Effective Use of Data and Analytics for Organisations

Use data effectively. Communicate analytical results.

This course will improve your ability to use data effectively within your organisation whether you are mainly a consumer of data outputs produced by others or are directly involved with their creation.

It covers how data and analytics can be used to inform decisions, and how legal, ethical, and cultural considerations affect what can and should be done with data. The course covers commonly used analytical techniques, including exercises to provide hands-on practice implementing those techniques in Excel and a lot of discussion about which techniques are appropriate in which situations. No prior exposure to statistics is required.

The course provides a design-driven approach to communicating analytical results, including using data visualisations such as those commonly used in dashboards and infographics. It covers the most common forms of data visualization, and which are most appropriate when, as well as providing general tips for editing and improving visualisations and other forms of data communication.

Common use cases for analytics are discussed, and students are encouraged to use data and examples from their own organisational context if that does not present any privacy or confidentiality issues.

• How data and analytics can enhance human decision making in organisations.
• Why organisational, legal, ethical, and cultural considerations shape what can and should be done with data and analytics.
• What types of data there are and how data needs to be prepared for analysis.
• How to implement basic analytical techniques in Excel.
• How to communicate analytical results based on your audience and objectives.
• What some of the most common organisational use cases for analytics are.
• How to effectively communicate analytical results.
• How things such as AI may affect how analytics are implemented and used in organisations in the future.