Analytics can serve as a powerful tool that can be applied to a host of diverse fields, and yield important insights that can spur developments and improvements in areas of national interest.
During a recently held turn-over ceremony, SAS Philippines SAS donated papers that participated in the 2014 SAS Academic Conference Call for Papers Competition to select government agencies.
“SAS Philippines hopes that the papers will encourage the government to take advantage of analytics-based research in furthering their development policies and agenda. We believe that by being open to the concept of data analytics, our public servants can be better equipped to improve the life of Juan dela Cruz,” said SAS Pacific Regional Director Sonny Halili.
Among the donated researches are top placing papers of UP Los Banos (UPLB) professor Aizobelle Huelgas entitled “Saving Lives, Changing Lives Using SAS Predictive Analytics” and of the UPLB student team of Micah de Chavez, Angelyn Managhaya and Ian Dominic Nuestro called “Predicting the Currency Exchange Rate of US Dollars and Philippine Pesos Leveraging on Big Data Coming from Google Trends.”
Huelgas’ paper dealt with forecasting the pattern of supply-and-demand for healthcare professionals and clinical supplies in medical institutions to allow providers to effectively allocate manpower and resources.
“Apart from reducing human losses due to the lack of health professionals and medical resources available for life-threatening situations, the study also aims to improve the working conditions of physicians and nurses by avoiding inadequate staffing schedules and extremely long work hours through effective allocation,” said Huelgas.
On the other hand, the students’ paper is of significant interest for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families, and the finance industry in general. It seeks to predict the currency exchange rate between the US dollar and the Philippine peso at a given time by utilizing data gathered in Google Trends.
“Apart from benefiting our OFWs for obvious reasons, this study can help economists and financial analysts predict the performance of both currencies and introduce measures that can dampen the effects of a negative exchange rate. This is proof that even readily available data from the Internet can be used to make accurate predictions,” de Chavez said.
Huelgas’ paper was donated to National Kidney and Transplant Institute, which was represented by Dr. Zenaida Antonio, Deputy Executive Director for Administrative Services. Meanwhile, the students’ paper was given to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), which was represented by Josephine Tobia, OIC of the Planning & Program Development Division.
Tobia expressed her agency’s appreciation for the donated paper, noting that it will help them enhance their policy program. “Through this Call for Papers competition and the turnover, SAS is filling the gap for much-needed research in the Philippine government. We hope that they [SAS] continue to contribute to nation building efforts through this.”
According to Halili, the donated papers were a product of the first Call for Papers competition in the country and in the entire Southeast Asian region. They were submitted by faculty members and students of SAS Academic Program Partners and focused on a variety of topics, highlighting the flexibility that analytics offers in extrapolating insights from big data in a short span of time.
From agriculture, foreign exchange, finance, tourism and healthcare, the papers examined trends and patterns and came up with analytical tools that can help decision makers in arriving at better-informed and timely choices.
