Data Spark means Intelligent Analytics

The Data Spark programme, run by Imperial Business Analytics, brings together teams of Imperial College students with companies to work on data-analytics focused problems of strategic importance. In this article, Adrien Talbot (MSc Business Analytics) writes about his experience in the team Jaga Data Spark. Using advanced data analysis techniques, the team worked with KPMG and a global energy company to create an optimisation tool which will improve operational efficiencies and commercial performance for the company in relation to their gas allocation model.            

‘Last month before the world faced the coronavirus pandemic, team Jaga #JagaDataSpark20 celebrated the end of their successful Data Spark project. The project lasted an intensive nine weeks and culminated in a final presentation to the company CFO. It was a one-of-a-kind working experience which allowed students from the MSc Business Analytics programme at Imperial College to develop their analytics skills while working on a real-life problem faced by a client in the Oil & Gas industry. It was an enriching experience: the student team had the opportunity to work with industry experts from the client side and experienced consultants from KPMG. The team also had the chance to put into use the knowledge they acquired during their studies in order to improve upon a tool used in day-to-day operations of the client. To do so, the students developed an optimisation model and built a user interface to show and analyse inputs and outputs of the model in an interactive way. Using such visualized tool, the client is now able to improve the decision making process and the team is enabled to focus on additional value adding work.

The main challenge in successfully completing the project was the in-depth understanding required of the client’s business model and the energy industry as a whole. The student team had the chance to demo the optimisation model and present the exploratory data analysis findings in a well-regarded final presentation to a wide audience including client executives. The success of the project was not only a result of the students’ hard work who had to simultaneously combine both studies and their commitment to the project, but also of the amazing support they received from professionals working at KPMG and the client, who constantly made themselves available. Another significant factor was the access to academic resources available in the Imperial community.

As Data Spark’s mission consists of allowing business leaders to leverage academics from one of the world’s top universities while at the same time allowing students to benefit from an exceptional learning environment, this year’s collaboration was without a doubt a real success.’