Business Analytics

Business analytics (BA) refers to the skills, technologies, practices for continuous iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to gain insight and drive business planning. Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business performance based on data and statistical methods. [Wikipedia]

Project Type

• Application Project: Team projects, 4-6 members
• Minimum grading requirements: None

Project Deliverables

• Please visit the main Course information page and read the section Project Timeline and Milestones for details on the deliverables and timeline.
• Business Analytics Proposal Template [docx]

Frequently Asked Questions

We have questions! Can we contact BA Track Coordinator and IS483 Course Coordinator?

We've put together FAQs (below). We need you to carefully and thoroughly read the FAQs first!

As a starter, please do check out this short presentation: https://smu.sg/SMU-SCIS-BA-FYP

What is the scope requirement of a Business Analytics Track FYP?

Business Analytics (BA) is the process of collecting and processing business data, transforming it into business insights using statistical modeling, and data analytics machine-learning techniques. The goal of BA is to generate business value in terms of efficiency, productivity, and/or revenue.

Therefore, each project in the BA track will have two aspects:

1. Business Aspect:

• What is the business problem you are addressing?
• What is the business value you are attempting create?
• How will the business benefit from the project?

2. Data Analytics Aspect:

• What data will you use?
• Where will it come from?
• What analytics techniques will you deploy?

The project scope should reflect these two aspects and the proposal should clearly articulate the answers to the six questions listed.

We are planning to do project xyz from the “Proposed Projects” on the IS483 Wiki. (Or, we have this project idea xyz.) Does it qualify as a BA project?

Please refer to the first question and ask yourself whether the proposed project satisfies the scoping requirement for a BA project. Please do not send emails to "confirm" or "double-confirm" that the scoping is right. If you can answer the six questions listed in the first FAQ above (three under Business Aspect and three under Data Analytics Aspect), the scoping is right. If you cannot, you need to work harder to answer them.

Are we required to have data on hand to perform the analytics tasks (for example, sentiment analysis)?

Yes. Before you run sentiment analysis, you need the data – clearly. If, by “on hand” you meant “at proposal stage,” not necessarily.

Can we, through our application, gather data and perform the analytics tasks (for example, sentiment analysis)?

Yes, you can have a data collection plan and perform it as part of the project.

We plan to perform analysis on web-scrapped data (e.g. reviews) to determine the appropriate questions for the business to address. Would it be considered an analytical task?

Yes, it would be.

Can we build a dashboard to help the business? Will that satisfy the scoping requirement?

Visual Analytics on its own is usually not big enough in scope for a four- or five-member FYP, and for deriving real business value. However, you can always make a case for it in your proposal and let it go through the review process.

With the given Wiki link on FYP project, are the information applicable for both Year 3 Semester 1 and 2 students?

Yes.

What are the requirements / points to note when sourcing for a company outside of the proposed company in Wiki?

There are no specific requirements, other than the fact that the company will have to be willing to share their data with you for the successful completion of the project.

What does the “system prototype” under project deliverable on the wiki mean? Are there any minimum requirements of the system prototype?

By “system prototype,” what is meant is the data analytics component of the BA project, and its implementation. There are no special requirements specified other than the scoping requirement of the project itself. Please refer to the first question for scoping information.

What is the scope and complexity for a multi-track project, in this case specifically for BA major?

The BA part of the project should have its scoping consistent with the answer to the first question. Please go through the proposal template (on the IS483 Wiki) and ensure that all sections are completed, which will help with the completeness of the project scope.

What are some of the considerations to decide if the project proposed is suitable as a FYP project?

From the BA perspective, the only criterion is the scope (as in the first question), and a general evaluation of the feasibility of the project.

If we submit our proposal earlier than the deadline, will we get an earlier decision before week?

The decision will be taken as specified in the timeline in the IS483 Wiki regardless of when the proposal is submitted.

Would you be able to review the proposal in advance so that we have a heads up on the feasibility of the project proposal being approved from SMU side?

As a matter of policy, we do not pre-review proposals, as it might unfairly help some teams.

Can we have a meeting to with the track coordinator to ensure that our scoping is correct, and our proposal is good?

For the same reason as in the previous answer, we do not encourage pre-meetings on proposals either. And, due to time constraints, meetings cannot be accommodated during the academic terms (Jan-April and Aug-Nov).

In the unfortunate event of proposal rejection, is there any resubmission window?

There is no resubmission for the proposal, if rejected.

For self-sourced BA projects, are there any specific requirements that we should let the company/organisation know when we talk to them?

There are no specific requirements for self-sourced projects other than the general requirements mentioned the IS483 Wiki. If your project sponsor needs more information about IS483, please ask them to get in touch with the IS483 course coordinator (Subhajit DATTA).

Is there a minimum requirement for the amount of data that we need to collect, in terms of the number of rows or size?

There no general rule regarding how much data you would need to run a good data analytics project. Here’s an indicator: https://www.datarobot.com/blog/how-much-data-is-needed-to-train-a-good-model/

More Information

My question is not answered in this FAQ document. Where can I get a straight answer?

If you have other specific questions, not answered here, please send an email to the BA track coordinator (currently manojt@smu.edu.sg) and the IS483 coordinator (currently subhajitd@smu.edu.sg). We will answer your question and update the FAQ.