂŶĚĐĂƉĂďŝůŝƚŝĞƐ͕ŐŝǀŝŶŐ
them the opportunity to adjust and provide assistance as needed. Being proactive by asking
LJŽƵƌĐŽůůĞĂŐƵĞƐŝĨƚŚĞLJŶĞĞĚŚĞůƉĂŶĚůĞŶĚĂŚĂŶĚŝĨŶĞĞĚĞĚĐĂŶĞĂƌŶďŝŐƉŽŝŶƚƐǁŚĞŶŝƚ͛ƐƚŝŵĞ
for a performance review.

Avoid Showing Envy or Jealousy

tŚĞŶƐŽŵĞŽŶĞ͛ƐĨŽĐƵƐŽŶƚŚĞŝƌǁŽƌŬĂŶĚƚŚĞĚĞǀĞůŽƉŵent of their company or team, the idea

of being envious is immediately dismissed. Good employees have no time for negative issues
and instead focus on their own paths. Keeping your head on your own paper is the better than
focusing on others achievements so try to work on personal development and broaden your
network instead of dwelling on negative issues/traits.

Shares Their Expertise

You should be ready to share your knowledge with other people since an efficient team player
recognizes that the more people working and sharing their knowledge about a certain project
can lead to better results. After all, two minds are better than one! Impart your knowledge to
your colleagues if you can help solve a problem and work towards being seen as someone who
is knowledgeable and of value to your company.

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Contribute Ideas

Team members should be in an environment where everyone is comfortable in sharing their

thoughts or opinions. Speak up if you think you have an idea that can help your team.

Respectful To Others

&ŝŶĂůůLJ͕ƚŽďƵŝůĚĂƐƚƌŽŶŐĂŶĚŚĞĂůƚŚLJƌĞůĂƚŝŽŶƐŚŝƉǁŝƚŚLJŽƵƌĐŽǁŽƌŬĞƌƐ͕ŝƚ͛ƐǀŝƚĂůƚŚĂƚLJŽƵĂƌĞ
respectful to them. No matter how different your ideas are or the way you tackle a certain job,
you must stay professional and courteous of your team members.

How To Build Good Working Relationships at Work

You probably have heard about the benefits of building good and solid relationships in the
workplace. However, what may not be as clear is what exactly a working relationship entails, or
how to even build one. Learning more about working relationships can help you collaborate
better with your team and create a positive workplace atmosphere.

/ŶƚŚŝƐĂƌƚŝĐůĞ͕ǁĞ͛ůůĞdžƉlain what working relationships areͶspecifically why good working

relationships are important, plus provide tips on how to build and maintain effective
relationships at work.

What is a working relationship?

Working relationships are the connections you form with coworkers, colleagues and managers
in the workplace. Although the relationships you build with colleagues and managers may not
be as intimate as those you have with family and friends, they are nonetheless crucial.

All jobs require interaction with others at some point. Even if you are a freelance writer who
works solely online, you still need to build relationships with them to have a fulfilling work
environment and excel at your job.

The importance of working relationships

Building strong work relationships is one of the most important aspects of anybody's job. There
are multiple reasons for this:

x Effective teamwork: If team members have good working relationships, it will positively
impact their work. Good relationships involve respect, communication and honesty,
which can all be beneficial when working as a team.
x Improved morale in the workplace: People with good working relationships tend to
handle conflict effectively and treat each other with mutual respect and goodwill. In a
work environment that promotes this kind of culture, employees typically are happier.
x Increased productivity and work satisfaction: When people get along in the workspace
and work effectively as team members, they are more productive. Improved
productivity, in turn, leads to increased job satisfaction and motivation.
x Improved personal growth: If you have good working relationships with your
colleagues, you don't spend as much time handling interpersonal office challenges, so
you can focus on professional development. Having good working relationships with
senior staff also means that you can benefit from their knowledge and learn from
mentors.

How to build working relationships

Building strong relationships at work can take time and patience, but it produces excellent
results. Here are some guidelines to follow when trying to improve your working relationships:

84
1. Communicate often

One of the most important aspects of relationship building is effective communication, which
involves just as much listening as it does talking. This means that you should actively listen
when a coworker or manager approaches you and consider their point of view before
responding.

2. Be consistent and trustworthy

Trust is a very important aspect of any relationship. If you make a promise to a team member,
make sure you complete the task or duty in the given amount of time. You should also strive to
demonstrate your trustworthiness by offering your support and help when team members
need it.

3. Avoid gossip

If you want to nurture positive relationships at work, it's best to avoid gossip. If you hear gossip
about another coworker, don't take part, or try to change the subject.

If you have an issue with a fellow worker, first try to have a polite and honest conversation with
that person. If this does not yield positive results, you can call a meeting with a superior and the
colleague in question, so you can address the issue in a transparent and professional manner.

4. Support fellow team members

One of the best ways to forge good relationships with fellow workers is to support them. If you
are in a senior position, for instance, try to mentor and educate junior staff as best you can.

Always be complimentary toward your coworkers and focus on their achievements as opposed
to their failures. By doing so, you will help to establish a culture of mutual support and goodwill
in the workplace and will gain the respect and support of your coworkers.

5. Remain positive in interactions

When faced with deadlines or a stressful time at work, staying positive can help keep your team
members motivated. Instead of expressing worry, you can encourage yourself and coworkers
by offering positive insight and inspiration to continue working.

Keeping a positive demeanor can help you become the team members that others seek for
assistance or guidance, building excellent working relationships.

6. Know company guidelines

It is important to know the unofficial rules and expectations involving working relationships.
These boundaries may vary depending on the culture of a company. Some companies, for
instance, may encourage a more casual work environment, whereas others may expect
employees to act more formally.

7. Deliver quality work on time

Especially when on a team, the work that you complete directly affects your coworkers. If you
want to build positive relationships, one of the best ways to do so is to produce quality work on
time. This demonstrates not only that you are professional and good at what you do but also
that you respect your coworkers and consider them when you perform your daily duties.

85
8 Strategies for Building Relationships Effectively

What are work relationships?

Work relationships are the bonds that develop between you and others in your professional
life. You can develop working relationships with colleagues, including members of your
department and your supervisors. You can also create strong professional relationships with
customers.

Building working relationships with everyone you encounter in your work environment is
important to your overall career success and job satisfaction. Work relationships can lead to
better customer engagement and increased profit. You can build a work relationship with the
following characteristics:

x Trust: When you and your coworkers trust each other, you all can openly and honestly
express your thoughts. This can improve relationships and reduce conflict.
x Respect: When people working together have mutual respect, they value each other's
input. This allows them to collaborate based on input, creativity and appreciation.
x Self-awareness: When you take responsibility for your words and actions, others are
more likely to support you. Self-awareness helps you bring your best self to work so you
can interact positively with others.
x Open communication: Good relationships depend upon open and honest
communication. The more effectively you communicate with those around you, the
better you connect.

Benefits of building relationships at work

Creating positive relationships in the workplace is incredibly beneficial. Some benefits include:

x Building mutual respect

x Improving communication
x Feeling more relaxed and supported at work
x Improving your physical and mental health
x Focusing on work rather than on social stressors
x Enjoying your work
x Engaging well with people in the office
x Increasing your ability to collaborate with others
x Learning new skills from others
x Building a strong network of professional connections

How to build relationships effectively

86
Follow these strategies to develop positive working relationships with coworkers, supervisors
and customers:

1. Invest time to build individual relationships

It might seem time-efficient to get to know coworkers as a group but make time to get to know
people on a personal level. Dedicating time to friendly conversations, lunch dates or one-on-
one meetings shows you value your teammates as individuals. It's also important to learn
people's names.

2. Engage meaningfully

Try to make an impact with your conversations. Doing so might make you stand out in the
minds of your colleagues or clients positively. Engage in meaningful conversation by asking
questions such as what their plans are for the weekend or how they intend to use the products
they're purchasing from you.

3. Follow through on commitments

Your work responsibilities may impact your colleagues' work, so following through on your
commitments and meeting your expected deadline is crucial. When others know you're
reliable, they're more likely to think favorably about you. If you might miss a deadline, inform
all relevant parties as soon as possible to minimize the impact or disruption it may have on their
work.

4. Work collaboratively

Collaborating with others lets them know you value their opinions and appreciate their
contributions during team projects and meetings. It also allows you to learn from each other
and acknowledge their strengths. Because many workplaces place people into teams, it's
beneficial to learn how to collaborate with people effectively.

5. Address conflict directly

If a challenging situation arises in the workplace, address the conflict with the person or people
involved. Explain your point of view calmly but also actively listen to the other side and try to
empathize with their position. This proactive approach promotes respect and can help lead to a
positive resolution of the situation.

6. Be a problem-solver

Rather than complaining or making critical remarks, take a proactive, problem-solving approach
to resolve issues you see in the workplace or with a client. This can help everyone be more
efficient and productive and do better quality work. For clients and customers, it shows them
you're trying to exceed expectations.

7. Be accountable for your actions

Taking responsibility for the results of your actions can help you earn the respect of your peers
and supervisors. This strategy works for customers and clients, too. If you make any mistakes or
your customers face a challenge, acknowledge it and take every measure you reasonably can to
correct the issue. Assuming responsibility is a great way to earn respect and communicate
honestly.

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 8. Ask for feedback

People often like to feel their opinions are important and valuable, especially from the
companies with which they work . Asking your customers to provide feedback and then
implementing their suggestions when possible can have a major impact on creating a strong
relationship. Asking for feedback from your colleagues or employers can help you learn how
you can improve in your role. It's important to receive feedback with an open mind so you can
continue to develop professionally and personally.

How to build rapport: 6 tactics to build strong relationships

What is rapport?

&ŝƌƐƚ͕ůĞƚ͛ƐƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŚŽǁƌĂƉƉŽƌƚŝƐĚĞĨŝŶĞĚ͘ Rapport is defined as a friendly, harmonious

ƌĞůĂƚŝŽŶƐŚŝƉ͘dŚĞƌĞ͛ƐŵƵƚƵĂůĂŐƌĞĞŵĞŶƚ͕ƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐ͕ĂŶĚ empathy that makes the
communication flow well.

Once you have built good rapport, there is an implicit assumption of positive intent
between both people that makes your interactions easier.

According to researchers Linda Tickle-Degnen and Robert Rosenthal, rapport requires

necessary components to be present in a relationship.

x Mutual attentiveness
x Positivity
x Coordination

6 tactics on how to build rapport

When it comes to building rapport, there are steps you can take to strengthen your
relationships.

How to build rapport

1. Make a good introduction

2. Actively listen
3. Ask engaging questions
4. Be aware of your body language
5. Find commonalities

88
6. Lead with empathy and respect

1. Make a good introduction

Making a good first impression starts with the small things. For example, this could be a
firm handshake and a smile. It could be maintaining solid eye contact and remembering
ƚŚĞƉĞƌƐŽŶ͛ƐŶĂŵĞ͘

2. Actively listen

,ĂǀĞLJŽƵĞǀĞƌďĞĞŶŝŶĂĐŽŶǀĞƌƐĂƚŝŽŶǁŚĞƌĞLJŽƵ͛ƌĞĐŽŶƐƚĂŶƚůLJŝŶƚĞƌƌƵƉƚĞĚ͍Kƌ͕ƉĞƌŚĂƉƐ
ƐŽŵĞŽŶĞĐŽŶƚŝŶƵĞƐƚŽƚĂůŬŽǀĞƌĂŶŽƚŚĞƌƉĞƌƐŽŶŝŶĐŽŶǀĞƌƐĂƚŝŽŶ͍/ƚ͛ƐŶŽƚĂƉůĞĂƐĂŶƚ
ĞdžƉĞƌŝĞŶĐĞ͘ŶĚŝĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞŵĞĞƚŝŶŐƐŽŵĞŽŶĞĨŽƌƚŚĞĨŝƌƐƚƚŝŵĞ͕ŝƚĐĂŶůĞ ave a bad taste in
your mouth.

3. Ask engaging questions

tĞ͛ǀĞĂůůďĞĞŶŝŶƚŚŽƐĞŽŶĞ-sided conversations. When conversations are lopsided, it

ŵĂŬĞƐĨŽƌďĂĚĐŽŶŶĞĐƚŝŽŶƐ͘dŚĂƚ͛ƐǁŚLJĂƐŬŝŶŐ engaging and thoughtful questions is so
important.

dŽĚŽƚŚŝƐ͕ƚŚŝŶŬĂďŽƵƚƚŚĞĐŽƌĞŽĨǁŚĂƚLJŽƵ͛ĚůŝŬĞƚŽŬŶŽǁĂďŽƵƚƚŚŝƐƉĞƌƐŽŶ͘tŚĂƚĂƌĞ
you hoping to learn? What sort of questions will allow you to set a strong foundation for a
relationship? What are your goals? Are you showing your interest in the other person as a
whole person?

4. Be aware of your body language

Your nonverbal communication is just as important as your verbal communication. Your

nonverbal cues are central to building rapport. This includes things like posture, eye
contact, facial expressions, and being aware of distractions.

If someone is constantly checking their phone or looking away during a conversation, it can
ƐĞŶĚĂŵĞƐƐĂŐĞƚŚĂƚƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞŶŽƚŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚĞĚ͘KƌŝĨƐŽŵĞŽŶĞŝƐŶ͛ƚŵĂŬŝŶŐĐŽŶƐŝƐƚĞŶƚĞLJĞ
contact, it can feel like they arĞŶ͛ƚďĞŝŶŐŐĞŶuine or attentively listening.

5. Find common ground

I was at a wedding this past weekend. I was meeting a lot of people for the first time, many
of whom were from other parts of the country and the world.

ƚĨŝƌƐƚ͕/ǁĂƐŶ͛ƚƐƵƌĞǁŚĂƚ/͛ĚŚave in common with some of the other wedding guests. But

I asked questions and engaged in deeper conversations, I found more commonalities than I
originally anticipated.

6. Lead with empathy and respect

A strong, healthy relationship is built on empathy and respect. Empathy and respect are
key components to building trust. This last and final step is more of a foundational element
to string through in all of your interpersonal interactions.

Lead with empathy and a sincere desire to understand and get to know the other person.
Beyond empathy, lead with respect. Treat the other person as you would like to be
ƚƌĞĂƚĞĚ͘LJĚŽŝŶŐƐŽ͕LJŽƵ͛ůůďĞďĞƚƚĞƌƉŽƐŝƚŝŽŶĞĚƚŽďƵŝůĚƌĂƉƉŽƌƚŵŽƌĞĞĨĨĞĐƚŝǀĞůLJ͘

3 reasons why rapport is important

89
ZĂƉƉŽƌƚŝƐŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚĨŽƌĂĨĞǁƌĞĂƐŽŶƐ͘>Ğƚ͛ƐǁĂůŬƚŚƌŽƵŐŚƚŚƌĞĞŬĞLJƌĞĂƐŽŶƐǁŚLJLJŽƵ
should invest in building rapport with others.

It establishes trust

Trust is a critical element of any long-ůĂƐƚŝŶŐƌĞůĂƚŝŽŶƐŚŝƉ͘tŝƚŚŽƵƚƚƌƵƐƚ͕ŝƚ͛ƐŚĂƌĚƚŽ

maintain a meaningful and lasting relationship.

This is true for personal relationships but also for professional relationships. For example,
ŝĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞůŽŽŬŝŶŐƚŽŐĞƚƉƌŽŵŽƚĞĚŝŶƚŽĂ new management role, your boss needs to trust
LJŽƵ͘dŚĞLJŶĞĞĚƚŽƚƌƵƐƚƚŚĂƚLJŽƵ͛ƌĞŐŽŝŶŐƚŽĚŽLJŽƵƌũŽďǁĞůů͘dŚĞLJŶĞĞĚƚŽƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚ
your commitment to developing strong leadership characteristics.

It can help improve your business performance

Depending on your career, your livelihood could depend on building rapport. And rapport
can help you improve your performance at work͘>Ğƚ͛ƐƚĂŬĞĨŽůŬƐǁŚŽǁŽƌŬŝŶƐĂůĞƐĂƐĂŶ
example.

Consider Greta: As a salesperson for a tech company, her salary structure is heavily
weighted on how much business she brings into the organization. Her compensation is
commission-based, which means she has to perform well to support her lifestyle.

It strengthens your social connections

Science tells us that social interactions are a critical part of overall health, happiness, and
longevity. But strong social connections ƐŝŵƉůLJĂƌĞŶ͛ƚƉŽƐƐŝďůĞǁŝƚŚŽƵƚƐŽŵĞĞůĞŵĞŶƚŽĨ
rapport.

/ĨLJŽƵĚŽŶ͛ƚŝŶǀĞƐƚŝŶLJŽƵƌ social health, your physical health can actually suffer. In fact,
data tells us that folk with low social connections experience more chronic diseases, like
cardiovascular diseases, immune disorders, and high blood pressure.

9 example phrases to help build rapport

^Ž͕LJŽƵ͛ƌĞƌĞĂĚLJƚŽƐƚĂƌƚŝŶǀĞƐƚŝŶŐŝŶLJŽƵƌƌĞůĂƚionships. But you might not know where to

ƐƚĂƌƚ͘tĞ͛ǀĞĐŽŵƉŝůĞĚŶŝŶĞĞdžĂŵƉůĞƉŚƌĂƐĞƐƚŽŚĞůƉďƵŝůĚƌĂƉƉŽƌƚ͘

x tŚĂƚ͛ƐƚŚĞ best advice LJŽƵ͛ǀĞĞǀĞƌƌĞĐĞŝǀĞĚ͍

x tŚĂƚ͛ƐƐŽŵĞƚŚŝŶŐLJŽƵ͛ƌĞƌĞĂůůLJƉƌŽƵĚŽĨ͍
x tŚĂƚ͛ƐƐŽŵĞƚŚŝŶŐƚŚĂƚŵŽƐƚƉĞŽƉůĞĚŽŶ͛ƚŬŶŽǁĂďŽƵƚLJŽƵ͍
x If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
x tŚĂƚ͛ƐŽŶĞŬLJŽƵĂůǁĂLJƐĐŽŵĞďĂĐŬƚŽŽƌƌĞ-read?
x ,Žǁ͛ƐLJŽƵƌĚĂLJŐŽŝŶŐ͍
x tŚĂƚ͛ƐƐŽŵĞƚŚŝŶŐŶĞǁLJŽƵ͛ǀĞůĞĂƌŶĞĚƌecently?
x tŚĂƚ͛ƐŽŶĞƉƌŽďůĞŵŝŶLJŽƵƌǁŽƌŬƚŚĂƚLJŽƵǁŝƐŚLJŽƵĐŽƵůĚƐŽůǀĞƚŽŵŽƌƌŽǁ͍
x What are you looking for in _______?

90
4 ways to encourage your employees to build rapport

/ĨLJŽƵ͛ƌĞĂůĞĂĚĞƌĂƚLJŽƵƌŽƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƚŝŽŶ͕LJŽƵŵĂLJďĞůŽŽŬŝŶŐĨŽƌǁĂLJƐƚŽĞŶĐŽƵƌĂŐĞ your
employees to build rapport. After all, rapport is a critical component of overall business
success.

Here are four ways to encourage your employees to build rapport with one another:

x Facilitate coffee chats or informal meet-and-greets between employees. At

ĞƚƚĞƌhƉ͕ǁĞ͛ƌĞďŝŐĨĂŶƐŽĨĐŽĨĨĞĞĐŚĂƚƐ͘dŚĞLJ͛ƌĞƋƵŝĐŬ͕ƐŝŵƉůĞ͕ĂŶĚĞĂƐLJ
conversations that can happen between any two employees. And oftentimes,
ƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞŶŽƚĂůǁĂLJƐǁŽƌŬ-related.
x Invest in the employee experience. Does your organization host virtual or
in-person events that allow for social connection? Does your company invest
in things like clubs, volunteer activities, or team-building events?
x Encourage professional development around social connections. Create
avenues for professional learning that focus on waLJƐƚŽďƵŝůĚƌĂƉƉŽƌƚ͘/͛ǀĞ
worked at organizations that host workshops focused on building
relationships.
x Provide access to coaching. Personalized coaching can help support your
ĞŵƉůŽLJĞĞƐ͛ communication skills. And building effective communication
skills goes hand-in-hand with building rapport.

91
 Module 18:

Client relationship management

tŚLJƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐƚŚĞĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐŝƐŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚ

Customer and client understanding is important for every B2C and B2B company regardless of
its domain.

For a ĚŝŐŝƚĂůƚĞĐŚŶŽůŽŐLJĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͕ƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐƚŚĞĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐŶĞĞĚƐĂŶĚďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐƐƉĞĐŝĨŝĐƐŝƐ
essential. Every delivered system or service, whether you work on web development or cloud
migration or provide digital consulting services͕ŝŵƉĂĐƚƐƚŚĞĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐŽƉĞƌĂtions with the goal
to enhance processes, drive innovation and initiate changes that offer business growth in the
future. Therefore, technology solution providers should have a very clear understanding of the
industry, business and environment they are dealing with.

4 steps to understand your client

At the very first steps of collaboration, we make in-depth research of the company - its online
presence, publications and other mass media coverage, business and social achievements.

/ŶƉƌĂĐƚŝĐĞ͕ŝƚ͛ƐĂϰ-step ƉƌŽĐĞƐƐƚŚĂƚĞŶĂďůĞƐƵƐƚŽŐĞƚĂŐŽŽĚƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐŽĨƚŚĞĐůŝĞŶƚ͛Ɛ
needs and business.

1. Problems and expectations

First of all, we need to know what exactly makes a client search for our help. Finding out the
client's problem gives us the first grasp of the solution we will be working on.

A business may have a poorly working online ordering system, be unable to retain customers on
mobile, not know how to get the benefits from enterprise data, lose money and time on an
outdated paper-based process, etc. Once we know what areas can be improved, we can fill in
these gaps with perfectly effective technology solutions.

2. Goals

ƚƚŚŝƐƐƚĂŐĞ͕ǁĞƐƚƵĚLJƚŚĞĐŽŵƉĂŶLJΖƐŐŽĂůƐ͘/ƚ͛ƐǀĞƌLJŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚƚŽĐŽŶƐŝĚĞƌǁŚĂƚŽďũĞĐƚŝǀĞƐƚŚĞ
company pursues. In most cases, a ĐůŝĞŶƚĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚŶĞĞĚĂĚŝŐŝƚĂůƐLJƐƚĞŵĨŽƌƚŚĞƐĂŬĞŽĨŚĂǀŝŶŐŝƚ͕
but rather to achieve any target - increased conversions, saved cost, etc.

Sometimes, a company may come up with an idea rather than an existing problem. In this case,
we help the company shape it and set up the goals.

3. Business specifics

In order to understand the client's business, we need to know its specifics. At Digiteum, we
devote time and effort to learn how the processes work, who operates them, what tools and

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infrastructure the company is using, what opportunities the company has in terms of
technology development, and importantly, what budget can allocate.

4. Industry specifics.

No business exists in isolation. This is why as a part of complex business analytics, we perform
market anĚŝŶĚƵƐƚƌLJĂŶĂůLJƐŝƐƚŽƐƚƵĚLJƚŚĞĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐĞŶǀŝƌŽŶŵĞŶƚĂŶĚďĞƚƚĞƌƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚ
the ecosystem the company operates in.

Tips for better business understanding

In my experience, you can find out as much about a client as the client is ready to share, if you
ĂƐŬƚŚĞƌŝŐŚƚƋƵĞƐƚŝŽŶƐĂŶĚůŝƐƚĞŶĂƚƚĞŶƚŝǀĞůLJ͘,ĞƌĞ͛ƌĞƐŽŵĞƚŝƉƐƚŽďĞƚƚĞƌƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚǁŚĂƚĂ
client is saying, literally.

x Make your homework. Get to know the company as much as possible. This will help find the
relevant questions to ask.
x Ask relevant questions. In fact, asking the right questions is a true way to get the necessary
information. Often, it requires providing options, choices, giving examples so that to lure the
valuable data on a problem, idea or technical specifications from your client.
x Be an active listener. /ƚ͛ƐŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚƚŽďĞĂŶĂĐƚŝǀĞůŝƐƚĞŶĞƌĂďůĞƚŽĨƵůůLJĨŽĐƵƐŽŶƚŚĞ
conversation. Good listening implies you can always confirm understanding.
x Show respect. Whatever stage the business is at - startup, mature enterprise, serious
reconstruction - ŝƚ͛ƐĐƌƵĐŝĂůƚŽƐŚŽǁĂĚĞƋƵĂƚĞƌĞƐƉĞĐƚƚŽLJŽƵƌĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐ͕
ĂĐŚŝĞǀĞŵĞŶƚƐĂŶĚĚĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐĂŶĚďĞĂďůĞƚŽŽƉĞŶůLJĂƉƉƌĞĐŝĂƚĞLJŽƵƌĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐƐƵĐĐĞƐƐ͘
x Get to know a person you are talking to better. Always remember that you are dealing with
people, and people have their own interests, values and passions. Establishing a good
rapport with your clients is essential. It encourages them to share and be franker. Thus,
knowing your people better, you get to know more about their business too.

What to begin with

tĞ͛ǀĞĂůƌĞĂĚLJůĞĂƌŶĞĚǁŚĂƚŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶĂďŽƵƚƚŚĞĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐĂŶĚŶĞĞĚƐŝƐŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚƚŽ
ŬŶŽǁĂŶĚŚŽǁƚŽĞŶƐƵƌĞďĞƚƚĞƌƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐ͘,ĞƌĞ͛ƐƚŚĞůŝƐƚŽĨƚŚĞŵŽƐƚĐŽŵŵŽŶƋƵĞƐƚŝŽŶƐ
we typically discuss at the first steps of collaboration rĞŐĂƌĚůĞƐƐŽĨƚŚĞĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐƐŝnjĞ͕ŝŶĚƵƐƚƌLJ
or structure.

x Why do you need a certain digital service or product?

x Do you need to develop a digital product strategy?

x What are your goal and project objective?

x Do you expect to change requirements of a project?

x WhŽ͛ƐŐŽŝŶŐƚŽƵƐĞƚŚĞŶĞǁƉƌŽĚƵĐƚŽƌƐĞƌǀŝĐĞ͕ďŽƚŚĂƐĂĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌŽƌĂƐƚŚĞĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛Ɛ
employees?

x Where does the data for the system or service come from?

x What type of data we will be dealing with?

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x What other systems should be integrated with your new product or service?

x What part of the business infrastructure the new system or service will be? Is it the core
service, supporting instrument for employees or customers, marketing tool, etc.?

<ŶŽǁŝŶŐƚŚĞĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐƚƵƌŶƐĂǀĞŶĚŽƌŝŶƚŽĂƚĞĐŚŶŽůŽŐLJpartner

dŚĞďĞŶĞĨŝƚƐŽĨƵŶĚĞƌƐƚĂŶĚŝŶŐƚŚĞĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐŶĞĞĚƐĂŶĚďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐŐŽĨĂƌďĞLJŽŶĚĂƐƵĐĐĞƐƐĨƵůůLJ
delivered digital system or client satisfaction. In fact, a knowledgeable technology provider able
ƚŽĚĞĞƉůLJŝŵŵĞƌƐĞŝŶƚŽƚŚĞĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐŝŶĚƵƐƚƌLJŚĂƐĂůůƚŚĞchances to turn into a long-term
technology partner.

In case you are not only successful in understanding the client's needs, but also in delivering on
your promises, the client doesn't search for alternative technology providers and fully relies on
the IT services from one credible company.

As a result, this type of partnership often leads to even better outcomes. For a technology
partner knows exactly and even can anticipate what the client needs in terms of the current
ŵĂƌŬĞƚƐŝƚƵĂƚŝŽŶ͕ĐůŝĞŶƚ͛ƐĐĂƉĂďŝůŝties and goals and industry trends.

Why is it important to have timely communication with the client?

Communication is an art of collaboration that happens between people or organizations.

To be able to sustain, persevere and prevail in the current market, effective communication is
very essential. Even more so, when it comes to accounting firms and chartered accountants.
Whether you are riding solo as an accountant or part of a much bigger organization, it is very
ŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚƚŽŚĂǀĞĂŶŝĚĞĂŽĨ͚ǁŚĂƚŝƐĞĨĨĞĐƚŝǀĞĐŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƚŝŽŶ͛ in order to maintain your client
base. Poor communication and untimely responses from your end will contribute to a high scale
of inefficiency.

Why is it important to have timely communication with the client ?

Despite what field you are in, it is very important to understand that clients are the blood of
any firm. Having clients is what keeps the business running. So it is imperative that you know
how to properly set up and follow the process of client communication .

The client needs to, and expects to, be aware of an event or situation that would impact
him/her directly. Having a timely communication will put the client at ease and will improve
overall reliability of the firm in the market. This will open the doors for new opportunities.

Timely communication includes both reaching out to the client, and providing timely responses
to the client. When a client reaches out to the firm or an accountant for whatever reason, by
giving a timely response, it will help establish a network of trust and reliability between the
client and the firm.

How to improve client communication?

Just speaking about having client communication is not enough.

1. The firm as a whole should have a standardized set of protocols that the entire
organization would have to follow to ensure that there is timely communication with

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 their respective clients without interference from the administration . The team
members should be made aware of such process and they have to follow it.
2. Before reaching out to the client, there needs to be a seamless internal communication
within the firm, so that the information flows uninterrupted. This will ensure that you
have the right information at the right time and are not scrambling when the time for
client communication comes.
3. Utilize the tools designed for chartered accountants that have some sort of automated
communication with the client, through texts or emails. This will reduce the lag between
the information flow and lessen the burden from the individuals.
4. Keep the subject lines in emails or texts concise and to the point. This will reduce any
misinformation and misunderstandings which might cause a delay in the work.
5. Redirect your clients to a more generic form of client communication such as blogs and
newsletters and make sure your clients view them and get the much needed
information and updates pertaining to them.
6. Last but not the least, communicate with the client regularly through the tools, social
media, or just good old fashioned face to face communication.

Project vs. Product Deliverables

There is a distinction between project and product deliverables. Project deliverables are such
outputs as the project plans, project reports and even meeting minutes. Product deliverables,
on the other hand, could be hardware, software, mobile applications, contracts, or even test
assessment results.

The deliverables that clients and stakeholders expect at the end of the project are the product
or service, of course, but there is also paperwork, as noted. These documents, when
completed, are deliverables that clients and stakeholders need in order to evaluate the
progress or completion of the project.

This paperwork can include:

x Signed contracts

x Finalized expense reports

x Other types of project reports show how work is proceeding versus project plan
estimations

How to Present Deliverables to Stakeholders

WƌŽũĞĐƚŵĂŶĂŐĞƌƐ͛ƌĞƉŽƌƚƐĂƌĞƚŚĞŵĞĂŶƐďLJǁŚŝĐŚƚŚĞƐĞƚLJƉĞƐŽĨĚĞůŝǀĞƌĂďůĞƐĂƌĞƉƌĞƐĞŶƚĞĚƚŽ
clients and stakeholders. Different stakeholders have different needs, so flexibility and
customization is important for effective reporting. In order to meet their needs, project
management software must be able to filter the many data inputs to deliver the proper output.

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Project management tools such as Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and project calendars can
facilitate stakeholder presentations. ProjectManager has one-click reporting that captures data
on project variance, time, cost and more. These reports can be shared as PDF attachments or
ƉƌŝŶƚĞĚĚĞƉĞŶĚŝŶŐŽŶƚŚĞƐƚĂŬĞŚŽůĚĞƌ͛ƐƉƌĞĨĞƌĞŶĐĞ͘ĞƚƚĞƌLJĞƚ͕ĞǀĞƌLJƌĞƉŽƌƚĐĂŶďĞĨŝůƚĞƌĞĚƚŽ
ƐŚŽǁŽŶůLJƚŚĞĚĂƚĂƐƚĂŬĞŚŽůĚĞƌƐǁĂŶƚƚŽƐĞĞ͘ŽŶ͛ƚĨŽƌŐĞƚ͕ǁŝƚŚŽƵƌĐůŽƵĚ-based software,
those reports are reflecting real-time data. If they want to get a high-level view, then share the
ůŝǀĞĚĂƐŚďŽĂƌĚǁŝƚŚƚŚĞŵ͘/ƚ͛ƐĂůƌĞĂĚLJƐĞƚƵƉŝŶƚŚĞƚŽŽů͕ƵŶůŝŬĞŽƵƌĐŽŵƉĞƚŝƚŽƌƐ͕ƐŽLJŽƵĐĂŶƵƐĞ
it right away. Why not use it today by taking our free 30-day trial?

ProjectManager Helps You to Build Project Deliverables

Creating deliverables for stakeholders is easy using these reports:

x Project status report

x Variance report

x Timesheet report

Compiling project status reports is a great way to:

1. Illustrate for stakeholders how work is proceeding

2. Show which team members are carrying the heaviest loads and if adjustments
need to be made

3. Outline room for improvement as the project moves ahead or at closure

Variance Report

Variance reports can be customized to include only summary tasks, completion percentage, and
a comparison of the actual progress of the project versus the forecasted progress:

The resulting report shows a side-by-side comparison of predicted start and finish dates,
predicted hours versus actual hours spent and that difference, and the difference in predicted
project duration and how long it has actually taken to date:

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Timesheet Report

dŝŵĞƐŚĞĞƚƌĞƉŽƌƚƐƉƌŽǀŝĚĞĂďŝƌĚ͛Ɛ-ĞLJĞǀŝĞǁŽĨĞĂĐŚŝŶĚŝǀŝĚƵĂů͛ƐŚŽƵƌƐworked on a project.

They also show:

x Assignment of tasks to team members and the importance of those tasks

x ĂĐŚŝŶĚŝǀŝĚƵĂů͛ƐŚŽƵƌůLJƌĂƚĞ͕ĂŶĚ

x Many other factors related to resources, time and cost

The timesheet shows the person submitting the time, the date of submission, how many
individual hours they worked during the selected timeframe, their WBS and how many hours
they have remaining in the selected timeframe:

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98
An example of a timesheet for one person working on multiple projects during one timeframe.

Consistent use of these three reports helps keep your team on time, under budget and within
scope. Lessons learned in libraries can also be a great tool to help build upon successes and
avoid duplicating mistakes in future projects.

Lessons Learned Libraries

Creating a lessons ůĞĂƌŶĞĚůŝďƌĂƌLJŝƐĂŐƌĞĂƚǁĂLJƚŽĐŽŵƉŝůĞƚĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐĨƌŽŵƉƌŽũĞĐƚƐ͘/ƚ͛ƐĂ

central place to view work that exceeded expectations, and also works that could have been
better. As a new project kicks off, project managers use this resource to plan for known
roadblocks.

Project Deliverables Expected Prior to Closure

ĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚŽĨĚĞůŝǀĞƌĂďůĞƐĚŽĞƐŶ͛ƚũƵƐƚŚĂƉƉĞŶĚƵƌŝŶŐƉƌŽũĞĐƚĐůŽƐƵƌĞ͘WƌŽũĞĐƚƐƉŽŶƐŽƌƐĂůƐŽ
ĞdžƉĞĐƚĚĞůŝǀĞƌĂďůĞƐĚƵƌŝŶŐƚŚĞŝŶŝƚŝĂƚŝŽŶ͕ƉůĂŶŶŝŶŐĂŶĚĞdžĞĐƵƚŝŽŶƉŚĂƐĞƐŽĨĂƉƌŽũĞĐƚ͘>Ğƚ͛ƐƚĂŬĞ
a look at the types of deliverables created in these phases in greater detail.

&ŝŶĂůĚĞůŝǀĞƌĂďůĞƐŽƵƚůŝŶĞĂƉƌŽũĞĐƚ͛ƐĞŶƚŝƌĞƐĐŽƉĞŽĨǁŽƌŬ͕ǁŚŝůĞĚĞůŝǀĞƌĂďůĞƐĐƌĞĂƚĞĚĚƵƌŝŶŐ
earlier phases of a project are based on short-term snapshots of project activity.

Tracking of project execution includes:

1. Performance reports to measure how work is going and team members are
performing

2. Risk and issue logs to track issues that need to be addressed, and

3. Change the logs that identify changes made to the project plan and how these
are affecting the project

What is customer feedback?

Customer feedback is the information, insights, issues, and input shared by your community
about their experiences with your company, product, or services. This feedback guides
improvements of the customer experience and can empower positive change in any business Ͷ
ĞǀĞŶ;ĂŶĚĞƐƉĞĐŝĂůůLJͿǁŚĞŶŝƚ͛ƐŶĞŐĂƚŝǀĞ͘

Why is customer feedback important?

Customer feedback is important because it serves as a guiding resource for the growth of your
ĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͘ŽŶ͛ƚ LJŽƵǁĂŶƚƚŽŬŶŽǁǁŚĂƚLJŽƵ͛ƌĞŐĞƚƚŝŶŐƌŝŐŚƚͶ and wrong Ͷ as a business in
the eyes of your customers?

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Within the good and the bad, you can find gems that make it easier to adjust and adapt the
customer experience over time. In short, feedback is the way to keep your community at the
heart of everything you do.

The 7 most effective customer feedback methods

ĞĨŽƌĞLJŽƵďĞŐŝŶĐŽůůĞĐƚŝŶŐĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬĨƌŽŵĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐ͕LJŽƵŶĞĞĚƚŽƉŝŶƉŽŝŶƚǁŚLJLJŽƵ͛ƌĞƐĞĞŬŝŶŐ
their input. Identifying your desired outcomes and outlining the process for getting there sets
the groundwork for a worthwhile investment of your time Ͷ ĂŶĚLJŽƵƌĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐ͛ƚŝŵĞ͘

Without a clear intention, your feedback may not serve anyone.

Jot down the answers to these questions and talk about them with your team before getting
started:

x What part of the customer experience would you like to improve (onboarding, content
marketing)? Target the aspect of the customer journey that would most benefit from
customer insights.

x tŚĂƚ͛ƐLJŽƵƌƉůĂŶĨŽƌƚŚĞĚĂƚĂLJŽƵĐŽůůĞĐƚ͍dŚĞƌĞ͛ƐŶŽƌĞĂƐŽŶƚŽŐĂƚŚĞƌĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌ
ĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬƵŶůĞƐƐŝƚůĞĂĚƐƚŽĂĐƚŝŽŶĂďůĞĐŚĂŶŐĞ͘>Ğƚ͛ƐƐĂLJLJŽƵƌĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐƵƌǀĞLJƌĞǀĞĂůƐ
ƚŚĂƚLJŽƵƌƉƌŽĚƵĐƚ͛Ɛh/ŝƐĐŽŶĨƵƐŝŶŐ͘ŶƐƵƌĞƚŚĂƚLJŽƵ͛ƌĞǁŝůůŝŶŐƚŽŝŶǀĞƐƚŝŶĨŝdžŝŶŐŝƚďĞĨŽƌĞ
collecting feedback.

x Which customer feedback channel works best for your goals?

ŽŶ͛ƚǁŽƌƌLJĂďŽƵƚƚŚĂƚůĂƐƚƋƵĞƐƚŝŽŶ͘LJƚŚĞĞŶĚŽĨƚŚŝƐƉŽƐƚ͕LJŽƵ͛ůůŚĂǀĞĂůůƚŚĞŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶLJŽƵ
need to answer it.

The right customer support tool for you

Are you in the market for a new customer support tool, but don't know where to start?
Download our free buyer's guide to choosing the right customer support tool

1. Customer feedback surveys

Developing a useful customer survey may be more challenging than you think. There are a ton
of questions you could ask customers. The good news: you can choose between short slider
surveys (which help you target specific issues) that pop up on your site or longer, traditional
surveys.

2. Email and customer contact forms

ŵĂŝůŝƐŽŶĞŽĨƚŚĞĞĂƐŝĞƐƚǁĂLJƐƚŽŐĂƚŚĞƌĐĂŶĚŝĚĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬ͘ĞĐĂƵƐĞŝƚ͛ƐĂƐƵƉƉŽƌƚ
channel for most companies, you can use each interaction as an opportunity to gather
feedback. To maximize the likelihood of hearing back from a customer, do these three things:

Set clear expectations

^ŽŵĞƚŝŵĞƐ͕ĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐĚŽŶ͛ƚŽĨĨĞƌŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬďĞĐĂƵƐĞƚŚĞLJĚŽŶ͛ƚƚŚŝŶŬĂŶLJŽŶĞĐĂƌĞƐ͘
/ƐŝƚĂŶLJǁŽŶĚĞƌŵŽƐƚĐŽŵƉĂŶŝĞƐĚŽŶ͛ƚŚĞĂƌĨƌŽŵƵŶŚĂƉƉLJĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐ͍DĂŶLJŽĨƚŚŽƐĞƐĂŵĞ

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customers ŵĂLJďĞǁŝůůŝŶŐƚŽůĞĂǀĞĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬŝĨƚŚĞLJŬŶĞǁƚŚĞLJ͛ĚŚĞĂƌďĂĐŬͶ and exactly when
to expect a response.

Organize email feedback

At Help Scout, we use Trello ƚŽĐƌĞĂƚĞ͞ďŽĂƌĚƐ͟LJŽƵƌǁŚŽůĞƚĞĂŵĐĂŶĂĐĐĞƐƐĂŶĚcontribute to

ǁŝƚŚŐƌĞĂƚĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌĨĞĞĚďĂĐŬ͘/ƚ͛ƐĂĐůĞĂƌƉƌŽĐĞƐƐĞŶƐƵƌŝŶŐƚŚĂƚŶŽŚĞůƉĨƵůŝŶƐŝŐŚƚƐƐůŝƉƚŚƌŽƵŐŚ
the cracks. Here's the system:

x ƌĞĂƚĞďŽĂƌĚƐǁŝƚŚŝŶdƌĞůůŽƚŝƚůĞĚ͞WƌŽĚƵĐƚ/ĚĞĂƐ͟;ĨĞĂƚƵƌĞƌĞƋƵĞƐƚƐͿ͕͞hƉEĞdžƚ͟;ǁŚĂƚ͛Ɛ
ďĞŝŶŐǁŽƌŬĞĚŽŶͿĂŶĚ͞ZŽĂĚŵĂƉ͟;ǁŚĂƚLJŽƵƉůĂŶƚŽǁŽƌŬŽŶͿ͘

x Build individual cards within each board to categorize requests. For our Product Ideas
ďŽĂƌĚ͕ǁĞƵƐĞƐĞĐƚŝŽŶƐůŝŬĞ͞/ŶďŽdž͟;ŶĞǁŝĚĞĂƐͿ͕͞ZĞũĞĐƚĞĚ͟;ĚŝƐĐĂƌĚĞĚŝĚĞĂƐͿ͕
͞^ŽŵĞĚĂLJͬDĂLJďĞ͟;ŐŽŽĚŝĚĞĂƐ͕ďƵƚŶŽƚƵƌŐĞŶƚͿ͕ĂŶĚ͞ƉƉƐ͟;ŝŶƚĞŐƌĂƚŝŽŶƌĞƋƵĞƐƚƐͿ͘

x Add email addresses within cards for the people who requested the idea. For instance,
anyone who asked us for Reports upgrades will be added to a list within a card so that
ƚŚĞLJĐĂŶďĞŶŽƚŝĨŝĞĚǁŚĞŶƚŚĞƵƉŐƌĂĚĞŝƐĐŽŵƉůĞƚĞ͘,ĞƌĞ͛ƐĂŶĞdžĂŵƉůĞĐĂƌĚ;ǁŝƚŚĞŵĂŝůƐ
blocked out for privacy):

Send personalized responses

The best way to get a candid response from a customer is to simply ask for one. Since email
enables you to send a one-to-one request, you can ask for more personal feedback than in a
survey.

When customers sign up for more information about your services, for example, you can send
out an auto-responder email asking a single question. Inquire into the issues that customers are
struggling with most, what features they would love to see, or just ask why they signed up!

3. Usability tests

For usability testing to bring deep insights to your company, it requires more upfront planning.
With a clear straƚĞŐLJ͕ƚŚŽƵŐŚ͕LJŽƵĐĂŶƵŶĐŽǀĞƌĐŚĂůůĞŶŐĞƐƚŚĂƚĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐĚŽŶ͛ƚŬŶŽǁƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞ
facing and actionable insights that make their experiences better.

You may even want to consider rewarding your user research participants the way Google does.

At Help Scout, we leverage usability testing to refine design details or new features. When
ǁĞ͛ƌĞϵϬйĨŝŶŝƐŚĞĚǁŝƚŚƚŚĞƵƉĚĂƚĞƐ͕ƚŚĞƐĞƚĞƐƚƐŐƵĂƌĂŶƚĞĞǁĞŐĞƚƚŚĂƚůĂƐƚϭϬйƌŝŐŚƚ͘

4. Exploratory customer interviews

Does direct outreach translate to beneficial feedback from customers? Absolutely! Reaching
ŽƵƚƚŽĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐĚŝƌĞĐƚůLJŽƉĞŶƐƵƉĐŽŶǀĞƌƐĂƚŝŽŶƐƚŚĂƚŽƚŚĞƌǁŝƐĞǁŽƵůĚŶ͛ƚŚĂƉƉĞŶ͘

Qualitative stories from customers bring color and nuance to quantitative feedback (data).
These personal experiences help a team understand the feelings behind customer decisions and
ƚŚĞĐŽŵŵƵŶŝƚLJƌĞƐƉŽŶƐĞƚŽĂĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͛ƐďƌĂŶĚŽƌĚĞĐŝƐŝŽŶƐ͘

Keep the following tips in mind when you sit down to talk to customers:

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 x Start an open-ended dialogue. tŚĞŶLJŽƵ͛ƌĞƚĂůŬŝŶŐƚŽĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐ͕ŽƉĞŶ-ended questions
are your best friend. These queries give your customers the flexibility to dig into their
ĞdžƉĞƌŝĞŶĐĞƐǁŝƚŚŵŽƌĞĚĞƚĂŝů͘WůƵƐ͕ƚŚĞLJ͛ƌĞůĞƐƐůŝŬĞůLJƚŽďĞďŝĂƐĞĚŽƌůĞĂĚŝŶŐƋƵĞƐƚŝŽŶƐ͘

x Get more specific as you go. Begin the conversation with wider impressions and get
more detailed in your questions as the dialogue evolves. Every piece of feedback they
give you is an opportunity for another more specific follow-up.

x Practice active listening. To receive insights that can help your team, you need to be
ŽƉĞŶĂŶĚƌĞĐĞƉƚŝǀĞ͘DĂŝŶƚĂŝŶĞLJĞĐŽŶƚĂĐƚĂŶĚŵŝƌƌŽƌďĂĐŬƚŚĞŬĞLJƚĂŬĞĂǁĂLJƐLJŽƵ͛ƌĞ
hearing from clients, always keeping the spotlight on them.

5. Social media

Social listening can give you access to an otherwise untapped reservoir of candid feedback from
ĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐ͘ŝƌĞĐƚĐŽŵŵĞŶƚƐŽƌŵĞŶƚŝŽŶƐŽŶƐŽĐŝĂůŶĞƚǁŽƌŬƐĂƌĞŶ͛ƚƚŚĞŽŶůLJǁĂLJĨŽƌLJŽƵƌ
business to collect customer feedback either Ͷ many networks include built-in polling tools.

6. On-site activity (via analytics)

ŶĂůLJƚŝĐƐƌĞǀĞĂůǁŚĂƚĐƵƐƚŽŵĞƌƐĚŽŶ͛ƚŬŶŽǁĂďŽƵƚŚŽǁƚŚĞLJƵƐĞLJŽƵƌƉƌŽĚƵĐƚ͘ƐƉĞĐŝĂůůLJŝĨLJŽƵ
sell a digital product or service, you benefit from leveraging analytics to understand how users
interact with your company.

7. Instant feedback from your website

With an embeddable on-site widget like Beacon, you can collect instant customer feedback
without asking the customer any questions.

At Help Scout, for example, we pulled nine articles into a webpage that could be valuable to
potential customers on the page. Instead of asking customers which articles they preferred,
Beacon collected the data on the most popular articles. If none of the articles helped, the
customer could email the team Ͷ ĂŶĚƚŚĂƚ͛ƐǀĂůƵĂďůĞŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ͕ƚŽŽ͘

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 Module 19:

Persuasive Communication

The six Principles of Persuasion Explained

It's no secret that we all like to be liked. Whether in our personal or professional lives, we want
to be thought of well by others.

Persuasion is vital when convincing someone to fall in love with your brand or get your boss to
approve a project. But what are the best persuasion techniques and tactics to use?
There are six principles of persuasion that can make an impact, according to esteemed
psychologist and academic Dr. Robert Cialdini. And if you want to be successful in establishing
your online reputation or just convincing people of anything, you need to know them.
In this blog post, we'll look at each of the six principles and give some examples of how they can
be used:

x Persuasion is the power to influence someone to take action after the person has
already decided not to.
x The six principles of persuasion are - reciprocity, commitment/consistency, social proof,
authority, liking, and scarcity.
x Dedicating time to these principles can increase trust, a more positive online reputation,
and brand advocates.

Persuasion as a marketing strategy

In marketing, persuasion is the power to influence someone to take action after the person has
already decided not to.
Let's take a look at why persuasion is an effective marketing strategy. Your brand must position
itself as more than just a product or service. If your values align with your target market, it will
be easier to convince people to buy your product.
Consider the following:

x One study in the Journal of Marketing Research found that consumers are willing to pay
more for a product if they think it will make them feel good about themselves.
x In another study, researchers found that 88% of consumers would like brands to help
them be more environmentally friendly and ethical in their daily life.
x 63% of the public would give socially responsible businesses the benefit of the doubt
during a crisis.

What are the six principles of persuasion?

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Persuasion is not just about convincing someone to do something, it's about building a
relationship of trust. The best way to do that is by establishing common ground, showing
credibility, and making it clear that you have the other person's best interests at heart. The six
principles of persuasion can help you do just that.
,ĞƌĞĂƌĞƌ͘ZŽďĞƌƚŝĂůĚŝŶŝ͛ƐƐŝdžƉƌŝŶĐŝƉůĞƐŽĨƉĞƌƐƵĂƐŝŽŶ͗

x Reciprocity
x Commitment/Consistency
x Social proof
x Authority
x Liking
x Scarcity

Reciprocity
If you do something nice for someone, they're more likely to do something nice for you. It's a
simple concept, but it can significantly impact your business. Reciprocity is all about giving
first. When we receive something, we feel compelled to return the favor.

Commitment/Consistency
Commitment and consistency are important because they build trust and credibility. People like
to know they can rely on others to follow through on their commitments. If you say you're
going to do something, do it. If you make a promise, keep it.

How can commitment and consistency improve your reputation?

Making commitments and consistently following through with them isn't just good for your
personal relationships. It can also improve your reputation in your professional life.
If you're known for being reliable and trustworthy, people will be more likely to want to work
with you and support you. Additionally, people are more likely to take you seriously if you're
consistent in your words and actions. They know they can count on you to follow through,
making them more likely to listen to what you have to say.

How can social proof improve your reputation?

When people see that others are happy with your product or service, they're more likely to
trust you and give you a chance. That's why social proof is essential for building a strong
reputation.
So if you want to improve your reputation, make sure you're using social proof to your
advantage. Show potential customers that others have been happy with your products or
services:

x Leverage customer testimonials

x Encourage social media reviews
x Outreach to social media influencers and other media
x Build trust and persuade people that you're worth doing business with

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How to tell the difference between persuasion and manipulation

ĂůůŝŶŐƐŽŵĞŽŶĞŵĂŶŝƉƵůĂƚŝǀĞŝƐĂĐƌŝƚŝĐŝƐŵŽĨƚŚĂƚƉĞƌƐŽŶ͛ƐĐŚĂƌĂĐƚĞƌ͘^ĂLJŝŶŐƚŚĂƚLJŽƵŚĂǀĞ
been manipulated is a complaint about having been treated badly. Manipulation is dodgy at
ďĞƐƚ͕ĂŶĚĚŽǁŶƌŝŐŚƚŝŵŵŽƌĂůĂƚǁŽƌƐƚ͘ƵƚǁŚLJŝƐƚŚŝƐ͍tŚĂƚ͛ƐǁƌŽŶŐǁŝƚŚmanipulation?
Human beings influence each other all the time, and in all sorts of ways. But what sets
manipulation apart from other influences, and what makes it immoral?

We are constantly subject to attempts at manipulation. Here are just a few examples. There is
͚ŐĂƐůŝŐŚƚŝŶŐ͕͛ǁŚŝĐŚŝŶǀŽůǀĞƐĞŶĐŽƵƌĂŐŝŶŐƐŽŵĞŽŶĞƚŽĚŽƵďƚŚĞƌŽǁŶũƵĚŐŵĞŶƚĂŶĚƚŽƌĞůLJŽŶ
ƚŚĞŵĂŶŝƉƵůĂƚŽƌ͛ƐĂĚǀŝĐĞŝŶƐƚĞĂĚ͘'ƵŝůƚƚƌŝƉƐŵĂŬĞƐŽŵĞŽŶĞĨĞĞůĞdžĐĞƐƐŝǀĞůLJŐƵŝůƚLJĂďŽƵƚĨĂŝůŝŶŐ
to do what the manipulator wants her to do. Charm offensives and peer pressure induce
ƐŽŵĞŽŶĞƚŽĐĂƌĞƐŽŵƵĐŚĂďŽƵƚƚŚĞŵĂŶŝƉƵůĂƚŽƌ͛ƐĂƉƉƌŽǀĂůƚŚĂƚƐŚĞǁŝůůĚŽĂƐƚŚĞŵĂŶŝƉƵůĂƚŽƌ
wishes.

Advertising manipulates when it encourages the audience to form untrue beliefs, as when we
are told to believe that fried chicken is a health food, or faulty associations, as when Marlboro
cigarettes are tied to the rugged vigour of the Marlboro Man. Phishing and other scams
manipulate their victims through a combination of deception (from outright lies to spoofed
phone numbers or URLs) and playing on emotions such as greed, fear or sympathy. Then there
is more straightforward manipulation, perhaps the most famous example of which is when Iago
ŵĂŶŝƉƵůĂƚĞƐKƚŚĞůůŽƚŽĐƌĞĂƚĞƐƵƐƉŝĐŝŽŶĂďŽƵƚĞƐĚĞŵŽŶĂ͛ƐĨŝĚĞůŝƚLJ͕ƉůĂLJŝŶŐŽŶŚŝƐŝŶƐĞĐƵƌities
to make him jealous, and working him up into a rage that leads Othello to murder his beloved.
All these examples of manipulation share a sense of immorality. What is it that they have in
common?

Perhaps manipulation is wrong because it harms the person being manipulated. Certainly,
manipulation often harms. If successful, manipulative cigarette ads contribute to disease and
death; manipulative phishing and other scams facilitate identity theft and other forms of fraud;
manipulative social tactics can support abusive or unhealthy relationships; political
manipulation can foment division and weaken democracy. But manipulation is not always
harmful.

Top Tips for Effective Listening

Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication
process.

Listening is key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listen effectively,
messages are easily misunderstood. As a result, communication breaks down and the sender of
the message can easily become frustrated or irritated.

If there is one communication skill you should aim to master, then listening is it.

Listening is so important that many top employers provide listening skills training for their
employees. This is not surprising when you consider that good listening skills can lead to better
customer satisfaction, greater productivity with fewer mistakes, and increased sharing of
information that in turn can lead to more creative and innovative work.

Many successful leaders and entrepreneurs credit their success to effective listening skills.
Richard Branson frequently quotes listening as one of the main factors behind the success of
Virgin.

Good listening skills also have benefits in our personal lives, including:

105
A greater number of friends and social networks, improved self-esteem and confidence, higher
grades at school and in academic work, and even better health and general well-being.

Studies have shown that, whereas speaking raises blood pressure, attentive listening can bring
it down.

Listening is Not the Same as Hearing

Hearing refers to the sounds that enter your ears. It is a physical process that, provided you do
not have any hearing problems, happens automatically.

Listening, however, requires more than that: it requires focus and concentrated effort, both
mental and sometimes physical as well.

Listening means paying attention not only to the story, but how it is told, the use of language
and voice, and how the other person uses his or her body. In other words, it means being aware
of both verbal and non-verbal messages. Your ability to listen effectively depends on the degree
to which you perceive and understand these messages.

Listening is not a passive process. In fact, the listener can, and should, be at least as engaged in
ƚŚĞƉƌŽĐĞƐƐĂƐƚŚĞƐƉĞĂŬĞƌ͘dŚĞƉŚƌĂƐĞ͚active listening͛ŝƐƵƐĞĚƚŽĚĞƐĐƌŝďĞƚŚŝƐƉƌŽĐĞƐƐŽĨ
being fully involved

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 Module 20:

Inclusive and environmentally sustainable workplaces

Types of Waste Management

To put it simply, Waste Management is the collection, processing, treatment and recycling of
waste (human waste and animals waste, including industrial waste). The process of Waste
Management is constituted of a range of tasks which include: storage, transport, treatment and
disposal of waste; monitoring, supervision and regulation of the development, processing,
transit, treatment and disposal for better health of our environment. Want to know about the
different methods of waste disposal? Check out this blog to know the different types of waste
management disposal methods in India.

What is Waste Management?

͞tĂƐƚĞĐŽŶƚƌŽůŽƌǁĂƐƚĞĚŝƐƉŽƐĂůŝƐĂůůƚŚĞďĞŚĂǀŝŽƌƐĂŶĚĂĐƚƐŶĞĐĞƐƐĂƌLJƚŽŚĂŶĚůĞƚŚĞǁĂƐƚĞ
from its inception to its final disposal. This involves, but is not limited to, storage,
transport, management and recycling of waste along with control and enforcement. It also
covers the legislative and regulatory system for waste control, including recycling guidelines,
ĞƚĐ͘͟

Types of Waste Management

The most popular types of Waste Management are:

x Recycling
x Incineration
x Landfill
x Biological Reprocessing
x Animal Feed

>Ğƚ͛ƐĞdžƉůŽƌĞƚŚĞƐĞĚŝĨĨĞƌĞŶƚƚLJƉĞƐŽĨǁĂƐƚĞŵĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚŵĞƚŚŽĚƐǁŝƚŚĞdžĂŵƉůĞƐŝŶĨƵƌƚŚĞƌ
detail:

Recycling

107
Recycling makes a huge difference in protecting the environment. Amongst the various types of
waste management, recycling means that garbage is not disposed of in landfills or water
sources by making usable litter components. Many entities/communities have made it easier to
recycle goods by introducing labelling to show whether or not a material is recyclable.

The great thing about this waste management system is that it has economic and
environmental advantages. It saves the government resources needed for waste projects,
provides thousands of jobs, and will make a decent deal of money. Only bring recyclable waste
to the closest recycling centre to get money from recycling.

Incineration

This type of waste management includes the disposal of waste materials by means of burning.
The thermal treatment is another name for this disposal method. You may incinerate on a
commercial or human scale and dispose of a broad variety of waste materials. Most countries
with limited land consider the incineration process. You may use the power produced by
burning waste materials to produce heat, energy or steam. One of the drawbacks of this
disposal process is that it can be a source of air pollution.

Landfill

108
It is one of the most popular types of waste management systems in the world. It includes the
collection, transportation, disposal and burying of waste in designated property. Many towns
are planning deserted and barren areas to cope with waste.

Authorities are committed to ensuring that the construction of each landfill is successful in
terms of sanitation and economic land use. However, landfill sites are a significant cause of
health and environmental problems that concern many communities. For instance, gas from
these landfills is often incredibly dangerous.

Biological Reprocessing

Chemical waste materials, such as kitchen waste and paper goods, can be reused after a
procedure called biological reprocessing which is another popular system amongst the varied
types of waste management. Multiple physiological systems, including recycling and biomass
gasification, are used in biological reprocessing. Composing is a normal biological mechanism
that is carried out under control conditions. One of the ends of the stock is natural gas, which is
used to produce heat and electricity. Biological reprocessing is commonly used for the disposal
of industrial waste.

Animal Feed

Food waste is a serious issue and needs serious consideration. According to the United
States Department of Agriculture, between 30 and 40 percent of all food created by the United
States is spent on food by retailers and customers. This is a major problem as the food value is
estimated to be $161 billion. The nation is leading the world in terms of food waste, and the
cause is self-explanatory. Food can be preserved by manure and livestock feed and this is also
one of the ecological types of waste management methods.

Companies and workers benefit from diversity policies

Adopting diversity policies offers clear benefits for companies and the workforce, such as
resolving labour shortages, greater product innovation, enhanced marketing opportunities and
a better corporate image. The findings of a recent study by the European Commission reveal
additional positive business outcomes, such as improved communication processes and
managerial styles, as well as reduced staff turnover and absenteeism.

Within the framework of the Community action programme to combat discrimination (2001-
2006), the ƵƌŽƉĞĂŶŽŵŵŝƐƐŝŽŶ͛ƐŝƌĞĐƚŽƌĂƚĞ'ĞŶĞƌĂůĨŽƌŵƉůŽLJŵĞŶƚ͕^ŽĐŝĂůĨĨĂŝƌƐĂŶĚ
Equal Opportunities ĐŽŵŵŝƐƐŝŽŶĞĚĂƌĞƐĞĂƌĐŚƉƌŽũĞĐƚĞŶƚŝƚůĞĚ͚dŚĞďƵƐŝŶĞƐƐĐĂƐĞĨŽƌĚŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJ-
Good practices in the workƉůĂĐĞ͛͘dŚĞƉƌŽũĞĐƚĂŝŵƐƚŽŝĚĞŶƚŝĨLJĂŶĚĂŶĂůLJƐĞĂƐĞůĞĐƚŝŽŶŽĨ
successful and innovative examples of good practice implemented by companies across Europe.

Methodology
The data in the report originate from two surveys that were conducted in 2005 among
companies in the 25 Member States of the EU:

x The first survey used questionnaires and in-depth interviews to identify, codify and analyse
examples of good practice in diversity management. Case studies were selected based on
criteria such as context, implementation, impact and focus in relation to discrimination.
Policies focusing solely on gender issues were not considered for this study.
x The complementary European Business Test Panel (EBTP) survey consisted of an online
questionnaire circulated to about 3,000 companies to investigate awareness and practices of

109
 companies; the survey covered companies with and without diversity policies and had a
response rate of 26.6%, corresponding to 798 companies.

Drivers of diversity policies

Motives for adopting diversity policies involve a combination of ethical, regulatory or economic
reasons, with the primary driver being the ethical factor. Many companies make strong links
between diversity and inclusion strategies, and are aware of the growing expectations that
employees have regarding the need for ethical behaviour at the workplace.

Regulatory reasons range from legal compliance with EU directives and national legislation to
the influence of industry standards and awards. The majority of companies emphasise that
legal compliance is not a driver for implementation but rather the outcome of such policies.

Implementation of diversity policies

The successful implementation of diversity policies and practices depends on a number of key
organisational factors. The good practice companies approach diversity as a cultural change
process and define diversity as a business-wide concern.

Implementation strategies build on experience of change processes and the lessons learnt
about managing change to ensure success. This provides companies with an insight on how to:
define a clear case for action; build active senior leadership commitment; engage managers at
all levels; establish infrastructure to support implementation; and communicate diversity and
inclusion principles to staff, customers and other stakeholders.

In all, three main types of policy and strategy focus can be distinguished:

ͻĐŽŵƉƌĞŚĞŶƐŝǀĞĚŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJƉŽůŝĐŝĞƐĂŶĚŝŶŝƚŝĂƚŝǀĞƐ͖

ͻƐŝŶŐůĞŝŶŝƚŝĂƚŝǀĞƐĐŽŶĐĞƌŶŝŶŐƐƉĞĐŝĨŝĐĚŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJƐƚƌĂŶĚƐ͖

ͻĞdžŝƐƚŝŶŐ policies - such as gender policies - expanded to cover a broader range of diversity
areas.

Measuring and monitoring the impact

The majority of companies with diversity policies do not have systematic measurement or
review mechanisms in place. However, many companies set up a range of monitoring and
feedback processes. Common performance indicators are, for example, the increased
representation of women, disabled people and ethnic minorities, especially at senior level.

Benefits of diversity policies

The EBTP survey revealed that the vast majority (82%) of the 495 companies that had diversity
policies are convinced of the business benefits. The case study companies were similarly
confident about the positive business outcomes of their diversity policies and thus confirmed
the EBTP survey assessment.

Companies cited the following aspects as representing the most important business benefits:

x access to a new labour pool and the likelihood of attracting and retaining high quality
personnel from diverse backgrounds;

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x resolving labour shortages;
x enhanced corporate image, reputation and standing in the local community;
x external recognition and validation by achieving awards;
x greater innovation and creativity leading to new products and services, and the opening up
of potential new markets;
x enhanced marketing opportunities by accommodating more easily the demands of their
diverse customer base, as well as improving customer services.

Further positive outcomes of diversity policies and practices at company level are:

ͻimproved communication and information-sharing channels across companies;

ͻďĞƚƚĞƌŵĂŶĂŐĞƌŝĂůƐƚLJůĞƐ͕ƐŬŝůůƐĂŶĚƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞŝŶĂƌĞĂƐƐƵĐŚĂƐĐŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƚŝŽŶ͕ƉĞŽƉůĞ
management, goal setting and planning;

ͻƌĞĚƵĐĞĚƐƚĂĨĨƚƵƌŶŽǀĞƌĂŶĚĂďƐĞŶƚĞĞŝƐŵĚƵĞƚŽƚŚĞcreation of working environments that

promote respect and inclusiveness.

The Facts on Stigma, Prejudice and Discrimination

Stigma often comes from lack of understanding or fear. Inaccurate or misleading media
representations of mental illness contribute to both those factors. A review of studies on
stigma shows that while the public may accept the medical or genetic nature of a mental health
disorder and the need for treatment, many people still have a negative view of those with
mental illness.

Researchers identify different types of stigma: (See chart below.)

x Public stigma involves the negative or discriminatory attitudes that others have about
mental illness.
x Self-stigma refers to the negative attitudes, including internalized shame, that people
with mental illness have about their own condition.
x Institutional stigma, is more systemic, involving policies of government and private
organizations that intentionally or unintentionally limit opportunities for people with
mental illness. Examples include lower funding for mental illness research or fewer
mental health services relative to other health care.

Harmful Effects of Stigma and Discrimination

Stigma and discrimination can contribute to worsening symptoms and reduced likelihood of
getting treatment. A recent extensive review of research found that self-stigma leads to
negative effects on recovery among people diagnosed with severe mental illnesses. Effects can
include:

x reduced hope
x lower self-esteem
x increased psychiatric symptoms
x difficulties with social relationships
x reduced likelihood of staying with treatment
x more difficulties at work

Some of the other harmful effects of stigma can include:

x Reluctance to seek help or treatment and less likely to stay with treatment

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 x Social isolation
x Lack of understanding by family, friends, coworkers, or others
x Fewer opportunities for work, school or social activities or trouble finding housing
x Bullying, physical violence or harassment
x Health insurance that doesn't adequately cover your mental illness treatment
x The belief that you'll never succeed at certain challenges or that you can't improve your
situation

Stigma in the Workplace

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), commonly available through employers, help employees
deal with a variety of concerns such as work-life stressors, issues affecting mental and
emotional well-being, family issues, financial concerns, relationship problems, or legal
concerns. However, the services often go unusedͶonly about 3-5% of employees use available
EAP services, according to the Center for Workplace Mental Health.

A 2019 national poll from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) found that mental health
stigma is still a major challenge in the workplace. About half of workers were concerned about
discussing mental health issues at their jobs. More than one in three were concerned about
retaliation or being fired if they sought mental health care.

Only about only about one in five workers were completely comfortable talking about mental
health issues. The poll found a generational divide: millennials were almost twice as likely as
baby boomers to be comfortable (62% vs. 32%) discussing their mental health.

Addressing Stigma

Research shows that knowing or having contact with someone with mental illness is one of the
best ways to reduce stigma. Individuals speaking out and sharing their stories can have a
positive impact. When we know someone with mental illness, it becomes less scary and more
real and relatable.

A 2016 review of research on addressing stigma concluded that efforts to reduce stigma and
discrimination can work at the personal and population levels. The strongest evidence was for
anti-stigma efforts involving contact with individuals with lived experience with mental illness
and efforts with a long-term commitment.

About 3 in 4 young teens seeking information online about depression said they were looking
for personal anecdotes from people who had suffered in the past.

Many celebrities, such as Demi Lovato, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Michael Phelps, Taraji P.
Henson and Lady Gaga have publicly shared their stories of mental health challenges and
brought the discussion much more into the general media and everyday conversation. Young
people are looking for information and for these personal stories online.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) offers some suggestions about what we can do
as individuals to help reduce the stigma of mental illness:

x Talk openly about mental health, such as sharing on social media.

x Educate yourself and others ʹ respond to misperceptions or negative comments by
sharing facts and experiences.
x Be conscious of language ʹ remind people that words matter.
x Encourage equality between physical and mental illness ʹ draw comparisons to how
they would treat someone with cancer or diabetes.

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 x Show compassion for those with mental illness.
x Be honest about treatment ʹ normalize mental health treatment, just like other health
care treatment.
x Let the media know when they are using stigmatizing language presenting stories of
mental illness in a stigmatizing way.
x Choose empowerment over shame - "I fight stigma by choosing to live an empowered
life. to me, that means owning my life and my story and refusing to allow others to
dictate how I view myself or how I feel about myself." ʹ Val Fletcher, responding on
Facebook to the question, How do you fight stigma?

Importance of Gender Sensitization in Workplaces

ĞĨŽƌĞƐƚĂƌƚŝŶŐŽĨĨǁŝƚŚǁŚĂƚƉĞƌƚĂŝŶƐƚŽŐĞŶĚĞƌƐĞŶƐŝƚŝǀŝƚLJ͕ůĞƚ͛ƐůŽŽŬat the difference between

sex and gender. Although both terms are closely related and used as synonyms, they are
actually different from each other.

According to WHO sex refers to biological and physiological characteristics that define men and
women. In simpler terms, it states the anatomy an individual is born with.

Whereas gender according to WHO refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities,
and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

A major difference between sex and gender is that sex is biologically determined, whereas an
individual chooses the gender they wish to identify as. Gender is not a binary concept but a
spectrum.

Importance of Gender sensitization in the workplace

Gender sensitization is important because representation is important. Representation of a

person and community not only advocates equality but also adds a sense of inclusion to the
previously marginalized community. For a healthy performance oriented culture, organizations
need a right mix of talent which is not bound by gender. In a world where accountability has
become important now more than ever, organizations only have today to make the changes
ƚŚĂƚĐŽƵŶƚ͕ĂƐƚŽŵŽƌƌŽǁƚŚĞLJǁŽŶ͛ƚďĞĂďůĞƚŽŚŝĚĞƵŶĚĞƌƚŚĞŐƵŝƐĞŽĨŝŐŶŽƌĂŶĐĞ͘

Every member of an organization seeks to learn and grow in their place of work, and an
insensitive workplace not only hampers that but also becomes a hostile workplace. Gender
sensitization is extremely important as it helps employees feel valued and cared for within the
organization. Lastly for the betterment of the society, organizations have an ethical
responsibility in shaping the current structures by breaking the previous norms.

Organizations that do not focus on gender sensitization have cultures where Inequality and
discrimination have become normal. The normalization of this kind of culture leads to higher
turnover, higher rate of absenteeism etc. Such a policy also propagates the existence of a
superior gender.

The concept of gender sensitivity is a way to reduce the barriers caused due to discrimination
and gender bias. Creating the right kind of gender-sensitive environment leads to mutual
respect regardless of their gender.

Implementation of Gender Sensitivity at the workplace

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Representation is at the heart of gender sensitivity. A workplace which truly believes in
encouraging talent, will promote inclusion and mutual respect irrespective of gender. The
workplace can be a consulting firm or an NGO or even an IT company, regardless of the industry
gender sensitivity plays a crucial part in it. Gender sensitivity remains the need of the hour.

There is no formal handbook in creating a gender sensitive task force; the organizations can use
the following to help them implement sensitization.

1. Gender sensitive policy and processes

Prior to implementing anything, organizations need to assess where they actually stand with
regards to gender sensitivity. Policies and procedures need to be extended to all members
regardless of their gender. Minor changes can be made in the form of introducing prepositions
in order to acknowledge and understand different genders existing in the workplace.

2. Training and awareness workshops

Gender sensitization trainings are a great way to address gender-related issues. Trainings help
inform and guide employees on appropriate ways of addressing and interacting with
colleagues, clients and partners [4]. It helps employees understand their lag or rather lack of
understanding in regards to gender-related matters.

3. Employee fit recruitment

Having a diverse workforce, helps in creating a culture of sensitivity and inclusion.

KƌŐĂŶŝnjĂƚŝŽŶƐƐŚŽƵůĚďĞĐŽŵĞĂŶ͚ĞƋƵĂůŽƉƉŽƌƚƵŶŝƚLJĞŵƉůŽLJĞƌ͕͛ǁŚĞƌĞũŽďƐĂƌĞĂǀĂŝůĂďůĞƚŽĂůů
communities.
Apart from that, induction training modules need to be created in such a way that clarifies the
importance of gender sensitivity and its importance within the organization.

4. Facilities and Infrastructure

Installing facilities which are not just bound to Cisgenders makes the workplace a safe place for
the members. This also allows the members of the organization to make themselves aware of
the existence of genders beyond what had been taught to us over the years.

5. Emphasis by top management

Top management needs to be actively involved in development and implementation of

sensitization projects and policies. Delegation of such projects should be discouraged as only a
hands on approach would allow the proper implementation of sensitization across the
organization.

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