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Business | Beedie School of Business Simon Fraser University Calendar | Spring 2025

Business Analytics and Decision Making

Certificate

Limitations

Units applied to one certificate may be applied also to major or minor programs of a bachelor's degree under the normal regulations governing those programs but may not be applied to another Simon Fraser University certificate or diploma.

Grade Requirements

In addition to normal university grade point average requirements, the Beedie School of Business requires a minimum 2.30 overall SFU Business course grade point average for entry into all 300 and 400 division business courses.

For a course to be accepted as fulfilling a prerequisite, or for a lower division requirement, or for a core course to be accepted in a student's program in business, a student must have obtained a minimum grade of C- (C minus).

A minimum grade point average of 2.00 calculated on all courses applied towards the certificate is required for graduation from a business certificate.

Program Requirements

Students must complete a minimum of 25 units, comprised of the following courses from across three concentrations.

Students complete all of

BUS 336 - Data Analytics and Visualization (3)

Investigate data analytics, visualization, and modeling approaches relevant to business decisions. The course will investigate three important pillars of analytics including decision analytics, predictive analytics, and data visualization. Prerequisite: MATH 150, MATH 151, MATH 154, or MATH 157, with a minimum grade of C-; BUS 232, ECON 233, or STAT 270, with a minimum grade of C-; 45 units. Quantitative.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 Michael Johnson
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Fri, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
Burnaby
OP01 Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Fri, 9:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
Burnaby
OP02 Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 9:30–11:20 a.m.
Burnaby
BUS 362 - Business Process Analysis (4)

Prepares students to model, analyze and propose improvements to business processes. In the major project, students analyze a process within an organization and use current techniques and tools to propose changes and a supporting information system. Prerequisite: BUS 237 with a minimum grade of C-; 45 units; OR Data Science majors with 45 units. Students with credit for BUS 394 may not take this course for further credit.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 Heba Maghraby
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Burnaby
D101 Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 12:30–2:20 p.m.
Burnaby
D102 Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 2:30–4:20 p.m.
Burnaby
D103 Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 4:30–6:20 p.m.
Burnaby
BUS 445 - Customer Analytics (3)

Exposes students to the art of using analytic tools from across the spectrum of data mining and modeling to provide powerful competitive advantage in business. Students will learn to recognize when a method should or should not be used, what data is required, and how to use the software tools. Areas covered include database marketing, geospatial marketing and fundamental strategic and tactical decisions such as segmentation, targeting and allocating resources to the marketing mix. Prerequisite: BUS 343, 336, 360W, all with a minimum grade of C-, 60 units; OR Data Science majors with BUS 343, 360W, both with a minimum grade of C-, and 60 units.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 Andrew Flostrand
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 11:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
Burnaby
BUS 462 - Business Analytics (3)

Utilizes technology to support analysis and decision making abilities by identifying, analyzing and effectively reporting important business information. Concepts of data warehousing, data mining and visualizing data are introduced. A variety of software applications are used to demonstrate tools and techniques that support analysis and decision making for managers. Prerequisite: BUS 336, BUS 360W, BUS 362, all with a minimum grade of C-; 60 units. Corequisite: BUS 336 can be taken concurrently.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 Nisa Dar
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Wed, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Burnaby
E100 Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 5:30–8:20 p.m.
Burnaby
BUS 464 - Business Data Management (3)

Focuses on the design and use of integrated database management systems in organizations. Students create data models for capturing and storing data from business operations, organizing it for deriving business intelligence, aggregating and visualizing the information for decision-making. Structured query language is primarily used for all the above data management activities. Prerequisite: BUS 360W, 362, both with a minimum grade of C-; 60 units.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 Aishwarya Deep Shukla
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Burnaby
D200 Aishwarya Deep Shukla
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Mon, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
Burnaby

and one of

BUS 345 - Marketing Research (3)

A course in the management of marketing research. The basics of the design, conduct, and analysis of marketing research studies. Prerequisite: BUS 232 or ECON 233 or STAT 270, and BUS 343, both with a minimum grade of C- and 45 units; OR data science majors with BUS 343 with a minimum grade of C- and 45 units. Students with credit for BUS 442 may not complete this course for further credit.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 Sevda Sattari Nikkhou
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Wed, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Burnaby
BUS 440 - Simulation in Management Decision-making (4)

Development and use of simulation models as an aid in making complex management decisions. Hands on use of business related tools for computer simulation. Issues related to design and validation of simulation models, the assessment of input data, and the interpretation and use of simulation output. Prerequisite: BUS 336, 360W, both with a minimum grade of C-, 60 units; OR Data Science majors with BUS 360W with a minimum grade of C-, 60 units.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 George Zhang
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, Thu, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Burnaby

and one of

BUS 437 - Decision Analysis in Business (3)

A seminar in the use of Bayesian techniques in business decisions. Prerequisite: BUS 336, 360W, both with a minimum grade of C-; 60 units; OR Data Science majors with BUS 360W with a minimum grade of C- and 60 units.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 George Zhang
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Thu, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
Burnaby
BUS 441 - Web Analytics (3)

Adopting an experimental approach and being responsive to customer and competitor reactions is an essential skill set to firms and organizations. Situated in the data-rich environment of digital media and channels like websites or search engines, this course is designed to help students develop "probe and learn" skills, which translate beyond web and digital management, and help them acquire hands-on experience in using analytics tools to manage digital marketing campaigns. Prerequisite: BUS 232 or ECON 233 or STAT 270, BUS 360W, and BUS 343, all with a minimum grade of C-; 60 units.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 James Flory
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Fri, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
Burnaby

and the capstone course

BUS 439 - Analytics Project (3) *

Examines complex, real-world decision making issues using an evidence-based approach that employs decision making strategies involving statistics, data management, analytics, and decision theory. Through a major decision making project within the community, students will experience first-hand the process of consultation, data acquisition, analysis, and recommendation. The data in the project will be proprietary to the community partners and students thus need to sign a non-disclosure agreement. A non-disclosure agreement template is attached to the course outline. The results of the project will remain the intellectual property of the students; notwithstanding, those results will be shared with the data provider. Students also have an option to complete a project with non-proprietary data. Prerequisite: BUS 345 or BUS 440, BUS 360W, BUS 437 or BUS 441, BUS 445, BUS 462, and BUS 464, all with a minimum grade of C-; 90 units; OR Data Science majors with BUS 360W, BUS 445, CMPT 354, all with a minimum grade of C- and 90 units.

Section Instructor Day/Time Location
D100 Jason Ho
Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
Burnaby

* BUS 439 can only be taken once all the prerequisite courses have been completed with a grade of C- (C minus) or higher.