The Association of Business Technology, affiliated to the Department of Commerce and Financial Management, successfully conducted “BI Masters 1.0”, Sri Lanka’s first-ever Inter-University Business Intelligence Datathon, with the aim of providing a platform for students from various universities in Sri Lanka to showcase their analytical and problem-solving skills in the field of Business Intelligence.
The event took place on the 18th of November, 2023, at the FCMS Auditorium, showcasing the incredible talents of 14 competing teams from diverse universities across the country. A hearty congratulations to the University of Kelaniya, whose team emerged as the champions, and the University of Moratuwa, securing the well-deserved runner-up position.
This landmark occasion was made possible through the generous sponsorship of esteemed organizations. Elephant House Sri Lanka joined as the Gold Partner, and Singer Sri Lanka joined as the Silver Partner, contributing to the success of the datathon. Additionally, Octave, John Keells Group stood as the Knowledge Partners, sharing their expertise and insights with the participating teams.
The datathon consisted of two challenging rounds. In the preliminary phase, 06 outstanding teams were selected as finalists. These finalists were presented with a complex business case study, tasked with the development of Power BI dashboards. At the end of their efforts, they had to present their analytical works in front of the esteemed panel of judges. The judging panel comprised seasoned professionals in the field of business intelligence. Mr. Shiham Farook, Assistant Manager of Business Intelligence Engineering at Octave, Mr. Imtiaz Nizam, Manager of Business Intelligence Engineering at Octave, and Ms. Hashani Kumarasinghe, Senior Data Engineer at Axiata Lab, contributed their expertise to evaluate the participants' analytical solutions.
The event took place over almost ten hours, perfectly capturing the dedication and hard work of the participating teams. The success of this first-ever datathon was able to lay the way for future collaborations and highlight the role that technology will play in determining the direction of business and technology.
