| For the last two years we have been working | | | | - BI should always be taught in a collaborative |
| closely with the University of Montpellier to help | | | | manner, increasing enjoyment of the subject and |
| students on technology, business and finance | | | | reinforcing best collaborative practices |
| courses understand BI in the real world. Following | | | | - Students should be trained in BI solutions in their |
| a conversation with Dr Laurent and Dr Teisseire | | | | own right (data extraction, queries, visualizations, |
| of the LIRMM institute, both of whom research | | | | sharing etc.) rather than Excel pivot tables |
| and lecture in data mining and analysis, we thought | | | | - Data should be as realistic as possible, with all |
| we would share our thoughts on why, how and | | | | the inadequacies and problems of an actual |
| where BI should be taught. | | | | company data set. Real data makes case studies |
| Why teach BI? | | | | both more interesting and more challenging for |
| - The scope of BI allows its teaching to | | | | the students |
| encompass many areas of a company's | | | | - On top of data analysis, students must be able |
| operations. One case study can incorporate | | | | design metrics for the results of a decision and |
| exposure to finance, sales, market trends, | | | | accurately capture resulting data |
| systems technology, programming, data analysis | | | | - Engineering students should also be introduced to |
| and presentation style | | | | the underlying principles of the BI industry such as |
| - BI offers the perfect bridging point between the | | | | database management, distributed systems and |
| technical and business sides of an education | | | | cloud computing in order to demonstrate the |
| - Graduates who can extract useful information | | | | industry innovation towards lightweight and under |
| from data and apply insight to benefit their | | | | friendly BI |
| company bring a huge value to employers, in | | | | Our recommendations: |
| whatever role they occupy | | | | - The teaching of BI must go hand in hand with a |
| - An understanding of the power of BI tools will | | | | sound comprehension of how it affects business |
| encourage greater participation during BI projects | | | | decisions and how it can add value to a company |
| and more return on investment in industry | | | | - Currently, BI is often reserved for technical |
| How to teach BI? | | | | courses and certain MBAs. We believe teaching BI |
| - Engineers must fully understand the business | | | | in a wider range of both technical and business |
| needs behind what is demanded of them. This will | | | | courses will produce graduates more valuable to |
| help in the development of user-centric tools | | | | any employer |
| focused on business outcomes | | | | - Finance and economics undergrads should be |
| - Business users must understand the | | | | taught to use BI to perform their normal course |
| fundamentals of data management such as clean | | | | analysis |
| data input and adhering to strict definitions. They | | | | Few courses will have the time to teach all of the |
| can gain an appreciation of what can be achieved | | | | material we recommend, but an exposure to BI |
| and how to make the most of the technology | | | | brings far reaching benefits to students of all |
| available | | | | disciplines. |
| - Students should be able to use BI software on | | | | If you run a university course and want to |
| their own machines independent of school system | | | | explore building BI into your course, don't hesitate |
| to make the subject more approachable | | | | to get in touch. |