ORIG I NAL AR TI CLE Journal Section INTEGRATION OF BUSINESS PROCESS MODELING IN PLANNING A GRADUATE PROGRAM IN DATA ANALYTICS Jesse Smith MBA 1* | Ann E. Stapleton PhD 2† | Cem Canel PhD 3‡ 1 1BusinessAdministration,Cameron SchoolofBusiness,UniversityofNorth CarolinaWilmington,Wilmington,NC, 28403,USA 2 DepartmentofBiologyandMarine Biology,UniversityofNorthCarolina Wilmington,NC28403,USA 3 DepartmentofInformationSystemsand OperationsManagement,CameronSchool ofBusiness,UniversityofNorthCarolina Wilmington,Wilmington,NC28403,USA Correspondence CemCanelPhD,DepartmentofInformation SystemsandOperationsManagement, CameronSchoolofBusiness,Universityof NorthCarolinaWilmington,Wilmington, NC28403,USA Email:canelc@uncw.edu Present address * DepartmentHeadofQualityControl,The RogerBaconAcademy,Leland,NC28451, USA Funding information Theneedforbusinessprocessmodelinginhighereducation isincreasingasthecomplexityofdegreeprogramsgrows toaccommodatenewfieldsinthebusinessmarket.Thisis evidencedinthefieldofdataanalytics,whichisinterdisci- plinaryinnatureandseverelylackinginprofessionaltalent. ThispaperexplorestheT-shapedskillsdesiredbybusinesses seekinggraduateswithananalyticsdegreeandthechal- lengesUniversitiesfacewhendevelopinginterdisciplinary programs.WeapplybusinessprocessmodelinginaUniver- sitysettingbymappingoutthecurrentprocessesinvolved withstartingandsustaininganewgraduatedegreeprogram. Throughthisapproach,aroadmapisdevelopedasatoolfor Universitydomainexperts,whichhighlightsareasofinef- ficiencythatcanbefurtherstreamlinedtoallowimproved flexibilityandevaluationofallgraduateprograms. 1 | INTRODUCTION Dataanalyticsisoneofthemostpopularjobsectorsofthe21stcentury.Itisinhighdemandacrossindustriesand isseverelylackinginneededtalentDavenportandPatil(2012).Inthecurrentliterature,thisfieldisoftenreferred Abbreviations: ABC,ablackcat;DEF,doesn’teverfret;GHI,goeshomeimmediately. 1