Direct answer: data analytics is the practice of examining data to answer questions and support decisions. It spans cleaning data, finding patterns, visualising results and recommending actions.
Four types of analytics
- Descriptive – what happened?
- Diagnostic – why did it happen?
- Predictive – what may happen?
- Prescriptive – what should we do?
Most junior analyst work is descriptive and diagnostic.
Example
A retailer sees revenue fall. A descriptive report shows which months dropped; diagnostic work splits by store and product and finds one category on promotion with low margin.
Tools
Spreadsheets (Excel), BI tools (Power BI), databases and programming languages. Which you need depends on the role.
Common mistakes
- Starting with a tool, not a question
- Skipping data checks
- Presenting charts without a conclusion
Next steps
Read the analytics process, then careers in analytics.
Conclusion
Analytics is a thinking process supported by tools. The Data Analytics course practises it end to end.