Data mining, as should be very plain to any reader by now, is not simply concerned with applying either algorithms or mining tools to a data set, and then standing back and waiting for magic to happen. First and foremost, data mining helps to solve those types of business problems that require insight and action based on collected data. Acquiring the required insight and taking action does require applying algorithms to data in the form of mining tools. But crucial to the whole endeavor is that it takes the intelligent and knowledgeable application of those tools to data to achieve meaningful results. This chapter delves into how to decide which tools to use, how to handle the data with those tools, and what precautions to take to make sure that the model will work so that it provides the needed real-world insight, classification, or prediction.

In this chapter, practical examples focus mainly on one data set, which is explored in some detail using a number of methods. An interested reader can duplicate most of the example explorations. The data set used here is available on the author's Web site www.modelandmine.com, and no-charge evaluation versions of the tools used (available from the individual vendors) are sufficient to duplicate many of the explorations and models. In addition, the Web site includes various worksheets in an Excel workbook that contains some of the results demonstrated. Also, some of the actual models created to get the results shown and discussed in this chapter...