Business Analysis Fundamentals

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$389

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$599 AUD

Quick Facts

Delivery Method Online
Professional Certificate
24hrs Suggested Study Time
3 Months Access
Tutor Support
Study On Any Device
4779 Students

Learn powerful techniques to improve your decision-making skills at work.

Give yourself an employment advantage by developing analytical skills that are consistently in high demand. This course will teach you powerful quantitative methods that will have you making better, more informed, and more effective business decisions. The days of making critical business decisions by instinct or coin toss are long gone. If you are planning a career in business, you cannot afford to miss this course!

PMBOK® Guide, PMI®, PMP®, CAPM®, and the PMI R.E.P. logo are either marks or registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Courses are delivered to you through expertly executed lessons, online instruction and interaction with like-minded students. Our courses are designed to deliver all of the benefits of studying in a classroom whilst giving you the flexibility to study at a time and place to suit your needs. You can access your classroom 24/7 from any device with an internet connection.

This course has a 3 month duration. You'll complete comprehensive lessons, quizzes and assignments before submitting your final exam at the end of the course to achieve your certificate. Courses must be completed within the 3 month access period.

Decision-making is one of the most important aspects of business. So, we'll start things off by exploring a variety of analytical approaches you can use for making business decisions. We'll also look at the basic steps involved in problem solving.

This lesson will help you understand the probability of events. We'll talk about basic probability concepts and how you assign probabilities to experimental outcomes. You'll find out how to apply probability concepts to business situations.

In today’s lesson, we'll delve into the concepts of mean and standard deviation and how they're used in business. We'll also go over survey analysis, the various steps involved in doing a survey, and the most common errors that people make.

Today's lesson is all about the use of probability in decision-making. We'll explore an analytical approach called Decision Analysis. You'll learn how to structure a problem so that when you decide how to deal with it, you know what result to expect. We'll talk about using an optimistic, conservative, and an in-between approach in making decisions. Finally, we'll examine the concept of Expected Value.

What if the decision you want to make isn't the most sensible one from a financial perspective? There are times when you need to base the worth of a decision on its value to you. An example of this would be deciding to buy a lottery ticket. Sometimes it's appropriate to make business decisions this way. In today's lesson, we'll talk about this approach and where the different decisions can lead.

All businesses need to forecast sales and expenses. And the forecasts need to be accurate. In this lesson, we'll cover forecasting as it's done in business analysis. You'll learn about the two types of forecasting: qualitative and quantitative.

In today's lesson, you'll discover modeling, which is the application of mathematical constructs to decision making. We'll explore simple, intermediate, and complex types of models and discuss the two approaches to model development: reductionist and holistic.

Today is about how models are developed within a business organization. We'll talk about what needs to be done and who needs to do it in order to make the modeling effort a success. We'll explore the respective roles of the analyst (modeler) and the client for whom the model is being developed.

The most widely used type of business analysis is financial analysis. This probably doesn't surprise you too much since the point of any business is to make a profit. Today, we'll look at financial analysis and how it differs from accounting. We'll discuss cost estimating, and various types of business costs. You'll get familiar with the concepts of break-even analysis and benefit/cost analysis, both of which play a vital role in business analysis.

The techniques of PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) and CPM (Critical Path Method) have proven to be extremely valuable to project managers. In today's lesson, I'll explain the basics of PERT/CPM and how to utilize these techniques in your work. You'll meet a simple technique called a Gantt chart, which works quite well for planning a simple project with a relatively small number of tasks.

Risk is a part of any business situation, which makes it something you need to consider when you do business analysis. Simulation is an excellent method of performing risk analysis. So today we'll cover step-by-step procedures for creating and using a simulation model.

In this, our final lesson, we'll look at computer-based information systems. This includes such areas as Decision Support Systems, Optimization Analysis, and Knowledge-Based Systems. You'll learn what each of these areas constitutes, and I'll show you many business applications of each.

Matt Crabtree

Matt Crabtree earned his Bachelor of Science in Business, Information Systems Management, in 1999 and a mini MBA certificate from The School of Management in 2004. After many years in project management, office management, and business sales, Matt... Read more

Read Matt Crabtree's Profile

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you've made the payment, we'll send you a confirmation email with a link to start your course. Feel free to get started whenever you're ready!

You'll have 3 months access to your course. In that time you are free to study at your own pace. The course duration is 24 hours.

Online learning is a flexible way to study that fits around your schedule, giving you the freedom to learn at your own pace from anywhere in the world. You'll have 3 months to complete the course and can take the multiple-choice questions and final exam whenever it suits you.

If you need help, you can contact us anytime. You can also join the discussion area where you can interact with other students. The discussion area for each lesson is open for the entire duration of the course.

Of course! We offer a 7-day money back guarantee. As long as you haven't completed the course, you can get a full refund within 7 days of enrolling.

We do not offer extensions or transfers for this self-paced course. However, you will have 3 months to complete the course, and if you need to cancel within the first 10 days of enrolment, we offer a money back guarantee.

What people are saying about our courses

After taking this course, I have a much better idea of what people learn in an MBA program. I can make a better decision about whether I should apply for business school.

Verified Student

I found the course most informative and beneficial to me. I came away with answers to questions I have had for a long time with regard to Business Statistical and Modeling analysis.

Verified Student

I have enjoyed this class; very informative. The class gave me the opportunity to see another side of the business world and see all that analysts do to come up with solutions.

Verified Student

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The Learning Environment

From the moment that you enrol in the Business Analysis Fundamentals you will become an integral part of our learning community. You'll find yourself with the freedom to learn at a speed that suits you, on any device, from anywhere in the world. Achieving your career goals no longer has to mean compromising family and work commitments.

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Learn At Your Own Pace

We believe in personalised learning. That's why we provide all the tools and support you need to succeed at your own pace. With flexible learning, you'll stay motivated and retain more information. Plus, you can balance your studies with work and family commitments to make your dreams a reality.

We Won't Break The Bank

Education should be accessible to anyone who wants to learn. That's why we offer some of the most competitive prices in the industry with payments plans for just $25 per week. Investing in your future is a smart choice and doesn’t have to break the bank.

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There's no better way to learn than from experts with years of experience in your field. That's why each of our 200+ industry-led courses are designed to give you a real-life perspective on your industry. With our expert mentors, you'll learn from people who have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and who are passionate about sharing it with you.

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At Vibe Learning, we're real people who are dedicated to providing you with personal support every step of the way. Our industry experts are not only professional and knowledgeable but also incredibly passionate about sharing their expertise with you. With their guidance, you'll gain invaluable insights and practical knowledge to help you succeed.

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Business Analysis Fundamentals

$599

$389AUD

Save 35%

Crystal Reports 10 Fundamentals

Quick Facts

Delivery Method Online
Professional Certificate
24hrs Suggested Study Time
3 Months Access
Tutor Support
Study On Any Device
6056 Students

Make the points you want to make by converting raw database or accounting information into impressive and meaningful reports.

Discover the secret techniques pros use to produce handsome reports that clearly convey almost any type of information to any type of audience. This class will help you unleash the hidden power of Crystal Reports to present database or accounting information in a way that unmistakably communicates the points you want to make.

If you have information you need to intelligently communicate to others, but cannot do so because it lies buried in your database, accounting program, or other data source, you need Crystal Reports--and this course.

It doesn't matter whether you need to develop a quick-turnaround report that your boss needed yesterday or an elaborate financial report for your company's annual report. Crystal Reports can handle it all, and your instructor will show you how.

You'll discover how to extract the data you want your report to include, how to sort it into the order you want, how to group related information together, and how to include totals for groups of figures or for the entire report. All the while, you'll gain valuable firsthand experience with the process of creating, running, and publishing polished, professional quality reports.

NOTE: If you have Crystal Reports XI, 2008, or 2011, then you should enroll in ""Crystal Reports Fundamentals"" rather than this course. Please check the Requirements for further information.

Crystal Reports is the world's most popular software tool for creating reports based on data stored in databases. It's popular because of its power and flexibility, which will help you create reports that communicate the information you want to convey to the people you want to convey it to. In our first lesson, you'll learn why it's important to find out everything you need to know about the report you want to create before you even launch the Crystal Reports application. This advance planning gives you a much better chance of creating a report that achieves your objectives.

In this lesson, we'll hit the ground running and create a Crystal report from scratch. You'll learn how to connect to any of several different types of data sources, pull data from the data source, and place it into a report. Then you'll learn how easy Crystal Reports makes giving your report a professional appearance with a report header, page headers, page footers, and a report footer, in addition to column headings and the data itself. You'll also learn how to arrange all these items on a page for maximum visual impact.

Once you know how to pull data from a database and display it in a basic report, the next step is pulling data from multiple tables and displaying only the data you want, filtering out any irrelevant information. In this lesson, you'll learn how to perform all those functions, including building reports that allow the user to decide at runtime what to display. In effect, you can build one report that serves the purpose of multiple reports.

Displaying the information in a database is one thing—displaying it in a way that communicates effectively is another. One important way to enhance communication is to organize the data in a meaningful way. In today's lesson, you'll learn how to sort a report's data and how to group related data items together. You'll learn how to summarize numerical data with group totals and obtain an overall grand total. We'll also look into Crystal Reports' drilldown capability, which allows your report readers to use a simple mouse click to access suppressed details of a specific data group.

In this lesson, you'll dive into the details of the various report sections. We'll look at the Section Expert, which is your major tool for selecting options that control the appearance and the function of the various sections of a report. We'll also explore how to create a multicolumn report, most commonly used for printing mailing labels.

Today, you'll get hands-on experience formatting a report. We'll practice using absolute formatting, a feature that can dynamically adjust the appearance of your report based on the data it contains. We'll look at a number of formatting options that Crystal Reports offers to help you give your report just the look you want. By including Report Alerts in a report, for instance, you can guarantee that the person viewing the report will see and acknowledge anything that you consider to be of high importance. A report template is a great way to achieve a consistent appearance across a family of reports. We'll practice using both these options and more in this lesson.

Crystal Reports can do more than just display the data you select from your data source. It can also show correlations between related categories of data items using the Cross-Tab Object. You can show such correlations across the entire data set or within a selected group of data items. As usual, Crystal Reports provides considerable flexibility in how it presents the cross-tab data to users. In this lesson, you'll learn what the options are and how to use them.

You'll often need to create a report based on some, but not all, of the data in a database. For example, a sales manager may want to look only at the purchase records of her top five customers. Alternatively, she may want to view the performance of her bottom 10 salespeople. Crystal Reports makes it easy to produce such reports, as well as others that are selective about what they display. In this lesson, you'll create such targeted reports that make it easy for managers to make informed decisions.

You can make your reports dynamic, sensitive to what's happening at runtime, by using Crystal Reports formulas and control structures, and you'll find out how in this lesson. With formulas, you can operate on data and put the result into your report. You can save time and effort by including one or more of the predefined functions in your formulas. You can even create your own custom functions, save them, and use them both now and in the future. These facilities give you the flexibility to produce a sophisticated custom report written from scratch with a programming language such as Visual Basic or C#, but with much less time and effort.

Crystal Reports gives you the ability to embed one report inside another. The two reports can be related in some way, or they could be totally unrelated. As long as you have a reason for displaying both reports at once, you can do it, and you'll find out how in today's lesson. An alternative to embedding a subreport within a main report is embedding a hyperlink to the subreport, so we'll practice embedding subreports in this lesson, too.

In this lesson, we'll explore Crystal Reports' wide offering of charts and maps that can add visual dimension to the display of information in a report. For the visual learners in your target audience, charts and maps may be far better than columns of numbers at getting your point across. Today, you'll learn how to choose a chart type that best conveys the information you want to emphasize. You'll find out how to use color, font, scale, legends, and titles to help you highlight trends in the data or data points that fall outside the expected range.

After you've created a report, you need to distribute it. Crystal Reports gives you several convenient distribution options, and we'll explore them all in our final lesson. We'll talk about print and fax options, as well as exporting a report to any of a number of popular file formats, and transmitting it to the people who should read it. You'll learn how to post the report on your organization's intranet or the World Wide Web, then we'll discuss distributing reports via Crystal Enterprise's Crystal Reports Viewer.

Allen Taylor

Allen G. Taylor is a 30-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of 28 computer-related books, including "Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies," "Database Development For Dummies" and "SQL For Dummies." He has been teaching computer course... Read more

Read Allen Taylor's Profile

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you've made the payment, we'll send you a confirmation email with a link to start your course. Feel free to get started whenever you're ready!

You'll have 3 months access to your course. In that time you are free to study at your own pace. The course duration is 24 hours.

Of course! We offer a 7-day money back guarantee. As long as you haven't completed the course, you can get a full refund within 7 days of enrolling.

What people are saying about our courses

I found the course to be extremely helpful. The material associated with the course will also serve as an excellent reference as I practice and become more efficient with Crystal Reports.

Verified Student

I really enjoyed this class. I like the instructor's comments about real life business cases. He made me a better report writer.

Verified Student

See More Reviews

The Learning Environment

From the moment that you enrol in the Crystal Reports 10 Fundamentals you will become an integral part of our learning community. You'll find yourself with the freedom to learn at a speed that suits you, on any device, from anywhere in the world. Achieving your career goals no longer has to mean compromising family and work commitments.