Do you want to build the most in-demand skills for today’s job market?

Data analysis has become an essential business skill in recent years. Learn the basics, expand your knowledge of Excel, and learn how to tell stories with data in this self-paced course.

You don’t need any prior knowledge to benefit from this course - just a desire to clarify and act on your organisation’s data.

Discover the benefits of data analysis

Data analytics is one of the most in-demand professions of the decade and forecasters expect the sector to grow even further.

This course will help you identify the benefits of data analysis, both to your organisation and your career. You’ll develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence to gain a competitive edge at your current job or in the job market.

Use Excel to achieve your objectives

It’s likely you already have one of the most powerful data analysis tools on your computer, and it’s also likely that you don’t use it to its full potential.

This course will help you identify the right Excel formula to achieve your objectives in importing, cleaning, analysing, and manipulating data sets.

Explore data analytics fundamentals and basic statistics

Data analysis employs a lot of statistics skills – even machine learning is often underpinned by fundamental statistical principles. This course will put you on firm mathematical grounding so that you can build your data analysis skills on a strong foundation.

Upon completion of this course, you’ll have a sound set of skills in basic data analytics, Excel, and statistics, and will be ready to move onto tidying data and creating databases.

What topics will you cover?

Introduction to data analytics
Processes and tools for data-driven decision-making
Introduction to fundamental statistics
Application of fundamental statistical techniques

Prove you're job ready

Highlight the new, job-relevant skills you’ve gained and supplement existing qualifications with a hard-earned, industry-specific digital certificate – plus one for every course within your ExpertTrack.

Learn the latest in your chosen industry or subject.
Complete each course and pass assessments.
Receive certificates validated by the educating organisation.
Impress employers with learning outcomes you can add to your CV.
Make your career dreams a reality.

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Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Identify the benefits of data analysis
Articulate data analytics fundamentals including basics of statistics
Identify the correct Excel formula syntax to achieve an objective

Who is the course for?

This course is for professionals who require data analytics skills at work, and learners who are interested in moving to a data analytics career.

These may include:

Early-stage or aspiring data or business analyst looking to boost their qualitative and quantitative data analysis skills.
Business professional working in a role that requires data analytics skills.
Business or arts graduate looking to start their first professional role by adding required quantitative skills such as data analysis.

What software or tools do you need?

During the course we’ll be using DB Browser for SQLite and Excel. If you don’t have Excel, you might find this online version useful.

We recommend you use a computer to access this course.

Who will you learn with?

Jacques Haasbroek

As a certified Data Analyst and holder of a Chartered Global Management Accountant designation I provide a unique set of skills in the fields of data, analytics, finance, and accounting.

Who developed the course?

FutureLearn

FutureLearn is jointly owned by The Open University and The SEEK Group and has been providing online courses for learners around the world over the last eight years.

In collaboration with

Endorsers and supporters

endorsed by

About this ExpertTrack

Build your business analytics skills and learn to manage, wrangle, and analyse data with Excel and SQLite.

Find out more

Start learning today - free 7-day trial

After your free trial you can:

Pay $39 per month to keep learning online
Have complete control over your subscription; you can cancel any time
Work at your own pace and set your own deadlines at every stage
Only pay while you’re learning; the subscription will cancel automatically when you finish
Complete online assessments to test your knowledge and prove your skills
Earn digital course certificates and a final award that you can share online, with potential employers, and your professional network
Keep access to the content of courses you complete even after your subscription ends

Start your free 7-day trial

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps, but you can complete them as quickly or slowly as you like
Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn