Computer Applications for Business Last Week – Spreadsheets “What if” models Useful Excel functions – IF. Checkpoint – review of the module so far This week: LOOKUP The module assignment Business Graphics – Representing numerical data graphically

Review of the Module So far we have covered: Operational, Production and Management use of IT Communications and Decision Support Finding and using information Business Comms – documents, letters, faxes, reports Psychology of business comms – getting your point across Word-processing fonts, styles, spelling checkers, grammar checkers Using Styles in MS Word Layouts and Tables; Inserting things into your document Templates; Newsletters, Brochures Digital Imaging Electronic Mail considerations Excel: “What if” models; IF and LOOKUP functions

The Rest of the Module Still to Come Business Graphics – showing numerical data graphically Introduction to Databases: Goals of a database; Simple “Works” and cardfile DBs. Single-table Access Practical The Relational model; Relating multiple tables in Access Mail-merge – using the data with a word-processor Mail-merging with a spreadsheet or word-processor table Publishing on the Internet Identifying areas missed Questionnaire design Anything Else we should be covering? What changes are needed?

Module Assignment You should now be competent with: Microsoft Word and Excel Laying out logical letters and reports Goal of assignment is to apply your skills to a business problem Use Excel to explore a business case Build a report to “sell” your conclusions to management The report will be a composite document including a spread-sheet to show appropriate figures Don’t worry if there are parts of this you can’t yet do We will address any problems over the next few weeks

Suggested Approach First make up your own mind Analyse the proposal Cost it out month-by-month on a spread-sheet Compare cash-flow for “do proposal” & “do nothing” cases Estimate the risk – how sensitive is cash-flow to minor errors in your assumptions? Then write a report that convinces the reader Management summary Body of Report No need to produce an appendix this time

Report Structure Management summary (write this last) Body of Report Your recommendation and what it does for the business Body of Report Current situation Proposed changes Effect of changes on the business (backed up with your spreadsheet) Assumptions you've made and why Impact of changed assumptions Risk to business from delay or cost overrun Possible beneficial changes and their value “What if” spreadsheets can help here

Potential Added Goodies Graphical representations Instead of just showing list of figures .. produce bar-chart of monthly revenue/expense .. with line showing cumulative cash-flow Any other ideas? See Edward Tufte’s book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information in the Library

We’ll consider two main areas: Business Graphics Sometimes used to mean “making presentations” For example, PowerPoint or Freelance Graphics We’ll consider two main areas: Representing numerical data graphically For example, with Excel charting tools This week’s focus Visualizing concepts Done with any drawing tools, including Microsoft Draw (included in Word, Excel and PowerPoint) For example flowcharts, data relationships

Forms of chart Bar chart Line graph Pie chart Rectangular block with height proportional to value Excellent for presenting observations Can present multiple series of data by having several bars for each (x-axis) point Bars can be stacked, side-by-side or proportional Horizontal or vertical bars Line graph Traditional x-y plot Also supports multiple data series “Scatter diagram” used for irregular x-axis values Pie chart Visually clear, if rather space-consuming

Some Choices Vertical or horizontal bars Axis ranges Vertical implies “good” (up) and “bad” (down) Excellent for financial data Stick to horizontal when you want to avoid value-judgement Axis ranges Start y-axis at zero to show proportions “Brand X is only half as good as we are” Start higher to focus on absolute differences You could make Brand X look even worse by concealing the bottom third of the axis! Need to do this when tracking small changes in big values

Choosing Chart Variants Lines and data-points can be: Shown or omitted Points can show error-lines to indicate accuracy Three-dimensional bars Improves appearance at expense of clarity Useful when you want to avoid clear comparisons Exploded Pie Useful to put focus on a particular component (or to obscure)

Questions ?