2023-2024

Business Analytics, Bachelor of Science

Department of Management, Marketing, and Information Systems

The W. A. Franke College of Business

The Bachelor of Science in Business Analytics major (STEM-designated) will cover the essential business concepts and skills to allow students to understand business strategies, objectives, and operations. It 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. In addition to these skills, students will be able to formulate important insights from data analysis and visualization to communicate and support business insights and findings.

  • To receive a bachelor's degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete at least 120 units of credit that minimally includes a major, the liberal studies requirements, and university requirements as listed below.

    • All of Northern Arizona University's diversity, liberal studies, junior-level writing, and capstone requirements.
    • All requirements for your specific academic plan(s).
    • At least 30 units of upper-division courses, which may include transfer work.
    • At least 30 units of coursework taken through Northern Arizona University, of which at least 18 must be upper-division courses (300-level or above). This requirement is not met by credit-by-exam, retro-credits, transfer coursework, etc.
    • A cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 on all work attempted at Northern Arizona University.

    The full policy can be viewed here.

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.

Minimum Units for Completion 120
Highest Mathematics Required MAT 121
Additional Admission Requirements Required
University Honors Program Optional
Progression Plan Link View Progression Plan

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

Student Learning Outcomes
 
Using the fundamentals of Python programming and applying Python tools, packages, and processes to conduct business analytics.
  • 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.
Describe the purpose of databases and data warehousing and construct custom applications and programs to generate ad hoc reports that will enhance business decision-making.
  • 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.
Model decision problems and perform sensitivity analysis using modeling best practices.
  • 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.
Solve real-world business problems using data mining and machine learning methods.
  • 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 analytics.
  • 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.
Communicate analytics results and findings to support data-driven decision-making.
  • 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:
    • 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 Requirement: 15 - 21 units

    Take the following 73 - 82 units:

  • Certificate Requirement (15 - 21 units)

    You must complete an undergraduate certificate within The W. A. Franke College of Business (15 - 21 units)

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

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

  • 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.