Foundations of strategic business analytics from Coursera

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for students, business analysts, and data scientists who want to apply statistical knowledge and techniques to business contexts. For example, it may be suited to experienced statisticians, analysts, engineers who want to move more into a business role.

You will find this course exciting and rewarding if you already have a background in statistics, can use R or another programming language and are familiar with databases and data analysis techniques such as regression, classification, and clustering.

However, it contains a number of recitals and R Studio tutorials which will consolidate your competences, enable you to play more freely with data and explore new features and statistical functions in R.

With this course, you’ll have a first overview on Strategic Business Analytics topics. We’ll discuss a wide variety of applications of Business Analytics. From Marketing to Supply Chain or Credit Scoring and HR Analytics, etc. We’ll cover many different data analytics techniques, each time explaining how to be relevant for your business.

We’ll pay special attention to how you can produce convincing, actionable, and efficient insights. We'll also present you with different data analytics tools to be applied to different types of issues.

By doing so, we’ll help you develop four sets of skills needed to leverage value from data: Analytics, IT, Business and Communication.

By the end of this MOOC, you should be able to approach a business issue using Analytics by (1) qualifying the issue at hand in quantitative terms, (2) conducting relevant data analyses, and (3) presenting your conclusions and recommendations in a business-oriented, actionable and efficient way.

Prerequisites : 1/ Be able to use R or to program 2/ To know the fundamentals of databases, data analysis (regression, classification, clustering)

We give credit to Pauline Glikman, Albane Gaubert, Elias Abou Khalil-Lanvin (Students at ESSEC BUSINESS SCHOOL) for their contribution to this course design.

What's inside

Syllabus

Introduction to Strategic Business Analytics

In this module, we will introduce you to the course and instructional approach. You will learn that Strategic Business Analytics relies on four distinct skills: IT, Analytics, Business and Communication.

Finding groups within Data

In this module, you will learn how identifying groups of observations enables you to improve business efficiency. You will then learn to create those groups in a business-oriented and actionable way. We will use examples to illustrate various concepts. The assessments will also provide you with opportunities to replicate these examples.

Factors leading to events

In this module, you will learn why using rigorous statistical methods to understand the relationship between different events is crucial. We’ll cover two examples: first, using a credit scoring example, you will learn how to derive information about what makes an individual more or less likely to have a strong credit score? Then, in a second example drawn from HR Analytics, you will learn to estimate what makes an employee more or less likely to leave the company. As usual, we invite you to replicate those examples thanks to the recital and to use the assessments provided at the end of the module to strengthen your understanding of these concepts.

Predictions and Forecasting

In this module you will learn more about the importance of forecasting the future. You will learn through examples from various sectors: first, using the previous examples of credit scoring and HR Analytics, you will learn to predict what will happen. Then, you will be introduced to predictive maintenance using survival analysis via a case discussion. Finally, we’ll discuss seasonality in the context of the first example discussed in this MOOC: using analytics for managing your supply chain and logistics better.

Recommendation production and prioritization

So far, you’ve learnt to use Business Analytics to glean important information relevant to the success of your business. In this module, you’ll learn more about how to present your Business Analytics work to a business audience. This module is also important for your final capstone project presentation.You’ll learn that it is important to find an angle, and tell a story.Instead of presenting a list of results that are not connected to each other, you will learn to take your audience by the hand and steer it to the recommendations you want to conclude on.You’ll learn to structure your story and your slides, and master the most used visualization tips and tricks. The assessment at the end of this module will provide an opportunity for you to practice these methods and to prepare the first step of the capstone project.

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Suitable for experienced statisticians, analysts, engineers who want to move into a business role

Provides an overview of Strategic Business Analytics topics

Covers a wide variety of applications of Business Analytics

Teaches how to produce convincing, actionable, and efficient insights

Pays special attention to how you can present your conclusions and recommendations effectively

Reviews summary

Valuable basic business analytics

According to students, this course is a largely positive introduction to strategic business analytics. Learners praise its engaging assignments, practical use cases of R Programming, clear explanations and relevant business examples. However, some students note that the course assumes basic familiarity with R and that the third course in the specialization is more commercially focused.

Well explained concepts and examples

"The explanations are clear and provides gran cantidad de contenido."

"Very solid overview of business analytic techniques, with an emphasis on the business relevance of analytics."

Practical uses of business analytics

"A perfect mix of theoretical lectures...and practical use cases of R Programming in the business context."

Last course focuses on Accenture promotion

"The third course...contains nothing but sales presentations of accenture, telling you how great accenture is."

Assumes basic understanding of R

"Basic familiarity with R is assumed."

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 Foundations of strategic business analytics with these activities:

R Programming Tutorial

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Review R programming fundamentals to solidify necessary foundational skills.

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Enroll in an online R programming tutorial or course.
Complete the tutorial or course, practicing the exercises and examples provided.

Data Analysis Project

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Apply statistical knowledge and techniques to a real-world business problem.

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Identify a business problem that can be solved using data analysis.
Gather and clean the necessary data.
Analyze the data using R or another programming language.
Present your findings and recommendations in a clear and concise way.

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Career center

Learners who complete Foundations of strategic business analytics will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Data Scientist

A Data Scientist is responsible for developing and applying statistical models to data to solve business problems. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Data Scientist. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to develop statistical models to solve business problems.

See salaries and explore the career path for Data Scientist

Machine Learning Engineer

A Machine Learning Engineer is responsible for developing and deploying machine learning models to solve business problems. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Machine Learning Engineer. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to develop and deploy machine learning models to solve business problems.

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Statistician

A Statistician is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Statistician. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to make informed decisions.

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Business Analyst

A Business Analyst is responsible for understanding the business needs of an organization and translating those needs into technical requirements. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Business Analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to improve decision-making.

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Marketing Analyst

A Marketing Analyst is responsible for understanding the marketing needs of an organization and developing marketing campaigns to meet those needs. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Marketing Analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to improve marketing decision-making.

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Risk Analyst

A Risk Analyst is responsible for identifying and assessing risks to an organization. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Risk Analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to identify and assess risks, and how to develop strategies to mitigate those risks.

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Quantitative Analyst

A Quantitative Analyst is responsible for using mathematical and statistical models to analyze financial data. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Quantitative Analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to develop mathematical and statistical models to analyze financial data.

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Data Engineer

A Data Engineer is responsible for designing, building, and maintaining data pipelines. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Data Engineer. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to design, build, and maintain data pipelines.

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Business Intelligence Analyst

A Business Intelligence Analyst is responsible for gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data to help businesses make better decisions. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Business Intelligence Analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to help businesses make better decisions.

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Operations Research Analyst

An Operations Research Analyst is responsible for using mathematical and statistical models to improve the efficiency of business operations. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Operations Research Analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to develop mathematical and statistical models to improve business operations.

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Data Analyst

A Data Analyst uses data to tell a story, to make a decision or forecast future events. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Data Analyst. You will learn how to collect, clean, and analyze data. You will also learn how to visualize data and communicate your findings to others. This course may also be helpful for those who wish to work in a related field, such as Business Analyst.

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Data Visualization Analyst

A Data Visualization Analyst is responsible for creating visualizations that help people understand data. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Data Visualization Analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to create visualizations that help people understand data.

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Financial Analyst

A Financial Analyst is responsible for analyzing financial data to make investment recommendations. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Financial Analyst. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to make investment decisions.

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User Experience Researcher

A User Experience Researcher is responsible for understanding the user needs and designing user experiences that meet those needs. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful User Experience Researcher. You will learn how to gather and analyze data, and how to communicate your findings to others. You will also learn how to use data to understand the user needs and design user experiences that meet those needs.

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Management Consultant

A Management Consultant helps organizations to improve their performance. This course will help you to develop the skills needed to be a successful Management Consultant. You will learn how to analyze data, identify problems, and develop solutions. You will also learn how to communicate your findings to others and how to help organizations to implement change.

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