Last updated: April 04, 2026
MSBAi Curriculum: Single Source of Truth
Program: Master of Science in Business Analytics - Online (MSBAi) Institution: Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Launch: Fall 2026 Total Duration: 15 months (3 semesters + 1 summer) Total Credits: 36 Format: 8-week courses within 16-week semesters Common Thread: Python + Jupyter Notebooks across all courses
Course Development Status
Each course page carries a status badge. The convention:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Final | Approved by instructor, ready for implementation |
| In Development | Instructor actively building content; structure stable |
| Under Revision | Significant changes expected from recent stakeholder input |
| Draft | Initial outline; pending instructor review |
| Course | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BADM 554 | In Development | Vishal recording starts April 15 |
| BDI 513 | In Development | Ron using textbook-first approach; overview videos only |
| FIN 550 | In Development | Xing completing remaining modules |
| BADM 557 | Under Revision | Gautam repositioning to frameworks-first; current page reflects prior approach |
| BADM 558 | Draft | Pending instructor review |
| BADM 576 | Draft | Pending instructor review |
| Agentic AI | Draft | No instructor assigned |
| Quantum | Draft | Pending instructor review |
| General Elective | Final | iMBA catalog — no MSBAi development needed |
| Capstone | Draft | Structure outlined; detailed design pending |
Pre-Program Requirements
Before enrolling, all MSBAi students must complete:
- Exploring and Producing Data for Business Decision Making (Coursera — University of Illinois)
- Inferential and Predictive Statistics for Business (Coursera — University of Illinois)
- Python & Tools Orientation (self-paced Canvas module, ~10 hours): Python basics, Jupyter Notebook workflow, GitHub essentials, environment setup. Materials provided during onboarding.
The statistics courses cover descriptive statistics, probability, sampling, hypothesis testing, and regression. Students should complete the statistics courses before FIN 550 (Fall 2026, Weeks 9-16) and the Python orientation before BADM 554 (Fall 2026, Week 1). Completion is verified during onboarding.
Target student: Career pivoters (age 25-40) from technical/STEM or non-analytics backgrounds. See program/target_profile.md for full profile and admission criteria.
Program Timeline
Fall 2026 Semester (16 weeks)
| Course | Credits | Weeks | Instructor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BADM 554 - Enterprise Database Management | 4 | Weeks 1-8 | Vishal | SQL, Python, databases, ETL pipelines |
| BDI 513 - Data Storytelling | 4 | Weeks 5-12 | Ron | Straddles both halves - visualization, narrative, financial analysis |
| FIN 550 - Big Data Analytics in Finance (ML I) | 4 | Weeks 9-16 | Xing/Mathias | Supervised ML: regression, classification, feature engineering, business case |
| Semester Total | 12 |
Student Experience:
- Weeks 1-4: BADM 554 only (foundations)
- Weeks 5-8: BADM 554 + BDI 513 (overlap)
- Weeks 9-12: BDI 513 + FIN 550 (overlap)
- Weeks 13-16: FIN 550 only (finish strong)
Spring 2027 Semester (16 weeks)
| Course | Credits | Weeks | Instructor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BADM 558 - Big Data Infrastructure | 4 | Weeks 1-8 | Ashish | AWS, Spark, dbt, Redshift + Snowflake, data engineering with Python |
| Agentic AI for Analytics | 2 | Weeks 5-8 | TBD | RAG, agentic AI, LangChain, prompt engineering, AI governance |
| Quantum Computing for Optimization | 2 | Weeks 9-12 | Abhijeet | Business-focused quantum fundamentals, simulators |
| General Elective (any iMBA) | 4 | Weeks 9-16 | Student choice | Selected from iMBA course catalog |
| Semester Total | 12 |
Student Experience:
- Weeks 1-4: BADM 558 (4 cr) only
- Weeks 5-8: BADM 558 (4 cr) + Agentic AI (2 cr) = 6 credits simultaneously
- Weeks 9-12: Quantum (2 cr) + General Elective (4 cr) = 6 credits simultaneously
- Weeks 13-16: General Elective (4 cr) only - finish strong
Summer 2027 (8 weeks)
| Course | Credits | Weeks | Instructor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BADM 557 - Business Intelligence | 4 | Weeks 1-8 | Gautam | Case studies, BI, Power BI + Python, AI-augmented decisions |
| Summer Total | 4 |
Cumulative after Summer 2027: 28 credits
Fall 2027 Semester (16 weeks)
| Course | Credits | Weeks | Instructor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BADM 576 - Data Science and Analytics (ML II) | 4 | Weeks 1-8 | Zilong | Advanced ML: ensembles, unsupervised, NLP, time series, neural nets, MLOps/LLMOps |
| Capstone/Practicum | 4 | Weeks 9-16 | Vanitha | Portfolio + client project |
| Semester Total | 8 |
Program Total: 36 credits
Credit Breakdown
Core Courses (16 credits)
| # | Course | Credits | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BADM 554 - Enterprise Database Management | 4 | Fall 2026 |
| 2 | BDI 513 - Data Storytelling | 4 | Fall 2026 |
| 3 | FIN 550 - Big Data Analytics in Finance (ML I) | 4 | Fall 2026 |
| 4 | BADM 557 - Business Intelligence | 4 | Summer 2027 |
Advanced Courses (8 credits)
| # | Course | Credits | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | BADM 558 - Big Data Infrastructure | 4 | Spring 2027 |
| 6 | BADM 576 - Data Science and Analytics (ML II) | 4 | Fall 2027 |
Required Electives (8 credits)
| # | Course | Credits | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Agentic AI for Analytics | 2 | Spring 2027 |
| 8 | Quantum Computing for Optimization | 2 | Spring 2027 |
| 9 | General Elective (any iMBA) | 4 | Spring 2027 |
Capstone (4 credits)
| # | Course | Credits | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Capstone/Practicum | 4 | Fall 2027 |
Faculty Assignments
| Course | Instructor | Semester |
|---|---|---|
| BADM 554 - Enterprise Database Management | Vishal | Fall 2026 |
| BDI 513 - Data Storytelling | Ron | Fall 2026 |
| FIN 550 - Big Data Analytics in Finance (ML I) | Xing/Mathias | Fall 2026 |
| BADM 558 - Big Data Infrastructure | Ashish | Spring 2027 |
| Agentic AI for Analytics | TBD | Spring 2027 |
| Quantum Computing for Optimization | Abhijeet | Spring 2027 |
| BADM 557 - Business Intelligence | Gautam | Summer 2027 |
| BADM 576 - Data Science and Analytics (ML II) | Zilong | Fall 2027 |
| General Elective (any iMBA) | Student choice | Spring 2027 |
| Capstone/Practicum | Vanitha | Fall 2027 |
Key Design Rules
1. 8-Week Courses in 16-Week Semesters
- Each course is 8 weeks long (half a traditional semester)
- Students take 2-3 courses per semester
- Courses can run in first half (weeks 1-8), second half (weeks 9-16), or straddle both (e.g., weeks 5-12)
2. Week Numbering Resets Each Semester
- Fall 2026: Weeks 1-16
- Spring 2027: Weeks 1-16
- Summer 2027: Weeks 1-8
- Fall 2027: Weeks 1-16
3. Straddling Courses
- BDI 513 (Fall 2026): Weeks 5-12 (straddles Fall 1 + Fall 2)
4. Credit Distribution by Semester
- Fall 2026: 12 credits
- Spring 2027: 12 credits
- Summer 2027: 4 credits
- Fall 2027: 8 credits
This is the single source of truth for all program-level facts. All other documents should reference this file rather than duplicating program parameters.