Tabor Graduate Certificates

Millikin is aware of the need for professionals to develop special skills that will give them the edge in their careers. Meant for any industry, our Graduate Certificates focus on specific business knowledge which allow students to invest fewer resources than obtaining a master's degree.

A graduate certificate can be earned by completing the four required courses in each program. Start times and completion times will vary in each program.

Analytics is a buzzword in business today. It has become a new label for evidence-based management. Data is everywhere and there is an urgent need to collect and preserve it; what we do with it is an important part of improving business, decision making, and providing an edge over competitors. Data Analytics is focused on why an event happened and what will happen in the future.

Data Analytics is the systemic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used to:

Discover patterns, relationships, or stories in data,
Interpret data sets or information to determine causation or correlation, and
Communicate data, patterns, information, or observations using data.

Millikin’s Data Analytics & Business Intelligence Graduate Certificate will prepare students to start processing data that organizations produce and turn it into usable information, using the latest statistical & modeling tools to serve stakeholders’ interests.

Who should enroll?

Suitable for any industry, this graduate certificate is for those who wish to learn how to use data to solve complex and sophisticated problems that will give your business a competitive advantage. It will prepare you to become a leader who:

Knows how to apply and use data strategically,
Designs tools that assist in making high-value, high-stake decisions, and
Effectively combines the power of instinct and experience with the science of data and analytics.

Program features:

Starts every June
6 months completion time
Evening, in-person classes
Classes meet once a week for 3.5 hours

MB535. Business Analytics

Business analytics is focused on taking insights derived from data and applying them “on the ground” by making data-driven business decisions, including collecting, managing, and analyzing datasets, forming inferences and predictions from data, and making optimal and robust decisions. Business analytics makes extensive use of statistical analysis, and the applications of business analytics span all functional areas. (3 credits)

MB536. Business Forecasting & Planning

Business forecasting is an estimate or prediction of future developments in business, such as sales, expenditures, and profits. Given the swings in economic activity and the drastic effects these fluctuations can have on profit margins, it is not surprising that business forecasting has emerged as one of the most important aspects of planning. Forecasting has become an invaluable tool for managers and business people to anticipate economic trends and plan accordingly. Good business forecasts can help business owners and managers plan and adapt to a changing economy. (3 credits)

MB537. Data Visualization for Business Application

Data visualization is the graphic representation of data. It involves stripping data down to its most important structures and then using the best techniques to convey the data for effective communication, decision-making, and persuasion. This course will develop a vocabulary and framework for discussing, critiquing, assessing, and designing visual displays of quantitative and qualitative data. This entails awareness of human perception and cognition, the use of best design practices in visualization of data, and storytelling with data. (3 credits)

MB538. Data Mining

Data mining is a process used to extract usable data, or patterns, from a larger set of data for business application using statistical analysis. This course provides students with an appreciation of the uses of data mining in solving business decision problems. Students will gain knowledge of theoretical backgrounds to several of the commonly used data mining techniques and will learn about the application of data mining, as well as acquiring practical skills in the use of data mining. (3 credits)

Application deadline:

June 1 of each year

How do I apply?

Application for Admission

Download the Data Analytics Flyer

Information Systems Data Management

This graduate certificate provides students a focus on the collection, organization, storage, analysis, and transformation of vast amounts of data. In data-driven organization, skills are needed in the areas of data modeling, querying, optimization, and administration for analysis of data that is growing at exponential rates. Students will not only understand the business value of data, but also the tools available to discover meaningful relationships amongst data. Students with this certificate will be able to interpret and articulate data requirements to technical staff, design a relational database and data warehouse as well as analyze large amounts of data in various forms and data models using a variety of software platforms. Students in the graduate certificate program will be leaders in performance learning client projects and will demonstrate their skills by building, testing, and implementing systems to design specifications.

Required courses

IS511. IT Infrastructure

This course provides an introduction to IT infrastructure issues for students
pursuing the graduate data management certificate. It covers topics related
to both computer and systems architecture and communication networks, with an overall focus on the services and capabilities that IT infrastructure solutions enable in an organizational context. It gives the students the knowledge and skills that they need for communicating effectively with professionals whose special focus is on hardware and systems software technology and for designing organizational processes and software solutions that require in-depth understanding of the IT infrastructure capabilities and limitations. It also prepares the students for organizational roles that require interaction with external vendors of IT infrastructure components and solutions. The course focuses strongly on Internet-based solutions, computer and network security, business continuity, and the role of infrastructure in regulatory compliance. Students in this course will design and build a virtualized server with multiple operating systems in addition to a network according to design specifications. (3 credits)

IS560. Database Application Development

Focus on the database approach to information resource management and application development. Skills developed include SQL, data modeling, transaction management, and administration. Emphasis in this course will be application of data modeling and usage of tools for application development provided by database management systems. Performance Learning initiatives include developing a full-featured database application for use by a client in the community. Pre-requisite: IS511 or consent of instructor. (3 credits)

IS570. Business Intelligence & Big Data

An in-depth study of various aspects of data collection, data extraction, and analysis of massive databases. Students will learn methods for extracting, transforming, and loading data from various sources into software used for data warehousing applications. Additional software tools and languages will be explored to develop executive dashboards and analytics. Pre-requisite: IS560 or consent of instructor. (3 credits)

Project Management

This graduate certificate provides students a focus on how to carefully plan an organized effort to accomplish a specific (and usually) one-time effort, for example: construction of a building, event planning, or implementing a new computer system. Project Management is a skill which must be developed and practiced to be successful. The objective of this certificate is to master the principles of scope definition, work-breakdown-structure development, assignment of logical activity relationships, resource and time constraint planning, construction of a budget and monitoring of planned versus actual progress using a variety of mathematical indices, within a defined timeframe and cost estimate. The concepts and techniques will be presented in the context of business operations and its efforts to perform continuous improvement.

Required courses

MG567. Process Improvement

The lifeblood of any organization is its ability to keep up with what our customers want and demand from our organization. In order to keep up with the continually changing customer needs and the environment in which we must provide them it is important to identify and improve our processes. These processes extend beyond the manufacturing processes but include the processes of how we interface with our customers both before and after delivery. To be effective every member of the organization must understand what they provide and who they provide this product or service to, whether inside or outside the company. The student will gather current data and receive feedback from the process owner as to thoroughness and feasibility of the solution. (3 credits)

MG570. Operations Management

A practical study of the decisions required to design, operate and control a manufacturing or service operations. This course explores the various relationships between these organizational decisions, operations and other disciplines within the organization. The relationships are discussed and documented through the use of business process management and Visio. The organizational decisions explored include forecasting, planning of personnel and equipment, inventory planning and control, scheduling, project management, theory of constraints, and quality assurance. The MBA student will demonstrate mastery of the course through the application of one or more topics in a detailed workplace analysis. The student will gather current data and receive feedback from the process owner as to thoroughness and feasibility of solution. (3 credits)

MG575. Project Management

The objective of this course is to master the principles of efficient project planning and control - needs analysis, work breakdown, scheduling, resource allocation, risk management, and performance tracking and evaluation - within the timeframe and cost projection stated in the overview section. Concepts and techniques will be developed by navigating through a recent textbook in project management and through a popular project management software package. The MBA student will demonstrate mastery of the course through the application of one or more topics in a detailed workplace analysis. The student will gather current data and receive feedback from the process owner as to thoroughness and feasibility of solution. Pre-requisite: MG570. (3 credits)

Department News

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