Business Analytics Graduate Certificate Curriculum

Prerequisite Coursework

(Can be waived by course instructor if candidate has equivalent undergraduate or graduate coursework or professional experience.)

• One semester of business statistics with grade of C or better or at least 80% in the online statistics module that is available through the Rollins College of Business Graduate Programs Office and can be completed upon admission to the certificate program.

Required Coursework
 

• DATA 5110 - Programming and Data Preparation for Analytics (offered fall semesters): This course introduces programming concepts and techniques for business data analytics. Topics include coding with industry-standard programing platforms to read data from various sources, explore, manipulate and prepare data for developing machine learning models.
   
• DATA 5120 - Descriptive Analytics: This course introduces students to descriptive analytics, a vital component of business analytics that focuses on summarizing, exploring, and understanding business data. Students will learn how to use statistical methods and techniques to analyze business challenges and derive actionable insights. The course will cover techniques such as data summarization, correlation, regression analysis, and time series analysis. Prerequisite: Successful completion of online background module in business statistics or academic advisor approval based on academic record is required.
   
• DATA 5230 - Introduction to Machine Learning: This course provides a structured approach to machine learning, covering key principles, model development, and performance evaluation. Students will learn to assess predictive and classification performance while applying strategies to mitigate overfitting, handle rare events, and address unequal classification error costs. Through hands-on exercises, they will build and evaluate models such as k-NN, Naïve Bayes, Decision Trees, Regression, and Neural Networks, gaining practical skills for real-world applications. The course leverages leading-edge software platforms to implement machine learning techniques, ensuring students gain experience with industry-standard tools. Prerequisites: DATA 5110 and DATA 5120
   
• DATA 5140 - Databases and Data Warehouses: This course provides comprehensive coverage of operational and analytical databases, emphasizing essential database management skills required for business analytics. Topics include conceptual database design using entity-relationship modeling (ERD), logical database design through normalization, and physical database implementation. Students will learn to design data warehouses and data marts using star schema methodology and explore Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) processes to integrate operational data into analytical platforms. Hands-on sessions with MySQL in a laboratory setting will equip students with practical skills to create, query, update, and retrieve data from SQL databases.
  
  OR
   
• DATA 5150 - Data Visualization for Business: This course covers development of effective visualization to facilitate the understanding of complex organizational data. Topics include human perception & attention, visualization software & toolkits, visualization techniques for spatial data, geospatial data, time-oriented data, multivariate data, trees, graphs, networks, maps and text. Evaluate good design practices for visualization. Review cutting-edge research in data visualization.

Certificate Course Timeline:
 

• Two-semester Certificate Completion: Begin in the fall with DATA 5110 & DATA 5120 and then finish in spring with DATA 5230 & DATA 5150.

Certificate Prerequisite Work:

Prerequisite coursework (one semester of business statistics, introductory statistics, or equivalent) can be completed in fall, spring, or summer semesters prior to beginning the certificate core classes as a non-credit online module. The module

• typically takes 6-10 hours for most students to complete.
• is self-paced and can be started at any time after a student is admitted to the certificate program.

Certificate courses are offered in the following semesters:

• In the Flexible Business Analytics Graduate Certificate program, each fall and spring course meets once per week from 5:30-8:00 p.m. for fifteen weeks.
   
• In the Online Business Analytics Graduate Certificate program, the courses are taught asynchronously online with no class meeting times.