Module BUSI4M110: Business Analytics (Taught)

Department: Management and Marketing

BUSI4M110: Business Analytics (Taught)

Tied To

• N1T717: Business Administration (Online) (for students entering from April 2017)

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• To provide an appreciation of descriptive, predictive and prescriptive business-analytics techniques.
• To provide knowledge of, and ability to apply, a range of business-analytics techniques.
• To implement business-analytics models using Microsoft Excel.
• To show how business analytics can help companies to make better decisions.
• To explore ethical issues with managing data.

Content

• Descriptive techniques e.g. data visualisation, data analysis, and descriptive statistics.
• Predictive techniques e.g. data mining.
• Prescriptive techniques e.g. linear optimisation models.

Learning Outcomes

• Upon successful completion of the module, the students should:
• Have in-depth knowledge of a range of business-analytics techniques and be able to apply them critically to management problems.
• Have an understanding of the applicability and limitations of business-analytics techniques.

• Upon successful completion of the module, the students should be able to:
• Choose appropriate business-analytics techniques for some key management problems.
• Implement business-analytics models using Microsoft Excel.
• Interpret the results of business analytics models and their relevance for companies.

• Effective written communication skills
• Planning, organising and time-management skills
• Problem solving and analytical skills
• Advanced skills in the interpretation of data
• Advanced computer-literacy skills

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Learning outcomes are met through classroom-based workshops, supported by online resources. The workshops consist of a combination of taught input, groupwork, case studies and discussion. Online resources provide supplementary material for the workshops — typically consisting of directed reading and video content.
• The formative assessment includes classroom-based exercises involving individual and group analyses of specific business situations/problems relevant to the learning outcomes of the module. Feedback will be given as appropriate.
• The summative assessment is an individual business analytics project, which is designed to test the ability to formulate a problem, apply appropriate business-analytics techniques to analyse it, and critically interpret the results obtained.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Students will be set various formative tasks throughout the module. In particular students will work on teaching cases. To solve and analyse these cases they will apply business analytics techniques and interpret and discuss their output. Solutions will be put on DUO. The purpose of these tasks is to provide students with feedback on the development of their technical skills and their understanding of the application of business analytics techiques to prepare them for the summative project.