Title: Replicating the Data Ecosystem in Analytics Programs: An Interdisciplinary Project
Author(s) : James Goldstein
Given the proliferation of data in today’s world, companies require two different types of individuals: (1) data analysts – people who can transform the available data in a manner that prepares it for analysis, and then can apply the appropriate techniques and tools to obtain insights, and (2) business analysts – people who can interpret these insights from a business standpoint and make strategic recommendations. The business analyst and the data analyst form an “analytics ecosystem”, where both roles are necessary to attain value from organizational data. This paper presents an interdisciplinary project implemented in a private college, where data analytics and business analytics students work together in a manner that simulates the real-world data ecosystem. First, the importance of experiential learning in an analytics curriculum is discussed. Then, the project that was developed to simulate the partnership between business analysts and data analysts in solving business problems is described, demonstrating how key skills identified by literature are incorporated into the makeup of the project. Lastly, feedback on the project provided by ten analytics professionals from various industries is provided.