Course Title: Learning Data Analytics: 1 Foundations

Description: Are you interested in pursuing a career in data analytics? In this

course, instructor Robin Hunt brings you into the mind of an analyst. She defines
and explains foundational concepts, such as how to think about data, how to work
with others in different roles to get the data you need, and the tools you need to
work with data, such as Excel and Microsoft Access. She introduces you to SQL
queries, PowerBI, and more. Robin goes into syntax and explains how to interpret
the data you see, find the data you need, and clean the data for effective data
work. She explains data governance and how to ask the right questions of different
departments to gather the data you need. Robin shows how to work with data,
including how to import data, work with flat files such as CSVs, and create
datasets for others. Robin goes into what cleaning and modeling mean, as well as
how to use Power Query in Excel. She has also added challenge/solution sets in each
chapter to help you evaluate your skills.

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Chapter: 1. Getting Started with Data Analysis
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Video: Defining data analysis and data analyst
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0:02:45 Data Analyst: someone who will study or determine the nature and
relationships of factual information used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or
calculation by always doing a detailed examination of information in digital form
in order to understand its nature or to determine its essential features.

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Video: Discovering if you are an analyst
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0:01:11 Data Workers: Workers who collect, store, manage, and analyze
data as their primary activity, or as a result part of their activity.

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Video: Organizational roles in data
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0:00:51 Four Key Areas of an Organization: Research, Governance,

Technology and Data

0:02:40 Research defines the questions to be answered. Governance

ensures that ownership and accountability of data is clearly defined. Technology
includes server infrastructure, security, and access. Data can be found at every
level of an organization.

0:02:46 Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Data Analysts.

0:03:03 Data Helps Improve: Product, Service, Bottom Line, Worldwide

Problems
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Video: Understanding types of data job roles
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0:01:49 Data Architect: Tasked with procedures around data storage,

consumption, management, and integration with systems.

0:02:58 Data Engineer: Tasked with dealing with data and making it
meaningful for others to consume

0:04:16 Data Analyst: Tasked with processing, visualizing, and reporting

from data to improve the business

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Video: Discovering skills of the data analyst
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0:04:53 Skills of a Data Analyst: - Understanding the basic question -

Finding and gathering data to answer the question - Understanding the quality of
the data - Determining what data is important - Creating valid data through
calculations - Presenting the information clearly

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Chapter: 2. Fundamentals of Data Understanding
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Video: Learning to identify data
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0:01:00 Example: Looking at Pen....Consider the color, category, ink

type, manufacturing, packaging, branding. Think about the data you see, as well as
the data you don't see or can't see yet.

0:04:43 Question to ask: Use your data lens and think about....have you
thought through the data you can't see?

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Video: Learning about data fields and types
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0:00:10 Data Point contains: - Field Name - Data Type - Value

0:01:30 Basic types of data: Text, Numbers and Dates

0:05:41 Excel is formatting what it it believes is a serial number to

display a date.

0:06:43 Common Data Types: - Text or string - Date and time - Number -
Boolean (i.e. True or False; Yes or No; 1 or 0)

0:06:54 Different technologies have different types of data types.

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Video: Dealing with the data you don't have
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0:00:27 Source Systems: HR Systems, Accounting Information, Sales Data

0:00:54 Not all data we need is available in a single place.

0:02:31 IF Function: A logical test that determines what happens if a

condition is true or false

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Video: Learning syntax
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0:00:16 Syntax: The underlying language of a program used to execute

commands

0:03:10 Tips for Searching: - Use real people terms to find the answer
to common questions - Remember that syntax is application specific - Search for
similar commands in other languages

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Video: Learning basic SQL statements
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0:01:21 SQL = Structured Query Language

0:03:33 WHERE Statement: A statement that filters data

0:04:05 ORDER BY Statement: A statement that sorts the data

0:06:20 SELECT SalesOrderID, OrderDate, DueDate, ShipDate,

SalesOrderNumber, CustomerID, SubTotal, TaxAmt, Freight, TotalDue
FROM SalesOrderHeader
WHERE TotalDue > 5000
ORDER BY CustomerID, OrderDate
SELECT *
FROM SalesOrderHeader
ORDER BY CustomerID, OrderDate

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Video: Solution: Reading SQL
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0:01:09 Reading SQL will be a great asset at any level.

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Chapter: 3. Key Elements to Understand when Starting Data Analysis
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Video: Learning to interpret existing data
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0:00:26 The way we may see data displayed is not how the data is stored.

0:02:30 What are the data points that are collected together? What are
the data points in the report?

0:02:34 Determine if those data points together are following any

specific rules.

0:03:25 1) Analyze reporting 2) Determine the categories, data points,

and rules 3) Determine data shopping list

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Video: Finding existing data
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0:03:07 Be understanding when starting to ask for permissions. Always

follow company rules.

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Video: Cleaning data
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0:00:27 Data Cleaning: The process of standardizing data and making it

meaningful.

0:01:46 It might include: - remove unnecessary columns - remove extra

spaces using TRIM or CLEAN commands - change case - break apart addresses - remove
invalid records or rows - remove duplicated data

0:01:55 The key goal is to create a high-quality data set that is

usable.

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Video: Understanding data and workflow
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0:00:52 Questions to ask: Is there a policy around this process? Do you

have any procedural documentation? Do you happen to have a workflow?

0:01:03 Diagrams help figure out where data is captured.

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Video: Understanding joins
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0:00:33 Joining data from multiple sources....EXCEL: VLOOKUP; Database:

Queries

0:01:45 Cross Join: Joins every record in one table with every record in
another table

0:01:54 Inner Join: Joins records in tables that match with fields in
other tables

0:02:47 Left and Right Outer Joins: Will return every record from one
table and the matching records from the other table

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Video: Working with joins and validation
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0:02:37 By default, when you join two tables, they're going to produce
an inner join type.

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Chapter: 4. Getting Started with a Data Project
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Video: Getting started with data projects
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0:02:58 Best Practices for Data Analysts: 1) Don't make up an answer 2)

Don't publish or write something until you verify the results 3) Be prepared for
meetings and use your time effectively. 4) Take notes of everything that is in
relationship to your objective. 5) Provide detailed information about what you're
presenting 6) Don't put data on screen before diving it. 7) Use a slide deck to
keep pace. 8) Reiterate key points 9) Ask others about their best practice

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Video: Discovering common beginner mistakes
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0:04:09 Common Mistakes for New Analysts: 1) Not spending enough time up
front to understand the data (examine the Field Headings, Data Types and Values) 2)
Not looking for duplicated data in the set 3) Not doing preliminary math like sums,
averages, and counts. 4) Not capturing record counts 5) Not documenting questions
and follow-up answers. 6) Not verifying the numbers with some other method (bear in
mind that Logical errors do not produce an error message) 7) Not asking questions
out of fear. 8) Not asking for documentation 9) Not analyzing existing or canned
reports
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Video: Learning database datasets
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0:05:44 Steps for a New Database: 1) Look at table names 2) Look at a

sample of the data 3) Look at relationships 4) Look at queries (You can work back
to front with these steps)

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Video: Maintaining original data
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0:00:32 1) Ability to restart without starting over 2) Audit trail

0:06:33 Create a folder structure that makes sense for you and your
colleagues.

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Video: Understanding truths
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0:02:57 There are three truths: 1) Statistics Truth (statistical

significance of your results) 2) Data Truth (what the available data shows the
analyst. In data, timing is everything) 3) Business Truth (a measure of the
production of an organization)

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Chapter: 5. Data Importing, Exporting, and Connections
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Video: Learning about data governance
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0:01:13 Data Governance: A plan that ensures data sets are

understandable, correct, secure, and high quality.

0:04:22 1) Determine ownership of the data 2) Keep notes of where data

is coming from and access procedures (Critical Reporting = Greater Access) 3)
Request access to only the data you need

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Video: Understanding source data
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0:00:49 Source Data: Data that comes from an original and unmanipulated
source
0:01:25 Work with different sources of data and connect them for
analysis, reporting, or visualization.

0:03:58 - Detect and report errors - Work with system upgrades - Provide
path to determine data issues

0:03:58 Considerations: - Keep notes of where your source data comes

from and how you received it - The same data can be in multiple locations

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Video: Working with flat files
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0:00:16 Flat Files: Files that are disconnected from a data source

0:01:31 Types of Flat Files: - Comma-separated value (CSV) - Tab

delimited - Fixed width

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Video: Working with connections
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0:02:00 Power BI is a good program

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Video: Creating datasets for others
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0:05:38 Best Practices: 1) There's no such thing as too much information

and documentation (Document the Source and Data Cleaning or Changes) 2) Create a
working field list of the data with a README tab in a data set 3) Consider who has
access to the data and disconnect, if necessary 4) Spent time making your file as
easy as possible for others to use

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Chapter: 6. Getting Started with Data Cleaning and Modeling
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Video: Understanding ETL in data
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0:00:41 Focus on learning how to get your data to a point that's

readable and meaningful.

0:00:51 ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) - The process of getting data

from a source, making it meaningful, and placing it for others to use
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Chapter: 7. Applying Common Techniques for All Data Analysts
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Video: Finding and removing duplicates
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0:07:58 Automating removal of duplicates ensures data quality

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Video: Combining data with merge columns
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0:04:09 Keeping original columns is a preference or requirement,

depending on your organization.

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Chapter: Conclusion
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Video: More resources for your learning data analytics journey
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0:00:48 1) Expand understanding of relational databases and query

techniques. 2) Practice critical thinking and active listening.