The Co-op Close-up: Procter & Gamble
By: Kathrin Knorr
Tags: Data Science, Co Op, Procter And Gamble, Business Intelligence, Marketing

SFU’s professional master’s program in computer science trains computational specialists in big data and visual computing. All students complete a paid co-op work placement as part of their degree. In this feature, we examine the co-op experiences of some of our big data students.

Kanksha Masrani completed her bachelor’s degree in information technology at Charotar University of Science & Technology before joining SFU’s professional master’s program in computer science.

Can you tell us about Procter & Gamble? What is it like working there?

Procter & Gamble (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. The company specializes in a wide range of personal care and hygiene products.

During my co-op here, I have been working with an exciting team where I have been given the chance to manage multiple projects at the same time. My work experience here allows me to combine my technical excellence with business and management skills while building a large network of colleagues and professionals that I can turn to when needed.

P&G organizes multiple hackathons to help generate fresh ideas. People of different ages and backgrounds come together and help solve another team’s problem. You can also get involved in multiple activities happening across the organization, be it off-site events for your team or representing your product category in some sport activity. Along with the projects you own, you are encouraged to be a part of these activities to further develop your soft skills outside the workplace.

Can you describe the project(s) that you are working on?

In total, for the course of eight months, I was assigned five projects. In one project, I am developing a business intelligence tool on Power BI which integrates KNIME, an ETL tool used for integrating data from multiple data sources, doing required data manipulation and analysis using Python and R snippets to deliver performance data from the Nielsen database which enables faster and simpler reporting. This business intelligence tool offers insights on shares, KPIs, price, and promotions across multiple retailers and time periods for the blades and razors product category. Using the same tools — Power BI and KNIME — I am also developing an innovation tracker which is currently providing insights on price, promotion, market share, and other sales metrics for new products launched by P&G in the Canadian market. The dashboards I’ve created allow my team to dynamically explore data and derive insights that may not be easily obtained through spreadsheets. For example, the team can easily glean whether performance improved across product categories over time, and if not, which category contributed towards the decline and by how much.

What are the most important skills needed in your co-op position and how has the big data program prepared you for the role?

P&G puts a strong emphasis on using data to make “better, smarter, real-time business decisions.” As a Business Analyst at P&G, you are a business leader. Your role is to mine multiple sources of data, derive actionable insights, and translate complex results or algorithms into simple conclusions that will empower others to take action to win with the consumers. Business knowledge, interpersonal, and communication skills are therefore a must to thrive in this multi-functional leadership team.

Nothing beats hands-on experience when it comes to skills development. At university, I mastered machine learning, big data tools and technologies, data mining, and more. But interning at P&G taught me how to apply those skills in meaningful ways and allowed me to further develop my collaboration, critical thinking, and presentation skills, for example when presenting my recommendations to non-technical executives.

What are you most appreciative of when looking back at your co-op experience thus far?

P&G develops future leaders by giving them meaningful responsibilities from Day One. Only four months in, I was leading a team of twelve. This gave me an opportunity to take my leadership skills from good to great. Every project was a challenge, but with the right kind of people around, it was not difficult to overcome it. The level of autonomy I have been given is very impressive. I have real, business-critical tasks to complete, and, with the support of my colleagues and mentors, I have been able to finish my projects to a high standard while also growing my confidence and knowledge. Here at P&G, if you are flexible, determined, and want to expand your skill set, there are so many opportunities to learn and grow!