Build Your Dream (Not Just Big) Analytics Program

Abstract

This paper reports on a panel discussion held at AMCIS 2014 and subsequent panel member research and findings. We focus on curriculum design, program development, and sustainability in business analytics (BA) in higher education. We address some of the burning questions the IS community has asked concerning the various stages of BA program building, and we elaborate challenges that institutions face in constructing successful and competitive analytics programs. Furthermore, given that the panelists have achieved outstanding accomplishments in academic and industrial leadership, we share our experiences and vision of a "dream" analytics program. We hope that our community will continue a dialog that encourages and engages faculty members and administrators to reflect on challenges and opportunities to build dream programs that meet industry needs.

A Framework for Evaluating the Business Analytics Maturity of University Programmes

“…In order to structure and analyse the educational offer of these programmes, we started from the idea that students' training for jobs in BA field should focus on 4 domains: Data Analysis, Databases, Data Warehousing and BA [3,[27][28][29][30]. According to Turel and Kapoor [18], the degree to which economic universities cover these areas defines their BA maturity level and essentially determines whether students are prepared for BA jobs.…”

Preparing a Data Scientist: A Pedagogic Experience in Designing a Big Data Analytics Course

“…Gupta et al's (2015) program level model curriculum BI&A electives were for undergraduate, Master of Science, and MBA level education. Schiller et al (2015) also discussed the various stages and challenges of analytics program building in academic institutions.…”

“…As more organizations seek big data capabilities, they are empowered to support deep analytics on large volumes of data that cannot otherwise be done with traditional data analytics tools and platforms (Schiller et al, 2015). A recent trend in the field of Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A), termed Big Data Analytics, has opened wide doors to how data can be perceived and managed by businesses and organizations.…”

“…A recent trend in the field of Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A), termed Big Data Analytics, has opened wide doors to how data can be perceived and managed by businesses and organizations. As more organizations seek big data capabilities, they are empowered to support deep analytics on large volumes of data that cannot otherwise be done with traditional data analytics tools and platforms (Schiller et al, 2015). Gartner (2014) reported that 85% of Fortune 500 companies are unable to effectively utilize their massive data repositories to gain a competitive advantage.…”

“…Multiple academic institutions have developed curriculum models to equip BI&A talent with the requisite fundamental skills. Schiller et al (2015) also discussed the various stages and challenges of analytics program building in academic institutions. For instance, Gupta, Goul, and Dinter (2015) developed a multi-year business school curricula that encompasses two levels of courses as prescribed by the MSIS 2006 Model Curriculum (Gorgone, Gray, Stohr, Valacich, and Wigand, 2006).…”