The data mining community has derived a broad foundation of statistical algorithms and software solutions that has allowed predictive analytics to become a standard approach used in science and industry.

For many years, much emphasis has been placed on the development of predictive models. As a consequence, the market place offers a range of powerful tools, many open-source, for effective model building. However, once we turn to the operational deployment and practical application of predictive solutions within an existing IT infrastructure, we face a much more limited choice of options....