Introduction to Big Data: Aligning Strategy, Analytics and Operations

Level(s) of Study: Short course; Professional
Course Fee:
Available at no cost to eligible individuals (see criteria below).
Start Date(s): Self-paced online learning
Duration: 6 hours (recommended 3 weeks, 2 hours per week)
Study Mode(s): Part-time
Entry Requirements: More information

Introduction:

Please note: This course is delivered through the Enterprising Ashfield project, which is funded by the Government's Towns Fund. Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is pleased to offer free (fully funded) places on this course to support individuals and employees of businesses that are based in the towns of Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield.

This course was developed by Nottingham Business School and is delivered on FutureLearn as an online self-paced course.

Learn how to build and scale big data solutions to deliver value to your organisation with Nottingham Business School.

Use big data solutions to gain a competitive advantage

Many firms that implement big data solutions fail to realise the full value from their investments and how to use it for a true competitive advantage.

This three-week course from Nottingham Business School is designed to provide you with a playbook to help you set up or improve your organisation’s big data solutions.

You’ll be guided through the steps of creating a big data strategy, looking at how to establish an analytics capability that can scale as the business needs to change. You’ll also address any organisational impacts of introducing big data solutions.

Unpack big data concepts

You’ll start by delving into the fundamental concepts of big data to gain a thorough understanding.

Through interactive activities and engaging materials, you’ll discover the five Vs of big data and the challenges and opportunities they present for organisations.

Explore big data analytics

Next, you’ll delve deeper into big data analytics. You’ll examine real-world examples of how big data adds value across various industries, from business and finance to healthcare and science.

This exploration will arm you with the tools and techniques to develop strategic frameworks for leveraging big data effectively. You’ll also understand the best practices for building a data-driven organisation.

Learn how to measure organisational performance

Finally, you’ll explore the organisational impacts of introducing big data solutions, including information governance, data quality, and security considerations.

You’ll learn how to measure organisational performance and address ethical, privacy, and security issues associated with big data.

By the end of the course, you’ll have the knowledge and skills to build and scale big data solutions effectively, driving value and innovation within your organisation.

This course is delivered by FutureLearn, a digital education platform that offers online courses and degrees from top universities and organisations around the world. They offer a variety of courses across many subjects, designed and taught by academic and industry experts.

What you’ll study

By the end of this course, you'll be able to...

Explain the basics of Big Data
Evaluate where Big Data could benefit your organisation
Investigate how to develop a Big Data strategy
Explore the necessary attributes to develop a long-term analytics capability
Develop confidence in how to operationalise Big Data solutions
Reflect on the consequences of using Big Data

Certificate of attendance and digital badge

Upon successful completion of the course, you will receive a digital certificate of attendance and a digital badge powered by Accredible.

Your digital credential is more than just a certificate – it’s secure, verifiable, and protected against fraud through encryption and blockchain technology.

They also come with detailed metadata, including an overview of the skills you have achieved on the course, evidence of completion, and assessment criteria if appropriate.

Share your achievements seamlessly with friends, customers, and potential employers online, and proudly add your badge or certificate to social media platforms such as LinkedIn, so all the right people can see it.

Activity 1: Welcome

In your first activity, we welcome you to the course and give you an opportunity to introduce yourself to us. We also tell you what will be covered in the course and how you might get the best from it.

Activity 2: Overview of Big Data Concepts

In this activity, we will explore some important terms used when thinking about big data. We will look at how big data is being used in different industries to give organisations competitive advantage.

Activity 3: Where Big Data Can Add Value to Organisations (1): Examples

In this activity, we discuss the application of big data in various industries and help you to consider opportunities for its use within your organisation.

Activity 4: Where Big Data Can Add Value to Organisations (2): Strategy

In the final activity for Week 1, we will look at some of the important planning steps you might need to consider to help you ensure you can align your peak data strategy, analytics and operations functions.

Activity 1: Tools and Techniques for Developing a Big Data Strategy (1)

In this activity, we will start to look at some theoretical models that you can use to help you develop your big data strategy and solution.

Activity 2: Tools and Techniques for Developing a Big Data Strategy (2)

In this activity, we will look at the organisational impacts of introducing big data. You will be introduced to new roles that will need to be created and filled within your organisation as you develop and start to use big data.

Activity 3: Setting up a Big Data Analytics Capacity (1)

In this activity, we will look at the steps involved in a big data analytics lifecycle. We will use the model that Erl et. al. developed to describe the nine stages in a data analytics lifecycle.

Activity 4: Setting up a Big Data Analytics Capacity (2)

In the final activity for this week, we will look at a summary of the different theory models that we've discussed.

Activity 1: Organisational Impacts of Introducing Big Data Solutions (1)

In this activity, we will turn our attention to governance and why this is necessary when using big data.

Activity 2: Organisational Impacts of Introducing Big Data Solutions (2)

In this activity, we will look at some of the challenges of using big data, to ensure value is being delivered to your organisation.

Activity 3: Governance - Ethics, Privacy and Security Issues Associated with Big Data (1)

In this activity, we will turn our attention back to governance and look at the important topics of data quality data security, data privacy and data bias.

Activity 4: Governance - Ethics, Privacy and Security Issues Associated with Big Data (2)

In this activity, we will look briefly at our final three topics and then everything we have looked at this week.

Tutor profile: Stuart Allan

Stuart is a Senior Lecturer in the Strategy, Analytics and Operations Department at Nottingham Business School and the Co-Course Leader for the Global Executive MBA Programme.

Entry requirements

This course is designed for middle or senior managers looking to develop big data solutions.

You must be over the age of 18 in order to attend this course.

Fees and funding

This course is available at no cost to eligible participants.

If you live or work outside the eligible postcode area, you can join our fee-paying short courses delivered on the City Campus.

How to apply

Click to here apply

If you have any questions about this course, you can email EnterprisingAshfield@ntu.ac.uk or call us at +44 (0)115 848 2813.