The latest release of Fair Isaac's software platform for developing and deploying predictive models and analytic technologies enables businesses to streamline the model development process, significantly reducing the time required to analyze data, build powerful models and deploy automated, more profitable decision strategies.

Model Builder is a core component of Fair Isaac's Enterprise Decision Management (EDM) suite of solutions and technologies that enable organizations to automate, improve and connect decisions across their business. It allows analysts to quickly define and test predictive models, and deploy them to production systems without recoding by programmers. Companies can move from data analysis to effective decision management much faster than is possible using traditional modeling software.

Key technical enhancements to Model Builder 3.6 designed to provide a faster path to smarter decisions include:

• A data import wizard to accelerate the process of importing data into Model Builder's native format from a variety of common sources, including fixed-width and delimited text and SAS datasets.
• An automated dataset analysis routine that summarizes essential facts about the data to help users quickly and easily assess data quality.
• An easily configured sampling and partitioning activity that allows users to intelligently sample down large datasets, append sample weights to records, and partition data into training and testing groups, without any advanced coding.
• A scorecard creation wizard that makes building a new scorecard faster and easier than ever before, while continuing to provide users the deep flexibility they need to fine-tune model training parameters and constraints.

"As our customers expand their use of predictive models, it's critical to bring new employees up to speed quickly," said Carole-Ann Matignon, vice president of Enterprise Decision Management Technologies at Fair Isaac. "Model Builder 3.6 helps new users immediately perform hands-on modeling - helping new clients more quickly realize the value of predictive models in improving business performance - while still providing the depth and flexibility necessary for fine-tuning models and satisfying regulatory requirements of our existing customers."

The base Model Builder application provides the framework for analyzing data and deploying models. Innovations Modules including the Scorecard, Segmentation ART and Data Spiders modules integrate seamlessly with Model Builder to deliver advanced analytic technologies for building scorecard models, identifying optimal population segments for modeling, and automating the discovery of powerful predictive variables from transaction data. Predictive models can be directly deployed within Fair Isaac's Blaze Advisor business rules flows.

Model Builder offers the same model development environment Fair Isaac analytics experts use every day to build powerful custom predictive models for companies worldwide across industries, including financial services, insurance, retail, telecommunications and healthcare. Businesses can improve the efficiency and functionality of their modeling capabilities, and better leverage critical data assets to make the best decisions about their customers across the customer lifecycle, from originations and account and customer management to collections and recovery.