Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere

1- Introducing data analytics

Data helps us make decisions in everyday life and in business. In this first part of the course,
you’ll learn how data analysts use data analytics and the tools of their trade to inform those
decisions. You’ll also discover more about this course and the overall program expectations.

Objectifs d'apprentissage

 Define key concepts involved in data analytics including data, data analysis, and data
ecosystem
 Discuss the use of data in everyday life decisions
 Identify the key features of the learning environment and their uses
 Describe principles and practices that will help to increase one's chances of success
in this certificate
 Explain the use of data in organizational decision-making
 Describe the key concepts to be discussed in the program, including learning
outcomes

Partie 1 : get started :

Video 1 : Welcome to the Google Data Analytics Certificate

What do companies in e-commerce,

entertainment, healthcare, manufacturing,
marketing, finance, tech,
and hundreds of other industries all have in common?
You guessed it, they all use data.
Organizations of all kinds need
data analysts to help them improve their processes,
identify opportunities and trends,
launch new products, provide great customer service,
and make thoughtful decisions.
Hi, I'm Tony, a program manager
at Google and a data analyst myself.
I like to welcome you to
the Google Data Analytics Certificate.
Now, there are lots of
great reasons to earn this certificate.
Maybe you're thinking about starting
a career in the exciting world of data analytics,
or maybe you're just fascinated
by the power of data as I am.
No matter what brought you here,
you're in the right place to kick-start a career and
learn industry-relevant skills in data analytics.
But first, what exactly is data?
Well, I'll like to say that data
is a collection of facts.
This collection can include numbers, pictures,
videos, words, measurements, observations, and more.
Once you have data, analytics
puts it to work through analysis.
Data analysis is the collection, transformation,
and organization of data in order to draw conclusions,
make predictions, and drive informed decision-making.
And it doesn't stop there.
Data evolves over time which
means this analysis or analytics,
as we call it, can give us
new information throughout data's entire life cycle.
Data is everywhere.
You use and create data everyday.
Have you ever read reviews of a product
before deciding whether or not to buy it?
That's data analysis.
Or maybe you wear a fitness tracker to count
your steps so you can stay active throughout the day.
That's data analysis.
But you don't just use data.
You also create huge amounts of it every single day.
Any time you use your phone,
look up something online, stream music,
shop with a credit card,
post on social media or use
GPS to map a route, you're creating data.
Our digital world and
the millions of smart devices inside of
it have made the amount of data
available truly mind-blowing.
Here at Google we process more than
40,000 searches every second.
That's 3.5 billion searches a day
and 1.2 trillion searches every year.
Here's another way to think about it.
YouTube has almost two billion users.
If YouTube users made up a country,
it would be the largest in the world.
All of that data is transforming the world around us.
The publication The Economist recently
called data the world's most valuable resource.
It's easy to see why
data analysts are so valued by their organizations.
What exactly does a data analyst do?
Put simply, a data analyst is someone who collects,
transforms, and organizes data
in order to help make informed decisions.
Besides the role itself,
one of the most exciting parts of being
a data analyst is the number of opportunities available.
The demand for data analysts is greater than
the number of qualified people
to fill these job openings.
This certificate program is
a great first step in
your journey to finding a job you love.
Data analysts come from
many different backgrounds and have
all kinds of life experiences.
You don't need decades of work experience
or an expensive education to get started.
Many data analysts taught themselves
the skills they needed to land their first job,
just like you're doing right now.
Now let's talk more about what you're going to learn.
The Google Data Analytics Certificate is split into
courses based on different processes for data analysis.
Those are ask, prepare,
process, analyze, share, and act.
Plan to watch these videos in order.
Each one covers a new topic and
every topic builds on what you've learned before,
making it easy to track your progress.
You're in the driver's seat.
Even though you might see things organized by weeks,
everything can be completed at your own pace.
So you decide how much you want to do each day.
By the end of the program,
you'll take everything you've learned and turn it into
a project that you can use to show off your skills,
and wow hiring managers at your job interviews.
Now along the way you'll also hear from Googlers.
That's what we call people who work here at Google.
They'll give you an inside look
at what it's like to work in
our industry and share
personal stories of how they got into the field.
They'll also give you some excellent tips
on how to land your dream job.
Stay tuned. Some of them are going
to introduce themselves in just a sec.
I'm Angie. I'm a program manager
of engineering at Google.
I truly believe that cleaning
data is the heart and soul of data.
It's how you get to know your data,
its quirks, its flaws, its mysteries.
I love a good mystery.
It felt like a superpower almost.
I was a detective and I had gone
in there and I'd really solved something.
Hi, I'm Alex.
I'm a research scientist at Google.
I research the different impacts of
artificial intelligence on society and our users.
My name is Lilah Jones.
I'm a part of our cloud team.
I get a chance to lead a team of
amazing individuals that are
focused on helping customers get to the cloud.
Hi, I'm Evan.
I'm a learning portfolio manager here at Google.
I have one of the coolest jobs
in the world where I get to
look at all the different technologies that affect
big data and then work them into
training courses like this one for students to take.
I'll be your instructor for the first course.
I'll take you through each module that will
cover a specific topic in a few different ways.
You'll have videos, reading materials, quizzes,
hands-on activities, and discussion prompts for
you to chat about with other students in an online forum.
I'm really excited to be guiding you through this course,
but I'm especially excited
that you've chosen this adventure.
Lifelong learning is something
that I'm very passionate about.
Growing up, when I looked around,
I often didn't see many options available to me.
It wasn't until I started getting
serious about my education that
I realized I had
the control to make my own opportunities
with education being the key that would open those doors.
The more I learned and the harder I worked,
the more possibilities opened up.
Had I not gone after
that knowledge and continued challenging myself,
I may not be where I am today.
Learning allowed me to grow personally, be successful,
visit places I would never have seen,
and meet people I would never have known.
Now I'm going to introduce some of those great people.
Hello, I'm Ximena, financial analyst.
I'll be helping you learn how to
ask the right questions about data,
the project you work on and
the problems you're trying to solve.
Hey, my name is Hallie, analytical lead.
I'm so excited to show you how to
prepare your data so it's ready for analysis.
Hello, I'm Sally, measurement and analytical lead.
Together we'll cover how to process and clean your data.
Cleaning data doesn't require soap and water.
I'm talking about making sure your data is complete,
correct, and relevant to
the problem you're trying to solve.
Hey, I'm Ayanna, global insights manager.
We'll be digging into analysis.
You'll learn how to collect, transform,
and organize data so that you can
use it to discover useful information,
draw conclusions, and make great decisions.
My name's Kevin and with
my experience as Director of analytics at Google,
I'll guide you through what I think is
the most exciting part of
the data analysis process: plan,
create, and present
effective and compelling data visualizations.
Hello, my name is Carrie.
I can't wait to tell you about
all the exciting things you can
do with the programming language R. Are you ready?
Hi, I'm Rishie,
Global analytics skills curriculum manager.
I'm going to help you bring
together everything you learned during
this program by creating
a case study that will dazzle any hiring manager.
Just like the capstone of
a great building shows everyone that it's complete,
your case study will signify
your own great achievement of earning
a Google certificate in data analytics.
Okay, are you getting excited
about the potential of becoming a data analyst?
So much is possible with data.
You're about to enter a whole new world.
Ready? Let's go.
Course 1– Foundations: Data, Data, Everywhere

1. Introducing data analytics: Data helps us make decisions, in everyday

life and in business. In this first part of the course, you will learn how data
analysts use tools of their trade to inform those decisions. You will also get to
know more about this course and the overall program expectations.
2. Thinking analytically: Data analysts balance many different roles in their
work. In this part of the course, you will learn about some of these roles and
the key skills that are required. You will also explore analytical thinking and
how it relates to data-driven decision making.
3. Exploring the wonderful world of data: Data has its own life cycle,
and data analysts use an analysis process that cuts across and leverages this
life cycle. In this part of the course, you will learn about the data life cycle and
data analysis process. They are both relevant to your work in this program and
on the job as a future data analyst. You will be introduced to applications that
help guide data through the data analysis process.
4. Setting up a data toolbox: Spreadsheets, query languages, and data
visualization tools are all a big part of a data analyst’s job. In this part of the
course, you will learn the basic concepts to use them for data analysis. You
will understand how they work through examples provided.
5. Discovering data career possibilities: All kinds of businesses value
the work that data analysts do. In this part of the course, you will examine
different types of businesses and the jobs and tasks that analysts do for them.
You will also learn how a Google Data Analytics Certificate will help you meet
many of the requirements for a position with these organizations.
6. Completing the Course Challenge: At the end of this course, you will
be able to put everything you have learned into perspective with the Course
Challenge. The Course Challenge will ask you questions about the main
concepts you have learned and then give you an opportunity to apply those
concepts in two scenarios.
What to expect

Each week of the course includes a series of lessons with many types of learning
opportunities. These include:

 Videos for instructors to teach new concepts and demonstrate the use of tools
 Readings to introduce new ideas and build on the concepts from the videos
 Discussion forums to share, explore, and reinforce lesson topics for better
understanding
 Discussion prompts to promote thinking and engagement in the discussion
forums
 Practice quizzes to prepare you for graded quizzes
 Graded quizzes to measure your progress and give you valuable feedback
 Also, be sure to pay attention to the in-video questions that will pop up from
time to time. They are designed for you to check your learning.

Learning Log: Think about data in daily life

Overview

By now, you've started to discover how powerful data can be. Throughout this course,
you’ll be asked to make entries in a learning log. Your log will be a personal space where
you can keep track of your thinking and reflections about the experiences you will have
collecting and analyzing data. Reflections may include what you liked, what you would
change, and questions that were raised. By the time you complete the entry for this
activity, you will have a stronger understanding of data analytics.

Everyday data

Before you write an entry in your learning log, think about where and how you use data to
make decisions. You will create a list of at least five questions that you might use
data to answer. Here are a few examples to inspire you:

 What’s the best time to go to the gym?

 How does the length of your commute to work vary by day of the week?
 How many cups of coffee do you drink each day?
 What flavor of ice cream do customers buy?
 How many hours of sleep do you get each day?
 Then, you will select one of the five questions from your list to explore further and write
down the types of data you might collect in order to make a decision. That’s data analysis
in action!

Access your learning log

To use the learning log for this course item, click the link below and select Use Template.

Link to learning log template: Think about data in daily life

OR

If you don’t have a Google account, you can download the template directly from the
attachment below.

Reflection

After you consider how you use data analysis in your own life, take a moment to reflect on
what you discovered. Reflections may include what you liked, what you would change, and
questions that were raised. In your new learning log entry, you will write 2-3 sentences (40-
60 words) in response to each question below:

 What are some considerations or preferences you want to keep in mind when
making a decision?
 What kind of information or data do you have access to that will influence your
decision?
 Are there any other things you might want to track associated with this decision?
When you’ve finished your entry in the learning log template, make sure to save the
document so your response is somewhere accessible. This will help you continue applying
data analysis to your everyday life. You will also be able to track your progress and growth
as a data analyst.

Learning Log: Think about data in daily life

Instructions
You can use this document as a template for the learning log activity: Think about data
in daily life. Type your answers in this document, and save it on your computer or
Google Drive.

We recommend that you save every learning log in one folder and include a date in the
file name to help you stay organized. Important information like course number, title,
and activity name are already included. After you finish your learning log entry, you can
come back and reread your responses later to understand how your opinions on
different topics may have changed throughout the courses.
To review detailed instructions on how to complete this activity, please return to
Coursera: Learning Log: Think about data in daily life.

Date: <enter Course/topic: Course 1: Foundations: Data, Data Everywhere

date>
Learning Log: Think about data in daily life

Everyday Create a list of at least five questions:

data

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Reflection: Write 2-3 sentences (40-60 words) in response to each of the questions
below.

Questions Now, select one of the five questions from your list to explore.
and
responses: Selected question: Type your response here

● What are some considerations or preferences you want to keep in

mind when making a decision?
Type your response here

● What kind of information or data do you have access to that will

influence your decision?
Type your response here

● Are there any other things you might want to track associated
with this decision?
Type your response here
Video : introduction to the course
"Data! Data! Data! I can't make bricks without clay."
Any guesses who said this? I'll give you a hint.
It wasn't a famous tech CEO,
or a data analyst.
The person who said this lived
long before the tech companies even existed.
But I bet you've still heard of him.
This line was said by Sherlock Holmes,
the famous detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
What Doyle meant was that
Holmes couldn't draw any conclusions,
which would be the bricks he mentioned
without data, or the clay.
You're probably not here to become
a world famous detective,
but data is still the building block that you'll use
for everything you do in your new data analyst career,
Sherlock Holmes would agree.
By starting this program,
you've shown that you and
Sherlock Holmes have something in common,
you both have an interest in learning more.
That's one of the most important qualities
that data analysts can have.
Now, there are a bunch of different ways to explore data,
but one of the great things about data analytics is that
you can often learn how you want, when you want.
That might mean doing your own research,
talking with people in the industry,
or taking online courses.
With that said, welcome to your first course.
This is your introduction to
the wonderful world of data analytics.
Since data analytics is the science of data,
you'll use this course to begin to learn all about data.
Data is basically a collection of facts
or information, and through analysis,
you'll learn how to use the data to draw conclusions,
and make predictions, and decisions.
Personally, I didn't jump
right into the data analytics field.
I thought data analysis was for computer engineers.
Instead, I started off with dreams of working in finance.
Once I got through an internship though,
I realized it wasn't the career path I wanted to take.
I started to learn about financial planning and analysis,
and all of the work
finance analysts were doing with data.
I realized that finance analysts are really
just data analysts working in a finance department.
These analysts were helping to guide
business decisions by knowing how to use data.
It was then I realized how powerful data is,
and I started to embrace it.
Soon enough, I realized I could
do this data analysis myself.
Data analytics is a big open world of opportunity.
There are so many areas that your analysis skills can be
applied and in all different ways.
If you're new to this world,
you'll learn how to identify which path and
industry might suit your skills,
and your interests the best.
For those of you who already have some experience,
we'll help you open doors
to new and exciting opportunities.
One of the skills you'll gain from
the program is how to follow
the best practices that analysts
use to help make data-driven decisions.
Computers are one part of the process,
but analysts rely on so much more to make decisions.
That's why learning how to think analytically,
and using your other skills and traits
on the job will make your work easier.
I know you already know how to make good decisions,
you chose to be here after all.
In this first course,
you'll learn more about each phase
of the data analysis process.
Ask, prepare, process, analyze, share, and act.
As a data analyst,
you'll go through these steps as you
use data to inform your decisions.
Eventually, you'll see how
this program itself is in a way,
its own version of this process.
While I know you'll enjoy watching these videos,
your trip to the first course
will include a whole lot more.
Other videos will take the form of vignettes,
where you'll learn from data analytics professionals,
who are already established in their careers.
They'll offer words of wisdom as well as tales of
their own experiences starting off on their career path.
You'll start your own data journal that will help
you keep track of what you've
learned throughout the course.
You'll also add your own thoughts about what you're
learning as well, throughout the program.
You'll read up on how to navigate
this program in the world of data analytics.
You'll complete activities, including some
that will help you get in the mindset of a data analyst.
Along the way, you'll also have
the chance to connect with your fellow learners.
Discussion prompts will give you
a chance to share your thoughts,
and at the same time see
what your peers think about all that you're learning.
These prompts will help you build
a community support system to use throughout the program.
Enough talking, let's get started on this exciting path.
Your next step awaits.

Your data analytics certificate roadmap

1- Foundations :

What you will learn:

 Real-life roles and responsibilities of a junior data analyst

 How businesses transform data into actionable insights
 Spreadsheet basics
  Database and query basics
 Data visualization basics
Skill sets you will build:

 Using data in everyday life

 Thinking analytically
 Applying tools from the data analytics toolkit
 Showing trends and patterns with data visualizations
 Ensuring your data analysis is fair

2- Ask :

What you will learn:

 How data analysts solve problems with data

 The use of analytics for making data-driven decisions
 Spreadsheet formulas and functions
 Dashboard basics, including an introduction to Tableau
 Data reporting basics
Skill sets you will build:

 Asking SMART and effective questions

 Structuring how you think
 Summarizing data
 Putting things into context
 Managing team and stakeholder expectations
 Problem-solving and conflict-resolution

3- Prepare :

What you will learn:

 How data is generated

 Features of different data types, fields, and values
 Database structures
 The function of metadata in data analytics
 Structured Query Language (SQL) functions
Skill sets you will build:

 Ensuring ethical data analysis practices

 Addressing issues of bias and credibility
  Accessing databases and importing data
 Writing simple queries
 Organizing and protecting data
 Connecting with the data community (optional)

4- Process :

What you will learn:

 Data integrity and the importance of clean data

 The tools and processes used by data analysts to clean data
 Data-cleaning verification and reports
 Statistics, hypothesis testing, and margin of error
 Resume building and interpretation of job postings (optional)
Skill sets you will build:

 Connecting business objectives to data analysis

 Identifying clean and dirty data
 Cleaning small datasets using spreadsheet tools
 Cleaning large datasets by writing SQL queries
 Documenting data-cleaning processes

5- Analyse :

What you will learn:

 Steps data analysts take to organize data

 How to combine data from multiple sources
 Spreadsheet calculations and pivot tables
 SQL calculations
 Temporary tables
 Data validation
Skill sets you will build:

 Sorting data in spreadsheets and by writing SQL queries

 Filtering data in spreadsheets and by writing SQL queries
 Converting data
 Formatting data
 Substantiating data analysis processes
 Seeking feedback and support from others during data analysis
 6- Share :

What you will learn:

 Design thinking
 How data analysts use visualizations to communicate about data
 The benefits of Tableau for presenting data analysis findings
 Data-driven storytelling
 Dashboards and dashboard filters
 Strategies for creating an effective data presentation
Skill sets you will build:

 Creating visualizations and dashboards in Tableau

 Addressing accessibility issues when communicating about data
 Understanding the purpose of different business communication tools
 Telling a data-driven story
 Presenting to others about data
 Answering questions about data

7- Act :

What you will learn:

 Programming languages and environments

 R packages
 R functions, variables, data types, pipes, and vectors
 R data frames
 Bias and credibility in R
 R visualization tools
 R Markdown for documentation, creating structure, and emphasis
Skill sets you will build:

 Coding in R
 Writing functions in R
 Accessing data in R
 Cleaning data in R
 Generating data visualizations in R
 Reporting on data analysis to stakeholders
 8- Capstone :

What you will learn:

 How a data analytics portfolio distinguishes you from other candidates

 Practical, real-world problem-solving
 Strategies for extracting insights from data
 Clear presentation of data findings
 Motivation and ability to take initiative
Skill sets you will build:

 Building a portfolio
 Increasing your employability
 Showcasing your data analytics knowledge, skill, and technical expertise
 Sharing your work during an interview
 Communicating your unique value proposition to a potential employer
Recevoir une note
Pour réussir 80% ou plus

Votre note
87,50 %

Optional: Familiar with data analytics? Take our diagnostic quiz

Quiz pour s'exercer • 20 min
Félicitations ! Vous avez réussi !

Note reçue 87,50 %

Pour réussir 80 % ou plus

Aller à l'élément suivant

Optional: Familiar with data analytics? Take our diagnostic quiz

Total des points 10

1.
Question 1

Optional speed track for those experienced in data analytics

The Google Data Analytics Certificate provides instruction and feedback for learners hoping to earn a
position as an entry-level data analyst. While many learners will be brand new to the world of data
analytics, others may be familiar with the field and simply wanting to brush up on certain skills.

If you believe this course will be primarily a refresher for you, we

recommend taking this practice diagnostic quiz. It will enable you to determine if you
should follow the speed track, which is an opportunity to proceed to Course 2 after taking each of the
Course 1 Weekly Challenges and the overall Course Challenge. Learners who earn 100% on the
diagnostic quiz can treat Course 1 videos, readings, and activities as optional. Learners following the
speed track are still able to earn the certificate.

If you aren't familiar with data analytics, this course was made for you!
Feel free to skip this quiz and move forward through all of the course
material.

Get ready to take the next step in your data analytics journey with the question below!

A clothing retailer collects and stores data about its sales revenue. Which of the following would be part
of its data ecosystem? Select all that apply.
0.5 / 1 point

The database of sales revenue

Correct

The clothing retailer’s data ecosystem would include the database of sales revenue, the cloud that
stores the database, and records of its inventory. A data ecosystem is the various elements that interact
with one another in order to produce, manage, store, organize, analyze, and share data.

Records of its inventory

The databases of competing retailers

The cloud that store its database

Vous n'avez pas sélectionné toutes les bonnes réponses

2.
Question 2

What is the process of guiding business strategy using facts?

1 / 1 point

Analytical planning

Identification of data and decisions

Strategic improvement

Data-driven decision-making
Correct

Data-driven decision-making is the process of guiding business strategy using facts.

3.
Question 3

Fill in the blank: Curiosity, understanding context, having a technical mindset, data design, and data
strategy are _____. They enable data analysts to solve problems using facts.
1 / 1 point

personal insights

analytical skills

business skills
thought processes
Correct

Curiosity, understanding context, having a technical mindset, data design, and data strategy are
analytical skills. They enable data analysts to solve problems using facts.
4.
Question 4

The owner of a skate shop notices that every time a certain employee has a shift, there are higher sales
numbers at the end of the day. After some investigation, the owner realizes that since the employee was
hired, the store earns 15% more each month. In this scenario, the manager used which quality of
analytical thinking?
1 / 1 point

Big-picture thinking

Problem-orientation

Visualization

Correlation
Correct

The owner used correlation, which involves being able to identify a relationship between two or more
pieces of data. They noticed that there is a correlation between the employee’s presence and the skate
shop’s traffic and monthly income.
5.
Question 5

Gap analysis is a process that could help accomplish which of the following tasks? Select all that apply.
0.75 / 1 point

Improve accessibility for an educational app based on its current functionality

Reduce a company’s carbon footprint based on its current emissions

Correct

Gap analysis is a method for examining and evaluating how a process works currently in order to get
where you want to be in the future. Improving accessibility, increasing efficiency, and reducing carbon
emissions are examples of improvements that gap analysis can help accomplish.

Increase the efficiency of a car manufacturer based on its current assembly process
Correct
Gap analysis is a method for examining and evaluating how a process works currently in order to get
where you want to be in the future. Improving accessibility, increasing efficiency, and reducing carbon
emissions are examples of improvements that gap analysis can help accomplish.

Spread awareness about income inequality based on local salaries

Vous n'avez pas sélectionné toutes les bonnes réponses

6.
Question 6

An advertising firm has used insights from its analytics team to create a strategy for improving sales.
Now, they implement a plan to increase annual revenue. The firm is at which step of the data analysis
process?
1 / 1 point

Process

Analyze

Share

Act
Correct

The act phase is when insights are put into action. This involves a company or organization
implementing a plan to solve the original business problem.
7.
Question 7

A data analyst adds descriptive headers to columns of data in a spreadsheet. How does this improve the
spreadsheet?
1 / 1 point

It adds context

It improves the aesthetic appeal

It eliminates unnecessary details

It clarifies the business strategy

Correct
Adding descriptive headers to columns of data in a spreadsheet adds context. Context is the condition
in which something exists, such as a structure.
8.
Question 8

This is a selection from a spreadsheet that ranks the 10 most populous cities in North Carolina. To
alphabetize the county names in column D, which spreadsheet tool would you use?

A B C D

1 Rank Name Population County

2 7 Cary 170,282 Wake, Chatham
3 1 Charlotte 885,708 Mecklenburg
4 10 Concord 96,341 Cabarrus
5 4 Durham 278,993 Durham (seat), Wake, Orange
6 6 Fayetteville 211,657 Cumberland
7 3 Greensboro 296,710 Guilford
8 9 High Point 112,791 Guilford, Randolph, Davidson, F
9 2 Raleigh 474,069 Wake (seat), Durham
10 8 Wilmington 123,784 New Hanover
11 5 Winston-Salem 247,945 Forsyth
1 / 1 point

Alphabetize range

Name range

Organize range

Sort range
Correct

You can use sort range to alphabetize the county names in column D. Sorting a range of data from A to Z
helps data analysts organize and find data more quickly.
9.
Question 9

You are querying a database of manufacturing company suppliers. The column name for supplier
identification numbers is supplier_id. What is the correct clause to retrieve only data about the supplier
with identification number 85317?
1 / 1 point
SELECT supplier_id 85317

FROM supplier_id 85317

COLUMN supplier_id = 85317

WHERE supplier_id = 85317

Correct

The correct clause is WHERE supplier_id = 85317. This clause tells the database to return only
information about the supplier whose ID is 85317.
10.
Question 10

Imagine you are sharing your data with a company stakeholder. Why might you display data with a data
visualization instead of a table? Select all that apply.
0.5 / 1 point

It’s easy to understand

Correct

When sharing data with others, you might use a data visualization instead of a table because
visualizations are more aesthetically pleasing, save time when identifying trends, and are easier to
understand.

It helps them identify trends more quickly

It thoroughly describes each data point

It’s aesthetically pleasing

Vous n'avez pas sélectionné toutes les bonnes réponses
Tronsforming data into insights

Data analytics in everyday life

Welcome back.
At this point, you've been introduced to the world of data analytics and
what data analysts do.
You've also learned how this course will prepare you for
a successful career as an analyst.
Coming up, you'll learn all the ways data can be used, and
you'll discover why data analysts are in such high demand.
I'm not exaggerating when I say every goal and success that my team and
I have achieved couldn't have been done without data.
Here at Google, all of our products are built on data and
data-driven decision making.
From concept to development to launch,
we're using data to figure out the best way forward. And we're not alone.
Countless other organizations also see the incredible value in data
and, of course, the data analysts who help them make use of it.
So we know data opens up a lot of opportunities.
But to help you wrap your head around all the ways you can actually use data,
let's go over a few examples from everyday life.
You might not realize it, but people analyze data all the time.
For instance, I'm a morning person.
A long time ago, I realized that I'm happier and
more productive if I get to bed early and wake up early.
I came to this conclusion after noticing a pattern in my day-to-day experiences.
When I got seven hours of sleep and woke up at 6:30, I was the most successful.
So I thought about the relationship between this pattern and my daily life,
and I predicted that early to bed early to rise would be the right choice for me.
And I'm definitely my best self when I wake up bright and early.
I bet you've identified patterns and relationships in your life, too.
Maybe about your own sleep cycle or how you feel after eating certain foods,
or what time of day you like to workout.
All of these are great examples of real life patterns and relationships
that you can use to make predictions about the right actions to take, and
that is a huge part of data analysis right there.
Now, let's put this process into a business setting.
You may remember from an earlier video that there's a ton of data out there.
And every minute of every hour of every day, more data is being created.
Businesses need a way to control all that data so
they can use it to improve processes, identify opportunities and trends,
launch new products, serve customers, and make thoughtful decisions.
For businesses to be on top of the competition,
they need to be on top of their data.
That's why these companies hire data analysts to control the waves of data they
collect every day, makes sense of it, and then draw conclusions or make predictions.
This is the process of turning data into insights, and
it's how analysts help businesses put all their data to good use.
This is actually a good way to think about analysis: turning data into insights.
As a reminder, the more detailed definition you learned earlier is
that data analysis is the collection, transformation,
and organization of data in order to draw conclusions,
make predictions, and drive informed decision-making.
So after analysts have created insights from data, what happens?
Well, a lot.
Those insights are shared with others, decisions are made, and
businesses take action.
And here's where it can get really exciting.
Data analytics can help organizations completely rethink something they do or
point them in a totally new direction.
For example, maybe data leads them to a new product or unique service, or
maybe it helps them find a new way to deliver an incredible customer experience.
It's these kinds of aha moments that can help businesses reach another level,
and that makes data analysts vital to any business.
Now that you know more of the amazing ways data is being used every day,
you can see why data analysts are in such high demand.
We'll continue exploring how analysts can transform data into insights that lead to
action.
And before you know it, you'll be ready to help any organization find new and
exciting ways to transform their data.

Case Study: New data perspectives

As you have been learning, you can find data pretty much everywhere. Any time you
observe and evaluate something in the world, you’re collecting and analyzing data. Your
analysis helps you find easier ways of doing things, identify patterns to save you time, and
discover surprising new perspectives that can completely change the way you experience
things.

Here is a real-life example of how one group of data analysts used the six steps of the data
analysis process to improve their workplace and its business processes. Their story
involves something called people analytics — also known as human resources analytics or
workforce analytics. People analytics is the practice of collecting and analyzing data on
the people who make up a company’s workforce in order to gain insights to improve how
the company operates.

Being a people analyst involves using data analysis to gain insights about employees and
how they experience their work lives. The insights are used to define and create a more
productive and empowering workplace. This can unlock employee potential, motivate
people to perform at their best, and ensure a fair and inclusive company culture.

The six steps of the data analysis process that you have been learning in this program are:
ask, prepare, process, analyze, share, and act. These six steps apply to any
data analysis. Continue reading to learn how a team of people analysts used these six
steps to answer a business question.

An organization was experiencing a high turnover rate among new hires. Many employees
left the company before the end of their first year on the job. The analysts used the data
analysis process to answer the following question: how can the organization
improve the retention rate for new employees?

Here is a break down of what this team did, step by step.

First up, the analysts needed to define what the project would look like and what would
qualify as a successful result. So, to determine these things, they asked effective
questions and collaborated with leaders and managers who were interested in the
outcome of their people analysis. These were the kinds of questions they asked:

 What do you think new employees need to learn to be successful in their first year
on the job?
 Have you gathered data from new employees before? If so, may we have access to
the historical data?
 Do you believe managers with higher retention rates offer new employees
something extra or unique?
 What do you suspect is a leading cause of dissatisfaction among new employees?
 By what percentage would you like employee retention to increase in the next fiscal
year?

It all started with solid preparation. The group built a timeline of three months and
decided how they wanted to relay their progress to interested parties. Also during this
step, the analysts identified what data they needed to achieve the successful result they
identified in the previous step - in this case, the analysts chose to gather the data from an
online survey of new employees. These were the things they did to prepare:

 They developed specific questions to ask about employee satisfaction with

different business processes, such as hiring and onboarding, and their overall
compensation.
 They established rules for who would have access to the data collected - in this
case, anyone outside the group wouldn't have access to the raw data, but could
view summarized or aggregated data. For example, an individual's compensation
wouldn't be available, but salary ranges for groups of individuals would be
viewable.
 They finalized what specific information would be gathered, and how best to
present the data visually. The analysts brainstormed possible project- and data-
related issues and how to avoid them.
The group sent the survey out. Great analysts know how to respect both their data and the
people who provide it. Since employees provided the data, it was important to make sure
all employees gave their consent to participate. The data analysts also made sure
employees understood how their data would be collected, stored, managed,
and protected. Collecting and using data ethically is one of the responsibilities of data
analysts. In order to maintain confidentiality and protect and store the data effectively,
these were the steps they took:

 They restricted access to the data to a limited number of analysts.

 They cleaned the data to make sure it was complete, correct, and relevant. Certain
data was aggregated and summarized without revealing individual responses.
 They uploaded raw data to an internal data warehouse for an additional layer of
security.

Then, the analysts did what they do best: analyze! From the completed surveys, the data
analysts discovered that an employee’s experience with certain processes was a key
indicator of overall job satisfaction. These were their findings:

 Employees who experienced a long and complicated hiring process were most
likely to leave the company.
 Employees who experienced an efficient and transparent evaluation and feedback
process were most likely to remain with the company.
The group knew it was important to document exactly what they found in the analysis,
no matter what the results. To do otherwise would diminish trust in the survey process and
reduce their ability to collect truthful data from employees in the future.
Just as they made sure the data was carefully protected, the analysts were also careful
sharing the report. This is how they shared their findings:

 They shared the report with managers who met or exceeded the minimum number
of direct reports with submitted responses to the survey.
 They presented the results to the managers to make sure they had the full picture.
 They asked the managers to personally deliver the results to their teams.
This process gave managers an opportunity to communicate the results with the
right context. As a result, they could have productive team conversations about next steps
to improve employee engagement.

The last stage of the process for the team of analysts was to work with leaders within their
company and decide how best to implement changes and take actions based
on the findings. These were their recommendations:

 Standardize the hiring and evaluation process for employees based on the most
efficient and transparent practices.
 Conduct the same survey annually and compare results with those from the
previous year.
A year later, the same survey was distributed to employees. Analysts anticipated that a
comparison between the two sets of results would indicate that the action plan worked.
Turns out, the changes improved the retention rate for new employees and the actions
taken by leaders were successful!

Is people analytics right for you?

One of the many things that makes data analytics so exciting is that the problems are
always different, the solutions need creativity, and the impact on others can be great —
even life-changing or life-saving. As a data analyst, you can be part of these efforts. Maybe
you’re even inspired to learn more about the field of people analytics. If so, consider
learning more about this field and adding that research to your data analytics journal. You
never know: One day soon, you could be helping a company create an amazing work
environment for you and your colleagues!

Additional Resource

To learn more about some recent applications of data analytics in the business world,
check out the article “4 Examples of Business Analytics in Action” from Harvard Business
School. The article reveals how corporations use data insights to optimize their decision-
making process. Please note that the first example in the article contains a minor error in
the second paragraph, but the example is still a valid one.

Correction to article in bold below: Microsoft’s Workplace Analytics team hypothesized that
moving the 1,200-person group from five buildings to four could improve collaboration by
increasing the number of employees per building and by reducing the distance that
staff needed to travel for meetings.

Learning Log: Consider how data analysts approach tasks

Overview

Earlier you learned about how data analysts at one organization used data to improve
employee retention. Now, you’ll complete an entry in your learning log to track your
thinking and reflections about those data analysts' process and how they approached this
problem. By the time you complete this activity, you will have a stronger understanding of
how the six phases of the data analysis process can be used to break down tasks and
tackle big questions. This will help you apply these steps to future analysis tasks and start
tackling big questions yourself.

Review the six phases of data analysis

Before you write your entry in your learning log, reflect on the case study from earlier. The
data analysts wanted to use data to improve employee retention. In order to do that, they
had to break this larger project into manageable tasks. The analysts organized those tasks
and activities around the six phases of the data analysis process:

1. Ask
2. Prepare
3. Process
4. Analyze
 5. Share
6. Act
The analysts asked questions to define both the issue to be solved and what would equal
a successful result. Next, they prepared by building a timeline and collecting data with
employee surveys that were designed to be inclusive. They processed the data by
cleaning it to make sure it was complete, correct, relevant, and free of errors and outliers.
They analyzed the clean employee survey data. Then the analysts shared their
findings and recommendations with team leaders. Afterward, leadership acted on the
results and focused on improving key areas.

Access your learning log

To use the template for this course item, click the link below and select “Use Template.”

Link to learning log template: Consider how data analysts approach tasks

OR

If you don’t have a Google account, you can download the template directly from the
attachment below.

Learning Log Template_ Consider how data analysts approach tasks

DOCX File

Reflection

In your learning log template, write 2-3 sentences (40-60 words) reflecting on what you’ve
learned from the case study by answering each of the questions below:

 Did the details of the case study help to change the way you think about data
analysis? Why or why not?
 Did you find anything surprising about the way the data analysts approached their
task?
 What else would you like to learn about data analysis?
When you’ve finished your entry in the learning log template, make sure to save the
document so your response is somewhere accessible. This will help you continue applying
data analysis to your everyday life. You will also be able to track your progress and growth
as a data analyst.
Learning Log: Consider how data analysts
approach tasks
Instructions
You can use this document as a template for the learning log activity: Consider how
data analysts approach tasks. Type your answers in this document, and save it on your
computer or Google Drive.

We recommend that you save every learning log in one folder and include a date in the
file name to help you stay organized. Important information like course number, title,
and activity name are already included. After you finish your learning log entry, you can
come back and reread your responses later to understand how your opinions on
different topics may have changed throughout the courses.

To review detailed instructions on how to complete this activity, please return to

Coursera: Learning Log: Consider how data analysts approach tasks .

Date: <enter Course/topic: Course 1: Foundations: Data, Data Everywhere

date>
Learning Log: Consider how data analysts approach tasks

Review the 6 Consider how the data analysts at Google used the data analysis
phases of process to break down their analysis project:
data analysis

The analysts asked questions to define both the issue to be solved and
what would equal a successful result.

Next, they prepared by building a timeline and collecting data with

employee surveys, which should be inclusive.

They processed the data by cleaning it to make sure it was complete,

correct, relevant, and free of errors and outliers.

They analyzed the clean employee survey data. Then the analysts
shared their findings and recommendations with team leaders.
Afterward, leadership acted on the results and focused on improving
key areas.

Reflection: Write 2-3 sentences (40-60 words) in response to each of the questions
below.

Questions
and
responses: ● Did the details of the case study help to change the way you
think about data analysis? Why or why not?
Type your response here
 ● Did you find anything surprising about the way the data analysts
approached their task?
Type your response here

● What else would you like to learn about data analysis?

Type your response here

Cassie: Dimensions of data analytics

Hi. I'm Cassie, and I lead
Decision Intelligence for Google Cloud.
Decision Intelligence is a combination of
applied data science and
the social and managerial sciences.
It is all about harnessing the power and beauty of data.
I help Google Cloud and its customers turn
their data into impact and
make their businesses and the world better.
A data analyst is an explorer,
a detective, and an artist all rolled into one.
Analytics is the quest for inspiration.
You don't know what's going to
inspire you before you explore,
before you take a look around.
When you begin, you have no idea what
you're going to find and
whether you're even going to find anything.
You have to bravely dive into the
unknown and discover what lies in your data.
There is a pervasive myth that
someone who works in data
should know the everything of data.
I think that that's unhelpful because
the universe of data has expanded.
It's expanded so much
that specialization becomes important.
It's very, very difficult for
one person to know and be the everything of data.
That's why we need these different roles.
The advice that I give folks who are entering the space
is to pick their specialization based on which flavor,
which type of impact best suits their personality.
Now, data science, the discipline of making data useful,
is an umbrella term that encompasses three disciplines:
machine learning, statistics, and analytics.
These are separated by
how many decisions you know
you want to make before you begin with them.
If you want to make a few important decisions under
uncertainty, that is statistics.
If you want to automate, in other words, make many, many,
many decisions under uncertainty,
that is machine learning and AI.
But what if you don't know
how many decisions you want to make before you begin?
What if what you're looking for is inspiration?
You want to encounter your unknown unknowns.
You want to understand your world.
That is analytics.
When you're considering data science and
you're choosing which area to specialize in,
I recommend going with your personality.
Which of the three excellences
in data science feels like a better fit for you?
The excellence of statistics is rigor.
Statisticians are essentially philosophers,
epistemologists.
They are very, very careful about
protecting decision-makers from coming
to the wrong conclusion.
If that care and rigor is what you are passionate about,
I would recommend statistics.
Performance is the excellence of
the machine learning and AI engineer.
You know that's the one for you if someone says to you,
"I bet that you couldn't build
an automation system that performs this task with
99.99999 percent accuracy," and
your response to that is, "Watch me."
How about analytics?
The excellence of an analyst is speed.
How quickly can you surf through vast amounts of
data to explore it and discover the gems,
the beautiful potential insights that are
worth knowing about and bringing to your decision-makers?
Are you excited by the ambiguity of exploration?
Are you excited by the idea
of working on a lot of different things,
looking at a lot of different data sources,
and thinking through vast amounts of information,
while promising not to
snooze past the important potential insights?
Are you okay being told,
"Here is a whole lot of data.
No one has looked at it before.
Go find something interesting"?
Do you thrive on creative, open-ended projects?
If that's you, then
analytics is probably the best fit for you.
A piece of advice that I have
for analysts getting started on
this journey is it can
be pretty scary to explore the unknown.
But I suggest letting go a little bit of
any temptations towards perfectionism and instead,
enjoying the fun, the thrill of exploration.
Don't worry about right answers.
See how quickly you can unwrap this gift
and find out if there is anything fun in there.
It's like your birthday, unwrapping a bunch of things.
Some of them you like. Some of them you won't.
But isn't it fun to know what's actually in there?
 Understanding the data ecosystem

What is the data ecosystem?

Hello again. You've already learned about being a data analyst
and how this program will help prepare you for your future career.
Now, it's time to explore the data ecosystem,
find out where data analytics fits into that system, and go over some common
misconceptions you might run into in the field of data analytics.
To put it simply, an ecosystem is a group of elements that interact with one
another. Ecosystems can be large, like the jungle in a tropical rainforest
or the Australian outback.
Or, tiny, like tadpoles in a puddle, or bacteria on your skin.
And just like the kangaroos and koala bears in the Australian outback,
data lives inside its own ecosystem too.
Data ecosystems are made up of various elements that interact with one another
in order to produce, manage, store, organize, analyze, and share data.
These elements include hardware and software tools, and
the people who use them.
People like you.
Data can also be found in something called the cloud.
The cloud is a place to keep data online, rather than on a computer hard drive.
So instead of storing data somewhere inside your organization's network,
that data is accessed over the internet.
So the cloud is just a term we use to describe the virtual location.
The cloud plays a big part in the data ecosystem, and as a data analyst, it's
your job to harness the power of that data ecosystem, find the right information,
and provide the team with analysis that helps them make smart decisions.
For example, you could tap into your retail store's database,
which is an ecosystem filled with customer names, addresses,
previous purchases, and customer reviews.
As a data analyst, you could use this information to predict what these
customers will buy in the future,
and make sure the store has the products and stock when they're needed.
As another example,
let's think about a data ecosystem used by a human resources department.
This ecosystem would include information like postings from job websites,
stats on the current labor market,
employment rates, and social media data on prospective employees.
A data analyst could use this information to help their team recruit new workers
and improve employee engagement and retention rates.
But data ecosystems aren't just for stores and offices. They work on farms, too.
Agricultural companies regularly use data ecosystems that
include information including geological patterns in weather movements.
Data analysts can use this data to help farmers predict crop yields.
Some data analysts are even using data ecosystems to save real
environmental ecosystems.
At the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, coral reefs all over
the world are monitored digitally, so they can see how organisms change over time,
track their growth, and measure any increases or
declines in individual colonies.
The possibilities are endless.
Okay, now let's talk about some common misconceptions you might come across.
First is the difference between data scientists and data analysts.
It's easy to confuse the two, but what they do is actually very different.
Data science is defined as creating new ways of modeling and
understanding the unknown by using raw data.
Here's a good way to think about it.
Data scientists create new questions using data, while analysts find
answers to existing questions by creating insights from data sources.
There are also many words and
phrases you'll hear throughout this course, that are easy to get mixed up.
For example, data analysis and data analytics sound the same,
but they're actually very different things. Let's start with analysis.
You've already learned that data analysis is the collection, transformation,
and organization of data in order to draw conclusions,
make predictions, and drive informed decision-making.
Data analytics in the simplest terms is the science of data.
It's a very broad concept that encompasses everything from the job of managing and
using data to the tools and methods that data workers use each and every day.
So when you think about data, data analysis and
the data ecosystem, it's important to understand that all of these
things fit under the data analytics umbrella.
All right, now that you know a little more about the data ecosystem and
the differences between data analysis and data analytics,
you're ready to explore how data is used to make effective decisions.
You'll get to see data-driven decision-making, in action.

How data informs better decisions

So far, you've discovered that there are many different ways data can be
used. In our everyday lives,
we use data when we wear a fitness tracker or
read product reviews to make a purchase decision.
And in business, we use data to learn more about our customers,
improve processes, and help employees do their jobs more effectively.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
One of the most powerful ways you can put data to work is with data-driven decision-making.
Data-driven decision-making is defined as using facts to guide business strategy.
Organizations in many different industries are empowered to make better,
data-driven decisions by data analysts all the time.
The first step in data-driven decision-making is figuring out the business need.
Usually, this is a problem that needs to be solved.
For example, a problem could be a new company needing to establish better
brand recognition, so it can compete with bigger, more well-known competitors.
Or maybe an organization wants to improve a product and needs to figure out how to
source parts from a more sustainable or ethically responsible supplier.
Or, it could be a business trying to solve the problem of unhappy employees,
low levels of engagement, satisfaction and retention.
Whatever the problem is, once it's defined, a data analyst finds data,
analyzes it and uses it to uncover trends, patterns and relationships.
Sometimes the data-driven strategy will build on what's worked in the past.
Other times, it can guide a business to branch out in a whole new direction.
Let's look at a real-world example.
Think about a music or movie streaming service.
How do these companies know what people want to watch or listen to,
and how do they provide it?
Well using data-driven decision-making,
they gather information about what their customers are currently listening to,
analyze it, then use the insights they've gained to make suggestions for
things people will most likely enjoy in the future.
This keeps customers happy and
coming back for more, which in turn means more revenue for the company.
Another example of data-driven decision-making can be seen in the rise of
e-commerce.
It wasn't long ago that most purchases were made in a physical store,
but the data showed people's preferences were changing.
So a lot of companies created entirely new business models that remove
the physical store, and let people shop right from their computers or
mobile phones with products delivered right to their doorstep.
In fact, data-driven decision-making can be so powerful,
it can make entire business methods obsolete.
For example, data helped companies completely move away from
corded phones and replace them with mobile phones.
By ensuring that data is built into every business strategy,
data analysts play a critical role in their companies' success, but
it's important to note that no matter how valuable data-driven decision-making is,
data alone will never be as powerful as data combined with human experience,
observation, and sometimes even intuition.
To get the most out of data-driven decision-making, it's important to include
insights from people who are familiar with the business problem.
These people are called subject matter experts, and they have the ability to look
at the results of data analysis and identify any inconsistencies,
make sense of gray areas, and eventually validate choices being made.
Organizations that work this way put data at the heart of every business strategy,
but also benefit from the insights of their people.
It's a win-win.
As a data analyst, you play a key role in empowering these organizations to make
data-driven decisions, which is why it's so important for
you to understand how data plays a part in the decision-making process.

Data and gut instinct

Detectives and data analysts have a lot in common. Both depend on facts and clues to
make decisions. Both collect and look at the evidence. Both talk to people who know part
of the story. And both might even follow some footprints to see where they lead. Whether
you’re a detective or a data analyst, your job is all about following steps to collect and
understand facts.

Analysts use data-driven decision-making and follow a step-by-step process. You have
learned that there are six steps to this process:

1. Ask questions and define the problem.

2. Prepare data by collecting and storing the information.
3. Process data by cleaning and checking the information.
4. Analyze data to find patterns, relationships, and trends.
5. Share data with your audience.
6. Act on the data and use the analysis results.
But there are other factors that influence the decision-making process. You may have read
mysteries where the detective used their gut instinct, and followed a hunch that helped
them solve the case. Gut instinct is an intuitive understanding of something with little
or no explanation. This isn’t always something conscious; we often pick up on signals
without even realizing. You just have a “feeling” it’s right.

Why gut instinct can be a problem

At the heart of data-driven decision making is data. Therefore, it's essential that data
analysts focus on the data to ensure they make informed decisions. If you ignore data by
preferring to make decisions based on your own experience, your decisions may be biased.
But even worse, decisions based on gut instinct without any data to back them up can
cause mistakes.

Consider an example of a real estate developer bidding to redevelop a part of a city's

central district. They were well-known for preservation of historical buildings. Banking on
their reputation, the agency's planners followed gut instinct and included the preservation
of several buildings to gain support and win approval for the project. However, private
donations fell short and a partnership failed to materialize and save the day. The buildings
eventually had to be torn down after much delay and an expensive dispute with the city.
The more you understand the data related to a project, the easier it will be to figure out
what is required. These efforts will also help you identify errors and gaps in your data so
you can communicate your findings more effectively. Sometimes past experience helps
you make a connection that no one else would notice. For example, a detective might be
able to crack open a case because they remember an old case just like the one they’re
solving today. It's not just gut instinct.

Data + business knowledge = mystery solved

Blending data with business knowledge, plus maybe a touch of gut instinct, will be a
common part of your process as a junior data analyst. The key is figuring out the exact mix
for each particular project. A lot of times, it will depend on the goals of your analysis. That
is why analysts often ask, “How do I define success for this project?”

In addition, try asking yourself these questions about a project to help find the perfect
balance:

 What kind of results are needed?

 Who will be informed?
 Am I answering the question being asked?
 How quickly does a decision need to be made?
For instance, if you are working on a rush project, you might need to rely on your own
knowledge and experience more than usual. There just isn’t enough time to thoroughly
analyze all of the available data. But if you get a project that involves plenty of time and
resources, then the best strategy is to be more data-driven. It’s up to you, the data analyst,
to make the best possible choice. You will probably blend data and knowledge a million
different ways over the course of your data analytics career. And the more you practice,
the better you will get at finding that perfect blend.

Origins of the data analysis process

When you decided to join this program, you proved that you are a curious person. So let’s
tap into your curiosity and talk about the origins of data analysis. We don’t fully know
when or why the first person decided to record data about people and things. But we do
know it was useful because the idea is still around today!
We also know that data analysis is rooted in statistics, which has a pretty long history
itself. Archaeologists mark the start of statistics in ancient Egypt with the building of the
pyramids. The ancient Egyptians were masters of organizing data. They documented their
calculations and theories on papyri (paper-like materials), which are now viewed as the
earliest examples of spreadsheets and checklists. Today’s data analysts owe a lot to those
brilliant scribes, who helped create a more technical and efficient process.

It is time to enter the data analysis life cycle—the process of going from data to
decision. Data goes through several phases as it gets created, consumed, tested,
processed, and reused. With a life cycle model, all key team members can drive success by
planning work both up front and at the end of the data analysis process. While the data
analysis life cycle is well known among experts, there isn't a single defined structure of
those phases. There might not be one single architecture that’s uniformly followed by
every data analysis expert, but there are some shared fundamentals in every data analysis
process. This reading provides an overview of several, starting with the process that forms
the foundation of the Google Data Analytics Certificate.

The process presented as part of the Google Data Analytics Certificate is one that will be
valuable to you as you keep moving forward in your career:

1. Ask: Business Challenge/Objective/Question

2. Prepare: Data generation, collection, storage, and data management
3. Process: Data cleaning/data integrity
4. Analyze: Data exploration, visualization, and analysis
5. Share: Communicating and interpreting results
6. Act: Putting your insights to work to solve the problem
Understanding this process—and all of the iterations that helped make it popular—will be
a big part of guiding your own analysis and your work in this program. Let’s go over a few
other variations of the data analysis life cycle.

EMC's data analysis life cycle

EMC Corporation's data analytics life cycle is cyclical with six steps:

1. Discovery
2. Pre-processing data
3. Model planning
4. Model building
5. Communicate results
6. Operationalize
EMC Corporation is now Dell EMC. This model, created by David Dietrich, reflects the
cyclical nature of real-world projects. The phases aren’t static milestones; each step
connects and leads to the next, and eventually repeats. Key questions help analysts test
whether they have accomplished enough to move forward and ensure that teams have
spent enough time on each of the phases and don’t start modeling before the data is
ready. It is a little different from the data analysis life cycle this program is based on, but it
has some core ideas in common: the first phase is interested in discovering and asking
questions; data has to be prepared before it can be analyzed and used; and then findings
should be shared and acted on.

For more information, refer to this e-book, Data Science & Big Data Analytics.

SAS's iterative life cycle

An iterative life cycle was created by a company called SAS, a leading data analytics
solutions provider. It can be used to produce repeatable, reliable, and predictive results:

1. Ask
2. Prepare
3. Explore
4. Model
5. Implement
6. Act
7. Evaluate
The SAS model emphasizes the cyclical nature of their model by visualizing it as an infinity
symbol. Their life cycle has seven steps, many of which we have seen in the other models,
like Ask, Prepare, Model, and Act. But this life cycle is also a little different; it includes a
step after the act phase designed to help analysts evaluate their solutions and potentially
return to the ask phase again.

For more information, refer to Managing the Analytics Life Cycle for Decisions at Scale.
Project-based data analytics life cycle

A project-based data analytics life cycle has five simple steps:

1. Identifying the problem

2. Designing data requirements
3. Pre-processing data
4. Performing data analysis
5. Visualizing data
This data analytics project life cycle was developed by Vignesh Prajapati. It doesn’t include
the sixth phase, or what we have been referring to as the Act phase. However, it still covers
a lot of the same steps as the life cycles we have already described. It begins with
identifying the problem, preparing and processing data before analysis, and ends with
data visualization.

For more information, refer to Understanding the data analytics project life cycle.

Big data analytics life cycle

Authors Thomas Erl, Wajid Khattak, and Paul Buhler proposed a big data analytics life
cycle in their book, Big Data Fundamentals: Concepts, Drivers &
Techniques. Their life cycle suggests phases divided into nine steps:

1. Business case evaluation

2. Data identification
3. Data acquisition and filtering
4. Data extraction
5. Data validation and cleaning
6. Data aggregation and representation
7. Data analysis
8. Data visualization
9. Utilization of analysis results
This life cycle appears to have three or four more steps than the previous life cycle models.
But in reality, they have just broken down what we have been referring to as Prepare and
Process into smaller steps. It emphasizes the individual tasks required for gathering,
preparing, and cleaning data before the analysis phase.

For more information, refer to Big Data Adoption and Planning Considerations.

Key takeaway

From our journey to the pyramids and data in ancient Egypt to now, the way we analyze
data has evolved (and continues to do so). The data analysis process is like real life
architecture, there are different ways to do things but the same core ideas still appear in
each model of the process. Whether you use the structure of this Google Data Analytics
Certificate or one of the many other iterations you have learned about, we are here to help
guide you as you continue on your data journey.

Test your knowledge on the data ecosystem

Total des points 4

1.
Question 1

Which of the following statements best defines data?

1 / 1 point

Data is a collection of facts.

Data is the use of calculations and statistics.

Data is a business process.

Data is an assortment of questions.

Correct

Data is a collection of facts. Through analysis, data can be used to draw conclusions and make
predictions.
2.
Question 2

Fill in the blank: In data analytics, the data ecosystem refers to the various elements that interact with
one another to produce, manage, store, _____, analyze, and share data.
1 / 1 point

ingest

locate

merge

organize
Correct

In data analytics, the data ecosystem refers to the various elements that interact with one another to
produce, manage, store, organize, analyze, and share data.
3.
Question 3
Which of the following terms refers to the collection, transformation, and organization of data in order
to draw conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making?
1 / 1 point

Data elements

Data analysis

Data life cycle

Data insight
Correct

Data analysis refers to the collection, transformation, and organization of data in order to draw
conclusions, make predictions, and drive informed decision-making.
4.
Question 4

An airline collects, observes, and analyzes its customers' online behaviors. Then, it uses the insights
gained to choose what new products and services to offer. What business process does this describe?
1 / 1 point

Analytical thinking

Performance measurement

Collaboration with stakeholders

Data-driven decision-making
Correct

An airline collecting, observing, and analyzing its customers' online behaviors, then using the insights
gained to choose what new products and services to offer, describes data-driven decision making.
Data-driven decision-making is using facts to guide business strategy.