Business Problem Framing

Scenario:

You work for a consulting firm that is contacted by the President of a struggling university who needs help in improving their overall ranking. You are to utilize a 2020 University ranking dataset to come up with analytical models that will allow your firm to work with this university and tell them which features (ie. variables) they need to work on that will improve their overall ranking.

Dataset Overview:

The attached dataset contains the rankings of the top universities in the world, which is based on several factors such as teaching (the learning environment), research (volume, income, and reputation), citations (research influence), international outlook, and industry income (knowledge transfer).

Task:

You are to write a report addressing the President of the struggling University. Thoroughly describe the business problem and demonstrate how the problem is amenable to a business analytics solution. This is to be accomplished through the following six objectives:

1.) Obtain or receive the problem statement and usability requirements

• A business problem statement generally starts by describing a business opportunity or threat, or an issue in broad terms.

• One popular way to frame a business opportunity or problem is to obtain reliable information on the five W’s: who, what, where, when, and why. 

- Who: are the stakeholders who satisfy one or more of the following with respect to the project: funding, using, creating, or affected by the project’s outcome. 

-What: problem/function is the project meant to solve/perform? 

-Where: does the problem occur? Or where does the function need to be performed? Are the physical and spatial characteristics articulated? 

-When: does the problem occur, or function need to be performed? When does the project need to be completed? 

-Why: does the problem occur, or function need to occur?

2.) Identify stakeholders

• Stakeholders are anyone affected by the project, not just those in the initial meetings, and they may have different levels of input or involvement during the project.

• A stakeholder analysis helps identify the following:

-    The interests of all stakeholders, who may affect or be affected by the project, along with their constraints/restrictions.

-    Potential issues that could disrupt the project.

-    Key people for information distribution during execution phase.

-    Groups that should be encouraged to participate in different stages of the project.

-    Communication planning and stakeholder management strategies during the project planning phase.

-    Ways to reduce potential negative impacts and manage negative stakeholders.

3.) Determine whether the problem is amenable to an analytics solution 

• Within the organization’s control?

• Does the data exist or can it be produced?

• Can the problem be solved or modeled?

• Can the organization accept and deploy (ie. bring into action) the answer?

4.) Refine the problem statement and delineate constraints

• It may be necessary to refine the problem statement to make it more accurate, more appropriate to the stakeholders, or more amenable to available analytic tools/methods.

• Define what constraints the project will operate under. These constraints could be analytical, financial, or political in nature

• In some cases, a problem may need to be restated with fewer constraints and/or a less complex objective function. This may cause the problem statement to be updated to make sure that the approach will satisfy.

5.) Define an initial set of business benefits 

• Can either be qualitative or quantitative (ie. financial or contractual) 

• An initial determination of the financial benefit due to optimal use of resources should be determined along with an initial view of the required project goals determined.

- identify current problem, and goal to resolve that problem and achieve benefits

- identify key drivers/variables to success

- identify a possible plan to address the problem

 6.) Obtain stakeholder agreement on the business problem statement

• Stakeholder concurrence may not come immediately. The problem statement and potential benefits may need to be adjusted a number of times before the stakeholders come to an agreement on the project’s objectives, initial approach, and resources to get there.

world-university-rank-2020.csv