Page 1 of 16 Office of the Dean C120 John Pappajohn Business Building Iowa City, IA 52242-1000 319-335-0862 Fax 319-335-0860 www.tippie.uiowa.edu April 2, 2014 Dean John Keller Graduate College University of Iowa Gilmore Hall RE: Graduate Certificate in Business Analytics Dear John, This letter accompanies a proposal from the Management Sciences Department in the Tippie College of Business for a new Graduate Certificate in Business Analytics. The proposal has my strong endorsement. The Business Analytics Certificate is designed for working professionals and will be offered for 15 credit hours of graduate study. The certificate program addresses a growing need to manage and analyze the rapidly increasing amount of data that is available to support business decision making. The proposed program makes excellent use of existing resources in the Tippie College. The program will be administered by, and offered at the same sites (initially Cedar Rapids) as, our large part-time evening MBA-PM program. The Management Sciences Department has a great deal of faculty expertise in the analytics area and is well equipped to design and teach the required courses. Some of the introductory courses in the proposed program already exist as MBA-PM courses, and we anticipate that some MBA- PM students with strong technical backgrounds may add the Business Analytics Certificate to their program of study. The certificate program is designed to be financially self-supporting and will require no additional General Education Funds. The Tippie College strongly supports the proposed Graduate Certificate in Business Analytics and looks forward to approval from the Graduate College. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Sincerely, Sarah Fisher Gardial Dean
Page 2 of 16 University of Iowa Graduate Certificate in Business Analytics Department of Management Sciences Henry B. Tippie College of Business Program College: Graduate College Curricular College: Henry B. Tippie College of Business Academic Unit: Business Administration (Management Sciences) Degree Objective (with and/or without thesis): N/A Program: Certificate in Business Analytics Subprogram: N/A Offers a Certificate Program: Is a certificate program Available to: Both degree seeking and non degree graduate students Advisor: Nick Street Effective Session: Fall 2014 Declarable in ISIS: No CIP Code: 52.1399 I. Purpose of the Program The Department of Management Sciences strives to be a leader in educating the next generation of business professionals, and we see growing opportunities to teach business analytics to all types of students. We already have substantial efforts at the undergraduate, full time MBA, and Ph.D. levels. However, beyond a few courses in the MBA PM program, we do not currently serve working professionals and their companies in the State of Iowa. Herein we propose a comprehensive, academically rigorous new certificate program to meet the growing demand of this untapped market. II. Present Need for the Program Over the past few years, there has been a growing recognition that analytics broadly defined as the scientific process of transforming data into insight for making better decisions plays an increasingly critical role in business. Of particular note are the vast troves of data that businesses now find easily accessible. Companies must be able to access and analyze this data intelligently. As the recognition of analytics has grown, so has the demand for analytics education. Although programs have existed since the 1970s under different names, recently numerous programs of all types throughout the United States are appearing under the unified name analytics. Programs are appearing in Europe and Asia as well. In addition, the Certified
Page 3 of 16 Analytics Professional credential is now an option for analytics professionals. Closer to home, several Big 10 schools have opened analytics programs, but no school currently serves the State of Iowa. The Department of Management Sciences has also experienced the growing demand for analytics first hand. For example, our Strategic Innovation Academy in the full time MBA program continues to grow and strengthen, and our retooled Business Analytics and Information Systems undergraduate major has seen a 60% growth in the number of majors since Spring 2013. We, the Management Sciences faculty, also see strong growth in our own professional and research organizations, and each of us can point to many anecdotal examples of the growth in analytics. It is also impossible to miss the increased media attention on analytics. In short, the program is needed to meet the growing demand for analytics in Iowa. We also want to diversify the Department and College s efforts, while generating revenue with manageable risk and increasing the job satisfaction of our faculty. We believe the proposed program does exactly these things. III. Description of the Program Academics We list and describe here the primary academic characteristics of the proposed program. Additional curriculum details are provided in Appendix A. Target market Secondary market Mode and format Location Admission criteria Working professionals and their companies. In particular, we wish to target companies with strong tuition reimbursement programs. More generally, we will welcome any student who applies and is admitted to the program. We may also be able to capture on campus MBA students, executives interested in single courses, or on campus full or part time graduate students. Face to face, 12 week classes, primarily in the evening. We will mimic the operation of the MBA PM program. Each class lasts for 3.33 hours and meets once per week, totaling 40 contact hours per course. The MBA PM format may also allow for some 4 week, 1 week, or weekend classes, in all cases guaranteeing 40 contact hours per course. Online options may be offered but are not anticipated to be a major part of the program in order to maintain the highest quality. Initially, the courses will be taught at our Cedar Rapids location. Most classes will be held in the Cedar Rapids Center, but some may be held in Iowa City. We believe that Cedar Rapids will serve a sizable portion of Eastern Iowa, including Iowa City, Waterloo, and Dubuque. If the program is successful in Cedar Rapids, we may later expand to Des Moines and/or the Quad Cities. We will examine the nature of the applicant s undergraduate degree, undergraduate GPA, and current job as well as his or her performance on either the GRE or GMAT. A minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA will be required for admission.
Page 4 of 16 Goodstanding criteria Flexibility Hours required Program length Desired program size Start date Fall 2014 We will adopt the requirements of the Graduate College. Students can take classes on their own schedule; see also Program length. 15 semester hours (5 classes). Our hope is to schedule course offerings so that a student can finish the certificate in one year. A more compressed schedule would have, say, 2 courses in the fall semester and 3 in the spring. A more spread out schedule could include an interim session or a summer course. Approximately 50 active students at any given time. Market Analysis The number of masters or certificate programs in analytics has been growing steadily since around 2007, and the trend appears to be continuing at a steady pace. Analytics programs are offered in a variety of flavors, e.g., full time versus online, engineering versus business, masters versus certificate versus MBA concentration. In this sense, the competitive landscape is quite diverse and fractured. The table below presents the results of our research into existing analytics programs. Notably, our proposed program currently has no competitors within Iowa. In addition, our evening style program serving working professionals would clearly distinguish it from nearly all others in the Big 10 and in the Midwest. University Currently no direct competitors. CS, SLIS, and Informatics have aligned goals, and the Provost is implementing Informatics cluster hires. Prof. Kusiak of the Department of Industrial Engineering has mentioned informally that his group is also considering starting a masters program. However, no current program serves working professionals and their companies in an off campus, evening format. Also, our focus on business analytics entails a specific approach targeting the core business disciplines of business (operations, IT, finance, marketing, accounting, human resources, etc.). State of Iowa Currently no competitors, but the business school at Iowa State has announced that they are building towards an analytics Masters program. In addition, Loras College is beginning a Masters program next year.
Page 5 of 16 Big 10 and the Midwest United States International The following universities have Analytics masters or certificate programs: Cincinnati (FT/PT masters in business analytics, also certificate) Illinois (FT masters in statistics, analytics concentration) Indiana (FT MBA, analytics concentration, also PT certificate) Michigan Dearborn (FT masters in business analytics) Michigan State (FT masters in analytics with engineering) Minnesota Continuing Ed. (certificate in analytics) Minnesota (FT masters in business analytics) Northwestern (FT masters in analytics, engineering) Penn State (FT masters in social data analytics, interdisciplinary) Purdue (FT MBA, analytics concentration) Wisconsin Milwaukee (online certificate in business analytics) The following do NOT have Analytics masters programs: Nebraska Ohio State (despite IBM Analytics Center) Wisconsin Madison There are well over 50 masters and/or certificate programs nationwide. We mention some of note: Arizona (FT masters in MIS, analytics concentration) North Carolina State (a leader since 2007) NYU (executive style program in the Stern School) Rutgers (FT MBA, analytics concentration) Tennessee (FT masters in business analytics) Texas at Austin (FT masters in business analytics) Texas A&M (FT masters in analytics, business and statistics) Also, North Carolina, a peer school, does not currently have a program. We are aware of a handful of programs in Europe and Asia. In addition to analytics programs, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) has recently begun to administer the Certified Analytics Professional credential in 2012. This attests to the need for professional recognition and certification in analytics. Although there is clear growth in analytics programs and analytics generally, we do not yet have a tangible way to gauge the potential enrollment for our proposed program. As of late October 2013, we are in contact with the Iowa Workforce Development Agency to assess potential employer demand for such a program via survey data the Workforce Development Agency collects. This work is still on going, and we will amend this proposal with new information if it becomes available. We have also obtained some human resources contacts at several companies in eastern Iowa and will contact them to assess demand when necessary. We also mention some example enrollments of full time master s programs that we have encountered. According to an article in the Washington Post 1, George Washington University 1 Overly, S. (2013, September 15). As demand for big data analysts grows, schools rush to graduate students with necessary skills. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com.
Page 6 of 16 saw an initial enrollment of 18 for their recently started masters in business analytics, and similarly, the University of Maryland saw an initial enrollment of 38. Northwestern University s master s program has had about 30 students in each of its first two years. The University of Cincinnati, since rebranding their existing quantitative masters program under the name analytics, has seen their applications and enrollments explode in the last couple of years 2 : Year Applications Enrollment 2010 58 27 2011 63 42 2012 65 42 2013 138 69 Administration and Operation We propose that the program be jointly administered and operated by the Department of Management Sciences (MS) and the School of Management (SOM). MS will make admission decisions, develop the curriculum, provide student advising, and generally lead the academic aspects of the program. This will require a faculty coordinator, which could be made the job of the current Director of Graduate Studies (as was done in the 1990s with the Information Systems Masters) or which could be a new, compensated position. We propose that the faculty coordinator be made its own, new position, and Prof. Samuel Burer, for example, is willing to take on this role. The faculty coordinator would also be assisted by a committee appointed by the DEO. SOM will provide logistical support of the program, including handling applications and enrollments, answering students day to day questions, providing support at the classroom sites, and marketing the program. We estimate that this will require the equivalent of a half time staff member within SOM. We also propose that faculty will teach in the program on load. We feel this is best way to ensure faculty interest in the program, which would in turn help the program succeed. We hope to use mainly tenure track faculty with some opportunities for lecturers, and we will try to limit the role of adjunct faculty. Since the program s students will be working professionals, we do not anticipate a large need for providing career and placement services. However, we propose a limited opening of the MBA PM program s career services 3 to alumni of our program. At this stage, we do not have a fully developed marketing and recruiting plan for the program, but we have spoken to Philip Jordan in the College who would help us with the program roll out. He seems quite positive about the prospects of selling the program to students and companies. College of Business Resource Requirements 2 This data was supplied by Prof. David Kelton of the University of Cincinnati. 3 http://tippie.uiowa.edu/mbapm/prospective/careers.cfm
Page 7 of 16 The program is designed to be self sustaining within the College of Business, and we estimate a break even enrollment of approximately 22 students. Revenues include tuition payments and costs include faculty, staff to support the program s operation, extra compensation to pay an academic coordinator, facility costs to use the Cedar Rapids Center, and money for marketing and recruiting. Since the program will require 5 additional courses each academic year and since fulltime tenure track faculty teach 3 courses per year, this means that the Department of Management Sciences would require approximately 2 new faculty to support the new program fully at steady state. This number could be reduced by utilizing lecturers and sharing courses with the MBA PM program. IV. Relationship to CIC Developed Program Resources Not applicable. V. Comparison with Standards by an Accrediting Association There are currently no accreditation efforts specifically focused on graduate business analytics programs. However, this program will be housed within the Henry B. Tippie College of Business, which is accredited by the AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). VI. Implications for Undergraduate Work As this program will only be open to graduate students, the program will have no implications for undergraduate work at the University. VII. External Letters Three external letters are attached in Appendix B. VIII. List of Faculty The following faculty in the Department of Management Sciences (both full time and lecturer) will be available to teach in the proposed program: Kurt Anstreicher Yvonne Galusha Gautam Pant Samuel Burer Philip Jones Padmini Srinivasan Ann Campbell Johannes Ledolter Nick Street Michael Colbert Qihang Lin Barrett Thomas Renato de Matta Timothy Lowe Kang Zhao Kevin Felker Jeffrey Ohlmann
Page 8 of 16 A letter of support from Prof. Nick Street, DEO of the Department of Management Sciences, is attached in Appendix C. IX. Statement of Additional Needed Budget Support No additional budget resources are required. The program is designed to be self sustaining. In particular, the paid faculty coordinator and staff positions mentioned in Section III will be funded using revenue generated by the program. X. Assessment of Future Needs, Commitments, and Opportunities If this certificate program proves successful, then the Department of Management Sciences will consider expanding the program into a full Masters program in which the Certificate would remain a built in option. We may also wish to expand the program (Certificate and/or Masters) to the Des Moines and Quad Cities areas. A larger program would require more resources but also provide more opportunities to generate revenue and serve the State of Iowa.
Page 9 of 16 Appendix A: Curriculum Details Required Courses for the Certificate (15 semester hours) Certificate learning objectives are to introduce students to: (1) the various types of analytics; (2) data storage, access, and management; and (3) the analysis of big data. Course Existing? Description Business Analytics Yes, 6N:216 (MBA:8150) Descriptive and predictive analytics Advanced Analytics Yes, 6K:217 (MSCI:9110) Predictive and prescriptive analytics Modeling with VBA and R Yes, 6K:227 (MSCI:9210) Business programming, VBA in Excel, R Database Systems Yes, 6K:230 (MSCI:9230) Database design, SQL Data Science No, to be developed Data mining, visualization Business Analytics (6N:216)(MBA:8150). This course introduces techniques of quantitative modeling, statistical analysis, and structured decision making that are useful for professionals and managers. A unifying element of the course is the use of Microsoft Excel to perform various kinds of analysis in a spreadsheet environment. The major topics of the course are: displaying and analyzing data in Excel; systematic decision analysis in the face of uncertainty; understanding and describing randomness in the business world; gathering data using sampling; inferring sound conclusions from sample data; establishing relationships between two or more sets of data using regression; determining best decisions using optimization models; simulating uncertain business environments. Advanced Analytics (6K:217)(MSCI:9110). This course is a continuation of Business Analytics (6N:216) by providing a more in depth treatment of quantitative techniques that are useful for management decision making. The main topics of the course are optimization methods, advanced regression techniques, forecasting, and time series methods. As in Business Analytics, the emphasis of the course is on the practical application of analytical techniques to problems from different functional areas of business. Example applications include marketing research, supply chain procurement, and financial portfolio selection. Modeling with VBA and R (similar to 6K:227)(MSCI:9210). The primary objective is to introduce the principles and practices of programming with Excel VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and with R, a modern open source option for analytics computing. You will also acquire basic programming skills that can be applied to software development in any programming language. Upon completion of this course, you should be comfortable with the following concepts: variables and data types; control structures; functions and subroutines; arrays and other simple data structures; object oriented programming; modeling in Excel; data access in R.
Page 10 of 16 Database Systems (similar to 6K:230)(MSCI:9230). Large amounts of data are typically stored and retrieved using modern database management systems (DBMS). In this class we learn the core concepts needed to effectively manage data using the DBMS technology. These concepts include the representation of a business problem/context as a data model as well as the implementation of the data model as a database that fuels an ecosystem of apps. We will learn to leverage SQL to create web apps. Some of these apps dynamically visualize the current data as web based charts or overlay it on top of regional and national maps. Our objective will be to cover the following main topics: 1. Context of Database Management (history, purpose, process); 2. Database Analysis; 3. Database Design (Logical design, Normalization); 4. Database Implementation and Use (SQL); 5. Database Applications (Web applications using databases); 6. Data Warehousing. Data Science. Highlighting both underlying concepts and practical computational skills, the course covers data mining tools such as penalty based variable selection (LASSO); logistic regression; regression and classification trees; clustering methods; principal components and partial least squares; and the analysis of text and network data. The course describes the theory behind the most useful data mining tools and provides training on how to use these tools in real world situations. The course utilizes the open source software R for the analysis, exploration, and simplification of large high dimensional data sets. As a result, students are provided with the needed guidance to model and interpret complicated data and they become adept at building powerful models for prediction and classification.
Page 11 of 16 Appendix B: External Letters External letters of support are provided by: Jason G. Cooper Vice President of Business Analytics Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield Chad M. Furlong Chief Information Officer and Associate Vice President University of Iowa Foundation Alexander Tuzhilin Professor of Information Systems Stern School of Business New York University
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Page 14 of 16 (Tuzhilin external letter) [Graduate College note: Letter forthcoming. Will be provided at the 4/10/14 meeting]
Page 15 of 16 Appendix C: DEO Letter Department of Management Sciences S210 John Pappajohn Business Building Iowa City, IA 52242-1000 319-335-0858 FAX 319-335-0297 www.biz.uiowa.edu/mansci April 2, 2014 To: Sarah Gardial, Dean, Tippie College of Business From: Nick Street, DEO, Management Sciences Department Re: Proposal for graduate certificate in Business Analytics Dear Sarah, I am writing on behalf of the Management Sciences Department to express our strong support for the proposed graduate certificate in Business Analytics. As you know, the field of analytics has taken an increasingly central role in business decision making over the past few years. As large amounts of data become easier and easier to gather and store, the task of analyzing these data to gain insight and make appropriate decisions goes from a luxury to a requirement. The demand for people who are trained in all aspects of data science has seen a dramatic increase in recent years, and business schools are particularly wellpositioned to contribute to such training. In particular, the Management Sciences Department has a strong combination of faculty who specialize in fields such as statistics, data & web mining, and mathematical optimization, all of which are key analytics areas. Recognizing this, we have focused the attention of the department on analytics teaching and research over the past few years, beginning a new undergraduate track in Business Analytics this year. The addition of this new track has been largely responsible for a 60% increase in the number of undergraduate majors in our department, and has created a great deal of excitement around our program. Currently this is one of the very few (around 20) such programs in the country. While graduate certificates and degrees are much more common, there are none in the state of Iowa (although Loras College will be launching a Master s program next year), so it seems a natural extension of our focus to move in this direction. Our program will target working professionals, and will be modeled on the MBA-PM program. This choice is the result of strong anecdotal evidence indicating the demand for a transitional program for professionals with other backgrounds. We will initially offer the program in Cedar Rapids, as we believe the Iowa City / Cedar Rapids corridor will provide a strong demand base for our program to grow. During the planning, we have heard several requests from highranking corporate leaders to offer the program in Des Moines and the Quad Cities, which we will consider as faculty resources allow.
Page 16 of 16 For now, the department has sufficient resources to staff and administer the proposed program in a single location, with the help of the MBA-PM office. We will designate a faculty coordinator for the program, and will staff five courses in the first year at the Cedar Rapids center. This will allow new students to complete the certificate in one year, assuming two courses per semester and one in the summer. The department will review applications and monitor student progress, while the MBA-PM office will help with course scheduling and other administrative requirements. We will also be leveraging MBA resources for marketing and publicity. In summary, the proposed graduate certificate is an excellent opportunity for us to expand both our educational breadth and our statewide outreach. The department and its faculty are in full support of this initiative and will provide the resources necessary to make it successful. Sincerely, W. Nick Street Professor and DEO