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You walk into the grocery store, and the item you need is out of stock. Frustrating, right?
Retailers must predict what millions of people want every day at every location. Despite the challenge, the stakes are high: Out-of-stock items frustrate consumers, and overstocked inventory is wasteful and costly.
Enter forecasting. Forecasting, generally, refers to the process of making predictions based on past data. Modern forecasting is much more complex – but also much more effective – than making guesses based on intuitive patterns. With machine learning (ML), businesses can make intelligent predictions informed by data at an exponentially larger scale than humans could otherwise consume and understand.
Modern forecasting has many use cases, and businesses can benefit from better predicting the future. In this article, we've gathered a list of courses professionals can take to learn about modern forecasting so that they can help businesses make better decisions.
Course: Predict Future Product Prices Using Facebook Prophet
Best for: Intermediate learners
Price: $9.99
Time to complete: 2 hours
Flexible schedule: Yes
Prerequisites: No
Accredited: No
Learners looking for a short, hands-on, guided experience may find this course appealing. The content focuses on Facebook Prophet, a time series forecasting tool. Though the course page doesn't list any prerequisites, professionals familiar with the relevant basics, such as Python, will likely find it more rewarding.
Ryan Ahmed teaches the course. Ahmed comes from a primarily academic background, having obtained a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from McMaster University and published over 20 papers on AI and ML.
This course is part of Coursera's Guided Project series, which offers learners project-based courses that guide them through learning and implementing new knowledge.
Coursera provides a workspace that runs in learners' browsers, meaning they don't have to download anything. Plus, a split-screen video setup allows learners to work on one screen and receive step-by-step instructions on the other.
After completing the hour-long course, learners will know how to use Facebook's time series forecasting tool Prophet.
Like other Coursera courses, this course does not offer much in the way of networking opportunities. Additionally, the course page notes that it works best for learners who live in North America – further limiting networking.
The course costs $9.99. Given the relatively low cost and short time commitment, employers might be interested in funding this course to complement other online courses listed here – especially if the Facebook Prophet tool suits the company's needs.
Coursera does offer a certificate for those who complete the course, but Coursera is not an accredited institution. So the certification is not recognized by a third party.
Course: Demand Forecasting
Best for: Beginners
Price: $19.99
Time to complete: 8 hours
Flexible schedule: Yes
Prerequisites: No
Accredited: No
The only course on our list without prerequisites, "Demand Forecasting" is designed for two types of learners:
Udemy is unclear about who the course instructor is. An organization called Maxus Knowledge offers the course, and according to their website, their goal is to "become the one-stop shop for supply chain management, operations management, and financial management education."
On the Udemy course page, Maxus Knowledge describes the instructor, without naming them, as having "expertise in operations management" because they have been "working in this field for the last 10 years."
The course consists of 8 hours of on-demand video content across 28 lectures. The course covers the basics of demand forecasting, including content about simple moving averages and weighted moving averages, and more advanced, practical content about seasonal influence and linear regression. Every new topic is paired with an example.
Like other courses from online course marketplaces, Udemy does not facilitate networking opportunities.
The course costs $19.99, but sales have lowered the price to $9.99.
Udemy offers learners a certificate of completion, but Udemy is not accredited.
Course: Demand Forecasting Using Time Series
Best for: Intermediate ML users
Price: $39 per month
Time to complete: 9 hours
Flexible schedule: Yes
Prerequisites: Yes
Accredited: No
This course is designed for learners with an intermediate level of experience in ML. Before taking the course, learners should have a basic understanding of Python, Pandas, and Numpy.
Two instructors teach the course: Rajvir Dua and Neelesh Tiruviluamala.
Dua is a teaching and research assistant in data science, and he consults with startups. Tiruviluamala is a math professor who has offered ML-related consulting services for over a decade.
Through nine hours of asynchronous video lectures, learners will build up their knowledge from basic concepts about time series to deepening their understanding of demand prediction. At the end, learners will build a project using ARIMA models in Python, giving them hands-on experience building a tool for demand prediction.
The course includes a couple of quizzes per video lecture. If learners want to extend their knowledge further, they can take the other three courses in this series:
Like other Coursera courses, networking opportunities are scant, but that might be fine for learners looking for a lower-cost option.
The course costs $39 per month.
Coursera does offer certification for learners who complete the program, but Coursera is not accredited. So, the reputation of this certificate might not be as strong as others on this list.
Course: Practical Time Series Analysis
Best for: Intermediate learners
Price: $49
Time to complete: 26 hours
Flexible schedule: Yes
Prerequisites: No
Accredited: No
The course is designed for so-called "accidental" data scientists, meaning it's built for practitioners who might be trained in science, business, or engineering but frequently confront data problems they don't have the experience or skills to figure out.
The course page notes that it's designed for learners with "some technical competencies." Still, the course material includes basic statistics and installing R on Windows and Mac computers.
Two instructors teach the course: Tural Sadigov and William Thistleton. Both teach at the State University of New York – Sadigov as a lecturer and Thistleton as an associate professor.
Sadigov comes to the course with over seven years of experience designing and teaching data science and applied mathematics. Thistleton also comes from a primarily academic- and research-based background. However, he has consulted with numerous companies to develop new pricing models and ways to optimize business processes.
The course takes about 26 hours to complete. Learners access four weeks of content, with 3-5 hours of video lectures each week. Lectures also come with supporting written material and quizzes.
By the end of the course, learners will be familiar with an array of concepts necessary for time series analysis, such as stationarity, invertibility, and duality. Learners will also learn about partial autocorrelation and apply many concepts the course introduced to real-world datasets.
As with other Coursera courses, learners looking for networking opportunities might be disappointed. None are available.
The course costs $49.
Coursera does offer a shareable certification for learners that complete the course, but Coursera is not accredited.
Course: Specialized Models: Time Series and Survival Analysis
Best for: Intermediate learners
Price: $49
Time to complete: 11 hours
Flexible schedule: Yes
Prerequisites: Yes
Accredited: No
Aspiring data scientists who want an introduction to ML and hands-on experience with time series analysis and survival analysis will benefit most from this course. However, learners must be familiar with Python and have a basic grasp of data cleaning, data analysis, calculus, probability, and statistics.
Two instructors teach the course: Mark J. Grover and Miguel Maldonado.
Grover works on the Data and AI Learning team at IBM, where he develops and teaches courses. His background includes academic experience at Cape Fear Community College and practical experience in computer sales and services. Maldonado is an ML instructor and teaches courses on supervised ML and deep learning.
The course takes four weeks to complete, and each week includes 8-13 videos and multiple readings and quizzes. Learners can set the course and quiz schedule according to their needs.
By the end of the course, learners will be able to explain important concepts related to time series analysis — such as seasonality and residuals — and how autoregressive and ARIMA models work. Unlike other courses, this course appears to focus more on theoretical than practical knowledge. It might be less valuable than other courses on this list for learners looking for immediate applicability.
Coursera does not facilitate significant networking opportunities, so learners interested in building their networks via a course should look elsewhere.
The course costs $49.
Coursera provides a certificate for learners who complete the course, but Coursera is not accredited.
Course: Supply Chain: Demand Planning (Sales Forecasting and S&OP)
Best for: Beginners
Price: $99.99
Time to complete: 2 hours
Flexible schedule: Yes
Prerequisites: Yes
Accredited: No
Udemy designed the course for beginner and intermediate learners, so the prerequisites are light. All learners need is basic knowledge of Microsoft Excel formulas. The course will benefit those interested in demand planning and people who prefer learning step-by-step.
Yasin Bin Abdul Quader teaches the course.
Quader is an operating and planning consultant who's worked in numerous roles and industries for almost two decades in supply chain management. Quader currently consults with a NASQ consultancy firm and has worked with leading manufacturers and Sealy Mattress.
The course consists of two hours of on-demand video lectures and one article. Exercises in Microsoft Excel are "plug-and-play." If you're working with an ERP system in a professional capacity, you will be able to easily compare the information in this course to the information in an ERP system.
Udemy, because it is primarily a course marketplace, does not offer networking opportunities.
The course costs $99.99, but sales have sometimes lowered the price to $11.99.
Udemy offers learners who complete the course a certificate of completion, but Udemy is not accredited.
Course: Modern Forecasting in Practice
Best for: Data scientists and business analysts
Price: $700
Time to complete: 10 hours
Flexible schedule: Yes
Prerequisites: Yes
Accredited: Yes
Course completers will be able to make predictions that companies can use to optimize business processes and be able to persuade non-technical audiences of the accuracy of these predictions.
To succeed in this course, learners should be familiar with:
Two instructors teach the course: Tim Januschowski and Jan Gasthaus.
Januschowski is the Director of Pricing Platform at Zalando SE, requiring him to use forecasting to predict demand to set prices. Before Zalando, Januschowski led a team in AWS's AI division, where he and his team made multiple impactful AI services.
Gasthaus is a Principal Machine Learning Scientist at Amazon. At Amazon AWS AI Labs, he's been able to work on some of the largest time series prediction problems the industry has ever faced. And before this position, he used forecasting across a series of other Amazon projects, including AWS capacity planning, workforce planning, and price forecasting.
The live, online course course consists of five live sessions, each two hours long, across three weeks. Learners get lifetime access to recordings of the sessions, as well as to the other resources used in the course. This course also offers optional take-home assignments, which can help learners further engage with the instructor and the other learners.
People who take this course get lifetime access to a growing community of professionals who also took the course. Learners can interact via the Sphere platform and learn from each other as well as from the instructors. As a result, people who've taken Sphere courses have been able to extend their professional networks and have even found their next job opportunities.
This course costs $700 per seat, and we encourage learners to expense the course to their learning and development department. Employers who cover the cost will gain employees who can better predict how the world around the business will change, informing better decision-making.
Sphere is accredited by the Continuing Professional Development Standards Office, so learners will receive a certificate to add to their resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and future cover letters.
A wide range of online forecasting courses is available. Find the best one for you by considering your skill level and what you need from the experience: new skills? new knowledge? new contacts?
If you're a beginner, the Udemy Demand Forecasting course might be a good option, but if you're already a reasonably experienced practitioner, the Sphere course is likely best. Similarly, if you're interested in learning a broad range of skills, you should consider taking a few courses. If you're interested in a particular tool, the Coursera course focusing on Facebook's Prophet tool might be best.
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