Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 1 Computer Applications for Business (6) l Last Week »Storing pictures and sounds »Composite documents – Integration of Excel and Word »Business Cases »Assignment Workshop – everyone should have BaU model l Checkpoint – review of the module so far l This week: »Review of Business Graphics – graphical display of numeric data »Excel: “What if” models; IF and LOOKUP functions »Practical work – Currency Conversion Exercise »Assignment workshop

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 2 Review of the module so far l Operational, Production and Management use of IT l Communications and Decision Support »Finding and using information »Business Communications – documents, letters, faxes, reports »Psychology of business comms – getting your point across »Excel graphs and charts (to be reviewed today) »Electronic Mail considerations l Word-processing »fonts, spelling checkers, grammar checkers, using styles »Layouts and Tables; Inserting things into your document »Creating User Templates; Letters, Reports, Newsletters, etc. l Exploring a Business Case

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 3 The Rest of the Module l Still to Come »Excel: “What if” models; IF and LOOKUP functions »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 l Anything else we should be covering? l What changes are needed? Tell me after the break »Or use the LN forum?

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 4 Handling Numeric Data l We have looked at spreadsheets as a way of recording and modelling business finances l You should already know how to: »Calculate results from a combination of values on the spreadsheet, using + - / * and the functions SUM and AVERAGE »Copy and replicate cells »Format numbers, money and dates »Exploit the way that Excel adjusts row and column addresses when you copy formulae about.... and how to avoid it when it’s undesirable »Create a range of graphs to display data l We need to apply these ideas to business problems

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 5 Business Graphics l Sometimes used to mean “making presentations” »For example, PowerPoint or Freelance Graphics »Covered by Mike Davies for Business Single Honours We’ll consider two main areas: l Representing numerical data graphically »For example, with Excel charting tools »This week’s focus l Visualizing concepts »Done with any drawing tools, including Microsoft Draw (included in Word, Excel and PowerPoint) »For example flowcharts, data relationships

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 6 Forms of chart l Bar 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 l Line graph »Traditional x-y plot »Also supports multiple data series »“Scatter diagram” used for irregular x-axis values l Pie chart – parts of a whole »Visually clear, if rather space-consuming

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 7 Some Choices l Vertical or horizontal bars »Vertical implies “good” (up) and “bad” (down) »Excellent for financial data »Stick to horizontal when you want to avoid value-judgement l 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 l Colours – will you be using a monochrome printer?

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 8 Choosing Chart Variants l Lines and data-points can be: »Shown or omitted »Points can show error-lines to indicate accuracy l Three-dimensional bars »Improves appearance at expense of clarity »Useful when you want to avoid clear comparisons l Exploded Pie »Useful to put focus on a particular component »(or to obscure) »Pies can also have hollow middles (doughnuts)

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 9 An Aside on Dates l Newspapers thought the “Year 2000” problem was about 2-digit years in programs »Reasonably true for Mainframe Computers »Not a significant problem for PC users l Spreadsheets store dates as offset from 1900 »Unless you deliberately subvert this! »What you see is just a result of formatting l All these are different formats for “10 March 2003” »Exercise – Work out how produce these formats for today Mar-03Mar-033/10/0303/10/03 10-MarMarch 10, 03March 0310/3/0310/03/03 10 MarchMarch 10, 2003March /3/200310/03/2003

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 10 Excel Functions l We’ve already met SUM(range) and AVERAGE(range) l Other useful functions are: »TODAY() gives today’s date »NOW() gives current date and time (useful on print-out) »WEEKDAY(somedate) gives day in range 1:7 (Sun=1) »WEEKDAY(somedate,2) gives day in range 1:7 (Mon=1) l Logical Functions: »IF(test, value-if-true, value-if-false) for example IF(3=(WEEKDAY(TODAY())),"BS1904","Other") l Table Look-up »Given the table »LOOKUP(WEEKDAY(TODAY(),2),A6:G6,A7:G7) returns “Monday” or “Tuesday” if it is

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 11 More Complex Functions l Right-click and use Save Target As to download feedback.xls from this module’s home page – you can go straight there at: [item removed][item removed] l This is how your predecessors’ feedback was summarized l Open the spreadsheet: »Say No when offered chance to Update links »Look around E10 on the BS1904 sheet to see how the COUNTIF function can be used to analyse surveys l Financial Functions »Excel also contains a set of functions for Mortgages and Annuities (like the PMT function you need for assignment) »Not very intuitive – make sure you get reasonable results

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 12 Financial Functions l Think what a mortgage is »Fixed payment, usually monthly »Payment covers interest, and pays off a bit of the loan »So each month the interest falls a bit & capital payment grows – mainly interest at the start, capital by the end l So we need to know »Initial value of loan (and any left at the end) »Number of payment periods »Interest rate (per payment period) »Size of payment l If you know all but one, you can find the other »PMT function lets you find PayMenT

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 13 Practical l Currency Converter from Knight, as described in your handout l Key issues: »Use of VLOOKUP »Cell Protection »Use of background shading to identify inputs and outputs l When you can do this, you can achieve most Excel benefits

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 14 Module Assignment l You should now be competent with: »Microsoft Word and Excel »Laying out logical letters and reports l Goal of assignment is to get 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 projected cash-flow l You should by now all the skills needed to do it all »Please raise now any areas of uncertainty

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 15 “What If” models l Consider impact of choices or potential changes »Such as mortgage interest rate »Or contingencies like delays in the building l Note: Contingencies are not options they are (usually bad) things you have to take account of Two approaches – both are useful l Vary some of the assumed values, such as »Interest rate, total cost, sales volumes »This lets you see what matters l Produce a copy sheet and vary key aspects »In assignment, a key one is duration of building work »Others could be economic factors (anybody’s guess)

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 16 Assignment Workshop l Once you have Business as Usual revenue over 6 years, Work out the equivalent revenue if project goes ahead l For this you need to evaluate »Impact of building period »Mortgage payments (apply to 60 months) »Reasonable occupancy percentages of the 140 rooms (this is where you can apply some business judgement) l Then compare revenues from “Do it” and BaU »Only the extra revenue can justify the investment »Cumulative extra revenue tells you when it breaks even »Final cumulative extra is total gain from the project l What does a graph of cumulative extra revenue look like?

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 17 Submitting your Spreadsheet l Please look at the Assignment on the Learning Network, and read the notes on Electronic Submission l Key points are: »File names must start with your account name… »…followed by _ and the code for the module (BS1904) »You can choose the rest of the name, for example: F.J.Nerk_BS1904_fred1.xls l If the files don’t start with your account, the credit for your work could go to the wrong person l You can try it out by creating a suitable file and submitting it as an answer to the “Test of Prior Knowledge” l We’ll cover Turnitin (for the report) next week

Computer Applications for Business – Week 6 18 Any More mid-semester Feedback? Or other matters to raise