This is the theory course that sits behind the hands-on portfolio labs. It covers how business data and databases are modeled, and how an application connects to the systems a business actually runs on, including email, calendars, analytics, CRM, and accounting, using APIs, OAuth, webhooks, and MCP. Knowing how these pieces fit together is what separates an application that survives contact with real business data from one that only works in a demo.
The course then works through the AI layer itself: advanced prompting, retrieval-augmented generation over business documents, multi-step agents, and the evaluation and guardrails that keep output reliable and costs predictable. It closes on the principles of security, privacy, and trust, covering authentication, secrets management, protection of sensitive and personally identifiable data, and access control, along with how to scope a business problem and communicate a proposed solution to non-technical stakeholders. Everything here is applied directly in the portfolio development courses that follow.
What You Will Learn
- Model business data and design databases that support real workflows
- Integrate email, calendars, analytics, CRM, and accounting via APIs, OAuth, webhooks, and MCP
- Apply advanced prompting techniques for reliable, repeatable results
- Design retrieval-augmented generation over business documents
- Build multi-step agents and understand their reliability and cost trade-offs
- Evaluate AI output and put guardrails around it
- Apply authentication, secrets management, PII protection, and access control
- Scope a business problem and communicate the solution to non-technical stakeholders
