What is Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions?

Ask a sharp question, clean messy data, explore it, compare fairly, chart it honestly and write a recommendation a boss can act on, using a spreadsheet, SQL or both. You collect, clean, analyse and present data so a boss can act on it. By the end you will have worked through the whole analytics loop on one practice dataset and produced a case study with charts and a written recommendation that states how sure you are and what the data cannot show.

Open the Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions course page

Complete beginners who want to answer questions with data: office workers, small-business owners, students and career changers. You do not need coding or maths beyond adding, counting, dividing and comparing.

These are the prerequisites the course lists:

• You can save and find a file on your computer
• You can open a spreadsheet program and type in a cell
• You are willing to type a short command in a terminal; the course shows you how

These are the tools and materials the course lists:

• A computer running Windows, macOS or Linux, and a web browser
• A spreadsheet program: Google Sheets (used with a Google account; check its current terms), LibreOffice Calc (free) or Microsoft Excel (usually a paid plan; check its current options). The course works with any of them, and you can choose the SQL route instead
• Python 3.10 or newer, free from python.org. It runs the scripts we give you and includes SQLite, the database used for the SQL route, so nothing else is needed
• A plain-text editor such as Notepad, TextEdit in plain-text mode, or a free code editor
• Optional: DB Browser for SQLite, a free open-source tool for running SQL without the terminal (check its current features)
• All core lessons can be completed for free. The practice data is synthetic and is created by a script in Module 1

Corner Kettle Case Study: A Portfolio Case Study With a Written Recommendation. Using the synthetic Corner Kettle data, answer your Question Card from start to finish. Deliver one project folder that another person can rerun and one answer-first memo. The folder shows the question, the source and its fingerprint, the cleaning, the exploration, the analysis with its limits, three honest charts, and a check that your key numbers match the fixed answers. You may extend the work to a real dataset you are allowed to use, but the practice data is the version that is checked. The finished deliverables are:

• Question Card with decision, metric, guardrail, comparison, scope and a decision rule written before you looked at results (Module 1)
• Data dictionary with grain, key and definitions of revenue and net sales (Module 1)
• Source Note with fingerprint, audit list and cleaning log (408 rows in, 397 kept, 11 set aside) (Module 2)
• Exploration notes with summary numbers, channel table, monthly shape and your decision on the bulk orders (Module 3)
• Findings draft with return rates, join checks, careful wording on the April discount, rough ranges and a stress test (Module 4)
• Chart pack of three charts with finding titles, units, notes and honesty checks (Module 5)
• One-page answer-first memo with a written recommendation, plus a README with the run order and check_answers.py showing 8 of 8 (Module 6)

Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions has 24 lessons in 6 modules, a workbook of 9 items and a capstone project. It is planned at about 8 hours in total. The lesson text runs to roughly 17,200 words.

Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions has 6 modules:

• Module 1: Ask a Question and Meet Your Data. See the whole analytics loop in miniature, turn a vague request into a sharp question with a decision rule, create the practice dataset for Corner Kettle (a made-up shop), and learn to read a table before you touch it.
• Module 2: Get the Data and Clean It. Learn where data comes from and how to protect the raw file, audit a messy table with a fixed set of checks, fix text, date and number problems, and decide what to do with missing, repeated and impossible rows while keeping a cleaning log.
• Module 3: Explore: Totals, Groups, Trends and Odd Values. Get to know the clean data before you draw conclusions: summarize with count, sum, mean and median, split into groups, follow the months, and find and handle unusual values. You finish with a set of exploration notes.
• Module 4: Analyze: Compare Fairly and Test How Sure You Are. Turn exploration into an answer: compare groups with rates, join a second table safely, avoid mistaking correlation for cause, and check how much your result depends on small counts and on your own cleaning choices.
• Module 5: Chart It Clearly and Read Charts Honestly. Choose the chart that fits the question, build a clear bar chart in a spreadsheet and from code, learn how charts and averages mislead so you can avoid it, and check every chart against a short honesty list.
• Module 6: Explain It and Finish Your Case Study. Turn your results into a one-page answer-first memo, write findings a boss can act on, package the project so anyone can rerun it and check it, and finish with the capstone: a portfolio case study with a written recommendation.

All 24 lesson titles, module by module:

• Module 1: Ask a Question and Meet Your Data. 1.1 The Six-Stage Loop and Your Practice Shop; 1.2 Turn a Vague Request Into a Question Data Can Answer; 1.3 Create Your Practice Data and Open It; 1.4 Read a Table: Rows, Columns and the Data Dictionary.
• Module 2: Get the Data and Clean It. 2.1 Know Your Source and Protect the Raw File; 2.2 Audit the Data Before You Fix Anything; 2.3 Fix Text, Date and Number Problems; 2.4 Handle Missing, Repeated and Impossible Rows, and Keep a Log.
• Module 3: Explore: Totals, Groups, Trends and Odd Values. 3.1 Summarize With Count, Sum, Mean and Median; 3.2 Group and Compare With GROUP BY and Pivot Tables; 3.3 Follow the Months: Trends and Seasons; 3.4 Spread and Outliers: Find Unusual Values and Decide What to Do.
• Module 4: Analyze: Compare Fairly and Test How Sure You Are. 4.1 Compare Groups With Rates, Not Raw Counts; 4.2 Join a Second Table Without Losing or Doubling Rows; 4.3 Correlation Is Not Cause: Ask What Else Changed; 4.4 How Sure Are You? Small Counts and Stress Tests.
• Module 5: Chart It Clearly and Read Charts Honestly. 5.1 Match the Chart to the Question; 5.2 Build a Clear Bar Chart: Spreadsheet and Code; 5.3 Charts That Lie: Axes, Windows and Pictures; 5.4 Averages and Percentages: Always Ask 'Of What?'.
• Module 6: Explain It and Finish Your Case Study. 6.1 Know Your Reader and Lead With the Answer; 6.2 Write Findings a Boss Can Act On; 6.3 Package a Repeatable Case Study With an Answer Check; 6.4 Capstone: Rebuild, Review and Present Your Case Study.

The course is listed at beginner level and planned at about 8 hours in total. It has 24 lessons, each with objectives you can check yourself against.

Lesson 1 is "The Six-Stage Loop and Your Practice Shop" (Module 1, Ask a Question and Meet Your Data). By the end of it the course says you will be able to:

• Name the six stages of the analytics loop in order
• Describe the practice project you will build
• Choose a tool route: spreadsheet, SQL, or both

Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions defines 30 terms in plain words: Data analytics, Analytics loop, Synthetic data, Seed, CSV file, Grain, Key, Data dictionary, Raw data, Fingerprint (hash), Personal data, Audit, Data cleaning, SQL, SQLite, Pivot table, Mean, Median, Skewed, Quartiles and IQR, Outlier, Gross and net, Rate and denominator, Percentage points, Join, Correlation, Confounder, Guardrail metric, Stress test and Reproducible.

Data analyticsAnalytics loopSynthetic dataSeedCSV fileGrainKeyData dictionaryRaw dataFingerprint (hash)Personal dataAuditData cleaningSQLSQLitePivot tableMeanMedianSkewedQuartiles and IQROutlierGross and netRate and denominatorPercentage pointsJoinCorrelationConfounderGuardrail metricStress testReproducible

Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions lists 22 official sources that were opened and checked while it was written, from 8 websites.

• docs.python.org
• sqlite.org
• sqlitebrowser.org
• python.org
• libreoffice.org
• workspace.google.com
• support.microsoft.com
• support.google.com

Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions costs $39 (USD) as The Codex, the full written course with its workbook and templates. Studio (narrated video lessons) and the Full Operator path are not on sale yet.

How much do courses cost?

Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions was prepared by Apex Flow Labs with AI assistance and checked before it was published. Every code sample, formula and command the course includes was run before it went in, the course records 22 verification checks, and it lists 22 official sources it checked. Do not take the label on trust: open the sources and run the examples yourself.

How Apex Flow Academy checks its courses

Yes for the core lessons, according to the course's own requirements list: "All core lessons can be completed for free." The list also names optional extras or costs outside the core lessons, so read it in full. Tool plans and prices change, so check each tool's current terms before you sign up.

It is listed at beginner level, and it asks for this before you begin:

• You can save and find a file on your computer
• You can open a spreadsheet program and type in a cell
• You are willing to type a short command in a terminal; the course shows you how

No. Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions teaches and checks a skill, but it cannot promise an outcome. The course's own disclosure reads: "Created by Apex Flow Academy with AI assistance. For education only; not legal, tax, financial or medical advice. Results depend on your effort and circumstances."

Yes. Data Analytics From Scratch: Answer Real Business Questions includes a verifiable Certificate of Completion, issued by Apex Flow Academy when you finish every lesson, resolve every quiz question with at least 50% right on the first try, and tick the capstone checklist. It has a unique ID and a public verification page. It is a completion certificate, not a degree, licence, accreditation or exam result. The Full Operator path, with a final exam and capstone review, opens later with its own separate, stronger credential.

Is there a certificate?