Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Specialization in Data Analytics Online

What is information systems for business?

Information systems for business combine technology, processes, and people to manage organizational data, support decision-making, and enable effective communication across business functions. These systems help companies process information, automate workflows, and gain competitive advantages through technology.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Recognize information technology as it applies to today's complex business environment
• Identify IT systems required to support business processes, complex information flow, and organizational communication needs including managerial decision support approaches and tools
• Apply skills in managing group projects delivering business presentations and reports

What is financial management?

Financial management involves planning, organizing, and controlling financial resources to achieve business objectives. It encompasses analyzing financial statements, evaluating investment opportunities, managing corporate capital structure, and making strategic decisions about how to allocate resources to maximize shareholder value.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Describe the major forms of businesses and markets, the process of value creation and corporate governance, and the inherent challenges
• Analyze the components of the financial statements to make business decisions
• Demonstrate the relationship between time, money, and interest rates, and the factors affecting the cost of money through computations
• Evaluate the types of stocks and bonds and their relevant characteristics and factors for intrinsic valuation
• Estimate the relationship between risk and return and assess the firm's cost of capital
• Estimate relevant cash flows, and appraise project value in order to allocate capital

What is professional career development in business?

Professional career development encompasses building essential skills for career success including ethical decision-making, professional branding, networking, and interview preparation. This foundational course helps students transition from academic learning to professional practice by developing their personal brand and career readiness skills.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Identify the basics of ethical behavior and decision making
• Prepare for a professional career search, which includes designing a profile for LinkedIn
• Prepare for a professional career search by practicing interview skills

What professional skills do business graduates need?

Successful business professionals need a combination of technical competencies and soft skills including financial literacy, business etiquette, networking abilities, and professional communication. This course develops the interpersonal and professional skills essential for navigating workplace environments and building successful careers.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Analyze professional business environment expectations and demonstrate understanding through case studies or discussions
• Develop personal financial management behaviors by creating and following a detailed financial plan
• Demonstrate growth in using interpersonal skills through role-playing and written assessments
• Perform successful interviewing techniques in mock interview sessions with feedback
• Exhibit proper dining etiquette in simulated job interviews and other business and social events
• Execute effective networking skills by attending networking events and reflecting on the experience

What does the business environment consist of?

The business environment encompasses all external and internal factors that affect how organizations operate, including economic conditions, competitive forces, ethical considerations, and stakeholder relationships. Understanding this environment enables managers to make informed decisions, identify opportunities and threats, and develop effective business strategies.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Analyze key management principles and apply them to business situations
• Demonstrate business writing skills with clear, organized, concise, and purposeful messages
• Assess differences in audience, situation, and purpose in a professional manner
• Prepare formal business presentations and written assignments
• Recognize issues in the business environment related to professionalism, personal ethics, and honesty
• Explain the information needed to address a business problem and make a decision

How to manage group projects?

Managing group projects involves applying fundamental techniques for successful collaboration, including task coordination, meeting facilitation, conflict management, and effective communication strategies. This course teaches students how to navigate individual differences, practice decision-making in team settings, and employ organizational behavior concepts to solve management problems collaboratively.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Employ fundamental techniques for successful group projects that will be integrated throughout the School of Business undergraduate curriculum
• Demonstrate effective practices in completing one's task assignments and cooperating with others
• Demonstrate best practices for effective meetings, in the role of meeting leader or meeting participant
• Model effective organizational behavior concepts (i.e. conflict management, effective communication strategies, accepting and managing individual differences, and decision making) in a group setting
• Evaluate management problems and apply organizational behavior concepts to solving them

What is strategic management?

Strategic management is the process of analyzing competitive environments, formulating long-term organizational strategies, and implementing plans to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. It integrates insights from all business functions to create coherent strategies that position organizations for success in dynamic markets.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Assess the business landscape facing the firm and the origin of competitive advantage
• Develop the capability to apply and evaluate analytical tools, concepts, and theories in strategic management so that students can formulate scientific and theoretically based strategies and recommendations
• Develop the ability to integrate knowledge across various business disciplines and apply it to real-world business problems
• Develop the capability to clearly and persuasively communicate ideas on business issues and problems through oral and written media

What is marketing?

Marketing is the process of creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers through strategic planning and execution of the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion). Effective marketing identifies customer needs, segments target markets, and develops integrated strategies to build lasting customer relationships and drive business growth.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Analyze of the concepts of marketing and how marketing works in today's business; also to identify the environmental forces affecting a marketer's business
• Identify the marketing concept and marketing mix utilized to build desire
• Identify/segment the target market(s) for a product, service or idea
• Define the key components of a distribution strategy for a product, service or idea
• Enumerate and apply a basic promotion mix for a product, service or idea
• Define the fundamental elements of a pricing strategy for a product, service or idea

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Explain key concepts of operations management and their application in creating goods and services
• Analyze operational processes to identify areas for improvement in efficiency, quality, and resource use
• Apply operations management techniques to optimize performance in real-world business scenarios
• Evaluate the effectiveness of operational strategies to enhance cost, quality, and customer satisfaction

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Interpret unemployment and inflation data and how that data is collected and computed
• Derive and synthesize the components of the National Income Accounts, especially GDP
• Identify the frequency of business cycle phases
• Examine the roles of monetary policy and fiscal policies, their tools, and the advantages and drawback of each policy
• Understand the role of trade and international currency exchange in the world economy

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Describe how consumers and firms behave in a market economy
• Identify how prices, wages, and market structure impact decisions in everyday life
• Describe the relationship between incentives, prices, and economic costs
• Predict outcomes given a change in the market environment

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Solve and apply linear, quadratic, polynomial, radical, and rational equations and inequalities
• Graph and interpret graphs of linear, power, root, absolute value, polynomial, and rational equations
• Graph functions using basic transformations
• Identify the sum, difference, product, quotient, composition, and inverse of functions
• Solve systems of linear equations using algebraic and matrix methods
• Use mathematical vocabulary and symbols in order to understand, interpret, and represent mathematical information

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Analyze linear functions, especially as they relate to forming supply and demand functions
• Solve systems of linear equations, especially as they are related to a business problems involving unknown investment amounts
• Locate the vertex of a quadratic function and interpret it in terms of a business context
• Form and solve total revenue and profit functions. Emphasis will be placed on starting with a demand function
• Solve equations involving common and natural logarithms. Apply this knowledge to solve compound interest problems, sales decay problems and demand function problems

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Use Excel to describe a business data set using appropriate numeric and graphical methods.
• Identify and use appropriate probability distributions to answer questions as part of a business application and present the answers in clear business language.
• Identify and perform appropriate parametric hypothesis tests using business data to answer questions as part of a business application and to present the results and implications of the results in clear business language.
• Identify and perform appropriate hypothesis tests for relationships between variables as part of a business application and to present the results and implications of the results in clear business language

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Exhibit an understanding of business’s interaction with dynamic political, international, economic, legal, and social forces
• Demonstrate an understanding of the psychological and sociological factors affecting ethical organizational behavior
• Analyze morally relevant decisions
• Demonstrate an ability to reason through complex business cases
• Demonstrate an understanding of principle normative approaches to ethics
• Understand sub-cultural influences in the U.S. and international cultural influences on corporate social responsibility and ethical behavior

What is introduction to programming for business?

Introduction to programming for business teaches core Python programming concepts including variables, functions, loops, and data structures like arrays, lists, and dictionaries. This course develops skills in building simple graphical interfaces, utilizing Python data analysis libraries, and implementing prompt engineering techniques with generative AI tools for business applications.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Describe core computer and programming language concepts
• Write programming code using variables as well as statements, selections, loops, and functions in Python
• Apply core Python data structures like Simple Data Types, Arrays, Lists, and Dictionaries
• Explain how a program can interact with the user and exchange data with the file system
• Compose simple GUIs in Python and use Python libraries for data analysis
• Understand and implement prompt engineering techniques leveraging Generative AI like LlamaCode and CodeGPT

What is SQL for data analytics?

SQL for data analytics teaches structured query language techniques for extracting, manipulating, and analyzing business data from relational databases. This course develops essential database querying skills necessary for data-driven decision making, enabling students to retrieve, filter, aggregate, and transform data to support analytical processes and business intelligence.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• (Learning objectives to be defined)

What is data visualization?

Data visualization transforms complex data into compelling visual stories through strategic use of colors, fonts, layouts, and graphical elements. This course covers data cleaning, wrangling, and preparation techniques while developing end-to-end analytics projects that effectively communicate insights, support decision-making, and maintain ethical standards in data presentation.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Choose effective colors, fonts, layouts, and other details to enhance decision making via data visualizations
• Employ best practices to clean, combine, and wrangle data
• Craft compelling stories using data visualization elements
• Prepare for audits by developing appropriate documentation of data visualization projects
• Manipulate data to demonstrate misleading and unethical data visualizations
• Develop an end-to-end data analysis project, including finding, procuring, cleaning, wrangling, joining, analyzing, visualizing, and presenting data in support of a business-related research question
• Evaluate data visualizations for quality, effectiveness, attractiveness, and honesty
• Explain the process and components of developing data visualization projects

What are empirical business applications?

Empirical business applications uses RStudio for data manipulation, analysis, and visualization to solve real-world business problems. This course applies descriptive statistics, predictive modeling techniques, and inferential methods while developing skills to interpret analytical outputs in ways that are understandable and relevant to various business contexts.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of empirical concepts and RStudio for data manipulation and analyses
• Apply descriptive techniques to real-world data to effectively summarize and visualize data
• Apply various techniques to real-world data to model relationships and make inferences and predictions
• Develop skills for describing, interpreting, and evaluating output in a way that is understandable and relevant to various business contexts

What is data analysis for managers?

Data analysis for managers equips leaders with skills to identify relevant data sources, apply analytical techniques, and translate insights into strategic business decisions. This course focuses on leveraging data-driven assessments across marketing, operations, and finance functions to develop actionable recommendations that improve organizational performance and competitive positioning.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Identify key data and data analysis techniques for management decisions
• Analyze data from various sources to gain managerial insights
• Apply data analysis techniques for strategic planning and decision-making
• Gain skills in forming actionable business recommendations through data interpretation
• Evaluate the outcomes through data-driven assessments
• Leverage data analysis to drive decisions in marketing, operations, and finance

What is marketing research?

Marketing research examines methods for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to address marketing questions and managerial problems. This course covers research design, data collection methodologies, and analytical techniques while developing skills to facilitate evidence-based decision-making that serves both business objectives and consumer needs.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Recognize the evolving structure and role of marketing research in the lives of businesses and consumers
• Examine the necessity and overall goals of marketing research projects
• Design appropriate methods for achieving research objectives
• Collect information to address research questions and managerial problems
• Interpret findings from data to facilitate managerial decision-making

What is data analytics in accounting?

Data analytics in accounting applies statistical methods, data mining techniques, and visualization tools to analyze large volumes of financial and operational data. Accountants use data analytics to identify patterns, detect anomalies, support audit procedures, forecast trends, and provide data-driven insights that improve decision-making and business performance.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Develop an analytics mindset to recognize when and how analytics can address business questions
• Import and export data to prepare for analysis
• Identify attributes of data quality
• Perform data analysis and manipulation
• Draw conclusions and make recommendations based on the results of data analytics
• Report data and prepare data visualizations to communicate findings

What is introduction to big data?

Introduction to big data explores characteristics, concepts, and business applications of large-scale datasets using leading enterprise analytics and visualization tools. This course examines how organizations extract value from big data, addresses ethical concerns in algorithm development, and prepares students for career opportunities in this rapidly evolving field.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• Explain Big Data characteristics
• Recognize Big Data problems and concepts
• Perform Big Data applied analytics and visualization using leading enterprise tools
• Discuss the business uses and value of Big Data
• Identify ethical concerns of using and developing Big Data algorithms
• Develop application materials by building on an understanding of a career in Big Data