La Trobe University - BUS1001: Data Analytics Concepts (Solutions)

Any modern business today will utilise some form of spreadsheet tool to review, manipulate and visualise data (in the form of charts for reporting). A spreadsheet tool also enables one to undertake advanced tasks on business data, such as performing scenario analyses and undertaking complex data analytics, for example creating a forecasting model. In this subject, you will learn how to use two technological tools to undertake data analysis. The first tool is Structure Query Language (SQL), which we will use to pull relevant data into Excel and facilitate further analysis. Next, various advanced Excel analyses including pivot tables, statistical analysis, and creation of basic forecasting models will be covered. Upon successful completion of this subject you will be proficient in basic data analysis using Excel and SQL, setting you up to become an analytical and data driven problem solver. With these skills, you will also be ready to identify insights allowing you to disrupt typical business operations systematically and with a higher chance of success.

On successful completion you will be able to: 

• use SQL proficiently to retrieve data from a database;
• apply common statistical functions and hypothesis testing techniques on business data;
• explain data trends using appropriate data visualisations created from a spreadsheet tool; and,
• use a spreadsheet tool to solve forecasting problems and address complex business challenges through data analytics.