6 Best Forecasting Courses For Beginners in 2024

Coursesity Team

Oct 7, 2024 • 6 min read

Forecasting is the process of estimating future events. This type of forecast can be made by analyzing prior data and comparing it to the present. According to the blog, forecasting is the process of projecting future events.

This type of forecast can be made by analyzing prior data and comparing it to the present. Forecasts enable businesses to set budgets or plan for anticipated expenses in the next year.

Keeping this in mind, here at Coursesity, we have curated some of the Best beginner's guides for you to learn forecasting courses with certification. Hope that you will find the best course for you to learn how to unlock new possibilities and opportunities for yourself, your company, or whatever community you want to inspire to achieve success.

Top Forecasting courses online List

Time Series Analysis, Forecasting, and Machine Learning
Excel Skills for Business Forecasting
Introduction to Time Series Analysis and Forecasting in R
Forecasting Skills: See the Future Before it Happens
Master Time Series Analysis and Forecasting with Python 2024
Sales Forecasting Online Class

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1. Time Series Analysis, Forecasting, and Machine Learning

Python for LSTMs, ARIMA, Deep Learning, AI, Support Vector Regression, +More Applied to Time Series Forecasting.

The course is not your typical Time Series Analysis class. This course covers modern developments such as deep learning, time series classification (which can enable users to draw insights from smartphone data and assess thoughts based on electrical activity in the brain), and more.

In this forecasting course, you will learn:

ETS and Exponential Smoothing Models
Holt's Linear Trend Model and Holt-Winters
Autoregressive and Moving Average Models (ARIMA)
Seasonal ARIMA (SARIMA), and SARIMAX
Auto ARIMA
The statsmodels Python library
The pmdarima Python library
Machine learning for time series forecasting.
Deep learning (ANNs, CNNs, RNNs, and LSTMs) for time series forecasting.
Tensorflow 2 for predicting stock prices and returns.
Vector autoregression (VAR) and vector moving average (VMA) models (VARMA).
AWS Forecast (Amazon's time series forecasting service).
FB Prophet (Facebook's time series library).
Modeling and forecasting financial time series.
GARCH (volatility modeling).

This course will cover applications such as Time series forecasting of sales data, predicting stock prices and stock returns, and classification of smartphone data to predict user behavior.

Course rating: 4.7 out of 5.0
Duration: 23.5 hours
Certificate: Certificate on completion

2. Excel Skills for Business Forecasting

Generate Insights with Business Forecasting.

As the world economy deteriorates, business forecasting has become even more crucial. This specialization emphasizes Excel Skills for Business Forecasting. There are three courses involved in this Specialization - Time Series Models, Regression Models, and Judgmental Forecasting.

Topics in this forecasting training include:

Excel Time Series Models for Business Forecasting
Excel Regression Models for Business Forecasting
Judgmental Business Forecasting in Excel

In the first course on Time Series Models, you will learn how your business can use time-series data sets to understand the components underpinning this data and then use the relevant model to forecast your business needs based on these components.

The next course of this specialization focuses on Regression Models, which allows us to build causal models based on both time series and cross-sectional data. In causal models, we can control the inputs to generate the output we want thereby, developing further insights and strategies.

In the final course, we explore the role of judgmental forecasting when more quantitative forecasting methods do not meet our needs, and further business insight is needed. Finally, we will examine all these forecasting methods together, enabling you to generate the forecasts that will be used as planning inputs.

Course rating: 4.8 out of 5.0
Duration: 1 month (10h/week)
Certificate: Certificate on completion

3. Introduction to Time Series Analysis and Forecasting in R

Work with time series and all sorts of time-related data in R - Forecasting, Time Series Analysis, and Predictive Analytics.

Every day, more and more data becomes available thanks to modern technology. Successful companies are aware of this. Also, they recognize that decisions made by modeling the future based on information gained in the past can have a significant impact. Thus, mastering time series analysis and forecasting will equip you with the knowledge and skills to create those models.

In this forecasting certificate course, you will:

use R to perform calculations with time and date-based data.
create models for time series data.
use models for forecasting.
identify which models are suitable for a given dataset.
visualize time series data.
transform standard data into a time-series format.
clean and pre-process time series.
create ARIMA and exponential smoothing models
know how to interpret given models.
identify the best time-series libraries for a given problem.
compare the accuracy of different models.

Learn how to deal with date and time data in R by handling things like time zones, leap years, or different formats. The programmer's life is especially complicated regarding dates and time because of time zones, leap years, and different formats. This course will introduce POSIXt classes in R Base, the chron package, as well as the lubridate package.

Course rating: 4.4 out of 5.0
Duration: 8.5 hours
Certificate: Certificate on completion

4. Forecasting Skills: See the Future Before it Happens

Learn Forecasting Skills: See the Future Before it Happens from the Institute for the Future.

It is a surprise or even a shock for many people to face the future. However, strong forecasting skills can help you avoid future shocks. Adapting faster allows you to benefit from a change quicker. In this course, you’ll build your future forecasting skills.

In this forecasting course, you will:

Collect and Analyze SIGNALS OF CHANGE.
Identify and Analyze GLOBAL DRIVERS OF CHANGE.
Combine Signals and Drivers into Future Forecasts.
Write Scenarios that tell a story about your Future Forecast.

You'll learn how to take groups of signals (clues about the future) and drivers (global forces influencing the direction of change) and turn them into accurate future forecasts. The purpose of forecasts is to help you discover new possibilities and opportunities for yourself, your company, or the community you want to inspire to make the future better.

Developing forecasting skills will enable you to anticipate the future better. As a result, you'll be able to consider possibilities that other people won't consider. You will help others adapt to and prepare for the future.

Course rating: 4.9 out of 5.0
Duration: 13 hours
Certificate: Certificate on completion

5. Master Time Series Analysis and Forecasting with Python

Learn Holt-Winters, Arima, Sarimax, Tensorflow Time Series, Facebook Prophet, and XGBoost for Demand Planning & Forecasting.

In this course, you will learn Python for time series forecasting. The intuition behind the models without focusing too much on Math. Additionally, it will list all parameters and functions you will need to know step-by-step.

In this forecasting course, you will:

Understand the fundamental principles of time series data and its significance in forecasting across various industries.
Differentiate between various time series forecasting models such as Exponential Smoothing, ARIMA, and Prophet, identifying when to use each model.
Apply Exponential Smoothing and Holt-Winters methods to seasonal and trend-based time series data to create accurate forecasts.
Implement SARIMA and SARIMAX models in Python, incorporating external variables to enhance the predictive power of your forecasts.
Develop time series models using advanced techniques such as Temporal Fusion Transformers (TFT) and N-BEATS to handle complex datasets.
Optimize forecasting models by tuning parameters and using ensemble methods to improve accuracy and reliability.
Evaluate the performance of different forecasting models using metrics such as MAE, RMSE, and MAPE, ensuring the robustness of your predictions.
Code Python scripts to automate the entire time series forecasting process, from data preprocessing to model deployment.
Implement deep learning models such as RNN and LSTM to accurately forecast complex time series data, capturing long-term dependencies.
Develop and optimize advanced forecasting solutions using Generative AI techniques like Amazon Chronos, incorporating state-of-the-art methods.

Fundamentally, you should know why a model makes sense and the underlying assumptions involved. Therefore, this course will explain to you each model using words, graphs, and metaphors, leaving math and the Greek alphabet to a minimum.

Course rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Duration: 41 hours
Certificate: Certificate on completion

6. Sales Forecasting Online Class

Discover how to create and manage effective sales forecasts in this best online course for sales forecasting. Learn why forecasting is critical, and how to use qualitative and quantitative methods to project sales.

In almost any company, sales forecasting impacts sales deployment, financial planning, budgeting, operations planning, and marketing planning. Due to the impact of sales forecasts, the forecast information must be as accurate as possible.

Topics in this sales forecasting course include:

Understanding Sales Forecasting
Preparing for Sales Forecasting
Using Quantitative Forecasting
Using Qualitative Forecasting

The purpose of this course is to teach you how to create and manage effective sales forecasts step-by-step. As part of this course, you will learn how to define your market category, develop the right processes, select the right forecasting strategy, and collect data. In addition, it demonstrates how to utilize both qualitative and quantitative forecasting methods.

Course rating: 4.7 out of 5.0
Duration: 50m
Certificate: Certificate on completion

Hey! We hope you have found this Online Forecasting Tutorials & Certifications list helpful and intriguing. Since you've made it this far then certainly you are willing to learn more and here at Coursesity, it is our duty to enlighten people with knowledge on topics they are willing to learn.

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