SQL and data analysis for business roles

Objectives

• Write an SQL query with filters, joins and aggregations that answers a given business question, and check its result against a known case.
• Load, clean and aggregate a dataset with pandas (missing values, duplicates, date formats, merging sources).
• Check the quality of a dataset and document the anomalies found in a one-page report.
• Compute and interpret descriptive statistics (mean, median, standard deviation, correlation) while avoiding the usual pitfalls.
• Build a three-indicator dashboard in Power BI, connected to the source, and share it with their department.

Audience

Business analysts, management controllers, research officers, reporting managers, accountants and managers who want to move beyond the spreadsheet; future participants of DATA-201.

Prerequisites

Comfortable with a spreadsheet up to pivot tables and lookup formulas. No programming. One laptop per participant; a training database and an online notebook environment provided by Yolea, with nothing to install; Power BI Desktop installed before the first day (a Windows machine is required for this workshop, an online alternative is offered otherwise); for remote delivery, a stable connection of at least 5 Mbit/s, microphone and camera. A real export from the participant is accepted if it is anonymised.

Programme

• Querying a database
• Data preparation in Python
• Quality control
• Descriptive statistics
• Building dashboards

Format

In-company or open enrolment. 14 hours, 2 consecutive days of 7 hours; remotely, 4 sessions of 3 hours 30 minutes over two weeks. On site, live remote or hybrid; 8 to 12 participants. 30% input, 70% guided workshops, built around one running dataset (multi-site sales with stock discrepancies) followed from the raw query to the dashboard.

Assessment

Beforehand, a placement questionnaire. During the course, check quizzes and a practical challenge (answer five business questions on an imposed dataset; queries and dashboard assessed against a grid). At the end, a same-day feedback survey and a named certificate of course completion. Three weeks later, a follow-up check-in.