Google has recently released the Google Business Intelligence Professional certificate, part of the Google Career Program. The certification will help you build data modeling, visualization, and reporting skills to become a professional BI analyst or engineer.
The certificate includes 3 courses, and the total time required to complete them is around 80 hours.
This comprehensive review will teach you what it takes to become a Google certified BI professional. We’ve reviewed the courses, lessons, and exams and will show you the learning environment and what to expect from each course.
This is a good certification to pursue if you already have a data analytics related certification or actively working in the industry. It’s an advanced certification that will help build BI skills.
The course is only 2 months, and the total cost is $78, making it a very attractive option for people who want to open up new career opportunities and work as a Business Intelligence professional.
What is Google Business Intelligence Certification?
The Google Business Intelligence certification is an advanced certificate intended for people already working in the industry as data analysts or data scientists.
It is a great upgrade for people who have completed the Google Data Analytics Certification and want to expand their skills further to include business intelligence, data modeling, dashboarding and visualization.
The certificate takes only 2 months to complete and can open the doors to jobs in business intelligence with an annual starting salary of $96K in the US.
It’s a self-paced certification that can be completed 100% online. Google employees prepared the course material, and it’s available via Coursera.
What You’ll Learn?
By the end of this certification, you’ll be able to:
- Explain the role and responsibility of BI professionals within an organization
- Work with BI tools to gather, process and present data
- Design interactive dashboards using SQL, Tableau, and BigQuery
- Create a project for your portfolio
- Prepare your resume, get ready for interviews and apply for BI related jobs
How Much Does Google Business Intelligence Certification Cost?
The total cost for the Google Business Intelligence Certification is $98. Coursera offers the course through the Coursera Plus subscription. Google subsidizes the subscription and costs $49 per month.
On average, it takes 2 months (2 X $49) for students to complete the course and get certified.
Coursera offers a 7-day free trial to review the course material before committing to a paid plan.
Google Business Intelligence Certificate Contents
The Google Business Intelligence Certification includes three online courses.
- Foundations of Business Intelligence
- The Path to Insights: Data Models and Pipelines
- Decisions, Decisions: Dashboards and Reports
Course 1: Foundations of Business Intelligence
The Foundations of Business Intelligence is the first course on your path to getting the Google BI Professional certificate.
The course lessons are split into five weeks, and the total time investment is 25 hours.
This is an introductory course to Business Intelligence (BI).
Week 1 provides an overview of the course objectives and explains in detail the role of BI analysts and engineers within organizations. It takes a total of 12 hours to complete, which is a fairly long period compared to the rest of the weeks.
Since the audience of this Advanced Google Certificate are people already working in the industry, you don’t have to spend too much on the basics.
Week 2 builds on the theory of Week 1 and introduces BI tools and techniques. There is also a section on career development with case studies and resources to help you find a job as a BI professional.
Week 3 explains the importance of context from a BI perspective. During the lessons, you’ll have to complete 2 practice quizzes and one graded quiz.
In week 4, your task is to work on the end-of-course project. You’ll be given two scenarios and can choose which one to work on.
For the first scenario, you’ll play the role of a newly hired BI professional at Cyclistic (a fictitious company providing shared bikes). Your task is to present a report to management on how their customers use their bikes and the demand at the different locations.
For the second scenario, you’ll play the role of an interviewee for a BI position on the Google Fiber call center team. As part of the interview process, they ask you to develop a dashboard tool that allows them to explore trends in repeat calls.
Here is a breakdown of the lessons for this course.
| Period | Topic | Time To Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Data-driven results through business intelligence | 12 hours |
| Week 2 | Business intelligence tools and techniques | 4 hours |
| Week 3 | Context is crucial for purposeful insights | 5 hours |
| Week 4 | Course 1 end-of-course project | 4 hours |
Course 2: The Path to Insights: Data Models and Pipelines
The Path to Insights: Data Models and Pipelines is the second course you must take to get your BI certification.
Week 1 is about data modeling. You’ll learn about the different schemas and database elements and how to choose the most appropriate type of database system based on the business needs.
Week 2 is all about database design, performance, and optimization. As part of the practical coursework, you’ll have to use BigQuery to partition data and create an index.
In week 3, you’ll learn about optimization techniques, including ETL quality testing, data schema validation, and business rule verification. The total time for this part is 6 hours and there is no practical assessment.
In week 4, you’ll have to complete the end-of-course project, which is a continuation of the work you did for the end-of-course project for the previous course.
Your task will be to combine data from multiple tables into one table and use that to develop a dashboard and reports for the management. For this project you’ll use SQL Code, BigQuery and Tableau.
Keep in mind that you’ll also be give an exemplar project for you to review so you can check your work and continue to iterate on your own project. You can also add the project in your portfolio to demonstrate your BI skills and knowledge.
| Period | Topic | Time To Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Data models and pipelines | 10 hours |
| Week 2 | Dynamic database design | 5 hours |
| Week 3 | Optimize ETL processes | 6 hours |
| Week 4 | Course 2 end-of-course project | 4 hours |
Course 3: Decisions, Decisions: Dashboards and Reports
Decisions, decisions: Dashboards and reports is the third and final course of the Google BI professional certification.
In weeks 1, 2 and 3, you’ll go deeper into dashboards, visualizations, and charts. You will learn different techniques on how to make interactive dashboards, how to optimize performance and how to create visuals to communicate your findings with key stakeholders.
Week 4 will introduce you to a number of career related resources, including tips on how to prepare your resume and portfolio and get ready for job interviews.
Week 5 is the end-of-course project. As in the previous course, you’ll continue your work based on the scenario you selected in Course 1.
Your task will be to design a BI dashboard to answer the questions raised in the fictitious scenario.
You’ll be given a set of step-by-step instructions and your job will be to complete the different steps. Here is what the instructions look like:
The project is not graded, but you’ll have to submit your work before you can view the sample solution.
Here is what the final result should look like:
Week 6 is a wrap-up of the program. You can download your digital badge and certificate and submit the program survey.
Here is a breakdown of the work for the third and final course of the Google Business Intelligence Certification.
| Period | Topic | Time To Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Business intelligence visualizations | 5 hours |
| Week 2 | Visualize results | 7 hours |
| Week 3 | Automate and monitor | 5 hours |
| Week 4 | Present business intelligence insights | 5 hours |
| Week 5 | Course 3 end-of-course project | 3 hours |
| Week 6 | Put your Google Business Intelligence Certificate to work | 2 hours |
Google Business Intelligence Certification Exams
To achieve the Google Business Intelligence Professional Certificate, you must finish the three courses, including all quizzes and labs.
All work and exams can be completed online, and you don’t have to attend any physical classrooms.
The quizzes are not difficult to do; for the labs, all you have to do is submit your work. You don’t get a mark for the labs; you’re also given the solutions.
For course 3, you’ll have to complete a project based on the results of the work you did for courses 1 and 2. After you submit your project, you can access the sample solution and use that in your portfolio and resume.
For the quizzes, you’ll have to pass with a mark of 80% and above. In case you fail a test, you can retake it every 8 hours (you get 3 attempts every 24 hours).
In general, if you go through the study material and follow the instructions for the labs, you won’t have any problems passing all exams and submitting all projects.
Here are a few sample questions to get an idea of what the exams look like.
How Hard is the Google Business Intelligence Certification?
The Google BI Certification is not hard to get, provided you have working experience with Data Analytics (or a related degree or certification).
The lessons are easy to follow, with many practical examples, case studies, and knowledge checks. If you’re willing to study 3 hours per day, you can complete the certification in 1 month (instead of the suggested 2 months of studying 10 hours per week).
It’s a self-paced course, and all the material is available upon registration. This allows you to go back-and-fourth between the lessons while working on the three end-of-course projects.
Is the Google Business Intelligence Certification Worth it?
The Google Business Intelligence Certification is definetely worth it. In less than 2 months (possibly 1 month), you can build advanced skills in the high-growth field of business intelligence.
The certification is issued by Google, and it’s recognized worldwide. Based on a program graduate survey, 75 % of the students report a career improvement.
In addition, as a Google career graduate, you get access to the 150+ employers looking to hire Google BI certified professionals.
Other Google Career Certifications
The Google Business Intelligence Certification is a professional certification offered in the Google Career Certification program. The program includes seven more courses.
You can read our detailed reviews of all Google certifications to decide which is the best certification for you,
- Google Data Analytics Certificate Review
- Google IT Support Professional Certificate Review
- Google IT Automation Professional Certificate Review
- Google UX Design Professional Certificate Review
- Google Project Management Professional Certificate Review
- Google Digital Marketing and eCommerce Certificate Review
- Google Advanced Data Analytics Certificate Review
You can also consider other Google Certifications covering a range of subjects.
Leave a Reply