Tuesday, 25 March 2014

World Retail Expo and Conference

ANALYSING A SPREADSHEET AND PRESENTING A BUSINESS REPORT

Case Study
Colin Hammer, of Hammer Wines, has recently attended   the ‘World Retail Expo and Conference’.  One of the conference delegates gave an extremely thought provoking presentation titled “Cyberslacking and the issues faced by today’s managers”.
Colin returned to the office concerned about the possibility that there may be inappropriate use of the internet by staff at Hammer Wines.   At present the only restriction on internet access at Hammer Wines is for pornographic sites.   He is considering severely restricting internet access to all staff, in the hope of increasing productivity.  Some staff have criticised his proposal, stating that it is important for employees to have full internet access and that a complete ban is likely to lower staff morale and perhaps lower productivity as a result.  
Colin has arranged for an independent review of the use of internet sites within Hammer Wines.  Data showing internet usage at Hammer Wines for a period of one week has been collected.  Some calculations regarding departmental use have also been performed (see Hammer wines data and initial analysis.xlsx).   You have been asked to review the information already provided and to further analyse the data.  (e.g. use pivot tables, charts, further calculations). 
Based on the data and the results of your analysis, prepare a Business Report for Colin, that discusses the issue of internet access at Hammer Wines.  Consider the current usage, the present restrictions, how these restrictions might be expanded and how this might affect productivity.   Finally, you are required to make some recommendations to Colin about possible restrictions of internet access during business hours at Hammer Wines and/or implementation of an “internet use” policy.
PREPARING THE BUSINESS REPORT
The analysis, findings and recommendations which you prepare for Colin should be outlined in a professional business report.
This report should include:
§  A table of contents (TOC) generated by the word processorMSWord default settings for the table of contents should not be altered.

Report Format
Specifically you should:
  • Ensure your report is concise:  800-1000 words.  NOTE:   A penalty will apply if the report is over 1000 words.  This word count includes title page, TOC and any appendices.
  • The report must be presented in a professional, business format with no spelling or grammatical errors.
  • Use headings and subheadings throughout the body of the report.
Your business report should:
  • Include a brief introduction that clearly outlines the purpose of the report.
  • Briefly present the analysis you have carried out of the data contained in the spreadsheet.  Identify and discuss the issues arising from this analysis.
  • Provide a short concluding summary of the content of the report.
  • Finally, include at least two clear recommendations that Colin can adopt. These recommendations must be drawn from the analysis that you have carried out, and discussed in the body of your report.

(Follow the guidelines described in Activity 4 (activity 4 file is attached))
Issues to consider when analysing the data:

·         What is meant by cyberslacking?  To what extent, if any, might it affect the profitability of Colin’s business?
·         Which departments have the highest internet usage?  Is this justifiable?
·         Does the data provide evidence of cyberslacking?
·         Should Colin consider banning any of the websites currently being used by staff?
·         What might be the potential consequences of a total ban?
·         What other restrictions (if any) might be applied to sites?   Should restrictions vary according to departments?
·         Are there other factors which need to be considered when deciding whether to restrict staff internet use at Hammer Wines?


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