This report is to be done is individually.

• Part A: Given a business problem and data, create visualisations, interpret and report on the outcomes. (20 Marks)

• Part B: Relate the theory that you have learnt in week 5 (Creating an analytics platform: add, build or buy?) and week 7 (How to run a Data Visualisation Project), as well as that from published articles, back to the business problem. (15 Marks)

Business problem: Imagine that you are a newly hired middle manager for an online office supplies company. You have a background in data analytics and so you understand big data issues as well as how to manage an analytics team. Your employer routinely collects sales data from different regions of Australia and the executives of the company have asked you to report on the results for the period 2013 to 2016. This means that the sales data must be analysed, visualised and a report written.

On this occasion you decide to analyse the data for yourself and report to the executives. Given that this is a routine task and analyses should be done preferably every six months, rather than waiting for four years, you want to provide advice on how this task may be done in the future.

In particular, the analysis of sales data could be considered a project and therefore there are implications associated with its management. You might also consider outsourcing the analysis next time, and consequently you would need to consider the risks and costs related to that decision. On the other hand, if you keep the analysis in house, you would need to decide what software to buy/build.

Data set
• Access the sales data file, “DATA4100_Store_Sales.xlsx” on the KBS Student Portal (announcements).

Original Source: TIBCO Spotfire sample data from the US modified to have Australian locations

• The data consists of product details, costs, customers and sales region

Part A: After accessing the data, prepare eight visualisations in order to provide insight to the executives of the company about store sales around Australia from 2013-2016. In constructing the visualisations, consider best practices, such as the use of pre-attentive attributes.
• Write 1000 words interpreting the implications your visualisations have for store sales performance.

Part B: Relate the theory that you have learnt in week 5 and week 7, and published literature, back to this business problem.
• More specifically, detail your options regarding project management considerations, the choice of software (buy or build) for future analyses, risks and costs of the decisions you make.
• This section should be 500 words.
• A minimum of five references is expected. Use Harvard style referencing (see student “Study Support Resources”, scroll to “Referencing and Plagiarism Help”).
• Marks will be allocated for report structure and referencing (see rubric).