Instructions

Throughout this course, we've practiced ways to analyze and model data from financial operations so that it assists in decision-making. Most of our models have been discrete, standalone designs. Often managers in organizations would like a high-level snapshot of financial performance that coveys critical information at a glance. Dashboards are such presentation tools. Excel has made creating dashboards easier and more effective.

In this assignment, you are required to create an Excel Dashboard by using at least three of the Excel functions and/or capabilities that we have learned in class. The details of the case and the raw data from which to work are in the attached Excel workbook. Since this is raw data, there may be analysis steps that you have to perform to prepare the data for its final presentation on your dashboard.

There is a lot of information in the course content on dashboards. Please read it carefully. You should recognize most of this advice from our early lectures on graphs and charts. What is different for this dashboard assignment is that you are bringing together multiple displays of information in a meaningful way to tell a story, or in this case, respond to the question in the problem (will the company achieve 2010 forecasted sales).

The DUE DATE on this assignment is listed in the syllabus. I suggest that you start the project early. In this situation, you MAY use the attached spreadsheet that contains the raw data as the starting place for your dashboard.

As you research and work on this project, I encourage you to post additional references and/or video links that you think may be helpful to the group. You have a lot of freedom in this project and it is an opportunity to practice and demonstrate the skills you've gained in class. You will be graded on the following criteria:

1) appropriateness and complexity of Excel features used

2) accuracy of calculations, analyses, or presentations

3) overall theme and presentation

4) effectiveness of dashboard in communicating results and responding to the question

5) the quality and accuracy of your narrative response to the question

Make the dashboard meaningful, but have fun!