BROUGHT TO YOU BY, THE ROTARACT CLUBS OF UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA AND FACULTY OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF COLOMBO

It is no secret that the world has become smarter and faster with the emergence of Data and Advanced Analytics. Exploring data with advanced tools and techniques is a valuable strategy in today’s world.

What is ‘Data and Advanced Analytics’?

A large and unstructured set of data is called big data, and this high volume and variety of data can be utilized to solve real-life business challenges that analysts were unable to explain before. Analyzing this data can reveal hidden patterns, correlations, and other insights that can be used to provide better customer experience, increase productivity, reduce expenses, as well as easier detection of errors and fraud.

The impact of advanced analysis on society will increase in the future. Even so, it was discovered that many people in society, including undergraduates, lack a complete understanding of this, and even those with experience have few opportunities to put their knowledge into practice and develop their skills.  Therefore, the Rotaract Clubs of University of Moratuwa and Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, organized the platform ‘Data Storm’ powered by OCTAVE, the John Keells Group Data and Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence, to groom young, talented advanced analytics enthusiasts.

What is OCTAVE?

OCTAVE, the John Keells Group Data and Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence, is the cornerstone of the Group’s data-driven decision making. 

OCTAVE was born in response to the need for finding new ways to revolutionize strategic and operational decision-making in the John Keells Group by augmenting human ingenuity with the power of data and algorithms. 

OCTAVE hopes to build a World-Class Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence to support the seven industry verticals of the John Keells Group to derive the most value from data, supported by a global consulting firm.  

Data Storm is an Advanced Analytics Competition organized for the second consecutive year. It was launched with the aim of giving young analytical minds a chance to exhibit their skills in the field of Data Analytics, as well as giving industry experts a chance to observe and assess the participants’ potential. The competition is open to university undergraduates and industry professionals under the age of 28. Registration for teams was opened on the 19th of February 2021 and a total of 70 teams from across the country signed up for the competition.

The competition took place in five phases.

Phase 1 – Introductory Webinar Series

Data Storm 2.0, which lasted about a month and a half, started with a series of introductory webinars on Zoom and Facebook Live, offering an introduction to Data Science, especially for those who are passionate towards data. The first webinar of the series, held on the 19th of February 2021, was conducted by Dr. Rajitha Navarathna, Principal Data Scientist of OCTAVE – John Keells Group, under the topic of ‘Machine Learning practices in Data Analytics’. The second introductory webinar was conducted by Dr. Shehan Perera, Senior Lecturer at University of Moratuwa, on ‘Skills that a person needs to foster to become a Data Scientist’ and the third webinar by Dr. Charith Peris, Research Scientist on Alexa AI at Amazon, on ‘Data-driven business decision making in the modern world’ on 20th and 21st February 2021, respectively. The webinars were open to the public.

Phase 2 – Masterclass 1.0

Master class 1.0 was an exclusive webinar conducted for the registered teams, and even amidst the pandemic, a satisfying number of teams registered for the competition. As the team members were eagerly waiting, Dr. Rajitha Navarathne kickstarted the session along with Asanga Gunewardena and Dinusha Dissanayake – Data Scientists from OCTAVE. It was an informative couple of hours covering a broad range of topics including data processing, exploratory data analysis, data visualization, data classification, and data evaluation. The session was a success and we received great feedback from both the team members as well as the public. 

Phase 3 – Storming Round

Storming Round was held from 11th to 14th March 2021 on the Kaggle platform where young data & business analysts developed solutions to the given case study within 4 days. Teams were asked to prepare a report comprising their overall work during the competition round and the results obtained by them. 43 teams provided submissions and the reports were evaluated by an independent panel of judges. Points were given based on the effectiveness and accuracy of the model. The 15 teams with the highest scores moved on to the final round.

Phase 4 – Masterclass 2.0

After a very competitive Storming Round, Masterclass 2.0 was just what our talented finalists needed to ask questions from a talented board of panellists. It was an interactive session where Dr. Rajitha Navarathne, emphasized the tips and tricks to tackle the final round of Data Storm 2.0. Thiraj Silva, Data Scientist, OCTAVE – John Keells Group and Shashini Gregory, Visualisation Analyst, OCTAVE – John Keells Group, discussed data visualization techniques and highlighted exploratory data analysis attributes. The session addressed the concerns of the finalists, who received prompt answers from the guest speakers elaborating on the expectations of the panel of judges.

Phase 5 – Final Round

The final round of the competition was held on 27th and 28th March and consisted of a 14-hour long Case Study following a Viva Round and a Business Pitch. The case was sent to the finalists on 27th of March 2021 to complete the challenge by arriving at a creative and viable solution accompanied by a full report. Based on the approaches and solutions presented through the case study and the Viva Round, 5 teams were selected for the presentation round by a jury made up of specialists in the field. Accordingly, teams Alphazero, Botz.TND, Mal Kekulu, Randomforestrangers and Wanderers had the opportunity to move on to the Business Pitch, after displaying their Advanced Analytisc skills throughout the journey of Data Storm 2.0.

After showing an immense passion for Advanced Analytics, Team ‘Botz.TND’ was named the Champions of ‘Data Storm 2.0’ while Team ‘Randomforestrangers’ and Team ‘Wanderers’ secured First Runners Up and Second Runners Up respectively. 

The winners were awarded cash prizes and will be accelerated through the recruiting process of OCTAVE, gaining the opportunity to embark on an enriching and exciting career.

 “Without big data analytics, companies are blind and deaf, wandering out onto the web like deer on a freeway.”

• Geoffrey Moore    –

The event ended with a resounding success sending the message to the world that Data Science-enabled innovation and technology can be an enormous strength in each discipline. Data Storm will continue to provide valuable opportunities to the budding Data Scientists of Sri Lanka in the coming years, and we are looking forward to seeing you at Data Storm 3.0!