J. SARGEANT REYNOLDS ADOPTS SPSS DM CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

Recognizing the competitive edge data mining provides to businesses that need to better understand patterns in customer behavior and business activity, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond, Va., will offer the SPSS Certified Data Mining Professional program (CDMP) in summer of 2001. The CDMP curriculum, developed by SPSS BI, a division of SPSS, is founded on the CRoss Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) methodology, and teaches the critical skills necessary to conduct successful data mining initiatives. The curriculum features practical hands-on training using various SPSS software.

The college sponsored a no-charge data mining forum to give potential students a glimpse at data mining and its capabilities. Confirmed attendees include people ranging from data analysts to company presidents and representing a diverse sample of commercial industries as well as government and education organizations.

"J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College's Institute for Workforce Development is committed to providing our community with the business and technology skills required to compete in today's high-technology marketplace," said S. A. Burnette, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College president. "Local business managers have confirmed what the international reports are saying: Data mining is rapidly becoming a requisite business activity. If you have a thorough and detailed profile of your customers, you will more easily be able to satisfy their needs. This knowledge will also save you money by reducing unnecessary marketing and identifying ineffective product lines."

"Organizations in every industry are discovering the necessity of mining their data for better business understanding," said Fiona McKenna, SPSS public sector marketing manager. "J. Sargeant Reynolds and other schools like it realize that in order to meet this critical need, institutions of higher education must produce analytically trained graduates to extract this information from the huge amounts of data most organizations already collect."

The CDMP curriculum teaches the critical skills necessary to conduct successful data mining initiatives in such industries as manufacturing, health care, retail, higher education and insurance/financial services. Using a variety of SPSS BI software products, including Clementine and AnswerTree, the certificate program will train students in the following areas:

• Data mining - introduction to the major steps involved in the data mining process;
• Data modeling - course designed to introduce, explain, compare and contrast the major modeling methods used in data mining;
• AnswerTree - hands-on course teaches basic decision tree analysis methods and use of AnswerTree software;
• Data analysis - training in the basics of data definition, data analysis and results presentation;
• Data preparation - lecture course reviewing the considerations relevant when addressing business research questions with data mining.

The objective of the CDMP is to establish national competencies in data mining. The certification offers employers assurance that those completing course and lab work from a college or university involved in the CDMP have been trained in the necessary data mining skills established by the industry standard CRISP-DM methodology. In addition to the strong focus on a data mining methodology, participants will receive instruction and evaluation in data analysis as well as in-depth software training. Upon completion of the CRISP-DM assessment and three application/software certificates, participants will be awarded a continuing education certificate recognizing them as a "Certified Data Mining Professional."

About CRISP-DM

CRISP-DM is a comprehensive data mining methodology and process model created by a consortium of industry experts. The CRISP-DM model makes large data mining projects faster, more efficient and less costly by enabling users to take advantage of an already-proven process. It offers step-by-step direction, tasks and objectives for every stage of the process, including business understanding, data understanding, data preparation, modeling, evaluation and deployment. CRISP-DM began as a European Commission-funded project for defining a standard process model for carrying out data mining projects. SPSS Inc. joined NCR, DaimlerChrysler and OHRA on the initiative in January 1999, after acquiring consortium member Integral Solutions Limited (ISL).

About SPSS Inc

SPSS Inc enables organizations to develop more profitable customer relationships by providing analytical solutions that discover what customers want and predict what they will do. The company delivers analytical solutions at the intersection of customer relationship management and business intelligence. SPSS analytical solutions integrate and analyze market, customer and operational data in key vertical markets worldwide including: telecommunications, health care, banking, finance, insurance, manufacturing, retail, consumer packaged goods, market research and the public sector.

Headquartered in Chicago, SPSS has more than 40 offices, over 1300 employees and 2000 pro forma revenues of $198 million. The company also has received the following honors: No. 77 on Forbes 2000 list of the "200 Best Small Companies" and No. 12 on the 2000 DM Review 100; placed No. 16 on the 2000 Softletter 100, a ranking of the top 100 personal computer software companies in the United States; and No. 115 in the 2000 Software 500, a ranking of the world's largest software vendors by Software Magazine; listed on Working Mother magazine's "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" for 2000. For more information, visit www.spss.com.

About J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College

J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College is the youngest and third largest of twenty-three community colleges in Virginia. The college's No. 1 goal is to provide its students with the skills they need to succeed in a competitive workplace. The college has three campuses serving residents in the City of Richmond and the counties of Henrico, Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan and Louisa. Four Workforce Development Centers are located in Downtown Richmond, the North Run Business Park on Parham Road, the Innsbrook Center off Nuckols Road and the Richmond Times-Dispatch facility in Hanover County.

Contact SPSS Inc, Susan Kalell, 800-525-4980, pr@spss.com or J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Malcolm T. Holmes, 804-371-3231, mholmes@jsr.cc.va.us.