Business Analytics Assignment -

Learning Outcomes -

• Apply quantitative reasoning skills to analyse business performance.
• Use contemporary data analysis tools to analyse business performance.

General Description / Requirements -

The assignment requires that you analyse a data set, interpret and draw conclusions from your analysis, and then convey your conclusions in a written email. The assignment must be completed individually. The assignment, together with the appropriate cover page including unit name, name of the student, and student number, must be submitted by the due date electronically in CloudDeakin. When submitting electronically, you must check that you have submitted the work correctly by following the instructions provided in CloudDeakin. Please note that we will NOT accept any hard copies or assignments submitted via email.

The assignment uses the file A1.xlsx which can be downloaded from CloudDeakin. Analysis of the data requires the use of techniques studied from Topics 1 to 4.

Scenario -

The Peaceful Tree is an Australia's Fair Trade business. Claudia Brady started the Peaceful Tree in 2015 to empower women to support their families. Now, they have grown to four stores across Australia. The Peaceful Tree sells beautiful products handmade by artisans around the world. The Peaceful Tree has artisan partners practice fair trade principles, and every purchase from the Peaceful Tree generates income for the artisans and their families. In 2017, the Peaceful Tree introduced an online marketplace to enable customers to make their purchases online. The broad company planning and direction takes place at their head office in Melbourne. The founder, who is the current general manager (Claudia Brady) has asked you, Sam Mannix, to conduct exploratory and descriptive analysis to gain a better understanding of the Peaceful Tree's performance.

Assignment instructions -

The assignment consists of three parts:

Part 1: Data Analysis

When conducting the analysis, you will apply techniques from descriptive analytics, visualisations, and probabilities; hence you will use various tables, graphs, and summary measures. Sometimes we refer to this type of analysis as "exploratory analysis". When exploring data, we often produce more results than we eventually use in the final report, but by investigating the data from a number of angles, we can develop a much better 'feel' for the data: a deeper understanding of the data.

In order to prepare a reply to the General Manager, you will need to examine and analyse the dataset thoroughly. The General Manager has asked a number of questions. The following guidelines for each question should be considered carefully:

1. A summary of sales: To answer this question you should calculate, then analyse the total sales by itself. You should derive summary measures and check for unusual data.

2. Sales by stores: Investigate any particular relationship between sales and stores. Remember to include the online marketspace as the fifth store.

3. Sales by weekdays: Explore any particular relationship between total sales and weekdays. You can be creative and combine some weekdays to get a more meaningful conclusion.

4. Sales by month: Research any particular relationship between sales and months. You can extract months from date.

5. Sales by number of visitors: To answer this question you should calculate the total number of visitors for each day. Then, you can analyse any potential relationship between sales and number of visitors.

6. Probability: To answer this question, you need to do the calculations for each store separately using the relevant Excel functions.

The analysis section you submit should be no more than 8 pages of computer output (i.e., output that you have copied into a Word document from Microsoft Excel). When you conduct your analysis, you will produce much more than this initially, but you should trim it down to only show the most relevant results in your maximum of 8 pages (of analysis). Where possible, it is always useful to produce both numerical and graphical statistical summaries as sometimes, something is revealed in one that is not obvious in the other. Within the Word document, your analysis should be presented in the same numbered sequence (and contain that same numbered sequence) that the questions have been asked by Claudia Brady (the General Manager). Your analysis should be clearly labelled and grouped around each question. Poorly presented, unorganised analysis or excessive output (more than 8 pages) will be penalised.

It is usual, when writing any professional document, to caption any tabular or graphical output professionally. For example, TABLE 1: Summary statistics for the measure Gross Profit.

Part 2: Email

You are required to reply by email, detailing essential information and conclusions from your data analysis. You are allowed no more than 2 pages to convey your written conclusions. Your 2 page email will be included as a front section to your 8 pages analysis. A document 10 pages in length.

Keep the English simple and the explanations succinct. Avoid the use of technical statistical jargon. Your reader will not necessarily understand even simple statistical terms, thus your task is to convert your analysis into plain, simple, easy to understand language.

Part 3: Interactive Dashboard

The minimum requirement is a neat, functional, interactive dashboard. It is expected that the dashboard includes up to 4 interactive components.

Following question will guide you designing an interactive dashboard.

1. What are the most appropriate visualisations for the dashboard?

2. What about choices of colour?

3. How can I use hierarchy and dimension?

4. How can I make the dashboard interactive?

Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar