In the Stukent Business Analytics simulation, students get hands-on experience with crucial analytics concepts, tools, and practices in the business world. Students are a new business analyst at Buhi Supply Co. helping the company improve its decision-making with data.

Over the course of the simulation’s nine rounds, students will have hands-on experiences transforming and interpreting data in various business scenarios that teach them to connect all stages of data analytics: data transformation/integration, cluster analysis, visualization/storytelling, and A/B testing.

Round 1: Learn the Fundamentals
Scenario: Buhi needs help completing information missing from its data dictionary, cleaning internal data, and summarizing the findings from a third-party report.

Round 2: Query and Clean Financial Data
Scenario: Buhi’s finance department needs your help running queries and cleaning the resulting financial data. Then, they’ll need you to help update the P&L section of the quarterly business report.

Round 3: Transform and Integrate Accounting Data
Scenario: Buhi’s accounting department needs your help running queries and cleaning the resulting accounting data. Then, they’ll need you to help update the financials section of the next QBR.

Round 4: Perform Cluster Analysis of Supply Chain Data
Scenario: The supply chain department needs your help improving Buhi’s inventory policy. To do that, you’ll need to submit a data request to IT and then follow up to ensure the usefulness of the data. After that, you will perform a series of cluster analyses on the returned data to make recommendations for the supply chain manager.

Round 5: A/B Test Human Resources Campaigns
Scenario: The human resources department needs you to help increase employee engagement by collecting data for internal campaigns. They’ll also need you to help them update the human resources section of the quarterly business report.

Round 6: Set up a Cloud Services for the Sales Team
Scenario: After recommending an employee-engagement email to HR, you’ll collaborate with the sales team to select and implement a cloud-based services solution. You will also update the customer experience section of the quarterly business review.

Round 7: Establish Metrics and Troubleshoot QA Issues
Scenario: The product engineering team needs your help setting up appropriate business metrics for a new product, then identifying the data sources needed to calculate those metrics. Likewise, the quality assurance team needs you to identify the causes of two recurring warranty claims and, if possible, make recommendations to fix them.

Round 8: Update the Quarterly Business Report
Scenario: Buhi needs you to update every section of the QBR for the latest quarter using data cleaned and provided for you by each department.

Round 9: Present the Quarterly Business Report
Scenario: The business division leadership team needs you to prepare and deliver to them the QBR presentation for the latest quarter.

During this simulation, your students will perform the following activities:

• Execute the processes and techniques of data collection and cleaning.

• Perform data analysis and present results as impactful visualizations.

• Design winning strategies using A/B testing.

• Solve business problems by using data technologies and data management systems.

• Identify data types based on observed values.

• Employ Structured Query Language (SQL) for business decision-making.

• Implement a k-means cluster analysis after classifying its necessary data inputs.

• Demonstrate the benefits of cloud services, and use them to support business activities.

• Apply analytics principles to concrete scenarios, such as working with Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

• Practice effective communication regarding analytics, including report writing and verbal presentations.