MBA 504 Milestone 1

Overview

Data measurement is an important aspect of data analytics. Identifying trends in key attributes of data is a fundamental measurement for various aspects of business data and an important skill for business professionals.

Scenario

You have been hired as a consultant by TC Ice Cream. As part of its expansion plan, TC Ice Cream wants to limit the number of flavors that they sell and only focus on those that are the most profitable. You will do an analysis of two flavors for a specific division and determine which flavor should be kept and which should be removed.

• Option A: Keep Flavor One
• Option B: Keep Flavor Two

The TC Ice Cream management team has tasked you with doing an in-depth analysis to determine which of the two options will be the most profitable, given the monthly advertising expense of $5,000. Use the division that you selected in Module Two and select two flavors to make your recommendation. Consider the TC Ice Cream data set that contains data about quantity sold, advertising expenses, flavor rating, social media posts, and event promotions.

• You will use the same division and the same two flavors throughout the remainder of the course.
• Keep in mind that the WEST NORTH CENTRAL division cannot be used for your analysis.

Your work here in Phase One is to do a current trend analysis, which will help you test your initial hypothesis as to which ice cream flavor has the most sales. You will use the work here as a foundation for Phase Two (in Milestone Two).

Once you have completed the visualizations for the two flavors you selected, you will create a PowerPoint presentation analyzing the data.

Prompt

For this assignment, you will analyze the data from the TC Ice Cream data set and identify trends and patterns. You will submit an analysis report in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. You will also create multiple charts to present the descriptive analysis you performed.

Within the , you will use the sheets Flavor One Analysis and Flavor Two Analysis to create your visualizations. Select two flavors within the division you selected in Module Two.

Complete the following visualizations for each flavor. The visualizations for Flavor One should be completed in the Flavor One Analysis sheet and the visualizations for Flavor Two should be completed in the Flavor Two Analysis sheet. It is recommended that you use pivot table filtering to filter the data to the specific division and flavor you have selected.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

• Excel Workbook
  • Present the key descriptive statistics for the five quantitative variables in a table (quantity sold, advertising expenses, flavor rating, social media posts, and event promotions). The key descriptive statistics include the mean, median, standard deviation, and range.
  • Analyze the TC Ice Cream data to identify trends and patterns for the two flavors you have selected. For each flavor, create the following visualizations.
    • Create a line chart (also known as a trend chart) using the qualitative variable Date and the quantitative variable Quantity Sold to provide a visualization displaying quantity sold by month.
    • Create a line chart (also known as a trend chart) using the qualitative variable Date and the quantitative variable Flavor Rating (average) to provide a visualization displaying flavor rating (average) by year/quarter/month.
    • Create a combo chart using the qualitative variable Date (x-axis) and the quantitative variables: Quantity Sold (clustered column) and Advertising expenditures (line – secondary axis).
    • Create a combo chart using the qualitative variable Date (x-axis) and the quantitative variables: Quantity Sold (clustered column) and total Social Medial Posts and Event Promotions (line – secondary axis). Hint: create a pivot table variable to sum the social media posts and event promotions.
    • Create a box and whiskers chart using the qualitative variable Quantity Sold. This will help identify any outliers in the quantity sold data.
    • Create a histogram for the quantitative variable Flavor Rating. It is recommended to use the data analysis add-in and the analysis tool Histogram to create the data for the visualization.
• PowerPoint Presentation
  Using the Milestone One PowerPoint Template, complete the following:
  • Outliers: Identify any outliers that you see and explain how they have an impact on the overall trends. Outliers are the data points that can have an impact on your averages and basic descriptive analysis.
  • Analysis: Form and explain your initial hypothesis based on your analysis of the charts and trends in Excel.
    • Analyze the histogram of the flavor ratings for each flavor you selected.
    • Which option (Option A or Option B) would you choose at this point in your analysis, given the monthly expense of $5,000?
    • Why did you choose your selected attributes?
    • Describe any relationships or trends you observed while conducting your analysis.
    • Your presentation should include key visualizations and analysis to support your report.

What to Submit

• TC Ice Cream Excel Workbook: Submit the . For this assignment, work should be completed in the Flavor One Analysis and Flavor Two Analysis sheets. Do not remove any sheets from the workbook.
• PowerPoint Presentation: Submit a PowerPoint presentation using the . Any sources should be cited in APA format. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations.

Milestone One Rubric