How Data Insights Improve Business Decisions
April 3, 2024
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Gain Real-World Business Analytics Skills. Leverage data to solve complex business problems.
Instructors: Manuel Laguna
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The Advanced Business Analytics Specialization brings together academic professionals and experienced practitioners to share real world data analytics skills you can use to grow your business, increase profits, and create maximum value for your shareholders. Learners gain practical skills in extracting and manipulating data using SQL code, executing statistical methods for descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analysis, and effectively interpreting and presenting analytic results.
The problems faced by decision makers in today’s competitive business environment are complex. Achieve a clear competitive advantage by using data to explain the performance of a business, evaluate different courses of action, and employ a structured approach to business problem-solving.
Check out a one-minute video about this specialization to learn more!
Applied Learning Project
Throughout the specialization, you will apply the skills you learn to business problems and data sets. You will have opportunities to build conceptual models of business and simple database models, practice data extraction using SQL, apply predictive and prescriptive analytics to business problems, develop models for decision making, interpret the software output, and finally present results and share findings. We will use basic Excel and the software tool Analytic Solver Platform (ASP), which is a plug-in for Excel. Learners participating in assignments will be able to get free access to the software.
Describe the information lifecycle from events in the real world to business actions
Recognize the types of events and characteristics that are often used in business analytics
Explain how the data is captured by source systems and stored using both traditional and emergent technologies
Gain familiarity with relational databases and learn how to use a simple but powerful language called SQL to extract analytical data sets of interest
Apply exploratory data analysis to gain insights and prepare data for predictive modeling
Summarize and visualize datasets using appropriate tools
Identify modeling techniques for prediction of continuous and discrete outcomes
Identify appropriate graphs to explore and display datasets
Describe the significance of optimization in identifying optimal solutions for complex business problems
Implement optimization techniques to identify the best possible course of action among multiple alternatives
Judge the appropriateness of optimization techniques in finding optimal solutions for practical business challenges
Identify the challenges of presenting analytics findings to decision makers
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different communication methods for conveying analytics results to non-technical audiences
Create a well-structured and compelling presentation that showcases the most relevant and impactful insights from the analytics project
Design and customize predictive analytics models for loan classification and loss prediction
Devise investment fund allocation recommendations based on clustering and simulation-based optimization techniques
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Time to completion can vary based on your schedule, but most learners are able to complete the Specialization in four to five months.
Ideally, your background would include some basics of data manipulation, statistics, and models for decision making. Learners must have working knowledge of Excel and some basic understanding of high-level programming instructions. This is not a computer science specialization but students will be learning some basic commands in SQL.
Although the four courses in the specialization can be taken separately, they are deeply integrated around their lessons. We recommend taking them in the order that they are offered.
Coursera courses and certificates don't carry university credit, though some universities may choose to accept Specialization Certificates for credit. Check with your institution to learn more.
At the end of this specialization, you will be able to:
Apply data analytics to business problems. This involves the entire business analytics process, from data capturing, extraction, analysis, modeling, and presentation of findings.
Extract and manipulate data stored in large databases using SQL.
Identify and apply statistical models that are commonly used to implement descriptive analytics.
Apply predictive analytics tools to data sets and interpret results. In particular, you will be able to use Excel-based tools to construct models based on regression, simulation, and data mining.
Apply prescriptive analytics tools to data sets and interpret results. In particular, you will be able to use Excel-based tools to construct models pertaining to linear programming, integer programming, and simulation-optimization methods.
This course is completely online, so there’s no need to show up to a classroom in person. You can access your lectures, readings and assignments anytime and anywhere via the web or your mobile device.
If you subscribed, you get a 7-day free trial during which you can cancel at no penalty. After that, we don’t give refunds, but you can cancel your subscription at any time. See our full refund policy.
Yes! To get started, click the course card that interests you and enroll. You can enroll and complete the course to earn a shareable certificate, or you can audit it to view the course materials for free. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. Visit your learner dashboard to track your progress.
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply for financial aid.
Financial aid available,
¹ Median salary and job opening data are sourced from Lightcast™ Job Postings Report. Content Creator, Machine Learning Engineer and Salesforce Development Representative (1/1/2024 - 12/31/2024) All other job roles (3/1/2024 - 3/1/2025)
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