Foundations of strategic business analytics

Week 1

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.

Week 2

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.

Week 3

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. 

Week 4

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.