You have recently been employed by Café On The Sea (COTS) as a data analyst. COTS is a chain of caffes located on seaside cities around the UK

Data-Driven Decisions for Business

Coursework Assessment Brief

Submission mode: Turnitin online access

1. General Assessment Guidance

• Your summative assessment for this module is made up of this 2500-word submission, which accounts for 100% of your final module mark.
• A total of 100 marks are available for this module assessment and you are required to achieve minimum 50% to pass this module.
• The deadline for submission is shown on the submission link. Please note late submissions will not be marked.
• You are required to submit all elements of your assessment in one Word document, via The Hub
• Assessment area. Only submissions made via the specified mode will be accepted and hard copies or any other digital form of submissions (such as via email or pen drive etc.) will not be accepted.
• For coursework, the submission word limit is 2500 words, excluding your list of references. You must comply with the word count guidelines. You may submit LESS than 2500 words but not more. Word Count guidelines can be found on the assessments tab of your module.
• Do not put your name or contact details anywhere on your submission. You should only put your student registration number (SRN) which will ensure your submission is recognised in the marking process.
• You are required to use only the Harvard Referencing System in your submission. Any content which is already published by other author(s) and is not referenced will be considered as a case of plagiarism.
• You can find further information on Harvard Referencing in the online library on The Hub (Found in Help & Support)
• BPP University has a strict policy regarding the authenticity of assessments. In proven instances of plagiarism or collusion, severe punishment will be imposed on offenders. You are advised to read the rules and regulations regarding plagiarism and collusion in the GARs and MOPP which are available on  The Hub in the Academic registry section (Found via Help & Support).
• You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission without this completed Assignment Cover sheet may be considered invalid and not marked.

2. Assessment Brief

2.1. Assessment of learning outcomes

This assessment is designed to gauge your understanding, skills and application of common data analysis techniques used in business and other organisations today. As such you need to demonstrate your attainment in these areas according to the four Module Learning Outcomes (LOs):

• LO1: Critically evaluate the evolving use of data in solving business problems, presenting logical arguments based on evidence
• LO2: Explore how data analytics can be used within a business context
• LO3: Critically appraise the presentation of data within a business environment
• LO4: Critically evaluate different business analytical techniques as part of planning a data analytics initiative.

2.2.Scenario

You have recently been employed by Café On The Sea (COTS) as a data analyst. COTS is a chain of caffes located on seaside cities around the UK. It was established 15 years ago with vision to bring in the UK the relaxing environment found in caffes around Italy and France coasts. COTS has grown successfully with a chain of 15 cafes in locations such as Poole, Newquay, Southampton, Portsmouth and Plymouth.

As COTS expands, it continues to increase its data analytic roles with the organisation to strengthening its strategic decision-making capabilities. The recruitment strategy is to employ young professionals with strategic and data analytics skills willing to provide COTS top management with strong evidence-based foundation for their business decisions. They like recruits to have a broad management experience combine with strong academic background. Your MSc Management degree at BPP University was a key element in their decision to recruit you.

As part of the induction process at COTS, you have joined the Corporate Strategy Department as junior dada analyst. Your manager requested you to complete a number of tasks to ensure that you have a grounded knowledge and understanding of data analytics and its application in decision- making. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your capability and give your employer the confidence to let you run your own project in the future.

As part of your first duties, your manager asked you to join the team in charge of the development of the 3-Year Strategic Plan for the company. The team is analysing different options for growth, which include expanding abroad, new product development and diversification into new business areas. However, it makes sense to define the strategy based on these options only if the current business model does not provide the expansion and growth opportunities expected by the top management. So, you have been given the responsibility to analyse COTS current business performance.

Your job will be to analyse the performance of the best three coffee shops of the company located one in Poole, one in Plymouth and one in Newquay. COTS has experienced strong competition in

these cities from coffee chains such as Costa, Café Nero, Pret A Manger and Starbucks. So, the performance of these shops is a good indication of the current overall market position of the company. 

2.3.Research objectives and tasks

The Corporate Strategy Manager, who is leading the 3-Year Strategic Plan project, is interested in understanding the options available for a local expansion strategy, including increase the size of the shops. For this purpose, he wants you to:

Issue 1: Perform a sales value and volume analysis of the three coffee shops to identify the best shops to invest for future expansion.

As part of the analysis, the Marketing Manager is considering options to increase the return from his marketing budget by better targeting the core market segments the company serves with promotion campaigns. Currently customers are grouped into six market segments:

• single professional/working people,
• young married couples,
• married couples with children (e.g. families),
• young people (e.g. students),
• tourists and
• retired people.

In order to increase the return of investment of the marking function, the Marketing Manager wants to target COTS’s promotions campaigns to those market segments with the highest sales potential, so he can increase the revenue per customer. Therefore, he wants you to:

Issue 2: Perform a customer analysis to identify which market segments provides the highest revenue.

COTS current products are well appreciated by customers because of their high quality. The menu is made of Cakes, Coffee, Cold drinks, Hot drinks and Pastry. However, as part of COTS’s strategy to appeal to a wider market, in June 2022 the company run a trial at its shop in Plymouth where two new range of products were added to the menu: breakfast and healthy snacks. Breakfast menu includes hearty blueberry oatmeal, bacon & gouda breakfast sandwich, spinach & feta breakfast wrap and slow roasted ham & Swiss cheese on croissant bun. The healthy menu includes a fruit bar, protein bistro box, omega 3 bistro box and cheese & fruit bistro box. The Sales Director is keen to understand if these two new entries to the menu could be expanded to other shops in the chain. So, he wants you to address the question:

Issue 3: Did the two new product ranges (breakfast and healthy snacks) added to Plymouth’s menu have a positive impact on the sales performance of the shop

The responses to the issues detailed above should be included in a summary MS Word report that you save and submit as a PDF format file.

Because this is your first project within COTS, the Corporate Strategy Manager has given you additional details regarding the structure and content that it is expected to see in your report. This is set out in Section 3 – Report Structure.

A set of data is available (see module dataset spreadsheet file). Since the data comes directly from the coffee shops, quality issues are present which will require your attention!

You have five tasks to complete for your summative report. The first three are exactly the same as for your formative report and you should update your answers to these tasks based both on feedback on your formative submission together with your own further learning across the module.

Task 1: Introduction and project plan (20 marks)

Summarise what you are going to present in the report and justify your plan for delivering the research project to the Corporate Strategy Manager. Ensure you also clearly reference a data analytics project framework as part of your plan. Finally, specifically explain how data analytics can add value and drive improved business performance for COTS’s coffee shops.

Guidelines:

• State the purpose of report and describe the report structure and contents
• Present your overall project plan for delivering the project
• Ensure that your project plan explicitly refers to a data analytics project framework and explain how the selected framework can be used to addresses the core three business questions assigned to you.
• Present COTS’s coffee shops Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how improved analytics
• enables improvements against these KPIs.

Task 2: Data preparation quality issues and remedies (10 marks)

Discuss first the generic issues that data analysts encounter in collecting, integrating and cleaning data. Second, discuss the specific quality issues with the project data that the Corporate Strategy team has provided to you and how you propose to address those issues.

Guidelines:

• List and explain generic data problems and how to identify them. What are the different options for resolving these generic issues?
• List all the data quality problems you have identified with the COTS dataset. Explain how you identified the problems and how you propose to solve them.

Task 3: Data analysis and commentary (20 marks)

Using tables, set out and explain the results of your numeric data analysis, including summary of exploratory data and supporting commentary. Explain how your results inform understanding of COTS’s shops performance. This should include three tables setting out:

(Table A) Sales volume and value by month, by year and across the 3 years period,

(Table B) Benchmark comparisons of market segments performance covering sales volume and value by quarter, by year and across the 3 years period, and

(Table C) Benchmark comparisons of sales volume and value between coffee shops by quarter, by year and across the 3 years period.

Guidelines:

• Include summary exploratory data calculations for total sales value and volume. The analysis           could include for example top and bottom performing market segments, ranges, averages,               standard deviations; top and bottom performing time-periods, etc.
• Ensure your tables are professionally presented: headings, units, data formats. Highlight and       annotate key data elements
• For each table include firstly an explanation of the table and its contents and then a bullet-               point  list of what you can see or infer from the analysis of the data.

Task 4: Data visualisation and commentary (20 marks)

Using data charting/graphics, develop visual presentations of your findings together with bullet- points setting out the key findings and inferences from the analysis of the charts/plots. This should include three charts presenting:

(Chart A) Comparison of sales value trends across coffee shops over time

(Chart B) Market segments performance comparisons between coffee shops, and

(Chart C) Impact of the addition of the two new product ranges to the Plymouth’s menu, and in comparison with the other two cities.

Guidelines:

• Ensure you provide well-presented and labelled charts·      
• Use a combination of visualisation plots and techniques such as bar charts, stacked bar charts, trend charts, pie charts and tree map charts
• For each chart include firstly an explanation of the chart and its contents and then a bullet- point list of what you can see or infer from the data. 

Task 5: Conclusions and recommendations (20 marks)

Based on your analysis and findings in Tasks 3 and 4 set-out your conclusions and recommendations. Ensure you address the three issues raised by the top management.

Guidelines:

• What conclusions can be drawn regarding COTS’s coffee shop sales performance and operations? Remember to include the answers to the three issues raised by COTS`s top management.
• What are your business recommendations to COTS’s CEO and top management?
• Include any suggestions related to data analytics and its better use within the organisation.
• Note that it is also acceptable to add to your data analytics recommendations, possible actions that COTS might take, based not only on your findings but also on your wider knowledge of business and COTS`s market sector.

Report Structure and References (10 marks)

In addition, ten marks are awarded for the overall professionalism of your report and the adoption of academic standards.

Guidelines:

• Your report should follow the section naming structure and order set out in the Brief. You should also add your own sub-headings as you see fit to demonstrate your ability to on-develop structure and content
• Your report should include an auto-generated contents page including section headings and sub- headings. The contents page should also include a page-referenced list all tables, charts and
• figures provided in our report. Remember to number all pages in your report, for example ‘Page 8 of 12’.
• Ensure you develop your discussion in a logical progression: Findings, inferences, conclusions, recommendations
• Do not make general assertions without supporting evidence
• Zero spelling errors and grammatical mistakes
• Cite all your sources in the body of the text and in the Referencing using the Harvard Referencing style
• Include a blend of industry research, case studies and academic references

3.    Report Structure

You should set out your report according to the following heading structure. You should add sub- headings under this overall structure as you feel fit to demonstrate your ability to on-develop the section themes and to provide meaningful sub-structure. But you must use this overall structure in order to provide a consistent framework against which your marker will allocate marks. You will be deduced marks if you do not follow this structure. Also note that there is no requirement for producing an Executive Summary.

University Cover Page Table of contents

1.     Introduction and project plan

2.     Data quality issues and remedies

3.     Data analysis and commentary

4.     Data charting and commentary

5.     Conclusions and recommendations

6.     References

7.     Appendix (optional)

In addition, you may wish to add further appendices as you see fit in order to support your work.

Word count: 2,500. Cover Page, Table of Contents, References, Appendices, Tables, Charts and Figures do not count towards word count.

4.Mapping Learning Outcomes to Assessment Tasks

The table below sets out the mapping between the four Module Leaning Objectives and the key tasks in your Summative Assessment which test your achievement against these Learning Objectives.

5.Marking Guide

The assignment is marked out of 100 and counts towards 100% of your module mark. The following table shows the tasks, marks and marking rubric. You should iteratively self-assess your performance against the Marking Guide as you develop your draft submission, in order to evaluate your performance against your target grade.