5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing substitution of values in the historical data associated with the model, the substitution being performed for at least one of missing values, invalid values, or zero values.
1. A method of predicting a future event associated with a business based on historical data associated with a model of past events of the business, comprising: performing, by a processor-based system for predicting the future event, a transformation of a plurality of modeling variables to obtain a linear relationship of each of the plurality of modeling variables in relation to the dependent variable, wherein the plurality of modeling variables are associated with the model, and wherein a dependent variable is associated with the model and is dependent on the plurality of modeling variables, and wherein the historical data is associated with the model; selecting, by the processor-based system, a subset of the plurality of transformed modeling variables, wherein the selecting comprises applying a selecting rule based on a log-likelihood difference that comprises determining a difference between a first model-fit statistic derived by utilizing an intercept model and a second model-fit statistic derived by utilizing an intercept-plus-covariate model; determining, by the processor-based system, a set of prediction variables; and generating, by the processor-based system, a predictive model using the set of prediction variables, wherein the predictive model predicts the future event.