Project Scenario
You have graduated from SNHU and are now employed as a business analyst by Business Consultants (BC), a business consulting firm. As a business analyst, you are responsible for analyzing businesses to determine how your firm can help them meet their sales goals.
Your first business to analyze is New Hampshire Business Products (NHBP). NHBP is a small company operating as a sole proprietorship desiring to expand its geographical reach. The products sold by NHBP fall into three categories: office supplies, office equipment, and printing services.
NHBP has been in business since 2005 and operates one brick-and-mortar location selling various products and services. The company operates a retail store from its one physical location and offers services to customers in its current geographical area via a catalog published semi-annually.
Customers using the catalog call their orders in to the retail location by phone, and the company delivers completed orders via delivery truck and third-party carriers such as United Parcel Service (UPS).
NHBP has concluded that its one retail outlet and its current catalog business have reached their maximum potential and is seeking a means to expand sales as well as geographical reach.
NHBP has also concluded that adding internet sales is the best option to expand both sales and geographical reach. BC has been hired to evaluate current operations and suggest paths that will satisfy the sales goals set by NHBP.
In your capacity as a business analyst for BC, you have met with the management team at NHBP and made an initial review of the current business operations. Your notes of the review show the following:
The total current sales (2016) are $500,000, divided into the following categories:
o Office supplies: $150,000
o Office equipment: $300,000
o Printing: $50,000
The company desires to increase sales by 20% per year in each category for the next five years.
NHBP thinks that online sales will result in reaching its intended sales goals over the next five years.
The company is currently unsure how to implement online sales and is seeking guidance in developing a website as well as the mechanics of online marketing and fulfilling online orders.
Guidelines
Overview: As you prepare to communicate the next steps in the consulting partnership between your organization, Business Consultants, and your client, New Hampshire Business Products, you will prepare three deliverables using office productivity applications.
For Milestone Two, you will prepare a draft of your second deliverable: a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. You will create a dynamic spreadsheet that will allow you to organize and manipulate the given sales data with basic automatic calculation functions.
Prompt: Using Excel, create a spreadsheet that clearly and functionally displays the numerical data provided in the final project scenario.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
II. Spreadsheet: Create a spreadsheet that clearly and functionally displays the numerical data provided in the scenario.
A. For current sales, display sales by category and total.
B. For projected sales, display sales by category and total.
C. Apply formatting conventions appropriate for a business audience.
1. Select a consistent font and font size.
2. Format the spreadsheet with row and column spacing, row and column alignments, and cell formatting.
3. Apply labels that identify the values contained in each row and column.
D. Apply formulas to calculate totals for current sales as well as projected sales.
E. Embed a bar chart that accurately displays the total sales for the current year.
F. Embed a bar chart that accurately displays the projected sales for the next five years.
G. Embed a line graph that accurately displays the desired sales growth over the next five years.