Business Analytics, Global Edition, 3rd edition

This title is a Pearson Global Edition. The Editorial team at Pearson has worked closely with educators around the world to include content, which is especially relevant to students outside the United States.

For undergraduate or graduate business students.

A balanced and holistic approach to business analytics

Business Analytics teaches the fundamental concepts of modern business analytics and provides vital tools in understanding how data analysis works in today's organisations. Author James Evans takes a fair and comprehensive, approach, examining business analytics from both descriptive and predictive perspectives. Students learn how to apply basic principles, communicate with analytics professionals, and effectively use and interpret analytic models to make better business decisions. And included access to commercial grade analytics software gives students real-world experience and career-focused value. As such, the 3rd Edition has gone through an extensive revision and now relies solely on Excel, enhancing students' skills in the program and basic understanding of fundamental concepts.

Hallmark Approach

Five sections guide students through the information.

• Part 1: Foundations of Business Analytics. The first two chapters provide the basic foundations needed to understand business analytics and Microsoft Excel, and show students how to manipulate data and develop simple spreadsheet models.
• Part 2: Descriptive Analytics. Chapters 3 through 7 cover the fundamental tools and methods of data analysis and statistics. These chapters focus on visual representations of data, descriptive statistical measures, probability distributions and data modeling, sampling and estimation, and statistical inference.
• Part 3: Predictive Analytics. Chapters 8 through 12 develop approaches for applying trendlines and regression analysis, forecasting and introductory data mining techniques, building and analysing models on spreadsheets, and simulation and risk analysis.
• Part 4: Prescriptive Analytics. Chapters 13 and 14 explore linear, integer, and nonlinear optimisation models and applications. Chapter 15 focuses on what-if and sensitivity analysis in optimisation, and visualisation of Solver reports.
• Part 5: Making Decisions. Chapter 16 focuses on philosophies, tools, and techniques of decision analysis.

New to this edition

• Numbered Chapter Sections, with Check Your Understanding questions, provide a means to review fundamental concepts.
• Analytics in Practice describes real applications in business.
• End-of-Chapter Problems and Exercises help reinforce the material covered throughout the chapter and have been revised for added clarity.
• Appendix in Chapter 1 reviews basic Excel skills, and is used throughout the book.
• Updated material ensures students are well versed in the latest business analytics principles and techniques
  • The application of Excel for dealing with spreadsheet data
  • Combinations and permutations
  • The use of data visualisation for confidence interval comparison
  • Excel approaches for double exponential smoothing and Holt-Winters models for seasonality and trend
  • Simple data mining techniques for spreadsheets using Excel; and
  • What-if and sensitivity analysis, visualisation of Solver reports, and how Solver handles models with bounded variables
• Technology Help in every chapter provides students with useful summaries of key Excel functions and procedures. Also, the 3rd Edition now relies solely on native Excel, and is independent of platforms, allowing it to be easily used by students with either PCs/Macs.
• Online supplements provide detailed information and examples for using StatCrunch and Analytic Solver for Education, which provides more powerful tools for data mining, Monte-Carlo simulation, optimisation, and decision analysis.