Course Code : BU 110

Course Group(s) : GE DIV

Active Term : Fall

Course Description :

Emphasizes models of management-oriented modern business communications in the digital age: letters, reports, memoranda, emails, blogs and digital résumés. Develops oral communication skills: interviews, presentations, listening techniques. Includes use of computer labs and relevant presentation, writing and report generating technologies.

Credit : 3

Prerequisites :

CS 115, CS 125, or CS 195

Course Code : BU 230

Course Description :

This class provides practical applications of data visualizations to major functional areas in business. Students examine the major types of charts in data visualization and help them select a suitable chart given the goals of the analysis and the type of available data. Explore how to create and edit charts using Excel, Power BI, and Tableau. Create effective data visualizations by understanding the chart or table's purpose and audience's needs. Describe how to leverage data visualization to examine missing data and unusual values in the data cleansing process. Discuss what data dashboards are and what they can accomplish.

Credit : 3

Prerequisites :

CS 219

Course Code : BU 260

Course Description :

This course focuses on the basic management skills of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, with additional emphasis on ethics, social responsibility, and management skills for the future. This course deals with understanding the manager’s job, decision-making, motivation, leading change, and innovation.

Credit : 3

Instruction methods : Lecture: 3 Hours

Prerequisites :

BU 101, BU 105, or BU 110

Course Code : BU 301

Course Description :

Business analytics is applied in operations, marketing, finance, and strategic planning, among other functions. The ability to use data effectively to drive rapid, precise and profitable decisions has been a critical strategic advantage for companies. As an introductory course in Business Analytics, this course provides fundamental concepts and tools needed to understand the emerging role of business analytics in organizations. Students apply basic business analytics tools in a spreadsheet environment and learn how to communicate with analytics professionals to effectively use and interpret analytic models and results for making better business decisions. Topics include managerial statistical tools in descriptive analytics and predictive analytics, including regression.

Instruction methods : Lecture: 3 Hours

Prerequisites :

CS 285

Course Code : BU 436

Course Description :

Individuals and businesses need to manage the processes that drive success, including the processes that bring goods and services to market, as well as the individual projects that are needed in every functioning area of business. This process-management course introduces students to essential concepts in operations management and project management to drive the success of individuals and businesses. Operations management focuses on converting resources and materials into finished products and services and methods for improving process operations to enhance competitive advantage in the growing global economy. Project management includes organizing and managing project teams, project selection, project planning, project scheduling, and project cost management, all in the context of costs/budgeting and risk management.

Instruction methods : Lecture: 3 Hours

Prerequisites :

CS 285 AND BU 251, BU 260, or CS 260

Course Code : BU 441

Course Description :

This is a capstone for the BUS Analytics major. It explores how business problems can be solved effectively by using data, and applying data mining tools and analytics to gain new insights into the data. Students identify real world issues, develop a hypothesis, collect data, and develop solutions that will benefit the organization. Students cultivate the skills to collect, analyze, and interpret data in strategic data planning and management, databases and data warehousing, data mining and social media and risk modeling and optimization, and apply those skills to business problems to form actionable strategies. Students will use BI Software.

Credit : 3

Prerequisites :

BU 230 AND BU 301

Course Code : CS 195

Course Description :

Introduction to computer science and computer programming, problem-solving decomposition, algorithm development. Focuses on writing, debugging, and analyzing computer programs using a high-level programming language, and on learning to write clean, readable, and efficient code. Topics include variables, types, lists, functions, conditional branching, loops, and imports.

Credit : 3

Prerequisites :

CS 115, CS 125, or CS Major AND MA 140 placement or higher

Course Code : CS 219

Course Description :

This course emphasizes analysis and solutions to contemporary business problems through the use of the current version of Microsoft Excel. Students are introduced to business decision modeling processes to strengthen logical reasoning and analytical skills. Microsoft Excel is used as the basis for managerial decision support through analysis of contemporary business case problems. Students apply the appropriate functions and features of Microsoft Excel to solve business cases. The course also emphasizes oral presentation and written reports on business processes used in case solutions to further strengthen students’ communication skills.

Credit : 3

Prerequisites :

CS 115, CS 125, or CS 195 AND MA 130 or higher

Course Code : CS 260

Course Description :

This course introduces the student to the logical and physical development of contemporary databases, with particular emphasis on the relational database model. Topics include types of databases, major data models, database design procedures, and normal forms. Hands-on experience illustrates the creation, maintenance, and reporting of business databases using SQL.

Credit : 3

Prerequisites :

CS 195

Course Code : CS 285

Course Description :

The course will teach students about the use of computers and business data networks to solve management and corporate problems. The course examines the components and concepts of management information systems in managing information in business environments. The evolution and future direction of current corporate and institutional computing environments will be analyzed. The impact of emerging e-commerce marketplaces on corporate strategies and infrastructure will also be examined. The ways in which businesses develop or procure information technology resources and systems will be discussed. Case studies will be used to illustrate key concepts in systems development, implementation and management. In addition, students will learn how businesses manage and protect critical information and data.

Credit : 3

Instruction methods : Lecture: 3 Hours

Prerequisites :

CS219

Course Code : CS 328

Course Description :

Using Big Data for Community Good -This virtual course introduces various aspects of big data science: data visualization and analytics, engaging communities in using big data, and the ethics of and equitable access to big data. Big Data Science is becoming increasingly relevant as big data is everywhere and its use impacting almost every aspect of modern life. This is an introductory level course in data analysis and provides foundational knowledge to this multi dimensional topic. This course also provides hands on learning experience as university students taking the course serve as mentors for teams of high school students in a national big data competition, “The Pittsburgh Data Jam” sponsored by Pittsburgh Data Works (https://pghdataworks.org)

Prerequisites :

CS 195

Course Code : CS 328L

Course Description :

Using Big Data for Community Good- This lab supports and reinforces the concepts introduced in CS 328 Data Jam: Using Big Data for Community Good. The underlying course introduces various aspects of big data competition, “The Pittsburgh Data Jam” sponsored by Pittsburgh Data Works (http://pghdataworks.org). Our students’ role in the Data Jam is to serve as mentors for teams of high school students who submit works for review in the competition. This class is running as a lab and a continuation of the fall class. Students will mentor the high school students as they finalize their Data Jam projects. This lab will run in the spring and will allow our students to support the high school students as they develop and complete their projects. Students will continue to meet with the high school students they have met in the fall semester to develop their projects. Prerequisite: CS 328 Data Jam: Using Big Data for Community Good.

Prerequisites :

CS 328

Course Code : CS 340

Course Description :

This course will instruct students how to use computer systems to analyze large datasets in order to gain useful insights, develop forecasts and make predictions. The course introduces several key aspects of data investigation: collection and organization, cleaning for efficiency and integrity, sampling, visual analysis, hypothesis generation, statistical testing and machine learning. Students will learn how to obtain information and transform it into a data set residing in a large database system for quick and reliable access and analysis. Students will also learn exploratory data analysis, visual and numerical, to gain understanding of the relationships, patterns and trends in the data. In addition, students will learn to use machine learning and analysis techniques for data sets that are too large for traditional statistical analysis. The emphasis of the course will be on applied techniques of data analysis for business or social science decision making. The course will utilize widely used, open source software such as Python, MySQL, or (statistical package.)

Credit : 3

Instruction methods : Lecture: 3 Hours

Prerequisites :

BU 301

Course Code : CS 348

Course Description :

This course examines real-world applications of database security and auditing models. These concepts are integrated with planning, organizing and implementing disaster recovery procedures as applied to business data systems.

Credit : 3

Prerequisites :

CS260