BUA 455
  • This website provides permanent access to BUA 455 lecture slides, notes, and R code files, regardless of access to Blackboard.
  • Permanent Course Information
  • Lecture Material
  • Dashboard Project
  • Interesting Data
Professor Pooler (pspooler@syr.edu) - Office: WSOM Room 518
  • In-Person Hours: Vary by semester
  • Zoom Hours: Vary by semester
  • Also available by appointment on Zoom or in-person
Teaching Assistants: Zoom Hours and Available by Appt.
  • Vary by semester
NOTES
  • This website includes lecture slides, notes, and R projects from the most recently completed semester.
White Paper about Analytics Skillset
  • Starting on page 8 (10th document page), this paper provides specific language about different roles in data analytics.

  • This section may be helpful as you try to explain your skillset in interviews.

Required Software Links
  • R - Required all semester

  • RStudio - Required all semester

  • Quarto - Required after HW 1

  • Posit Cloud - Required after Quiz 2 but can be used sooner if needed.

    • Student Subscription required for project after Fall Break.

  • RPubs - Required after Quiz 2
Software Training
  • LinkedIn Learning - Free for Syracuse University Students, Staff, and Faculty

    • R for Data Science: Analysis and Visualization - This training is optional and provides a good introduction to R and RStudion whch are used in this course.

    • Python Essential Training - Python is not used in this course but it is helpful for Analytics and Data Science.


  • DataCamp - An excellent (but not free) online learning center for many software packages. Costs can be subsidized (see below).

  • Whitman WIRE Initiative - The WIRE initiative will subsidize costs of online software training the results in certification.

    • Contact their office to arrange a meeting and develop a plan.

  • SU Open Source Program Office (OSPO) - OSPO offers workshops in open source software such as R/RStudio, Python, Github and facilitates communication between open source software users on campus.

  • Week 1: R Projects, R Quarto Files, and R Syntax
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 1 Zipped R Project to Download
      • Unzip and save unzipped project folder to BUA 455 folder on your desktop.

  • Week 2: Introduction to dplyr commands and ggplot
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 2 Zipped R Project to Download
      • Unzip and save unzipped project folder to BUA 455 folder on your desktop.

  • Week 3: Reshaping and Summarizing Data
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 3 Zipped R Project to Download
      • Unzip and save unzipped project folder to BUA 455 folder on your desktop.

  • Week 4: Combining Skills and Quiz Review
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 4 Zipped R Project to Download

  • Week 5: Cheat Sheets, AI, Functions, and Review
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 5 Zipped R Project to Download

  • Week 6: Reshaping. Cleaning, and Joining Data
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 6 Zipped R Project to Download

  • Week 7: Time Series, Data Formats, Output Formats, Project Introduction
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 7 Zipped R Project to Download

  • Week 8: Dashboard Project Proposal & Data Cleaning
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 8 Zipped R Project to Download

  • Week 9: HW 5 - Part 1 - Quarto Dashboard and Data Management
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 9 Zipped R Project to Download

  • Weeks 10 and 11: - Introduction To Geographic Data and Quiz 2 Review
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Weeks 10 and 11 Zipped R Project to Download

  • Week 12: - More on Geographic Data, Project Management, and Publishing a Dashboard
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 12 Zipped R Project to Download

  • Week 13: - Editing a Quarto Dashboard, Project Memos, Etc.
    • Slides
    • Notes
    • Notes PDF
    • Week 13 Zipped R Project to Download
Full Project Description and Grading Criteria
Purpose(s):
  • This Data Dashboard group project (23% of course grade) serves two purposes in the BUA 455 curriculum:

    1. Students will better understand the whole data management process and how to make good choices at each step to make the work process more efficient and reproducible.

    2. Students will learn about the interactive components of a data management and visualization project, i.e., a dashboard, including how to communicate with technically knowledgeable colleagues and non-technical audiences.

Description of Project:
  • Students in Groups of 5 or 6 will develop a Data Dashboard.

  • In class, we will review how to use the Quarto Dashboard format to publish a multi-page dashboard.

  • Each group will aggregate, manage, and curate data for a hypothetical client to address their data questions and needs.

  • Each student in the group, except for one, will be responsible for one page of the dashboard.

  • One person in each group (who doesn’t have their own page) will oversee project as a whole and ensure that the dashboard is cohesive.

  • Each page can present a single plot, a set of plots, or a plot and a table, and should have explanatory text and citations for data sources if needed.

  • The final page of your dashboard will include all citations for software, software packages, AI sources, and data used to create your dashboard.

NOTES:
  • Many data sources provide data in a downloadable format such as Excel (.xlsx) or .csv. I recommend saving data as CSV UTF-8 files with a .csv postscript.

  • The list below is in alphabetical order and is not an exhaustive list.

  • Some data sources do not provide data in a downloadable format so the data values have to be scraped from the website.

Billboard
  • Scraping required
BEA - Bureau of Economic Analysis
BLS- Bureau of Labor Statistics
Box Office Mojo
  • Scraping required but it’s straightforward.
Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards
  • Great source for unusual datas
Data World
  • An ecclectic library of data that can be searched by topic of interest
Department of Energy - Prices & Trends
Eurostat
  • A wide variety of data about Europe can be accessed at this site.

  • Aanalogous to US.Gov for the United States.

Federal Reserve Data
Kaggle
  • An ecclectic library of data that can be searched by topic of interest
  • Kaggle also holds competitions where data scientists can win money and build a reputation
Our World in Data
  • Good source for geographic and demographic data
Sports Reference
  • Scraping required
  • Wide range of sports data
Statista
  • Syracuse University Libraries provides paid membership access
  • Use link above and then sign in with SU NetID and Password
  • Excellent resource for public and private sector data
U.S. Energy Information Administration
  • Excellent information on electricity usage by location or region.
Data.Gov - Data and Statistics about the U.S.
  • Includes MANY topics including BLS, DOE, and EIA above
Yahoo Finance
  • Stock data can be directly imported into R as an xts dataset