2023 MSBA Capstone Projects
Author: Bryan Fields
MSBA capstone projects give students hands-on experience and companies actionable strategies
Students at the end of the one-year Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program put their skills to work in capstone projects where they help companies with real-world challenges. 2023’s students teamed with sponsors from manufacturing to sports analytics to deliver strategies that companies are eager to put into action to leverage opportunities and boost profits.
Hoosier Crane Service Company
Clare Delaplane, Trey Wertz, Will Mercer, Jared Smith, Aidan Tyrell
One team helped an Elkhart-based crane manufacturer and servicer optimize its data collection to aid in estimating and marketing. Members included fifth year graduate students and ND athletes Will Mercer, baseball, Aidan Tyrell, baseball, Trey Wertz, basketball, and Jared Smith, fencing, along with Villanova alumna and ND volleyball player Clare Delaplane. Hoosier Crane wasn’t sure how to use its Google Analytics data. Members united the company’s data into a consistent pipeline, recommended aligning seasonal marketing campaigns to the timing of customer spending, and surveyed customer satisfaction. Members praised the valuable experience they gained. “Actually helping a real company and giving them insights into their business was exciting to be a part of,” Delaplane said. “Communicating to a group to explain our findings and our insights was something I developed more skill in,” Smith said.
ND Athletics ticketing
Carter Putz, Josh Lugg, Brooks Coetzee, Sean Ford
A second team developed insights to help ND maximize football ticket revenue. Members included fifth-year ND graduate students and athletes Brooks Coetzee and Carter Putz, baseball, Josh Lugg, football, and senior Sean Ford. Limited ticketing department staff weren’t able to scour data for customer trends in the secondary market, including StubHub. The team created a dynamic pricing model that uses variables such as sports betting activity, weather, an opponent’s record, and more to set prices right the first time to increase sales. “Baseball players don’t get much opportunity for summer internships,” Putz said. “This is the first time we could get firsthand, real-world experience working with clients.” Coetzee said he developed as a professional, and as a person. “I value seeing how much I’ve grown. Tackling an open-ended question, having to work together as a team, bouncing ideas off one another.”
American City Business Journals (ACBJ)
Andrew Kristofic, DJ Brown, Ally Archer, Pierson Cooke, Nick Leivermann
A third team worked to help a publisher understand how to draw more subscribers. The team consisted of fifth-year ND graduate students Andrew Kristofic, and athletes DJ Brown, football, and Nick Leivermann, hockey, along with Vanderbilt alumnus Pierson Cooke and ND senior Ally Archer, ND football equipment manager. ACBJ publishes local business news for 44 markets in the U.S. The team studied what factors moved nonsubscribers to register. Archer was challenged by cleaning 56 million rows of data. “I got to use a supercomputer so gained a lot of technical skills. It’s what you’ll see in the real world.” Josh Roten, ACBJ senior director of commerce and on-site marketing, was impressed by the team’s performance. “More than just the quality of the work but the quality of the effectiveness. I walked away with a product that I will continue to get actionable outcomes from.”
Dentsu Sports Analytics
Jack Zyska, Nate Laszewski, MacKenzie Wood, Ryan Dahnke, Maurice Williams
A fourth team helped an analytics company with sports portfolio optimization — finding the right team sponsorship and the most effective marketing efforts. Members included fifth-year ND graduate students Jack Zyska, baseball player, and Nate Laszewski, basketball player; soccer players Maurice Williams, Seton Hall graduate, and MacKenzie Wood, Northwestern graduate; and ND senior Ryan Dahnke. The team performed a market gap and sports sponsorship analysis in major league soccer to identify opportunities for a brand to find a team that was a better fit. Dan Banas, Dentsu director of data science and sports/sponsorship analytics, said he can use the team’s work right away and for more than just soccer. “What these students built is immediately actionable in a business environment on a grand scale,” he said. “We can now sample market effectiveness and it opens up new opportunities across all sports.”
Learn more about how the MSBA program prepares students early for success.
