module specification

This module provides more fuel for this era of strategic and unified views of business analytics (BA) for value creation. Making decisions using huge, messy data requires business analytics. It is important to have a true appreciation of and support for the analytical perspective on the business analytics – on data (a strategic set), and on people (the diverse skills it takes to formulate and execute on a well-thought-through strategy) and on methods and processes. This module focuses on the alignment between organisation’s overall strategy and BA framework. As such, this helps to gain the understanding of what are the businesses going to do with the data and how are they prepared to make better decision using the data.

N/A

Introduction to Business Analytics and the business analytics model LO1&2
• Business Analytics at the strategic Level LO1&2
• Development and deployment of Information at the functional level LO1&2
• Introduction to business function analytics LO1&2
• Web analytics in business LO1&2
• Business Analytics at the analytical level LO1&2
• Assessments and prioritisation of business analytics projects LO1&2

Delivery of the module will consist of 3 hours workshops. The module will be student centred. Students will be encouraged to research business analytics and database management issues from a variety of sources in addition to module materials including newspapers, textbooks and on-line sources to identify aspects relevant to their areas of study.

Workshops will provide the opportunity for the whole class to come together and to interact with the lecturer who will provide the basic business analytics and database management theories and present a set of examples and real-world cases.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

LO1: Demonstrate understanding of business analytics and how firms implement data-driven decision-making.

LO2: Illustrate the understanding of management of the data resources of an organization and sketch what data means for the business.

The assessment strategy is based on complete transparency between staff and students on the basis of which academic judgements are made. Briefings at the beginning of the module, every assignment brief and every feedback sheet will include the grading schedule, which contains detailed descriptors on how student achievement of specified learning outcomes translates into grades.

Students will receive formative feedback, together with summative feedback at designated points. Formative feedback will be provided consistently through in-class case studies and student presentations. Students will be offered the opportunity to discuss the formative feedback in class. This helps prepare students for the first summative assignment.

A1: Group Presentation on topic given by the module leader on a company chosen by the students.

A2: Individual report on website analysis (Web analytics). To conduct a competitor analysis of a website using web analytics tools and present it in a brief report. 3000 words.

Textbooks:

Core Texts:

Laursen, G. and Thorlund, J. (2018) Business Analytics for Managers: Taking Business Intelligence Beyond Reporting. London: Wiley.

Marr, B. (2016) Key Business Analytics: The 60+ tools every manager needs to turn data into insights: - better understand customers; identify cost savings and growth opportunities. Pearson: UK.

Other Texts:

Knaflic, C. N. (2015) Storytelling With Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Kimbrough, S. O. and Lau, H. C. (2016) Business Analytics for Decision Making. 1st edn. US: Tailor and Francis.

Winston, W. and Albright, S. (2019) Business Analytics: Data Analysis & Decision Making. 6th edn. UK: Cengage.

Journals:

• The International Journal of Business Analytics (IJBAN)
• Decision Analysis
• International Journal of Data Science and Analytics
• Computational Statistics & Data Analysis by International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC)
• Journal of Big Data
• Harvard Business Review (Harvard Business Publishing)
• Journal of Management Studies (John Wiley and Sons)
• Long Range Planning (Elsevier)
• Strategic Change (John Wiley and Sons)
• Management Decision
• Technological Forecasting and Social Change

Websites:

• https://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/business-analysis2.pdf

• ICO. (2018). Information Commissioner’s Office: GDPR Checklist. [Online].
Available at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/
(Accessed: 8 May 2018).
• British Council. (2018). HESA Data. [Online]. Available at: https://siem.britishcouncil.org/
(Accessed: 8 May 2018).
• Stewart Brand: How Buildings Learn: What Happens after They're Built, http://shearinglayers.com/layers/