ISYS3014 Business Analytics Techniques
Assignment 02
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ABOUT THE ASSIGNMENT
This Assignment is worth 35% of your final marks for the unit. It is an INDIVIDUAL assignment and will be checked using TurnItIn.
Students may use Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) software to generate some ideas. However, students will need to put in extra effort to ensure that the work is of an acceptable university academic level. Where Gen-AI has been used, a statement about the nature and extent of use should be presented in Section C, and a copy of text generated by Gen-AI must be attached as an appendix.
In this assignment, you are being asked to conduct an analysis on a given dataset that will demonstrate a range of business analytics techniques.
Assessment extension is permitted on application as per the instructions in the Unit Outline.
Late submission is permitted for this assignment and the student does not have an approved assessment extension:
1. For assessment items submitted with the first 24 hours after due date/time, students will be penalised by a reduction of 5% of the total marks allocated for the assessment task (i.e., 5% of 35 is 1.75)
2. For each additional 24-hour period commenced an additional penalty of 10% of the total marks allocated for the assessment item will be deducted; and
3. Assessment items submitted more than 168 hours late (7 calendar days) will receive a mark of zero.
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LEARNING OUTCOMES
This assignment assesses the following Unit Learning Outcomes:
1. Develop models (financial, statistical, forecasting and simulation) to solve business problems
2. Analyse business data using models, queries and reports, and contemporary software
ASSIGNMENT TASK
The company where you are employed as a Business Analyst is currently planning its strategy for the next 5-year period, commencing 2025. To prepare for this, the senior leadership team has asked your team to provide answers to several questions.
To assist with this, you have been provided with several datasets containing data about the following:
- Sales
- Customers
- Products
- Salespeople, and
- Stores
Your initial investigation of the dataset revealed the following:
- All currency amounts are:
o Recorded in the same currency, and
o Have been adjusted for inflation across years where required.
- Each row in the Sales spreadsheet represents a sale of a Product to a Customer.
o The sale is made at a Store and delivered from a Warehouse.
o Each sale lists the Order Quantity (of the Product) sold at an Item Price (the Item Price can vary for each sale).
o The Total Gross Sale amount is the Order Quantity multiplied by the Item Price.
o Salespeople, who are located in regions, are responsible for arranging the sale.
- There is a Discount Band which applies to each sale. The following discounts are applied depending on the Discount Band as shown in the table below. The amount of the Discount is calculated by multiplying the Total Gross Sale by the Discount Band percentage:
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Band
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% of Total Gross Sale
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None
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0%
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Low
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0.4%
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Medium
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0.5%
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High
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1.1%
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o The Total Net Sale Amount is the Total Gross Sale minus the Discount.
o COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) is the total costs that have been incurred in completing the sale.
o The Profit is the Total Net Sale minus COGS.
o Each product has a category.
o Each sale has a customer.
Please post questions about this assignment to the discussion forum on Blackboard.
WHAT TO DO?
A. Use PowerBI Desktop to transform. the given data and create visualisations that will help to answer each of the following five questions:
1. What are the top 3 product categories by total net sales amount for each of the years 2020, 2021 and 2022?
2. Are there months in which sales of a particular product are significantly higher than others?
3. Which salesperson has the highest profit margin in each region?
4. Which warehouse(s) should be shut down, and why?
5. What is the relationship between total sales to a customer and the profit generated by that customer?
B. Write an explanation (no more than 1 page) of how your visualisation (or visualisations) addresses each of the questions (i.e., five explanations of no more than 1 page each). You should include a screenshot (or screenshots) of your visualisation(s) for the question and refer to it/them in your explanation. Note that screenshots do not count toward the 1 page for that question. If you make any assumptions about the question, you should list and explain them here. Your visualisation(s) should be included as part of the explanation.
C. Write an explanation of how you transformed the data in PowerBI desktop prior to your analysis. This should be detailed enough for someone not familiar with the data sets to be able to repeat your transformations. You can assume that the person you are writing this for is familiar with Power BI. It should include details of any changes you make to the structure of the original dataset and any additional columns or measures you create to complete the analyses. The length of this section will depend on the number and nature of changes you make; however, explanation of each transformation should be no more than ½ page, not including any screenshots. Please note, this is focused on your data transformation, not the processes for creating your charts or tables.
· If you make use of Gen-AI in this assignment:
o You should include a statement in this section about the nature and extent of use, and
o Include a copy of the text generated by the Gen-AI tool as an appendix.
WHAT TO SUBMIT?
- PowerBI file that includes the transformed data and visualisations.
- Word document that includes the following:
o Explanation for each of the five questions
o Explanation of data transformation process
o A statement about the nature and extent of use of Gen-AI (if applicable) and a copy of the text generated by the Gen-AI tool.
HOW WILL IT BE MARKED?
- Visualisations (40%):
o Relevance (15)
§ Does the visualisation allow for analysis of the question to be conducted?
o Appropriateness of visualisation choice (5)
§ Is the type of visualisation chosen appropriate for the analysis being performed?
o Clarity of visualisation (10)
§ Has the visualisation been designed in such a way to clearly show the analysis and relevant data points?
o Use of visual elements to draw attention (10)
§ Has the visualisation been designed in such a way to take advantage of pre-attentive attributes and the Gestalt principles of visual perception?
- Explanation (40%):
o Analysis (25)
§ Does the explanation explain how it addresses the question?
o Presentation (15)
§ Is the explanation presented clearly and logically?
§ Do any visualisations included add to the narrative?
- Data Transformation (20%):
o Clarity (10)
§ Is the transformation process presented clearly and logically?
o Repeatability (10)
§ Is the transformation process presented in such a way to be easily repeatable?