ICT601 Business Analytics

ICT601 Business Analytics

Background

Your BA consulting company has been approached by the Singapore Government who have asked you to conduct an analysis of the death rates of residents and how this has changed in recent times. In order to facilitate your analysis, you have been provided with a data set (see LMS) from the Singapore Department of Statistics that shows resident death (mortality) rates by a number of different variables.

You have been asked to conduct several specific analyses:

1. How has the infant mortality rate[1] in Singapore changed since 2000, and how does it compare with that of five of Singapore’s near neighbours?
2. How has the mortality rate of residents under the age of 5 in Singapore changed since 2000, and how does it compare with that of five other countries (other than those you compared with in Q1)?
3. What were the most common causes of death in Singapore for residents in the 40-60 year are bracket in 2016?

You will require additional data in order to perform your analyses. You should attempt to procure it for yourself. There is no limit as to what or how many data sources you use for this project. Whenever you do include an additional data source, you must ensure that you include the relevant metadata in the Appendix (see Section 1e of the Report Specification).

The assignment has 2 sections. Firstly, a written report and secondly a Tableau dashboard (if you are unsure as to what a Tableau dashboard is, please see Homework 8, and some of Homework 9).

Report Specification

The report is worth 70% of the marks for this assignment and will be allocated as below.

1. The report you create should include the following sections:
   1. Executive Summary (5%)
   2. Introduction (5%)
   3. Primary Report Findings, including any supporting visualisations, in order to answer Questions 1-3 above (45%)
   4. Conclusion (5%)
   5. Appendices that include design documentation; for example, data and database designs, detailed ETL processes and other metadata (10%)
2. Further details of each section are provided below.

Tableau Dashboard

The Tableau Dashboard that you submit is worth 30% of the marks for the assignment. It will be marked as follows:

• The Dashboard will need to address the three analyses presented above. Each visualisation will be allocated 5 marks based on its design and how well it addresses the requirement.
• The remaining 15 marks will be allocated to the overall design of the dashboard, and will be awarded based on “best practice” for dashboard design.

Marking Guide ICT601 Supplementary Assignment

Executive Summary (5 marks)

The purpose of an Executive Summary is to present to the reader the “highlights” of the report. It is important to note that for some of your readers, this will be the only part of your report they will read (particularly if what they read in the Executive Summary doesn’t grab their attention!)

We will be looking the following in determining the mark:

• Effectiveness of Summary: how well the summary summarizes the content of the report. It should present the most important aspects of the project goals, methods and how the project finished
• Professional presentation: the organisation of the summary, which should flow logically from the goals, through the methods used, to the conclusions/findings of the project. Spelling and grammatical errors should be avoided in this part of the report (remember, that it might be the best chance you have to grab the reader’s attention).

Introduction (5 marks)

The Introduction is somewhat different from the Executive Summary in that the idea is to introduce the rest of the report. It will more formally explain the structure of the report in that it will outline the main sections and perhaps outline the findings.

We will be looking at the following in determining the mark:

• The Introduction clearly and logically outlines the sections of the report and provides an overview of the content of those sections.
• Again, professionalism in the presentation of this section is important.

Report Primary Findings (45 marks)

This is the part of the report where you need to be providing answers to the three questions asked in the report specification. The marks will be allocated equally between the questions (ie., 15 marks each).

In marking this section, we will be looking at these points for each question:

• The report clearly demonstrates an understanding of the question and why the question is being asked (i.e., why is the Client interested in the answer)
• The methods used to determine the answer are clearly stated, as are the sources of data used to answer the question
• Data and visualisations used to support the answer and any recommendations that are made, are appropriate and clearly demonstrate how the answer was arrived at
• Visualisations used in the report demonstrate an understanding of best practice in visualisation design and best practice
• The answer(s) to the question is(are) clearly stated and are supported by the data and visualisations used.

Conclusion 5 marks

The conclusion is an important part of the report in that it is where you tie it all together.

Make sure you take this opportunity to once again highlight the important findings that you have made.

• The Conclusion should clearly state the purpose of the project and summarise the methods and data used.
• Some of the more interesting findings should be emphasised and re-stated here
• Any shortcomings of the project or suggestions as to how the project could proceed, could also be stated here

Appendices 10 marks

This section is where you should include your process documentation; the primary purpose of this is so someone would be able to pick up your work and continue with it (I think of this as insurance against becoming ill and being unable to complete the project). It should include any database designs, ETL processes that you used and metadata you used in the project. We will be looking for this section to be complete, AND, ask ourselves, could someone, using this documentation, be able to pick up the project and run with it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant_mortality