End to End Machine Learning Project Pipeline

Introduction

Understanding project pipelines is paramount for your machine learning career. This pipeline encompasses components like Feature Selection, Exploratory Data Analysis, Feature Engineering, Model Building, Evaluation, and Model Saving. A common question that arises in our minds is – Why do we need end to end machine learning project pipeline? The answer lies in the ability to execute any Machine Learning Project in a structured manner meticulously. This systematic approach not only enhances project clarity but also enables effective communication of results, eliminating the “Black-box” mystique.

This article delves into the comprehensive world of the Machine Learning pipeline. Through the lens of a practical machine learning project, we’ll dissect each step, unraveling the nuances and importance of this end-to-end journey.

This article was published as a part of the Data Science Blogathon

Pre-Requisites

Basic understanding of Linear Regression Algorithm. If you have no idea about the algorithm, please refer to the link before going to the later part of the article, so that you have a basic understanding of all the concepts which we will cover.

Step 1: Import Necessary Dependencies

In this step, we will import the necessary libraries such as:

• For Linear Algebra: Numpy
• For Data Preprocessing, and CSV File I/O: Pandas
• For Model Building and Evaluation: Scikit-Learn
• For Data Visualization: Matplotlib, and Seaborn, etc.

import numpy as np 
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import seaborn as sns
%matplotlib inline

Step 2: Study the Data

Here we will work on the E-commerce Customers dataset (CSV file). It has Customer information, such as Email, Address, and color Avatar. Then it also has numerical value columns:

• Average Session Length: Average session of in-store style advice sessions.
• Time on App: Average time spent by the customer on App in minutes
• Time on Website: Average time spent by the customer on Website in minutes
• Length of Membership: From how many years the customer has been a member.

Also Read: 24 Ultimate Machine Learning Projects to Boost Your Knowledge and Skills (& Can be Accessed Freely)

Step 3: Read and Load the Dataset

In this step, we will read and load the dataset using some basic function of pandas such as

• For Load the CSV file: pd.read_csv( )
• To print some initial rows of the dataset: df.head( )
• Statistical Details for Numerical Columns: df.describe( )
• Basic Information About the dataset: df.info ( )

Load the Dataset

df = pd.read_csv('Ecommerce Customers.csv')

Print Some Initial Rows of the Dataset

df.head()

Output:

Statistical Details for Numerical Columns

df.describe()

Output:

Basic Information About the Dataset

df.info()

Output:

Step 4: Exploratory Data Analysis(EDA)

In this step, we will explore the data and try to find some insights by visualizing the data properly, by using the Seaborn library functions such as

Joint plot:

• Time on Website vs Yearly Amount Spent
• Time on App vs  Yearly Amount Spent
• Time on App vs Length of membership

Pair plot: for the complete dataset

Implot: Length of Membership vs Yearly Amount Spent

Use seaborn to create a joint plot to compare the Time on Website and Yearly Amount Spent columns. 

sns.jointplot(x='Time on Website',y='Yearly Amount Spent',data=df)

Output:

Do the same but with the Time on App column instead

sns.jointplot(x='Time on App',y='Yearly Amount Spent',data=df)

Output:

Use joint plot to create a 2D hex bin plot comparing Time on App and Length of Membership

sns.jointplot(x='Time on App',y='Length of Membership',kind="hex",data=df)

Output:

Let’s explore these types of relationships across the entire data set. Use Pair plot to recreate the plot below:

sns.pairplot(df)

Based on this plot what looks to be the most correlated feature with the Yearly Amount Spent?

Length of Membership

Create a linear model plot (using seaborn’s lmplot) of Yearly Amount Spent vs. Length of Membership

sns.lmplot(x='Length of Membership',y='Yearly Amount Spent',data=df)

Step 5: Splitting of Data into Training and Testing Data

Now that we have explored the data a bit, it’s time to go ahead and split our initial data into training and testing subsets. Here we set a variable X i.e, independent columns as the numerical features of the customers, and a variable y i.e, dependent column as the “Yearly Amount Spent” column.

Separate Dependent and Independent Variable

X = customers[['Avg. Session Length', 'Time on App', 'Time on Website', 'Length of Membership']]
y = customers['Yearly Amount Spent']

Use model_selection.train_test_split from sklearn to split the data into training and testing sets

Set test_size=0.20 and random_state=105

from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split 
X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.20, random_state=105)

Step 6: Training the Model using Linear Regression

Now, at this step we are able to train our model on our training data using Linear Regression.

Import LinearRegression from sklearn.linear_model

from sklearn.linear_model import LinearRegression

Create an instance of a LinearRegression() model named lm.

lr_model = LinearRegression()

Train/fit lm on the training data

lr_model.fit(X_train,y_train)

Output:

LinearRegression(copy_X=True, fit_intercept=True, n_jobs=None, normalize=False)

Print out the coefficients of the model

lr_model.coef_

Output:

array([25.98154972, 38.59015875,  0.19040528, 61.27909654])

Step 7: Predictions on Test Data

Now that we have train our model, let’s evaluate its performance by doing the predictions on the unseen data.

Use lr_model.predict() to predict off the X_test set of the data

predictions = lr_model.predict(X_test)

Create a scatterplot of the real test values versus the predicted values

plt.scatter(y_test,predictions)
plt.xlabel('Y Test')
plt.ylabel('Predicted Y')

Output:

Step 8: Evaluating the Model

To evaluate our model performance, we will be calculating the residual sum of squares and the explained variance score (R²).

Determine the metrics such as Mean Absolute Error, Mean Squared Error, and the Root Mean Squared Error.

from sklearn import metrics
print('MAE :'," ", metrics.mean_absolute_error(y_test,predictions))
print('MSE :'," ", metrics.mean_squared_error(y_test,predictions))
print('RMAE :'," ", np.sqrt(metrics.mean_squared_error(y_test,predictions)))

Output:

MAE :   7.2281486534308295
MSE :   79.8130516509743
RMAE :   8.933815066978626

Step 9: Explore the Residuals

By observed the metrics calculated in the above steps, we should have a very good model with a good fit. Now, let’s quickly explore the residuals to make sure that everything was okay with our dataset and finalize our model.

To see the above thing, try to plot a histogram of the residuals and make sure it looks normally distributed.

Use seaborn distplot, or just plt.hist()

sns.distplot(y_test - predictions,bins=50)

Output:

Step 10: Model Evaluation

Now, it’s time to conclude our model i.e, let’s see the interpretation of all the coefficients of the model to get a better idea.

Recreate the dataframe below

coeffecients = pd.DataFrame(lm.coef_,X.columns)
coeffecients.columns = ['Coeffecient']
coeffecients

Output:

How can you interpret these coefficients?

• Keeping all other features constant, a one-unit increase in Avg. Session Length is associated with an increase of 25.98 total dollars spent.
• By Keeping all other features constant, a one-unit increase in Time on App is associated with an increase of 38.59 total dollars spent.
• Keeping all other features constant, a one-unit increase in Time on the Website is associated with an increase of 0.19 total dollars spent.
• Also, Keeping all other features constant, a one-unit increase in Length of Membership is associated with an increase of 61.27 total dollars spent.

Conclusion

Mastering the end-to-end machine learning project pipeline in data science is a transformative skill. It empowers you to navigate the intricate journey from data preprocessing to model deployment confidently and clearly. As you’ve delved into the details of this article, you’ve taken a significant step toward becoming a proficient data scientist.

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Aashi

Currently, I am pursuing my Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Guru Jambheshwar University(GJU), Hisar. I am very enthusiastic about Statistics, Machine Learning and Deep Learning.