Overview
Data measurement is an important aspect of data analytics. Identifying trends in key attributes of data is a fundamental measurement for various aspects in business data and an important skill for business professionals. In this scenario, you are a business consultant trainee assigned to work with your first client, a superstore. The superstore is looking to see if there are specific trends that could be identified to help them improve their operations and sales and grow their business. You will report to your company’s vice president of operations. Periodically, you will be expected to apply your training and submit a deliverable to the vice president.
The superstore has provided you with a data set, Superstore Excel Workbook, that contains data about orders over a span of three to four years. They have asked you to calculate measures of central tendency of their data using the mean, mode, and median for the following attributes: sales, quantity, discount, and profit. This will provide you with a snapshot of the data to begin your analysis. As a business consultant, you need to be able to look at data and understand what it presents for analysis.
You will first explain the data and its attributes in a short report. Once you have created a table and calculated the central tendency, you will produce visual representations for the superstore to effectively and efficiently gain helpful insights into their data and its attributes. To accomplish this task, you will create charts to present the descriptive analysis you performed. You will continue to delve further into your analysis for this superstore throughout the course.
Prompt
For this assignment, calculate the central tendency of the superstore data set using the mean, median, and mode. You will also create multiple charts to present the descriptive analysis you performed.
Explain the data and its key attributes.
Describe your general observations of the sales, quantity, discount, and profit attributes and their relationship to other attributes within the data set.
For example, if you are describing sales, what trends across other attributes are you seeing (sales as they relate to region, sales as they relate to product category, etc.)?
Create a table to represent the central tendency: mean, median, and mode for each attribute.
Use the provided Superstore Excel Workbook to complete this step.
The table should be created in the Descriptive_Stats worksheet.
Your table should have three columns: Mean, Median, and Mode.
Include a row for each attribute: Sales, Quantity, Discount, and Profit.
Calculate the mean, median, and mode for each attribute.
Create multiple charts to represent the key attributes of the data.
Use the Superstore Excel Workbook to complete this step.
The charts should be created in the Basic_Charts worksheet.
You should create a trend chart, a pie chart, and a column chart.
Each chart should have two attributes. You can choose any two attributes from sales, quantity, discount, and profit.
Guidelines for Submission
Superstore Excel Workbook: Submit the Excel workbook. This should include two worksheets: Descriptive_Stats and Basic_Charts.
Short report: Submit a Word document using double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. This assignment should be 1 to 2 pages in length. If references are included, they should be cited in APA format. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations.
Criteria Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Explanation: Data and Key Attributes
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner
Explains the data and its key attributes
Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include explaining data and its attributes with greater detail and insight
Does not attempt criterion
30
Create Table: Central Tendency
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner
Creates a table that represents the central tendency for each attribute
Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include calculating the mean, median, and mode for each attribute
Does not attempt criterion
30
Create Charts: Key Attributes
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner
Creates multiple charts to represent the key attributes of the data
Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include creating multiple charts to represent all key attributes of the data
Does not attempt criterion
30
Articulation of Response
Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, sophisticated, or creative manner
Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling
Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling
Submission has critical errors in grammar, sentence structure, and spelling
10
Total
100%
