16. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 14 having stored thereon the computer executable instructions that, if executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform the method that further comprises: substituting for missing values in the historical data associated with the model at least one of a minimum value of a modeling variable or a replacement value.
14. A tangible computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform 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, the method comprising: obtaining, at a processor-based system, a plurality of modeling variables associated with a model, a dependent variable associated with the model and dependent on the plurality of modeling variables, and the historical data associated with the model; performing, using the processor-based system, a transformation of the plurality of modeling variables to obtain a linear relationship of each of the plurality of modeling variables in relation to the dependent variable; selecting, using the processor-based system, a subset of the plurality of transformed modeling variables, wherein the selecting comprises applying a selecting rule based on at least one of: (i) a correlation between a transformed variable and the dependent variable, and (ii) a proportion of a range of the dependent variable explained by the transformed variable; or a selection rule based on a log-likelihood difference; determining, using the processor-based system, a set of prediction variables, wherein the determining is based on a regression of the subset of the plurality of transformed variables; and generating, using the processor-based system, a predictive model using the prediction variables obtained from the regression, wherein the predictive model is used by the processing system to predict the future event.