Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics for Business Decision Making

As more organizations rely on data to drive corporate planning and decision-making, increasingly sophisticated business intelligence and data tools are being used to meet the need for extensive data collection and manipulation. This allows the industry to quickly respond to organizational and market opportunities. The Data Analytics for Business Decision Making graduate certificate will prepare you for a career in this high-demand area by teaching you the knowledge and skills that you need to support real-world business decision-making and planning through data insights, data management, and data science.

Organizations are relying more than ever before on their internal and external data sources to drive business planning, decision-making, and problem-solving. Business intelligence and Big Data tools accomplish this by enabling unprecedented data collection and manipulation to permit organizations to respond quickly to market changes/opportunities. The need for graduates with these skills is growing at a rapid rate across all industries.

This Graduate Certificate program will enable students to support real-world business decision-making and planning with data. Students will blend theoretical knowledge with hands-on practical skills for data collection, analysis, and manipulation. In addition, students will be able to present their analyses and findings to management and key business stakeholders.

Admission Requirements

• A two or three-year diploma or degree

OR

• An acceptable combination of related work experience and post-secondary education
• Proof of English language proficiency required

Applicants whose first language is not English or who are internationally educated in a non‐English speaking country must meet Durham College’s English Language Proficiency Policy.

Note: A comfort in mathematics, statistics, computer software, computer programming, and enterprise systems is recommended.

Costs

Courses

Semester 1

• Introduction To DATA Analysis (DATA 1200)
• Data Collection And DATA Management (DATA 1201)
• Data Analysis Tools For Analytics (DATA 1202)
• Business Analysis And Assessments 1 (DATA 1203)
• Statistical Predictive Modeling For Analytics I (DATA 1204)
• Visualizations, Leadership, And Business Communications I (DATA 1205)

Semester 2

• Ethical Leadership And Critical Decision Making (DATA 2202)
• Business Analysis And Assessments II (DATA 2203)
• Statistical And Predictive Modelling For Analytics II (DATA 2204)
• Visualizations, Leadership, And Business Communications II (DATA 2205)
• Capstone (DATA 2206)
• Project Management For Analytics (DATA 2207)

Courses and course descriptions are subject to change.

Career Options

What you could be:

• Business Analyst
• Financial Analyst
• Report Analyst
• Data Analyst
• Analytics Specialist
• Business Analytics Specialist
• Data Insights Analyst
• Data Scientist

Where you could work:

• Marketing
• Retail
• Financial
• Insurance
• Healthcare
• Consumer packaged goods
• Tourism
• Government
• Media
• Public affairs

Capstone Project

Students will integrate and apply the knowledge and skills they gained throughout the program during a capstone project where they will research, plan, and execute a project that meets a real-world financial, market or organizational need. Projects will emphasize the students’ expertise with data analysis, analytics, data science, and business intelligence/Big Data tools.

Laptop Requirements

Minimum Recommended Hardware

• Intel I7 or AMD A10 processor or better with a chipset that must support virtualization
• 16 GB of RAM
• 1 TB hard drive
• Ethernet Network Card
• Wireless Network Card
• One USB 3.0 port (two preferred)

Software Requirements

• Windows 10 Professional Edition