Final Project Scenario
You have graduated from SNHU and are now employed as a business analyst by Business Consultants (BC), a business consulting firm. As a business analyst, you are responsible for analyzing businesses to determine how your firm can help them meet their sales goals.
Your first business to analyze is New Hampshire Business Products (NHBP). NHBP is a small company operating as a sole proprietorship desiring to expand its geographical reach. The products sold by NHBP fall into three categories: office supplies, office equipment, and printing services.
NHBP has been in business since 2005 and operates one brick-and-mortar location selling various products and services.
The company operates a retail store from its one physical location and offers services to customers in its current geographical area via a catalog published semi-annually. Customers using the catalog call their orders in to the retail location by phone, and the company delivers
completed orders via delivery truck and third-party carriers such as United Parcel Service (UPS).
NHBP has concluded that its one retail outlet and its current catalog business have reached their maximum potential and is seeking a means to expand sales as well as geographical reach.
NHBP has also concluded that adding internet sales is the best option to expand both sales and geographical reach. BC has been hired to evaluate current operations and suggest paths that will satisfy the sales goals set by
NHBP.
In your capacity as a business analyst for BC, you have met with the management team at NHBP and made an initial review of the current business operations. Your notes of the review show the following:
The total current sales (2016) are $500,000, divided into the following categories:
o Office supplies: $150,000
o Office equipment: $300,000
o Printing: $50,000
The company desires to increase sales by 20% per year in each category for the next five years.
NHBP thinks that online sales will result in reaching its intended sales goals over the next five years.
The company is currently unsure how to implement online sales and is seeking guidance in developing a website as well as the mechanics of online marketing and fulfilling online orders.
Overview
The final project for this course is the creation of a polished business presentation consisting of a formatted and revised business letter, a dynamic spreadsheet, and a formatted and revised slide presentation.
In the professional environments of today, one of the most important and frequently used tools for communicating information is an office productivity suite such as Microsoft Office. Office productivity suites consist of bundled applications designed to help users create various deliverables such as word-processing documents, spreadsheets, and slide presentations.
Your ability to select an appropriate application based on key specifications and to use various tools and functions within the application to create polished professional deliverables will be critical for successful communication and collaboration with clients and stakeholders in any field you pursue.
In this project, you will take the role of a business analyst and apply essential skills and techniques within office productivity applications to prepare three related professional deliverables: a business letter, a spreadsheet, and a slide presentation. Review the Final Project Scenario document to learn more about the simulated business case.
The project is divided into two milestones, which will be submitted at different points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure a quality final submission. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two and Four. The final submission is due in Module Seven.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
Apply appropriate tools within office productivity applications for supporting the creation of professional-quality documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
Integrate key business specifications into a variety of office productivity suite applications for ensuring effective deliverables
Apply appropriate style and formatting conventions in creating professional documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
Apply fundamental best practices for revision within office productivity applications for the finalization of a professional-quality document and presentation
Prompt
As you prepare to communicate the next steps in the consulting partnership between your organization, Business Consultants, and your client, New Hampshire Business Products (NHBP), you will prepare three deliverables using office productivity applications: a business letter to stakeholders at NHBP to share your findings and request a follow-up meeting, a spreadsheet that will allow you to organize and manipulate the given sales data with basic calculation functions, and a slide presentation that will help you communicate your findings to your team at Business Consultants.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Business Letter: Apply audience-appropriate formatting and style conventions to a follow-up business letter for New Hampshire Business Products.
Revise and submit the business letter you completed for Milestone One, which was based on the content in this document.
A. Incorporate the business letter content into a business letter template.
B. Apply formatting conventions appropriate for the intended audience.
1. Select a standard and consistent font and font size.
2. Format the document with standard and consistent line spacing, margins, and indentation.
3. Configure the data provided into a table.
C. Apply revisions to the provided draft to produce a document that is clear of typographical and formatting errors.
II. Spreadsheet: Create a spreadsheet that clearly and functionally displays the numerical data provided in the scenario.
A. For current sales, display sales by category and total.
B. For projected sales, display sales by category and total.
C. Apply formatting conventions appropriate for a business audience.
1. Select a consistent font and font size.
2. Format the spreadsheet with row and column spacing, row and column alignments, and cell formatting.
3. Apply labels that identify the values contained in each row and column.
D. Apply formulas to calculate totals for current sales as well as projected sales.
E. Embed a bar chart that accurately displays the total sales for the current year.
F. Embed a bar chart that accurately displays the projected sales for the next five years.
G. Embed a line graph that accurately displays the desired sales growth over the next five years.
III. Slide Presentation:
Apply appropriate formatting and revision conventions and visuals to the content on the provided slides to create a presentation that addresses the needs of the audience within Business Consultants as well as your needs as the speaker preparing to convey the information to a business audience.
Revise and submit the slide presentation you completed in Module Six, which was based on the unformatted slides in this presentation.
A. Apply consistent slide templates and color schemes that help organize and convey your message.
B. Insert charts and graphs from your spreadsheet into the slide presentation where indicated.
C. For each slide, select a font style and size of text that are appropriate for the specified audience and support your message.
D. Revise the existing slide content to reflect an appropriate amount of text on each slide for conveying your message to the specified audience.
E. Revise excess slide text into speaker notes, shaping them into a tool to support yourself, the speaker, in delivering your message.
F. Incorporate slide transitions and graphics that support the message.