201019 Business Analytics in Practice Q 3 2020
The Scenario:
In this real-life project, you are required to design a Visual Atlas of the Import/Export Trade in Endangered Species, taking into account decision-making needs of three different design personas, as specified below.
Design personas are different types of users grouped together into the so-called “archetypes” (Godwin, 2009). Archetypes are typically built/designed after in-depth observations and interviews of potential users. The resulting persona is designed to represent a fictional (but believable) character whose profile sums up the features of a whole (existing) group of similar users (Godwin, 2009). Therefore, each persona represents much more than a typical user.
Personas are often named (e.g. “Professor Peter Jackson”) to emphasise human-centred design thinking. However, they do not represent a single (named) user but cumulative characteristics of a group of people whose needs have been considered.
Your tasks:
Step 1: Design of personas
You are required to design three personas to represent three groups of users:
• “United Nations Susan” – Susan works for the UN and is keen to improve policy on wildlife trade
• _“Not for Profit – Wildlife Protection Charity: David” – David works for a charity similar to the WWF for nature. https://www.worldwildlife.org/ David has limited resources to focus on one area of wildlife trade.
• _“Retail Annie” – Annie works for a major department store in Australia in public relations. They sell many products including clothing, furniture, cosmetics, handbags, alternative medicines and fashion accessories, which use exotic animal products from many species.
Perform further research into the personas and decision needs and then describe each persona using the template shown by Figure 1. For each persona you are required to state three non-trivial questions they will be able to answer by using your DV application. For example, a question such as “What endangered species are imported into Australia” is considered to be trivial. On the other hand, non-trivial questions involve more than one dimension (see Step 2) and ideally have a potential to offer something interesting, insightful and even unexpected.
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201019 Business Analytics in Practice Q 3 2020
Persona < name of persona> e.g Professor Niemeyer
Role e.g University Professor
Context of work < describe the societal context/ work/ role of this persona. Why
Key activities would this application be of interest?
(e.g.
Professor Niemeyer is concerned that business development
and the unending focus on $$ reduces students to seeing
through “tiny eyes”
– Wants students to see the day-to-day as impacting the world
– Values not aligned with a reasonable future
DV Questions Three questions Professor Dirk would use the system to answer
or demonstrate.
Question 1:
Question 2:
Question 3:
Figure 1: An Example Design Template
Step 2: Analyse and Harvest Data
In this step you need to analyse data-related needs of all personas in order to design a single multi-dimensional (MD) model of your data set, using the notation introduced in this unit.
Guided by your MD model, you need to “harvest” data i.e. download .xls file from vUWS. The Excel file needs to show metadata of your multi-dimensional model.
Note that Steps 1 and 2 are often iterative rather than sequential steps. In other words, design of your MD model and data collection in Step 1, may inspire new possibilities of interesting questions in Step 1, leading to additional data being collected (Step 2)
Step 3: Design of a DV application to answer the stated questions
Using the Excel file from Step 3 import your data set into Tableau.
Then proceed to use data visualisation features of Tableau to answer all questions for the three personas, as stated in your design templates (in Step 1).
Note that Step 3 may initiate another cycle of iterative design, prompting you to go back to Steps 1 and 2 in order to expand or refine them.
Step 4: Lessons learned
Summarise your lessons learned in this project. Describe any data quality issues that you encountered in this project. If relevant, describe any potential data quality issues that may need to be considered in the future. Also focus on data visualisation experience and potential applications in other domains.
Deliverables: Group report and Tableau file
Tableau file created in this project needs to be uploaded and stored under your Group folder.
These files will be used to verify and assess your work.
Group reports submitted without Tableau files will not be marked.
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201019 Business Analytics in Practice Q 3 2020
Important: Please do not submit your Tableau file to Turnitin, upload Tableau file to a folder provide separately on vUWS.
Your group report needs to be submitted through Turnitin and should include the following components:
1. Introduction – a brief description of your project and its envisaged value for different communities of users (e.g. Why would anyone use your DV application?)
2. Design templates for three personas (i.e. 3 tables) clearly showing the corresponding non-trivial questions (Step 1)
3. A multi-dimensional model of your data set (one model), shown as Figure 1, with all attributes listed and clearly defined in a separate table (Step 2)
4. Visual answers for all stated questions (Step 3) – please use print-screen to capture your resulting visualisations and provide them as Figures (one per question).
For example:
4.1. Persona “United Nations Susan”
4.1.1. Question 1:
Visual Answer:
Figure A: A visual answer showing …
Brief summary of results and their meaning
4.1.2. Question 2:
Visual Answer:
Figure B: A visual answer showing …
Brief summary of results and their meaning
4.1.3. Question 3:
Visual Answer:
Figure 3: A visual answer showing….
Brief summary of results and their meaning
4.1.4. Include a summative paragraph outlining some recommendations based on the previous data driven analysis (questions 1-3) to help each persona achieve their goals. 4.2. Persona “Not for Profit – Wildlife Protection Charity: David”
4.2.1. Question
5. Conclusion: Summarise your lessons learned in this project (Step 4)
6. References
Assessment criteria for the Group Report (total 30 marks):
Clear detailed problem analysis, well-designed design thinking personas Quality of questions for each persona
Clear, correct and well-designed multidimensional model Well prepared and complete data set
Well designed and appropriate visual answers to the stated questions
Evidence of a deeper level learning and independent thinking, as evident from the stated lessons learned.
Individual contribution to, and support for team work
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201019 Business Analytics in Practice Q 3 2020
Professional standards of overall presentation and consistent and detailed referencing style.
Please comply with the Academic Honesty and plagiarism guidelines as set out in the unit outline and note the penalties for late assignments.
Goodwin, K. (2009), Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-centered Products and Services, John Wiley & Sons).
Best wishes for a very successful project!
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