Business Analytics Nanodegree Syllabus   

Master data fundamentals applicable to any industry  
 

Before You Start 

There are no prerequisites for this program, aside from basic computer skills. You should 
be comfortable opening files, folders, and applications, and performing operations like 
copy and paste. 

Contact Info 
While going through the program, if you have questions about anything, you can reach us 
at [email protected].  
 
 
Nanodegree Program Info 
This program is an excellent program for non-technical people who want to make more 
data driven decisions. You’ll learn data analysis skills and tools that will help you 
throughout your career, whether you’re in engineering, sales, marketing, operations, etc. 
You’ll learn to use Excel, SQL, and Tableau to manipulate, analyze, and visualize data with 
the end goal of making better, data-informed decisions. This program is also great 
preparation for more advanced programs, such as the Data Analyst or Business Analyst 
Nanodegree programs. 
 
Depending on how quickly you work through the material, the amount of time required is 
variable. We have included an hourly estimation for each section of the program. The 
program is three months long. If you spend about 10 hours per week working through the 
program, you should finish the program in three months.  
 
Estimated Length of Program​: 3 months  
Program Structure​: Self-paced 
Textbooks required​: None 
 
 
 

Updated 5/1/19
Introduction to Data Analysis 
Intro Project: Interpret a Data Visualization 
In the lessons leading to your first project, you will get to know your instructors and learn 
how data is being applied in many industries. You’ll also learn about course structure, 
navigation, learning resources, deadlines, projects, and everything that will help you 
succeed in this course. 
 
You will then get to work on your first project, where you will draw insights from interactive 
dashboards. A large part of working with data is being able to interpret data visualizations 
and explain your insights to others. This project will build your intuition on working with 
data dashboards, while also showing you the types of beautiful visualizations you will be 
able to produce by the end of this program!  
 
Project: Analyze NYSE Data 
In this project, you will work with a New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) dataset that contains 
fundamental financial data for 500 companies. You will use spreadsheets to analyze and 
summarize the data using statistics and data visualizations. You will communicate the key 
findings in a professional manner. You will also design a dashboard that calculates the 
financial metrics and auto populates the income statement for each company using data 
validation and advanced lookup tools within Excel. You will then forecast financial metrics 
within the Income Statement, based on three scenarios with distinct assumptions for a 
company of your choice from the NYSE dataset.  
 
By the end of this project, you will be able to: 
➔ Calculate summary statistics using spreadsheets.   
➔ Create data visualizations using spreadsheets. 
➔ Ask questions and answer them using data. 
➔ Work with real-world data that has missing and incorrect values. 
➔ Calculate key business metrics in financial analysis and interpret values. 
➔ Forecast financial metrics using scenario analysis. 
 
Lesson Title  Learning Outcomes 

Descriptive Statistics I  ➔ Learn data types, measures of center, and the basics of 
mathematical notation. 

Descriptive Statistics II  ➔ Learn a common visual method for quantitative data, 
measures of spread, and the difference between 
descriptive and inferential statistics. 

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 Spreadsheets: Getting  ➔ Learn basic functionality for spreadsheet software.  
Started  ➔ Use cell referencing and menu shortcuts.  

Spreadsheets:  ➔ Sort and filter data. 

Manipulate Data  ➔ Use text and math functions. 
➔ Split columns and remove duplicates. 

Spreadsheets: Analyze  ➔ Summarize data with aggregation and conditional 

Data  functions. 
➔ Use pivot tables and lookup functions. 

Spreadsheets: Visualize  ➔ Build data visualizations for quantitative and categorical 

Data  data. 
➔ Create pie, bar, line, scatter, histogram, and boxplot 
charts. 
➔ Build professional presentations. 

Metrics  ➔ Become familiar with business metrics used by business 

analysts in the area of marketing, sales, growth, 
engagement, and financial analysis. 
➔ Calculate and interpret key performance metrics. 
➔ Calculate metrics and create plots to visualize metrics in 
Excel. 

Excel Modelling  ➔ Understand the fundamentals of sales and financial 

forecasting models. 
➔ Create forecasting models using advanced lookup and 
data validation tools (INDEX, MATCH, OFFSET)in Excel. 

SQL for Data Analysis 

Project: Query Digital Music Store Database 
 
In this project, you will query a digital music store database which holds information 
regarding the store’s media, employees, and customers. You will use the database to help 
the store gain an understanding of the types of music that are purchased, where 
customers live, and how the company might optimize their business practices. 

 
By the end of this project, you will be able to: 
➔ Write SQL to query a single table. 
➔ Write SQL to query multiple tables. 
➔ Ask a question that requires data from multiple places, join the data together, and 
answer the question. 

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 ➔ Install SQL on your own machine, upload a database, ask complex questions about 
the data in a database, and query the database to answer those questions. 

Lesson Title  Learning Outcomes 

Basic SQL  ➔ Become fluent in basic SQL commands including SELECT, 

FROM, WHERE, and corresponding logical operators. 

SQL Joins  ➔ Combine data tables using SQL joins to to answer more 
complex business questions. 

SQL Aggregations  ➔ Aggregate data in SQL including COUNT, SUM, MIN, and 
MAX. 
➔ Write CASE and DATE functions, as well as work with 
NULL values. 

Advanced SQL Lessons  ➔ Use subqueries, also called CTEs, in a number of different 
[Optional]  situations. 
➔ Use window functions including RANK, NTILE, LAG, LEAD 
new functions along with partitions to complete complex 
tasks. 
➔ Clean data, optimize queries, and write advanced JOINs. 

 
Data Visualization with Tableau 
Project: Build Data Dashboards 
 
Sharing insights is an integral part of working with data. In this project, you’ll build 
interactive dashboards with Tableau to tell stories from data. You’ll use a dataset of flight 
delays in the US to visualize the quality of airlines and airports, find the best times to fly, 
and more. These types of visualizations help guide decision making to reach the best 
outcomes. 

 
By the end of this project, you will be able to: 
➔ Select the most appropriate data visualization for an analysis. 
➔ Evaluate the effectiveness of a data visualization. 
➔ Build interactive and engaging Tableau dashboards. 

Lesson Title  Learning Outcomes 

Data Visualization  ➔ Evaluate the quality of data visualizations and build high 
Fundamentals  quality visualizations. 

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Design Principles  ➔ Implement the best design practices, and to use the most 
appropriate chart for a particular situation. 

Creating Visualizations   ➔ Build data visualizations in Tableau.   

in Tableau  ➔ Use data hierarchies, filters, groups, sets, and calculated 
fields. 
➔ Create map-based data visualizations in Tableau.   

Telling Stories with  ➔ Build interactive Tableau dashboards. 

Tableau  ➔ Tell impactful stories using data. 

Updated 5/1/19