Date of Defense

4-20-2018

Date of Graduation

4-2018

Department

Management

First Advisor

Bret Wagner

Second Advisor

Rhomas Rienzo

Abstract

As the world of business is growing in its dependence on data to make strategically logical decisions, it is important for students to understand and become comfortable with the data world. The information drawn from the numerous number and letter combinations become the voice of the consumer, company and other influencing bodies. Rather than interpreting the complicated values with limited consolidation, data analytics allows the data to become interactive and visual, thus enhancing communication between the data and decision makers, as well as, decreasing the amount of time needed to make influential decisions. The initial survey submissions are transformed into various charts to display surveyor characteristics, submission preferences and many more qualitative and quantitative data in a visual manner. These data analytic tools are becoming more prevalent within the business world and it is imperative to prepare students for success in the business world. For these reasons, an academic and exercise book for the Western Michigan University academic course CIS 6400: Data Analytics, was created for students to become fully aware of and succeed in this data world.

Within these books, Rachel partnered with Dr. Bret Wagner and Dr. Thomas Rienzo to construct data analytic concepts and methodologies with interactive, hands-on exercises. The books are used for Dr. Rienzo’s CIS 6400: Data Analytics graduate level course. Within this course, Microsoft’s PowerBI is heavily used to animate current data and Tableau is used to show predictive analytics along with predictive functions within the Microsoft Azure system. The exercise book will utilize Bret Wagner’s ScrimmageSIM system to directly apply the concepts from the academic book. This thesis developed a robust analytical system ScrimmageSIM educators can utilize to analyze their activities, as well as, foundation for students to use as they become familiar with a data driven world.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Restricted

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