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Jahangir Karimi

This is the fourth course in the Data Warehouse for Business Intelligence specialization. Ideally, the courses should be taken in sequence. Effectively and efficiently mining data is the very center of any modern business’s competitive strategy, and a data warehouse is a core component of this data mining. The ability to quickly look back at early trends and have the accurate data – properly formatted – is essential to good decision making. By enabling this historical overview, a data warehouse allows decision makers to learn from past trends and challenges. In essence, the benefit of a data warehouse is continuous improvement.

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This is the fourth course in the Data Warehouse for Business Intelligence specialization. Ideally, the courses should be taken in sequence. Effectively and efficiently mining data is the very center of any modern business’s competitive strategy, and a data warehouse is a core component of this data mining. The ability to quickly look back at early trends and have the accurate data – properly formatted – is essential to good decision making. By enabling this historical overview, a data warehouse allows decision makers to learn from past trends and challenges. In essence, the benefit of a data warehouse is continuous improvement.

By the end of the course, you will be able to enhance Conformity And Quality of Data by gaining the knowledge and skills for using data warehouses for business intelligence purposes and for working as a business intelligence developer. You’ll have the opportunity to work with large data sets in a data warehouse environment and will learn the use of MicroStrategy's Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Visualization capabilities to create visualizations and dashboards.

The course gives an overview of how business intelligence technologies can support decision making across any number of business sectors. These technologies have had a profound impact on corporate strategy, performance, and competitiveness and broadly encompass decision support systems, business intelligence systems, and visual analytics. Modules are organized around the business intelligence concepts, tools, and applications, and the use of data warehouse for business reporting and online analytical processing, for creating visualizations and dashboards, and for business performance management and descriptive analytics.

This course is intended for business and computer science university students, IT professionals, program managers, business analysts and anyone with career interests in business intelligence.

In order to be successful in this course, you should have either completed Course 3 of the Data Warehousing for Business Intelligence Specialization or have some prior experience with data visualization and document management.

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What's inside

Syllabus

Decision Making and Decision Support Systems
Module 1 explains the role of computerized support for decision-making and its importance. It starts by identifying the different types of decisions managers face, and the process through which they make decisions. It then focuses on decision-making styles, the four stages of Simon’s decision-making process, and common strategies and approaches of decision-makers. In the next two lessons, you will learn the role of Decision Support Systems (DSS), understand their main components, the various DSS types and classifications, and how DSS has changed over time. Finally, in lesson 4, we focus on how DSS supports each phase of decision-making and summarize the evolution of DSS applications, and how they have changed over time. I recommend that you go to Ready Made DSS sites and use some of the DSS that are listed for various types of decisions. You will need to install MicroStrategy Desktop to analyze three stand-alone offline dashboards in a peer-evaluated exercise.
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Business Intelligence Concepts and Platform Capabilities
Now that you understand the conceptual foundation of decision-making and DSS, in module 2 we start by defining business intelligence (BI), BI architecture, and its components, and relate them to DSS. In lesson 2, you will learn the main components of BI platforms, and their capabilities, and understand the competitive landscape of BI platforms. In lesson 3, you will learn the building blocks of business reports, the types of business reports, and the components and structure of business reporting systems. Finally, in lesson 4, you will learn different types of OLAP and their applications and comprehend the differences between OLAP and OLTP. You will need to use MicroStrategy Desktop to create compelling data visualizations to analyze data and acquire insights into business practices in a peer-evaluated exercise.
Data Visualization and Dashboard Design
This module continues on the top job responsibilities of BI analysts by focusing on creating data visualizations and dashboards. You will first learn the importance of data visualization and different types of data that can be visually represented. You will then learn about the types of basic and composite charts. This will help you to determine which visualization is most effective to display data for a given data set and to identify best practices for designing data visualizations. In lesson 3, you will learn the common characteristics of a dashboard, the types of dashboards, and the list of attributes of metrics usually included in dashboards. Finally, in lesson 3, you will learn the guidelines for designing a dashboard and the common pitfalls of dashboard design. You will need to use MicroStrategy Desktop Visual Insight to design a dashboard for a Financial Services company in a peer-evaluated exercise.
Business Performance Management Systems
This module focuses on how BI is used for Business Performance Management (BPM). You will learn the main components of BPM as well as the four phases of the BPM cycle and how organizations typically deploy BPM. In lesson 2, you will learn the purpose of the Performance Measurement System and how organizations need to define the key performance indicators (KPIs) for their performance management system. In lesson 3, you will learn the four balanced scorecard perspectives and the differences between dashboards and scorecards. You will also be able to compare and contrast the benefits of using a balanced scorecard versus using Six Sigma in a performance measurement system. Finally, in lesson 4, you will learn the role of visual and business analytics (BA) in BI and how various forms of BA are supported in practice. At the end of the module, you will apply these concepts to create a dashboard, blend it with external datasets, and explore various visualization capabilities to find insights faster in a peer-evaluated exercise.
BI Maturity, Strategy, and Summative Project
Module 5 covers BI maturity and strategy. You will learn different levels of BI maturity, the factors that impact BI maturity within an organization, and the main challenges and potential solutions for a pervasive BI maturity within an organization. The last lesson will focus on the critical success factors for implementing a BI strategy, BI framework, and BI implementation targets. Finally, in your summative project, you will use MicroStrategy visual analytics capabilities to analyze KPIs for a fast food company to find the causes of problems.

Good to know

Know what's good
, what to watch for
, and possible dealbreakers
Covers DSS and BI, which are core skills for IT professionals
Emphasizes common BI tools and applications
Focuses on practical skills through hands-on exercises with MicroStrategy
Experienced instructors who are recognized for their work in data warehousing
Taught by Jahangir Karimi
Requires prior knowledge of data visualization and document management

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Reviews summary

Excellent business intelligence course

Learners say that this Business Intelligence Concepts, Tools, and Applications course is great, informative, and amazing. They especially appreciate the excellent classes and delivery method, the clear assignment instructions, and the hands-on experience with MicroStrategy. The course is considered to be of high quality and mind opening.
Learners found this course to be helpful for learning business intelligence skills.
"Excellent!!"
"great course"
"It was informative"
"I learned a lot, it's good "
A few learners had issues with installing the required software.
"T​he previous courses in this program were not perfect either, but this one is much worse than the previous ones."
"F​irst of all, two garbage software needs to be installed for this course - and Oracle VM and Microstrategy Workstation."
"For the Business Intelligence and data visualisation, we are required to use Microstrategy, which is a pain to install."
A few learners found the course to be too short and wanted more assignments.
"This was a fun course, but too short in my opinion. "
"The theoretical portions of the course can probably be slightly condensed as these were not very useful in the assignments"
Some learners found the lectures to be too theoretical and not detailed enough.
"Too much talk....would have liked to see real-live examples. "
"Need be more realistic and related to real world and real situation"
"The lectures also do not go into enough detail on BI usage and skills."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Business Intelligence Concepts, Tools, and Applications with these activities:
Participate in a Study Group
Strengthens your understanding of the core concepts through discussions and collaboration.
Show steps
  • Find a study group or create your own.
  • Meet regularly to discuss the course material, share insights, and work through problems together.
Review Statistics and Probability Concepts
Strengthens your foundational knowledge in statistics and probability, making it easier to grasp data warehousing concepts.
Browse courses on Probability
Show steps
  • Go over your notes or textbooks on statistics and probability.
  • Solve practice problems to test your understanding.
Review 'Building Data Warehouse for Business Intelligence' by W.H. Inmon
Provides a solid foundation in data warehouse design and construction principles.
Show steps
  • Read Chapters 1-5 to understand the core concepts of data warehousing.
  • Work through the exercises at the end of each chapter to reinforce your understanding.
  • Create a mind map of the key concepts covered in the book.
Nine other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all 12 activities
Organize Course Materials and Notes
Improves your ability to locate and review important information, aiding in knowledge retention.
Show steps
  • Gather all course materials, including lecture notes, assignments, and presentations.
  • Create a system for organizing the materials logically.
  • Regularly review and update your organized materials.
Read 'Data Warehousing Fundamentals: A Practical Guide for Implementing, Extracting, and Querying Data' by Jawad Noor
Provides a comprehensive introduction to data warehousing concepts like data modeling and data organization, helping you to build a solid foundation in data warehousing.
Show steps
  • Read the introduction and chapter summaries to get an overview of the book.
  • Go through the chapters on data modeling and data organization thoroughly.
  • Complete the practice exercises and quizzes at the end of each chapter to test your understanding.
Solve Data Warehousing Practice Questions
Strengthens your problem-solving skills and reinforces your understanding of data warehousing concepts.
Show steps
  • Find practice questions related to data warehousing online or in textbooks.
  • Attempt to solve the questions on your own without looking at the solutions.
  • Check your answers against the solutions and identify areas where you need improvement.
Complete Data Visualization Practice Exercises
Enhances your ability to create effective data visualizations using Tableau.
Browse courses on Data Visualization
Show steps
  • Download the Tableau Public software.
  • Complete the Tableau tutorial.
  • Find a dataset and create a visualization that tells a story.
Follow a Course on Data Warehouse Design and Implementation
Provides structured learning and expert guidance to deepen your understanding of data warehouse design and implementation.
Show steps
  • Find an online or in-person course that covers data warehouse design and implementation.
  • Enroll in the course and follow the lessons and assignments.
  • Complete the course and apply the concepts to your own data warehousing projects.
Read 'The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling' by Ralph Kimball and Margy Ross
Provides insights into dimensional modeling techniques and best practices, enhancing your ability to design effective data warehouses.
Show steps
  • Read the introduction and chapter summaries to gain an overview of the book.
  • Focus on the chapters that cover dimensional modeling concepts and techniques.
  • Work through the examples and exercises provided in the book.
Build a Data Warehouse for a Small Business
Develops your practical skills in data warehousing and helps you apply your theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios.
Show steps
  • Define the business requirements for the data warehouse.
  • Design the data warehouse schema.
  • Extract, transform, and load (ETL) data into the data warehouse.
  • Create reports and dashboards to visualize and analyze the data.
Build a Dashboard for a Business Case
Provides hands-on experience in designing and building a dashboard that meets specific business requirements.
Browse courses on Business Intelligence
Show steps
  • Identify the business case and define the target audience for the dashboard.
  • Gather the necessary data and prepare it for analysis.
  • Design the dashboard layout and select appropriate visualizations.
  • Develop the dashboard using a BI tool such as Tableau or Power BI.
  • Present the dashboard to stakeholders and gather feedback.
Develop a Tutorial on Data Warehousing Concepts
Enhances your understanding of data warehousing by explaining the concepts to others.
Show steps
  • Identify the key concepts of data warehousing that you want to cover.
  • Create an outline for your tutorial.
  • Write the content of the tutorial in a clear and concise manner.

Career center

Learners who complete Business Intelligence Concepts, Tools, and Applications will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Business Intelligence Analyst
Business Intelligence Analysts are expected to be able to understand and use business intelligence platforms and to be able to create and deploy business intelligence systems. This course focuses on the technical, business, and analytical skills that are necessary for a career in business intelligence.
Business Analyst
Business Analysts need to know how to use business intelligence to help analyze business problems and create solutions. This course gives an overview of business intelligence concepts, tools, and applications.
Data Visualization Engineer
Designing visually appealing and easy to understand dashboards is an essential part of a Data Visualization Engineer's job. This course teaches the fundamentals of creating data visualizations and dashboards.
Business Performance Management Analyst
Business Performance Management (BPM) Analysts need to know about business intelligence systems. This course provides an overview of BPM and how organizations use business intelligence to develop performance management systems.
Data Mining Analyst
Data Mining Analysts and other data analysts need to be able to use business intelligence tools to collect and mine data in order to inform their work. This course can help Data Mining Analysts become more effective by teaching how to use business intelligence tools to work with data.
Product Manager
Product Managers are responsible for ensuring their product solves the problems of their target audience. Understanding how data can be used to gain insights into product usage and user behavior can be a key skill for Product Managers and can be acquired through a course like this one.
Quantitative Analyst
Quantitative Analysts are expected to know how to use data to inform business decisions. Understanding how to use business intelligence tools to do so may be a useful skill.
Software Engineer
Software Engineers, especially those specializing in business intelligence or data, may find this course useful for understanding business intelligence concepts such as BI maturity and strategy.
Database Administrator (DBA)
The ability to use data warehouses to help with business intelligence is essential for Database Administrators who are working as a part of a business that has business intelligence initiatives. This course can help build a foundation for DBAs interested in expanding into business intelligence.
Management Consultant
Management Consultants need to understand the potential and limitations of business intelligence as a tool for helping companies with various projects. This course may be useful for learning about business intelligence systems and how they can be used to support decision making.
IT Manager
IT Managers are responsible for business intelligence systems. This course covers the concepts, tools, and applications that apply to business intelligence and may be useful for an IT Manager.
Data Architect
Data Architects need to be able to determine the business purpose for data warehouses and to create database schemas that are used by BI systems. This course covers the theoretical foundations and knowledge for implementing data warehouses for BI purposes and may therefore be useful to Data Architects.
Financial Analyst
Financial Analysts might find this course useful for understanding how business intelligence is used in business.
Data Scientist
Data Scientists need to understand the topics in this course as part of their foundational knowledge; this course may help build the necessary foundation for the more advanced analysis and modeling that Data Scientists engage in.

Reading list

We've selected 13 books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Business Intelligence Concepts, Tools, and Applications.
Must-read for anyone who is involved in the design or implementation of a data warehouse. It provides a step-by-step guide to dimensional modeling, which is the most common data modeling technique used in data warehousing.
Provides a comprehensive overview of business intelligence and data mining concepts and applications. It is written in a clear and concise style, and it is packed with real-world examples and case studies.
Provides a comprehensive overview of data analytics concepts and applications. It is written in a clear and concise style, and it is packed with real-world examples and case studies.
Comprehensive guide to Power BI, another popular data visualization tool. It covers all aspects of Power BI, from basic data visualization to advanced topics such as data modeling and machine learning.
Comprehensive guide to Six Sigma, a popular quality improvement methodology. It covers all aspects of Six Sigma, from basic concepts to advanced topics such as design for Six Sigma and statistical process control.
Provides a practical guide to artificial intelligence for business professionals. It covers the basics of AI, as well as more advanced topics such as machine learning and deep learning.
Provides a roadmap for business leaders who are looking to digitally transform their organizations. It covers the challenges and opportunities of digital transformation, as well as the best practices for implementing a successful digital transformation strategy.
Provides a glimpse into the future of business intelligence. It covers the latest trends and technologies in BI, as well as the challenges and opportunities that businesses will face in the years to come.
Provides a practical introduction to data visualization. It covers the basics of data visualization, as well as more advanced topics such as interactive data visualization and data visualization for the web.
Provides a comprehensive overview of business performance management concepts and practices. It covers the entire BPM lifecycle, from planning and measurement to analysis and improvement.
Classic in the field of performance measurement. It provides a comprehensive overview of the theory and practice of performance measurement.
Must-read for anyone who is interested in using the balanced scorecard to measure and improve organizational performance.

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