Business Analytics, Bachelor of Science

In addition to University Requirements:

• 73 – 82 units of major requirements
• Up to 9 units of major prefix courses may be used to satisfy Liberal Studies requirements; these same courses may also be used to satisfy major requirements.
• Elective courses, if needed, to reach an overall total of at least 120 units.

Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.

Purpose Statement

The Bachelor of Science in Business Analytics major will provide students with in-depth knowledge and technical skills on how to collect, process, analyze, visualize, and ultimately make sense of large amounts of business data for better decision-making for a wide variety of organizations and industries.

The business analytics major will cover the essential business concepts and skills to allow students to understand business strategies, objectives, and operations. In addition to these skills, the major will include the necessary skills for students to be able to technically prepare, explore, and analyze data. Students will formulate important insights from data analysis and visualize data to communicate and support business insights and findings. Additionally, all students will complete a certificate offered by the W. A. Franke College of Business. The completion of this certificate will provide flexibility in the major and the opportunity for students to pursue their passions and strengths.

Graduates of the business analytics major will obtain skills and experience in tools and applications such as Microsoft Excel, Tableau, RapidMiner, and Power BI. These tools allow for the preparation, analysis, and visualization of data. Additionally, they will learn to use Python programming to technically handle business analytics and decision-making. Depending on the certificate completed, students can use and learn additional analysis tools. They will also learn how to work with and query databases and data warehouses and how to mine and acquire data. Additionally, students will learn experimental A/B tests and apply appropriate statistical concepts and techniques to perform valid and valuable analyses. Students will also learn how to interpret findings and results and how to professionally communicate their findings to their intended audiences.

Within the business analytics major, students will learn by completing projects and applying concepts and skills to business problems. They will work with a variety of data and datasets to practice and apply their learning. They will have opportunities to make decisions in simulation tools, as well as work with real business problems and organizations. They will experience organizing and presenting findings and conclusions. Students will have learning experiences using data and results to support and justify their decisions and conclusions.

This degree could prepare students for one of the following jobs:

• Business Analyst
• Business Operations Analyst
• Data Scientist
• Financial Analyst
• Market Research Analyst

• Develop basic business applications in Python.
• Apply Python tools, libraries, and packages.
• Apply Python programming to prepare, structure, and analyze data for business analytics.
• Visualize data using Python and visualization packages and make decisions and conclusions from the analyses.

• Utilize SQL to query databases.
• Apply SQL techniques to business analytics.
• Work effectively with database systems that are embedded in and serve as the back end for enterprise systems software.
• Describe, plan, and implement a business data warehouse using dimensional modeling techniques.

• Apply descriptive statistics to summarize a data set.
• Use data visualization to communicate associations, relationships, and outliers based on visualization best practices.
• Use predictive analytics to analyze decision problems.

• Explain when to use and how to apply different types of data mining techniques and algorithms, such as Association Analysis, Classification, Clustering, and Regress in business analytics applications.
• Apply key concepts in text mining to conduct textual data analysis.

• Conduct marketing data collection, analysis, and visualization.
• Develop and analyze the A/B test in an experimental setting for making marketing decisions.
• Explain and apply marketing mix models for optimization and attribution in marketing analysis.

• Explain how data is used for business decision-making.
• Describe the value of and the need for business analytics.
• Tell an effective data story.

Additional Admission Requirements

• Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.

• Admissions to Northern Arizona University qualifies you for admission to the preprofessional program in The W. A. Franke College of Business. You must meet the following requirements to enter our professional program.

• • Complete at least 56 units with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or better.
  • Complete the following courses with a Grade of “C” or better in each course:
    • ENG 105
    • ECO 201 or STA 270
    • ECO 280 or (ECO 284 and ECO 285)
    • ISM 120, ISM 220, ISM 310
    • MAT 121 or MAT 125 or MAT 136
  • Complete six (6) different pathways experiences, one of which must be the career steps online module. Transfer students who have met all the requirements listed above need to complete four (4) pathways experiences, one of which must be the career steps online module, during their first semester in The W. A. Franke College of Business.
  • If you have 2.75 GPA in these courses and have satisfactorily completed Pathways activities designated by The W. A. Franke College of Business, we guarantee your acceptance into our professional program. If your GPA is less than a 2.75, but you have at least a 2.5 GPA and have satisfactorily completed all designated Pathways activities, we admit you into the professional program on a space-available basis according to the rank order of your GPA in these courses.
  • If you are in the preprofessional program and have completed all required courses with a “C” or better, but have a GPA in those courses that is below the acceptable GPA for admission to the professional program, you may repeat up to two of the required courses in which you earned a “C” to meet the minimum GPA requirement. You may only repeat a required course in which you earned a grade of “C” one time.

Major Requirements

• This major requires 73 – 82 units distributed as follows:

  • Business Analytics coursework: 58 – 61 units
  • Certificate or Business Electives Requirement: 15 – 21 units
    • Undergraduate FCB Certificate: 15 – 21 units
    • Business Electives: 15 units
  
  Take the following 73 – 82 units:

• Business Analytics Coursework (58 – 61 units)

  • BAN 410, BAN 440, BAN 442, BAN 445, BAN 448, BAN 450 (18 units)
  • BAN 486C which meets the senior capstone requirement (3 units)*.
    • This course must be taken at the Franke College of Business.
  • Select one course from the following (3 units):
    • ECO 201
    • STA 270
  • Select one option from the following (3 – 6 units):**
    • ECO 280 (3 units)
    • ECO 284 and ECO 285 (6 units)
  • Select one course from the following which meet the junior-level writing requirement (3 units) :*
    • ENG 302W
      • This course must be taken at Northern Arizona University.
    • MGT 350W
      • This course must be taken at the Franke College of Business.
  • ISM 120, ISM 220, ISM 310, ISM 360, ISM 370 (15 units)
  • Select one course from the following (4 units):
    • MAT 121
    • MAT 125
    • MAT 136
  • MGT 301, MGT 340 (6 units)
  • MKT 333 (3 units)

• Certificate or Business Elective Coursework Requirement (15 – 21 units)
  
  Select one of the following options.

• • Certificate Requirement Option (15 – 21 units)

    • Complete an undergraduate certificate within The W. A. Franke College of Business. 15 – 21 units

• • Business Elective Coursework Option (15 units)
    • Additional business coursework from ACC, BAN, ECO, FIN, HA, ISM, MGT, or MKT.
      • Courses must be selected with the approval of the Department of Management, Marketing and Information Systems.
      • 9 units must be upper-division coursework.

• Students enrolled in this plan may not enroll in or pursue the following due to the number of overlapping units:

• • Business Analytics, Undergraduate Certificate
  • Enterprise Systems, Undergraduate Certificate

General Electives

• Additional coursework is required if, after you have met the previously described requirements, you have not yet completed a total of 120 units of credit.

  You may take these remaining courses from any of the academic areas, using these courses to pursue your specific interests and goals. You may also use prerequisites or transfer credits as electives if they weren’t used to meet major, minor, or liberal studies requirements.
  
  We encourage you to consult with your advisor to select the courses that will be most advantageous to you.

Additional Information

• All transfer credits must be approved by the FCB and are subject to guidelines listed in the current general catalog. The FCB does not accept upper-division transfer credits from programs not accredited by the AACSB (such as the University of Phoenix or the Bachelor of Business Administration program at NAU-Yuma).
  
  Students must complete the following courses at the FCB: BAN 486C (Capstone Experience) and the junior writing requirement (if filled by MGT 350W (Business Communication)). Students who satisfy the junior writing requirement with ENG 302W (Technical Writing) must complete that course at Northern Arizona University.
  
  You must have completed all of the coursework used to fulfill these requirements within the last 10 years.

• Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.