Key Information
About the content
Virtually all managerial and leadership positions in the digital economy increasingly rely on data-driven decision making. Recent studies have shown companies who adopt "Data-Driven Decision Management" achieve significant productivity gains over other firms.
Having a solid grasp of the end-to-end process of making effective decisions with data will give you an edge, both in performing such analyses yourself, as well as in effectively managing teams of business analysts and data scientists.
In this course, part of both the Digital Leadership and Digital Product Management MicroMasters programs, you will learn the tools and techniques to become a data-driven or "evidence-based" manager.
You will learn the process of reframing a business question as a data question, reasoning about what data might be of assistance and how to obtain it, integrating and cleaning the data, performing the analysis, deriving and communicating insights from the analysis, and building the managerial culture to operate in this way and create competitive advantages from enterprise data.
This course is unique in the sense that it aims squarely at the needs of a manager in an analytically focused enterprise by providing both a hands-on introduction to the concepts, methods and processes of business analytics as well as an introduction to the use of analytics as the basis for creating a competitive advantage.
Software Requirements
Completion of this course requires the use of Microsoft Power BI Desktop. Unfortunately, there is currently no version of Power BI Desktop for macOS or Linux operating systems. We encourage learners to secure access to a Windows environment, but if that is not possible, macOS and Linux users can run Power BI Desktop in a virtual Windows environment. The course provides steps for installing such an environment.
- Key analytic technologies and techniques, e.g. predictive modeling and machine learning, and how these can play a role in managerial decision making
- How to effectively manage the analytical processes and use the results of these processes as the basis for making informed, evidence-based decisions
- How companies can use analytics as the basis for creating value
Prerequisite
Elementary college course in statistics.
Syllabus
None
Instructors
John W. Byers
Professor of Computer Science
Boston University
Chris Dellarocas
Richard C. Shipley Professor of Information Systems
Boston University
Content Designer
Boston University (BU) is an American university located in Boston. With approximately 4,000 faculty and over 33,000 students, Boston University is the fourth largest private university in the United States, as well as the fourth largest employer in the city of Boston.
The university is one of the most famous and prestigious in the country, attracting students from all over the world. BU's faculty and alumni include 8 Nobel laureates, including Martin Luther King.
Platform
Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California, Berkeley, are just some of the schools that you have at your fingertips with EdX. Through massive open online courses (MOOCs) from the world's best universities, you can develop your knowledge in literature, math, history, food and nutrition, and more. These online classes are taught by highly-regarded experts in the field. If you take a class on computer science through Harvard, you may be taught by David J. Malan, a senior lecturer on computer science at Harvard University for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. But there's not just one professor - you have access to the entire teaching staff, allowing you to receive feedback on assignments straight from the experts. Pursue a Verified Certificate to document your achievements and use your coursework for job and school applications, promotions, and more. EdX also works with top universities to conduct research, allowing them to learn more about learning. Using their findings, edX is able to provide students with the best and most effective courses, constantly enhancing the student experience.
