Business Analytics Certificate

UMass Boston’s Business Analytics Certificate focuses on the transformative capabilities of business and data analytics and the technologies needed for successful implementation of them. It is designed for professionals who want to deepen their understanding of business analytics and data analytics, learn new skills, and add a certification to their résumé. Acquire the cutting-edge skills needed to implement, analyze, and manage data technologies to help businesses in any industry achieve their strategic goals. You have the option to continue on for an additional two semesters to earn an MBA with a specialization in business analytics. You can also opt to continue on to earn a Business Analytics MS or Information Technology MS.

Business analytics is a crucial tool to guide business operations towards achieving strategic objectives in any industry, from health care to finance and retail. Understanding and learning Business Analytics (BA) is therefore becoming a necessity for all business professionals. The Business Analytics Certificate program is designed to facilitate integrating BA into enterprise business processes.

Tuition

This program consists of four 3-credit courses, or 12 credits.
Online tuition is $575 per credit.
Associated fees include a $950 College of Management fee, assessed in fall and spring semesters.
Total estimated cost to complete this program starts at:
- $7,850 if completed in one semester* (includes College of Management fee)
- $8,800 if completed in two semesters (includes College of Management fees)
Other fees may apply. Request Info to connect with a program representative for further details about curriculum, including prerequisite coursework that may be waived.

Deadline

Applications to start in the fall semester are due July 1
Applications to start in the spring semester are due November 15

Application Checklist**

Online application and fee ($60 domestic, $100 international)
Official transcripts (completed bachelor’s degree required)
Submission of TOEFL or IELTS score (required for all students that submit undergraduate transcripts where the national language is not English. Minimum required score for TOEFL is 90 to be considered).
Résumé (3-5 years of related work experience preferred)
1 letter of recommendation
GMAT and GRE exams are not required for the graduate certificate program
Statement of Intent. Please express in less than 1000 words:
- Why are you interested in the graduate certificate in Business Analytics? How will the Certificate enhance your career aspirations?
- What is your experience in the business analytics field, and what problems and issues are you interested in exploring further?

**Please note the certificate does not meet eligibility requirements for issuance of an I-20.

Enterprise Business Intelligence (MSIS 670) (online)
Explore business intelligence — what it can offer organizations and how it’s used in the real world — and develop an action plan to identify and act on business intelligence opportunities. Learn about business intelligence’s role in the effective management of an organization. Study the business, technical, and human components of business intelligence and see how real organizations applied these components to their organization. Finally, you’ll explore a framework and processes for identifying, evaluating, and acting on specific business intelligence opportunities.
Enterprise Data Warehousing for Business Intelligence (MSIS 671) (online and on campus)
Gain a comprehensive overview of data warehousing, including planning, design, deployment, and ongoing maintenance issues. Develop a clear understanding a clear understanding of techniques for data extraction from source systems, data cleansing, data transformations, data warehouse architecture and infrastructure, and information delivery. Learn about data marts, real-time information delivery, data visualization, requirements gathering methods, multi-tier architectures, OLAP applications, Web clickstream analysis, data warehouse appliances, and data mining techniques. You’ll get experience through hands-on exercises in commercial data warehousing modeling and implementation tools, and you’ll perform case analysis.
Enterprise Data Mining and Predictive Analytics (MSIS 672) (online and on campus)
Learn the theory behind the analytical concepts of data mining and how data mining techniques are used in strategic business decision making. Get a hands-on understanding of the key methods of data visualization, exploration, association, classification, prediction, time series forecasting, clustering, induction techniques, neural networks, and others. You’ll work as part of a team to solve a business problem of your choice, using data mining tools and applying them to data. Explore concepts used for building data mining frameworks needed in analyzing useful patterns in databases through the application of practical methods.
Information Storage Management (MSIS 656) (online and on campus)
Gain a comprehensive overview of network-based storage technology and information storage infrastructure. Learn about storage architectures, service features, benefits of Intelligent Storage Systems, and Storage Virtualization. Explore Networked storage technologies, including fiber channel (FC), based Storage Area Network (SAN), Network Attached Storage (NAS), and IP-SAN. You’ll also discuss advanced storage technologies on Content Addressed Storage (CAS), information security, and networked storage virtualization.

*Note: Two courses, MSIS 656 and MSIS 671, are only offered on campus in the fall semester and online in the spring semester. Students interested in completing the program online in one semester must start the program in the spring semester when all four courses are offered online.

At the end of this two-semester program, you’ll be awarded a graduate certificate in Business Analytics. The certificate will demonstrate your expertise in the field on your résumé, as well as in interviews and workplace evaluations. This certificate will provide you with the cutting-edge skills needed to implement, analyze, and manage data technologies to help businesses in any industry achieve their strategic goals. You can also continue on for an additional two semesters to earn an MBA, Business Analytics MS, or Information Technology MS.