ANALYSING A SPREADSHEET AND PRESENTING A BUSINESS REPORT
Due Date: Saturday April 28, 2018 - 11:59 pm
(20% of Final Grade)
Case Study
Pink Lady Apple Orchard is a small family run orchard in Red Hill, Victoria. Jacinta and Pete own the property, which includes 50 hectares of apple plantings.
As the market price of apples sold to supermarkets and fruit shops has decreased in the past few years, causing business to stagnate, Pete and Jacinta have decided to use some of their apple supply to produce their own range of apple based products.
They have set up a small market stall at the orchard where they sell products directly to the public. They also have a regular stand at local markets. The number of customers is growing as word of mouth spreads. In an effort to further expand they have negotiated with a number of small retailers to stock their products. Recently they also employed a systems developer, who set up a website which enables them to market their products online and sell directly to the public.
In a further effort to expand sales Jacinta organised to have their products advertised on a number of ‘shopping deal’ sites. Each site charged an upfront fee of $500.00. The Pink Lady Apple Orchard’s ‘deal’ was advertised for two weeks. The orchard offered 30% off any sale made through the deal site. After deducting a further 5% commission on sales the ‘deal’ site passed the order and the payment onto the organisation. Jacinta then processed the order and delivered the products to the customer. Jacinta hoped that by offering this deal more customers would be attracted to their products.
Jacinta and Pete have always delivered goods free of charge to their wholesale customers. However, with increased sales they are concerned about the increased courier charges. Pete has decided that by charging 15% delivery charge on each retail order he can recoup all the delivery charges.
As Jacinta and Pete are already busy attending to the apple orchard they have employed Ruby, a local resident, two mornings a week (8 hours) to attend to all online orders.
Although the number of orders is increasing, Jacinta is concerned that maybe not all products sell well enough to continue production. She has been experimenting with different flavours and products, including a new recipe for “Spicy Apple Chips”. Maybe she should change products or delete some products. She does not want unwanted stock accumulating in the storage sheds. She believes that the ‘special deals’ she has advertised for January/February will certainly help sales, but is concerned that she has made a bad decision with regard to profitability.
Jacinta has set up a spreadsheet. She has asked you to complete any relevant calculations and to use excel ‘tools’ to analyse the data she has given you. She then requires you to provide a business report with regards to the effectiveness of the recently implemented online ordering system, and in particular both the overall popularity and profitability of their products and the success of the recent ‘deals’ campaigns. After analysing the relevant data she wants you to consider the options with regard to future sales and to alert her to other factors that need to be considered before a final decision can be made. She is interested in reading your recommendations with regard to online sales.
A spreadsheet has been provided for you containing the sales data for January to April.
PREPARING THE BUSINESS REPORT
Report Content
The analysis, findings and recommendations which you prepare for Jacinta and Pete should be outlined in a professional business report.
This report should include:
? A Title Page – With a relevant graphic, report title, student name/ number, course name (Business Computing 1), course number (ISYS2056), your workshop time and your workshop tutors’ names.
? A Table of Contents (TOC) generated by Microsoft Word. 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 and a discussion regarding the results of this analysis
? A discussion regarding the results of your analysis.
? Identification/discussion regarding other factors that may need to be considered before a final decision can be made.
? A short concluding summary of the content of the report. Just answer the question mention that in introduction, don’t conclude new stuff.
? Finally, at least two clear recommendations that Jacinta and Pete 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 the guidelines covered in the Pearson etext – Chapter 8 Online Business Communication Workshop Consolidation Learning Activities Online Business Communication – CLA.pdf
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 appropriate headings and subheadings throughout the body of the report.
? 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 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.
? In an appendix include screen shots of any calculations which you have used to assist in your analysis.
Report Submission
The Business Report must be submitted, in MS Word format, by Saturday April 28, 11:59 pm, via the Turnitin link provided in the “Assignments” area on the ISYS2056 Business Computing 1 site on Canvas. A Student Guide to submission using Turnitin is available at:
http://mams.rmit.edu.au/scs6qq1t7vd0z.pdf