Business Analytics

with a Foundation Year

Unlock your potential and gain the essential skills for academic success at university. You’ll develop effective study habits, learn to manage your time, and gain strategies for independent learning. You’ll conduct academic research, by learning to find, evaluate, and use academic sources, while avoiding plagiarism. Your writing skills will be developed through extended writing activities, referencing, proofreading, and editing. You’ll also improve your communication skills by learning how to structure a presentation and use visual aids. You’ll develop your critical thinking through analysis, evaluation, and argumentation. By the end of this module, you’ll be building towards working at Level 4. 

How do businesses operate today? What are their key functions and how are they organised? Most importantly, what do managers need to know in order to make sound decisions?

You’ll develop a broad understanding of essential business management and accounting models, exploring theories that are integral to how businesses work. By looking at fundamental business strategies and different tools of analysis – like break-even calculations, ratio analysis, capital appraisal models, and decision trees – you’ll develop your understanding of the basics of business and start building up your skills in Excel.

Dive into a project that sparks your curiosity and hones your academic skills, as you choose a topic you're passionate about and transform your research into a compelling essay. This module allows you to develop and apply the learning from your Autumn term module 'Academic Skills Development'. You will improve your research and writing skills further and refine your use of sources. While you conduct your reading and research, you’ll engage in reflective practices improving your ability to assess and evaluate your learning using various reflective models. Independence and time management are key skills you’ll develop as you navigate this module.

To maximise your experience, you are expected to prepare and actively participate in our regular tutorials. These are designed to provide invaluable opportunities to seek guidance and develop your project.

Throughout the course, students actively engage in discussions and practical applications, preparing them to confront complex global economic challenges armed with a data-driven approach. By the end of the course, students emerge equipped with the necessary skills to analyse economic data effectively and contribute meaningfully to informed decision-making in the global economic landscape.

How do companies measure, assess and communicate their financial performance? Managers prepare, read and interpret financial information daily and they use it to communicate company financial results to a variety of stakeholders.

In this module you’ll learn how sole traders and limited companies record accounting transactions using bookkeeping and how they summarise and report their financial results to external stakeholders using financial statements. You’ll also gain essential knowledge of the regulatory framework of financial reporting which guides the process of preparing annual reports for a variety of companies.

By the end of the module, you will have developed the analytical skills needed to both prepare and analyse financial statements. This will enable you to holistically assess company financial performance and provide recommendations, an important skill in your future career.

Excel is the industry standard software for data processing and modelling, so if you want to hit the ground running in your career, mastery of Excel is crucial. You'll learn the techniques of Excel and spreadsheet modelling through realistic problems and extensive exercises, giving you real hands-on experience to make rapid progress.

By the end of the module, you wont only have mastered excel to report, model and forecast for businesses, you'll have also developed the confidence you need to present your insights to managers, stakeholders and business leaders. This makes you a vital asset for businesses focused on growth, and gives you an extra edge when looking to make progress in expanding industries.

Quantitative methods are becoming increasingly important for successful businesses. As business data becomes more complex and sophisticated, higher-level mathematical knowledge is required to understand operational problems better and make informed decisions.

Throughout this module, you’ll develop and consolidate your mathematical knowledge and skills, ensuring that you understand core mathematical concepts and how to apply them to business problems.

You’ll also develop knowledge in using Excel to solve mathematical problems and learn about statistical analysis methods and techniques. You’ll focus on real-world case studies and practise tackling the types of issues that businesses face. This means you wont only be able to apply quantitative models to businesses, you'll be able to confidently and effectively communicate actions and outcomes from the stories the data reveals.

Develop the communication, teamwork and problem-solving skills needed to succeed as a business analyst. Learn to present data-driven insights, engage with stakeholders and communicate recommendations that support effective business decisions.

Explore the foundations of business analytics, from identifying business problems to interpreting data and evaluating evidence. Learn how analytical insights can reveal opportunities, improve performance and support better organisational decisions.

Python has become the most popular general-purpose programming language. It enables fast development, has great community support, and is an industry-standard tool for visualising and analysing business data.

Developing computer programming skills is an important tool in business analytics. You’ll explore the fundamentals of programming, covering essential concepts such as flow control and loops, before advancing into the realm of object-oriented programming.

You’ll explore the practical applications of Python packages, focusing on those specifically relevant to business analytics. These include solving equations, data visualisation, and generating descriptive statistics. Through hands-on exercises and real-world examples, you’ll develop a robust skill set, making you proficient and confident in using Python for effective business analytics.

In today's business context there is a wealth of data available. Many businesses currently struggle to transform that data into useable information that they can use to make meaningful decisions. We'll learn to extract insights from historical data through interactive visual analytics, communicating complex information effectively and gain hands-on experience in using data to drive positive change in business, environment and society.

We'll also explore advanced techniques for pattern recognition and forecasting, providing the ability to foresee future outcomes and trends. We'll explore real-world case studies from diverse industries, offering a deep understanding of how data analytics is integral to sectors like supply chain management, marketing, healthcare and finance.

By the end of this module, you'll be equipped with the skills and knowledge to transform data into actionable insights and predictions, making an impact on any organisation that you work at.

Big Data and Machine Learning are making big changes in many industries, affecting how computing and cloud technology function. We'll study the basics of processing big data and learn to use practical tools through real-world examples and hands-on exercises. You'll also learn about various machine learning techniques, including supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement learning. Starting with simple linear regression, you'll progress to advanced topics like neural networks and convolutional neural networks and also explore important concepts like the bias-variance trade-off for model selection. In addition to model training, you'll also learn how to evaluate model performance using standard metrics, refining your skills in the process.

Making decisions is crucial for managers and businesses, as they shape our lives and impact outcomes at work. However, making smart decisions in the face of complexity and uncertainty can be challenging. How can data support our decisions in such uncertain contexts? Together we'll explore various quantitative and graphical methods that help identify, represent, and evaluate different possibile options and make optimal decisions. These tools will equip you to make sound decisions in uncertain situations, enabling you to influence and lead effectively. By the end of the module, you'll have a deep understanding of informed decision-making methodologies. You'll learn how to analyze problems, identify potential solutions, and evaluate outcomes in uncertain conditions.

Explore how organisations manage data and digital technologies responsibly. Examine governance, ethical decision-making, privacy and transparency, and understand how businesses build trust through accountable and responsible use of data and AI.

Develop the skills to analyse and visualise business data using modern analytical tools and AI. Learn to identify patterns, communicate insights clearly and support smarter, evidence-based business decisions.

In the rapidly evolving world of business, developing and implementing effective strategies is vital for success. This module equips you with the knowledge and skills necessary to excel in the field of strategic management.

You’ll engage in rigorous analysis and critical thinking to explore a range of strategic concepts. These include the fundamentals of strategic planning, advanced topics in supply chain dynamics, and issues such as quality management, technology-driven innovation, and project/event management.

Throughout the module, you’ll engage in interactive discussions, group projects, case studies, and hands-on exercises to enhance your problem-solving and decision-making skills. By the end, you’ll have the ability to analyse and apply critical thinking to evaluate strategic alternatives and make informed recommendations.

Prescriptive analytics goes beyond simply describing past events or predicting future events. It provides insights into what actions organisations can take to make better decisions. Together we’ll learn how to formulate complex problems mathematically and solve them using various techniques.

You’ll discover how to turn data into optimal decision-making strategies by creating powerful mathematical models known as Linear Programming (LP). Through exploring different LP solutions and conducting sensitivity analyses, you’ll be able to inform better decision-making with data.

Additionally, you’ll delve into network models, tackling problems such as transportation, assignment, shortest path, maximum flow, and minimum spanning tree. You’ll learn how to model these scenarios and explore common approaches to solve them effectively. You’ll focus on solving optimisation problems using Excel Solver, which will give you practical skills for real-world scenarios.

Simulation modeling is increasingly important in business, used in industries, consulting and policy-making. With many software options available for simulation modeling, it's essential for business graduates to understand its philosophy and techniques. We'll learn how to use simulation modeling as a powerful tool for decision-making in complex systems, with a focus on practical applications, analyzing computer models of real-world processes. Through this, you'll gain skills in building and analyzing simulation models, empowering you to estimate and compare alternatives in different situations. Ultimately, you'll be equipped to tackle the challenges of decision-making in complex scenarios through simulation modeling.

Apply your business analytics skills to real-world challenges, using data to investigate problems, identify opportunities and develop practical solutions. Build experience in communicating insights and making evidence-based recommendations.

Explore the emerging trends and challenges shaping business analytics, from advances in AI and automation to data ethics and evolving technologies. Examine how organisations adapt and use analytics to solve complex business problems.

Do you have what it takes to be a management consultant? Do you have the skills to be able to respond to the real-world problems that businesses are facing today? On this module, we'll work with real businesses who want the help of groups of KBS students to solve the challenges that they currently face.  Through a series of workshops you'll come to understand the consultancy process and develop key consultancy skills as you master the art of responding effectively to a brief from a business. Working in a group of your peers, you'll bring different skillsets from your studies to bear on solving business problems like designing a marketing strategy, advising on recruitment processes, or support meaningful performance management and financial evaluation etc. Put a capstone on your studies with a project that has real world impact.

Is there a topic that you are passionate about and what to understand better? This module will provide you with the opportunity to apply your learning, experience, skills and curiosity to a variety of contemporary business and management issues. You'll develop a research project on a topic of your choosing with support from a series of workshops that cultivate key research skills like scoping a project, using databases to do secondary research, asking good interview or survey questions, coding data that you've collected, and reporting professionally on your findings. You'll also be allocated a supervisor in your field who will work to support you in shaping and completing your project. Gain sought after skills in independently scoping, researching, and reporting on a problem to prepare you for a career in consultancy or postgraduate study.