Purpose:

In this project, you will work in your group to develop deliverables in Microsoft Excel using data provided in tabular format. This project is intended as a learning activity $($objectives below$)$ and not just an assessment activity.

Background $/$ Scenario:

Green$-$Life Outfitters $($GLO$)$ is an online retailer that manufactures and sells outdoor and camping equipment direct to consumers. The company was founded in $2007$ by graduates of Michigan State University$$s Eli Broad College of Business. Fostering their entrepreneurial spirit and business knowledge gained during their tenure at the university, the founders had a vision of creating an organization focused on promoting a lifestyle of less screen time and more time enjoying the outdoors. They created a corporate culture of innovation and giving back to the community. Twenty$-$five percent of all year$-$end profits are donated to charities and programs that promote outdoor activities for youths, particularly in neighborhoods that have household incomes below the national average.

You have been recently hired into the organization as a business analyst. Your manager is extremely excited to have you join the team, as the organization has been slow to adopt technology and leverage analytics for decision$-$making. Most of their decisions have been made based upon gut instinct. Although they collect a lot of information about the business, they have not had the skillsets internally to use the information to drive more value in their decision making. They are excited to have someone onboard with the digital skills you learned during your time at MSU.

The company has been using a cloud$-$based accounting and business management software package that tracks all the aspects of the company. Access to data and reports has been limited to those provided by the software vendor.

Objectives:

$$ Use the skills you have learned in Microsoft Excel to analyze data and present the results to upper management.

$$ Apply your critical thinking and problem$-$solving skills to explore a dataset built from related elements of data the company has collected.

$$ Use your creativity to develop a unique solution based upon collaboration from your team members.

$$ Gain experience working in an exploratory situation with open$-$ended instructions that does not have a single $$correct$$ answer. Each team will have a unique solution $/$ analysis and conclusions.

$$ Work in a team environment to further develop soft skills related to teamwork, leadership, project management, communications, and time management.

Materials $/$ Tools Needed:

$$ Excel spreadsheet provided management containing sales and related data.

o Management worked with an outside consultant to obtain sales data for a range of dates from the databases that record the operations of the business. This has been provided in tabular format across multiple worksheets in Microsoft Excel.

o Internal knowledge of the data in the worksheets is low, as prior to now the folks in the company had little to no access to the data without going into individual transactions or using pre$-$built reports that came with their accounting and business management software suite they use.

Tasks to Perform:

$1)$ Create a diagram that displays each of the tables $($i$.$e$.,$ worksheets $-$ such as customers$)$ of data and shows how they are all interconnected.

a$.$ This only requires the table names and connections.

b$.$ In group project part $2,$ your group will have the opportunity to add primary keys, foreign keys, and relationships.

c$.$ This may be complete in whatever application your team determines to be the best fit. Your submission should be saved as a PDF for the final product.

$2)$ Analyze the data to identify five $(5)$ trends or interesting conclusions that you think management would find interesting. Summarize and describe these in one or more worksheets.

Each worksheet should be formatted as if you were presenting this to management, including those responsible for evaluating your performance in your job role. This request was intentionally open$-$ended, since management previously had not had direct access to the data without looking at individual transactions from their accounting software. One of management$$s goals is to observe how you perform when dealing with ambiguity in your new role with the company. In creating the worksheet$($s$),$ you must use the following at least once $($or more if specified$)$:

a$.$ Summary worksheet containing a list of every worksheet and the purpose

i$.$ The summary should have links that are clickable to take you to the relevant worksheet

ii$.$ At the top of each page, include a link that says, $$Return to Summary$$ and links back to the summary page

iii. A table that lists items $\{$b$\}\{$e$\}$ below and links to where you utilized each in your workbook

b$.$ Pivot Table

c$.$ Three $(3)$ charts, each of a different type $($such as line, area chart, pie chart, bubble chart, bar chart, etc.$)$

d