Module - Case

Assumed Certainty: Pivot Tables and Multi-Attribute Decision Making Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

Assignment Overview

You are the lead consultant for the Excellent Consulting Group. It is mid-October. One of your top clients, Buddy's Floor Barn, has just closed the books for the first three quarters of the year (January through September). Buddy's Floor Barn requests that you analyze the sales performance of its 5 product lines over this 3-quarter period. From past consulting work you have done for the company, you know that Buddy's Floor Barn has 4 regions and 18 total store locations.

Each Regional Manager at the company has compiled the data for his/her region. The raw data provided consists of the sales revenue for each of the 5 premium flooring lines for all 4 regions and 18 locations for the first three quarters of the current year.

Case Assignment

The data have been provided in list format. Generate a Pivot Table Report with Charts. Use the Pivot Table and Charts to analyze the data. Following your in-depth analysis of the data, write a report to Buddy's Floor Barn in which you discuss and analyze the data, and make appropriate recommendations relative to how Buddy's Floor Barn should improve its sales performance going forward.

Assignment Expectations

Data: To begin, download the list data here: Data chart for BUS520 Case 1

Excel Analysis:
- Provide accurate and complete Excel analysis (Pivot Table with Charts).

Written report:

- Length requirement: 4-5 pages minimum (not including Cover and Reference pages). NOTE: You must have 4-5 pages of written discussion and analysis. This means you should avoid use of tables and charts as "space fillers."

- Provide a brief introduction to/background of the problem.

- Using the Pivot Table and Pivot Charts, discuss and analyze the data, noting key highs and lows, trends, etc.

- Include charts from your Pivot Table to support your written analysis. (Please do not use charts as "space fillers." Instead, use them strategically to support your written analysis.)

- In a "Recommendations" section, give clear, specific, and meaningful recommendations that Buddy's Floor Barn should use to improve overall company sales.

- Be sure to consider highs, lows, and trends in the data. Which cities are the highest performers? Lowest? Which regions and quarter had the highest sales? Lowest sales? Consider what may be driving the numbers: Poor marketing? Outstanding marketing strategies? Inventory management? Seasonal sales? Other? There are innumerable possibilities. Your role is to reflect on the data, and ultimately, to use the data to give useful recommendations.

Assumed Certainty: Pivot Tables and Multi-Attribute Decision Making Assumed Certainty: Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM)

Scenario: You are the Vice President of Franchise Services for the Happy Buns restaurant chain. You have been assigned the task of evaluating the best location for a new Happy Buns restaurant. The CFO has provided you with a template that includes 6 criteria (attributes) that you are required to use in your evaluation of 5 recommended locations. Following are the 6 criteria that you will use to evaluate this decision:

- Traffic counts (avg. thousands/day)-the more traffic, the more customers, and the greater the potential sales.
- Building lease and taxes (thousands $ per year)-the lower the building lease and taxes, the better.
- Size of building (square feet in thousands)-a larger building is more preferable.
- Parking spaces (max number of customers parking)-more customer parking is preferable.
- Insurance costs (thousands $ per year)-lower insurance costs are preferable.
- Ease of access (subjective evaluation from observation)-you will need to "code" the subjective data. Use Excellent = 4, Good = 3, Fair = 2, and Poor = 1.

Now that you have collected the data from various sources (your CFO and COO, local real estate listings, personal observation, etc.), you have all the data you need to complete an analysis for choosing the best location. Download the raw data for the 5 locations in this Word document: Raw data for BUS520 SLP 1 Assignment

1 Review the information and data regarding the different alternatives for a new restaurant location.

2 Then do the following in Excel:

a Table 1: Develop an MADM table with the raw data.

b Table 2: Convert the raw data to utilities (scaled on 0 to 1).

Show the utility weights in a second table.

c Table 3: Develop a third table with even weights (16.7%) for each variable.

d Evaluate Table 3 for the best alternative.

e Table 4: Complete a sensitivity analysis by assigning weights to each variable.

3 In a Word document, do the following:

a Discuss the process used to put together Tables 1-4 above. b Provide the rationale you used for choosing for each of the weights you used in Table 4.

c Give your recommendation of which location the company should choose (based on results of Table 4).

SLP Assignment Expectations

Excel Analysis

- Complete Excel analysis using MADM (all four tables noted above must be included).

- Accurate Excel analysis (Excel file includes working formulas showing your calculations; all calculations and results must be accurate).

Written Report

- Length requirements: 2-3 pages minimum (not including Cover and Reference pages). NOTE: You must submit 2-3 pages of written discussion and analysis. This means that you should avoid use of tables and charts as "space fillers."

- Provide a brief introduction to/background of the problem.

- Discuss the steps you used to compile the Excel analysis (i.e., the four tables).

- Discuss the assumptions used to assign weights to each variable of your sensitivity analysis (Table 4). That is, provide the rationale for your choice of weights for each variable.

- Provide a complete and meaningful recommendation related to the location that should be chosen as a new site.

Attachment:- Case Assignment.rar