Assignment 3: Business Analytics
In this assignment you will have some hands-on experience with one type of business analytics (more
specifically, descriptive analytics). You will be using SAP Analytics Cloud, one of the leading solutions in
analytics and visualization, to analyze a data set and come up with a brief report supported by a narrative
and visualizations.
The Sales spreadsheet (published along with the assignment) contains sales data for the transactions of 10
companies (the data was extracted from an ERP simulation game). The data includes sales order number,
region, product, quantity sold, etc. You are a new employee responsible for analytics at one of the 10
companies listed in the data sheet (please pick up any company you want –from K to T- and consider it to
be your company for the assignment). Your manager has asked you to analyze the data and come up with
insights that would shed light at your company’s performance. The manager asked you for at least 7 charts
along with a brief report that contains insights you have been able to gain from those charts. For example,
how do your company’s revenues earned from the West region compare to the North region? What about
revenues from different distribution channels? How do we compare to our competitor(s)? Etc. Again, your
manager does not want just a random collection of charts! The manager wants an informative report that
highlights your company’s performance vis-à-vis other companies.
For the assignment, you will need to register for a free 30-days trial You have to use SAP Cloud Analytics:
a. Go to: https://info.sapdigital.com/sap-analytics-cloud-trial.html and register for a free trial (note that the
confirmation email may go into your Spam folder). Note: if for whatever reason you do not receive a
conformation email from SAP within a few hours (and you are sure it didn’t go to your Spam folder), please
re-register using your original CSU email (######@vikes.csuohio.edu). It works every time!
b. Create a “new story” and save it in your full (first and last) name (Please see the attached SAP Cloud
Analytics Brief Guide slides for guidance on creating and saving your “story” and on how to create various
types of charts).
c. Create meaningful charts and take screenshots of those charts (from SAP website) to use them (embed
them) in your report.
d. At least one chart has to be either a heat map or a tree map (please see this useful article about heat
maps vs tree maps)
e. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you need any help or need clarification on how to
access/use the SAP website.
Deliverables:
1. Please write a brief report (around 5 pages, charts included) that includes your analysis, supported by
visualizations. Be creative!