COURSES > ANALYTICS

Understanding Forecasting and Trends

Gain the Confidence to Analyse Data

Previously Chaired by
Branko Pecar

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All of our training courses can be tailored specifically for your team or organisation and presented at your offices, at another suitable location or virtually.


Overview

The ability to forecast and analyse trends effectively can improve performance and service delivery through better decision making. Analysing and interpreting statistical information is the basis for successful public services.

This Understanding Forecasting and Trends course will give attendees the confidence to make more effective decisions, based on data reports. Delegates will learn how to; confidently identify and predict trends, meaningfully interpret data and gain the skills to be able to apply the right forecasting technique for your needs.

Take part in this highly interactive and practical workshop using Excel spreadsheets, practical examples, interactive learning tasks, and theory.

Please note that it is advised to have 2 screens or 1 large screen when taking part.

Statistic Consultant

Branko spent most of his career working for Emerson, a global and one of the largest process control equipment manufacturing corporations. His last position was VP Educational Services. In the past, he also lectured at the University of Gloucestershire in several subjects, including quantitative methods and applications of Excel.

He published a series of books in statistics with a variety of publishers, such as McGraw Hill, Oxford University Press and Amazon. Almost all of these books are based around applying a variety of sophisticated methods using the simplest Excel syntax.

Branko Pecar

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand how you can forecast trends

  • Learn how forecasting and trends can improve the performance of your organisation

  • Confidently interpret data in the most meaningful way

  • Learn how to effectively forecast to help make more effective business decisions

  • Examine trends that may impact your organisation





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Agenda

09:25 - 09:30 Registration

09:30 - 09:45 Trainer’s Welcome and Clarification of Learning Objectives

  • The purpose and challenges of forecasting

  • Mitigate the uncertainties that the future brings

  • Relationship with planning and decision making

09:45 - 10:45 Workshop 1: Understanding the language of forecasting

  • Different average values

  • How to make estimates

  • Randomness

  • Stationarity

  • Linearity

  • Periodicity and Seasonality

  • Forecasting horizon

  • Accuracy and Precision

  • Forecasting errors and error metrics

  • Prediction interval

10:45 - 11:00 Morning Break

11:00 - 11:30 Workshop 2: How to choose the right technique

  • The purpose and objectives

  • Identify patterns in data

  • Understand the rules of forecasting

  • How do you know that you’ve made the right choice

11:30 - 13:00 Workshop 3: Correlation and Regression

  • Graphs and charting variables

  • Establish correlation between variables

  • Conduct regression analysis

  • Simple prediction interval

13:00 - 14:00 Lunch

14:00 - 14:45 Workshop 4: Trending

  • Use Excel to generate trends

  • Extrapolate trends

  • Measure the quality of your trends (accuracy and precision)

  • What to do with short-term forecasts? Introduction to Moving Averages (MA)


14:45 - 15:00 Afternoon Break

15:00 - 16:00 Workshop 5: Handling seasonality

  • Introduction to exponential smoothing

  • Use Solver to optimise forecasts

  • Understand and apply the embedded Excel ETS method

16:00 - 16:15 Feedback, Evaluation & Close

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    “This course provided an excellent understanding of how to write effectively and why it is important to do so.”

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    “I would really recommend the course. Sue is a fantastic trainer and the day passed by far too quickly. Lots of helpful resources to take away, also very impressed with the smooth transition to online learning. Thank you!

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    “I have learned a great deal with many tips and ideas to enable to improve the authority’s reports”

  • Effective Business Process Mapping: Internal Quality and Improvement Officer, Social Work England

    “It was a fun course to take a part in. There was a lot of information given, and it was done in an engaging way with lots of interactivity, even over zoom. i really enjoyed the course and learned lots from it.”

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