Final Individual Homework Assignment
Instructions: The following 10 activities relate to concepts, tools, and applications in Data Analysis (EDA), Data Visualization and Data Storytelling. This assignment is worth 60% of your grade.
Provide answers to all 10 activities in one single PDF document. Include your name, date (no cover page necessary) and any references used. Do not include the questions in your document, just the answers are fine. For one of the questions, a tableau file is required for submission. Do not Zip these files together, as the PDF component will need to go through a plagiarism check.
Page limit: 10 pages MAX.
Activity 1: Storyboard: Technary Case Study and Data Analysis
You are a statistician for a large manufacturing company, Technary. The company produces a product, product X. Many other competitors also produce product X. You are presenting to a group of statisticians and mathematicians at your company. The goal of your project is to present ways your company can gain a competitive edge in this industry as it pertains to the production of product X. Assume the audience has a HIGH level of knowledge in statistics and reading/interpreting advanced plots.
For the following case, create six slides: 1 title slide, 3 conflict slides, 1 big idea slide and 1 resolution slide (landing page) with three subsections. Do not put all 6 slides on one page if the text and/or visualizations are not legible. Here are the requirements:
Slide 1) Use an effective and attention-gra
ing title for the title slide.
Slide 2) Situation 1: Use tab 1 (Technary Part A) in the excel. The ideal weight of product X is 450 units across the industry. This means consumers of product X prefer this product to be exactly 450 units no matter which company they buy it from. However, the companies sell varying weights of this product because of the inefficiencies of machines that produce this product. In Tab 1, you have sample weights of 1000 products produced at Technary and 4 different competitors in the span of one hour (assume you stood at the production line at each of these 5 companies, measuring
ecording the weight of 1000 products). You want to compare the distribution of weights across these 5 companies to assess the quality of machines at each company. More specifically, you want to comment on the precision and accuracy of your machines relative to other companies. Use the co
ect statistical plot. Use headings/subheadings and explanatory text in your slide. Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value. Precision refers to how close measurements of the same item are to each other. After you are done this slide, use your analysis and findings to build your big idea and support your resolution.
Slide 3) Situation 2: There are people needed on the assembly line in certain areas of the production of product X. The speed at which these employees need to work depends on the speed of the belt. When there is a high demand for Product X, the speed of the belt is increased. If a semi-finished product waits too long on the assembly line (if it is not addressed by an employee), it can get spoiled and needs to be thrown out. Normally, the company is okay with some waste. In tab 2 (Technary Part B), you have the number of waste products per week in a year. It is considered normal waste if the waste in a week is within 2 standard deviations of the mean. More or less than this number means the process is out of control. Comment on whether or not the level of waste is ever out of control. Use the appropriate statistical plot. Follow the same instructions as you did for slide 1. Use your analysis and findings to build your big idea and support your resolution.
Slide 4) Situation 3: A special chemical called Elerium-128 gets used at every step of the production process of Product X. All companies must use Elerium-128 in their production of Product X. You believe that Elerium-128 is not being used efficiently in all the processes and compared to other companies, your usage of Elerium-128 is off. In tab 3 (Technary Part C), you can see the percentage of total Elerium-128 being used at various stages of the production process at Technary and a few competitors. Show the co
ect plot and follow the instructions in slides 2 and 3.
Slide 5) The big idea goes here. It must be negatively framed.
Slide 6) Creating a landing page with resolutions that hopefully address the conflict introduced in slide 2, 3 and 4. Tie it back to the business question and big idea. In the slides that would come after this resolution landing slide (not required for this activity), you would, ideally, explore these ideas further, in a Minto Pyramid style format. But these further resolution steps are not required.
This purpose of this exercise is to show how data analysis and data visualization can be used in the earlier parts of your data presentation (setting, characters, conflict).
Activity 2: Build the appropriate graph: Life Expectancy vs Income
For this activity, you will submit one slide using the data in the tab Activity 2 Income v Life Expec.
You are tasked to create the appropriate visualization to compare the relationship between Income (GDP per capita) and Life expectancy (years) of various countries across two time points (1800 and XXXXXXXXXXYou will need to show both of these time points. Furthermore, you will also need to encode a third variable, population size, and how that has changed for each country across the two time periods.
Instructions:
Create a slide with your visualization.
1. Use an appropriate headline to highlight the main relationship.
2. Use an appropriate subheading to comment on the below:
3. Highlight the country that had the largest increase in life expectancy from 1800 to 2015.
4. Highlight the country with the largest population in 2015.
5. Highlight the country or countries that showed a decrease in income from 1800 to 2015.
Use explanatory text if appropriate.
This is an advanced graph. A combination of two graphs. Think about how many variables you are asked to represent. Think about the two graphs I discussed in class: one to highlight the association of three quantitative variables and the second to highlight differences between two time periods or a before-and-after. You do not have to use all the countries in the dataset. Focus on a few interesting ones and use contrast to highlight the ones you like. But make sure to include the answers to above.
Activity 3: Declutter + Gestalt Principle (Connection): Power outage Hu
icane Irma/Wilma
Redraw the messy Hu
icane Irma/Wilma graph below to improve it. Use the data in the tab Activity 3: Hu
icane Irma Wilma. Think about choosing the best graphical form and maximizing the data–ink ratio. You must use Gestalt Principle of connection (effectively) in your revised visualization. Use the information provided about the audience and the context of the discussion to make choices that focus the audience on the key comparison. For this activity, submit only one slide with the visualization and any other detail you want to include.
Power outages following Hu
icanes Wilma and Irma
Context
An introductory slide as part of a longer presentation
Audience
Community leaders seeking an update on how well Florida recovered from Hu
icane Wilma as compared to Irma
Communicato
A trusted representative from the US Energy Information Administration, which measures issues related to US energy infrastructure
Goal
Indicate that Hu
icane Irma left more customers without power than Hu
icane Wilma, but recovery from hu
icane Irma has been faste
Activity 4: Gestalt Principles (Enclosure) and Preattentive Attributes (Color): CloudBoom Consulting
For this activity you will be creating two slides using the data in tab: Activity 4 CloudBoom and the information below.
You work as a management consultant for CloudBoom Consulting. You recently acquired a new client: a B2B cloud services company that produces two products, A and B.  The client is trying to understand more about the customers of each product, and where there are opportunities for growth.
Slide 1: Use a visualization to explain how you would segment customers. Use the customer, ownership and usage data to segment your customer list. You must use Gestalt Principle of enclosure (effectively) on this slide to drive your point.
Slide 2: Show another visualization, this time showing opportunities for growth. This is an open-ended visualization. Use the data to show how you can grow revenue. You must use the preattentive attribute of color (effectively) on this slide to drive your point.
Remember to follow all the other elements of effective slide design – clutter, contrast, heading, subheading, and/or useful explanatory text.
Data is from trailing 12 mos
CN = Customer Numbe
PAO = Product A Ownership
PBO = Product B Ownership
PAU = Product A Usage
PBU = Product B Usage
Product Usage is measured in the company's proprietary consumption measure. There are no free trials.
Activity 5: Minto Pyramids and WIIFT (understanding the audience): Making the Case at Craigstone.
Part 1:
Using the case facts below, select a prefe
ed travel provider. Identify the situation and the conflict. Then, craft a Minto pyramid outlining the argument in favor of that travel provider. Submit one Minto Pyramid.
Case background
Craigstone is a fast-growing management consulting firm that employs roughly 250 people with offices in North America, Europe, and Latin America. The company's headquarters is in Boston, Massachusetts. The company experienced consistent growth over its first three decades. The first year of declining revenue in over a decade was in in 2020, due to the economic impact of COVID-19. Craigstone emerged from the crisis with its core business intact, but it is now more focused on controlling costs than ever before.
Even though Craigstone's travel expenses are 60% lower per person than they were before COVID-19, client complaints about travel costs have doubled. Clients pay Craigstone employees’ travel costs in addition to the fees they pay the firm. Craigstone has always allowed employees to book airline flights, hotels, and rental cars on their personal credit cards through whatever website or travel agent they choose. The firm's largest client, which is also its only Fortune 100 client, has threatened to end its growing relationship with the firm as travel costs have started to exceed 15% of their consulting fees. The company's growth plan requires the firm to add other very large clients to its client roster. Though travel costs have traditionally been passed on to clients, competitive firms are increasingly abso
ing travel costs in their fees and attempting to reduce the cost to clients without lowering prices.
To address travel costs, the firm has created a committee of five partners and an analyst to analyze the firm's travel policies. The goal is to recommend ways to reduce costs and streamline policies that have until now been handled in an ad hoc manner.
The committee's findings
After some initial discussions within the committee's membership and with others across the company, the analyst compiled the data and presented it to the partners on the committee. The data suggests that consolidating travel spending through a single partner could allow Craigstone to realize substantial savings. After talking to several large travel vendors, the committee has come to a consensus that the choice is between two serious contenders: LanaTravel.com and Canadian Express. Both offer savings on travel for firms that book at least $5M worth of business through them. With both services, consultants would continue to select their own itineraries and have access to all major airlines, hotels, and transportation services.
In comparing the travel agencies, the analysts compiled the following facts
1. LanaTravel.com:Â Lana is a four-year-old fast-growing start-up that combines a travel booking app for users with a reporting app for Craigstone's finance team. The app is exceptionally well-designed, and even though the company is not profitable, it has been funded by prominent venture capital firms.15Â The younger employees at Craigstone have expressed strong enthusiasm for the app's usability, since they prefer to book and manage travel via a phone app. Many like that the app also allows them to manage all their travel reward programs in one place. Lana offers live phone support during East Coast business hours but only guarantees 24/7 support via the chat function in their app. Consultants frequently change travel plans and have complex itineraries. More senior members of the firm say that they need to be able to call a live human any time of the day or night. This is a major concern for them. Lana negotiates discounted rates with airlines, hotels, and other large travel providers. They say the average company saves 6% on travel costs by using them, and they guarantee at least a 4% savings. User reviews report that the app is slow and glitchy in China, which is a major growth area for the business, but many firms similar in size to Craigstone have adopted the service and report that they are satisfied with it. Some Craigstone partners have expressed concern that Lana may not be around long term. They don't want to go through this process again.
2. Canadian Express:Â CanEx, as it is known, is a major financial services company with a global credit card business in addition to its travel business. It is a large and stable company that has been in business for over 170 years. They are the industry standard for the world's largest consulting firms. They have a full-featured website for booking and changing travel (though it is not as robust and easy to use as Lana) and excellent live