Getting started

Recently, Stephen Archut, who has held the position of Product Marketing Manager, IBM Watson Analytics, indicated that the key capabilities of Watson Analytics include:

• Automated data discovery
• Exploration
• Guided predictive analytics
• Recommended visualizations
• Dashboard creation
• Visual storytelling

Further, he has said that these are all activities that business users perform on a daily basis and that Watson Analytics can accelerate. He also explained that Watson solutions aim to enhance, scale, and accelerate human expertise, targeting a wide range of complex challenges in the world today. Watson Analytics itself will understand, perceive, and relate information at a human level for your business problems, combining analytical insights with your expertise and experience to improve everyday decisions.

With these remarks in mind, we can get started with our project. Typically, one starts with understanding the need or objective (for doing the project). This was stated in the previous section. After that, a review of the fields available in your data is in order:

• Run date: The date the trip began/started
• Pickup/Drop locations: Where the customer was picked up and dropped off (drop-off could be different from the pickup location)
• Primary and secondary destinations: What the planned destinations were
• Vehicle type: The type of vehicle used for the trip
• Event type: For example, was this an athletic event, a wedding, a corporate event, and so on
• Whether or not the trip was an overnighter: If the driver and vehicle returned on the same day
• A tip grade: Not an amount, simply an indication of whether the customer tipped the driver an amount that was consistent with the cost and effort of the service and vehicle involved
• Customer type: Whether they were a new customer, referral, or existing
• Guide: If a tour guide was included in the trip
• Issues: Did any unplanned events occur on the trip—such as an accident or illness?
• Type of payment: Was payment paid through an invoice, check, or credit card