Posted: September 17th, 2015

ANALYSING A SPREADSHEET AND PRESENTING A BUSINESS REPORT

ANALYSING A SPREADSHEET AND PRESENTING A BUSINESS REPORT
Due Date: Sunday September 20, 11:59 pm – 2015
(15% of Final Grade)
Case Study
Colin Hammer, the owner and manager of Hammer Wines, has decided to trial the sale of a new range of fresh fruit juices in May, June and July 2015.  Margaret Brand, the Director of Marketing at Hammer Wines, has obtained agreement to conduct the trial from three 7-Eleven and three Woolworths stores in each state of Australia.  The juices to be sold at Woolworths’ outlets are GOJI WHIP, TRIPLE BERRY MIX, ACAI MIX and BLUBANA.  The 7-Eleven retail outlets will trial the sale of PARADISE, SUMMER SET, TROPICAL BANANA, HAVANA and PALM juices.  All of the juices will only be available in small cartons of 250ml.
A Mobile App has been developed that will enable retail outlets to dispatch fruit juice orders from their smartphones, and Hammer Wines have assured all outlets that use this app that delivery will occur within 24 hours. The Mobile App logs orders and optimises delivery routes using all available jobs/deliveries and a mapping feature. A simple drag-and-drop feature will enable all customer orders to be tracked by both Hammer Wines and the retail outlets that are participating in the trial.
Margaret believes that Woolworths has huge marketing potential for their new juices.   They have, therefore, negotiated with Woolworths and agreed on a wholesale price of $1.00 per 250 ml carton.  (This price includes regular promotions in the Woolworths’ catalogue.)  7-Eleven has agreed to purchase the juices from Hammer Wines for $1.20 per 250 ml carton. Commercial refrigerators and additional (refrigerated) delivery trucks have been leased by Colin, in each state, for the three month trial period.
A spreadsheet has been provided for you that contains the sales data by flavour and by state for each of the new juices sold at Woolworths and 7 Eleven, during the 3 month trial period. Note that the data provided lists the number of 250ml cartons sold.  Colin wants you to analyse the results of the trial, in particular the popularity of each juice (so that he can make decisions about which juice types he should continue to distribute, the viability of setting up permanent distribution centres in each state and whether he should focus his efforts on distributing through one or both of the current retailers).
PREPARING THE BUSINESS REPORT
Report Content
The analysis, findings and recommendations which you prepare for Colin should be outlined in a professional business report.
This report should include:
?    A Title Page – With an appropriate graphic, report title and student name / number.   You should also provide your contact phone number, the course name (Business Computing 1), course number (ISYS2056), your workshop time and your workshop tutors’ names.
?    A Table of Contents (TOC) generated by the word processor.  MSWord default settings for the table of contents should not be altered.
?    A brief Introduction that outlines clearly the purpose of the report.
?    A brief presentation of the analysis you have carried out of the data contained in the spreadsheet.
?    A section that identifies and discusses the results of your analysis.
?    A section that identifies and discusses other factors that may be affecting the results.
?    A short concluding summary of the content of the report.
?    Finally, at least two clear recommendations that Colin can adopt. These recommendations must be drawn from the analysis that you have carried out, and must have been discussed in the body of your report.
Report Format
The report should be developed using MSWord, and presented following the guidelines covered at the ‘Business Communications’ Workshop (see in particular the material in the Pearson Media Library – Communicating Business Problems and Business Solutions>>Consolidation>>Online Business Communication – Report Writing)
Specifically you should:
•    Ensure your report is concise:  1000 words.  This word count includes title page and TOC.   It does not include appendices.  (Note: a 10% variance is acceptable.)
•    Present the report in a professional, business format with no spelling or grammatical errors.
•    Use headings and subheadings throughout the body of the report.
?    Use Times New Roman 12 pitch point font, with 1.5 line spacing.
?    Align text using full justification.
?    Include a page header with a suitably formatted title (the header must not appear on the title page).
?    Include a page footer with your name, id number and page number (the footer must not appear on the title page).
?    Include page numbering that should start on the page where the “Introduction” section of the Business Report commences.
?    Include at least two charts – which you have created – either in the body of your report (appropriately labelled) or as an appendix at the end of the report. The material in the charts must be discussed as part of the paper.
Some Issues to be consider
Some issues to consider when analysing the data:
•    How did the number of juice cartons sold, and the revenue for Hammer Wines, vary/trend during the trial – depending on: (1) the type of juice; (2) the retail outlet; and (3) the state?
•    What other factors may be affecting the results of this 3 month trial?
•    Are there other factors that need to be considered before a final decision is made?