BUS5004

Business Analysis

Assignment

Assignment Brief

As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit a Business Analysis assignment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.

Learning Outcomes:

After completing the module, you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of how to prepare and present data and information in ways useful to decision makers
2. Appraise the effectiveness of information systems
3. Identify, collect and collate primary and secondary data from a range of sources
4. Apply a range of techniques to analyse and present data
5. Prepare and present data in a prescribed format

Maximum word count: 4000 words

Please note that exceeding the word count by over 10% will result in a reduction in grade by the same percentage that the word count is exceeded.

You must not include your name in your submission because Arden University operates anonymous marking, which means that markers should not be aware of the identity of the student. However, please do not forget to include your STU number.

Assignment Task

Answer all the following questions. Please note the following instructions:

• You may select any organisation upon which to base your answers including the case study, but you are strongly recommended to select an organisation that you have worked for or one you feel you can research easily using the Internet and academic search engines. The latter approach is acceptable where you do not work for an organisation. It is also acceptable to base your answer on a case study.

• Where you are asked to supply MS Excel (or equivalent) material such as graphs and/or data tables please note these must be embedded as figures within the file and not shown as linked files (i.e. your assignment must be a single document in word or PDF format. Turnitin cannot accept multiple files or linked files).

With reference to the information in the case study, John Lewis Partnership Plc Annual Report & Accounts 2019 [Online] https://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/content/dam/cws/pdfs/financials/annual- reports/john-lewis-partnership-annual-report-and-accounts-2019.pdf

[Accessed 4 September 2019] answer the following questions

Question 1

You have been asked to conduct a survey of your fellow colleagues to gauge their response to the possibility of introducing a holiday pay scheme. Explain the significance of the following:

a) Population

b) Sampling techniques

You must draw upon relevant theory, concepts and models and appropriate organisational examples.

In order to complete this task, you will need to consider as a first step the factors outlined in the course materials, referring as a start to the lesson on Quantitative Research and add relevant academic sources to your answer.

(1200 words)

(25 marks)

(LO: 3)

Question 2

In respect of primary and secondary data compare and contrast:

1) The main differences between primary and secondary data

2) The advantages and disadvantages of primary and secondary data

You must draw upon relevant theory, concepts and models and appropriate organisational examples.

In order to complete this task, you will need to consider as a first step the factors outlined in the course materials, referring as a start to the lessons on Quantitative Research and Qualitative Research and add relevant academic sources to your answer.

(1200 words)

(25 marks)

(LO: 3)

Question 3

Drawing upon examples from either the case study organisation, your own organisation,  or one with which you are familiar select an appropriate quantitative measure (such as turnover, profit, available from annual reports etc) and having obtained values over a number of equal time periods calculate the following:

a) the mean

b) mode

c) the standard deviation

You must include all your manual calculations. Use an Excel spread sheet to verify your calculations and embed a copy of this spreadsheet in your answer.

In order to complete this task, you will need to consider as a first step the factors outlined in the course materials, referring as a start to the lesson on Quantitative Analysis: Coding and Descriptive Statistics and add relevant external sources to your answer.

(400 words)

(25 marks)

(LO: 3,4,5)

Question 4

When it comes to making sound decisions an effective management information system acts as an important part of the process. To what extent would you agree with this perspective and why?

You must draw upon relevant theory, concepts and models and appropriate organisational examples.

In order to complete this task, you will need to consider as a first step the factors outlined in the course materials, referring as a start to the lessons on Introduction and the Role of Business Analysis in Organisations and add relevant external academic sources to your answer.

(1200 words)

(25 marks)

(LO: 1,2)

END OF QUESTIONS

Formative Feedback

The feedback is designed to help you develop areas of your work and it helps you develop your skills as an independent learner.

If you are a distance learning student, you should submit your work, by email, to your tutor, no later than 2 weeks before the actual submission deadline. If you are a blended learning student, your tutor will give you a deadline for formative feedback and further details.

Formative feedback will not be given to work submitted after the above date or the date specified by your tutor - if a blended learning student

Student Guidelines

You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide ranging academic research and ensure this is referenced using the AU Harvard system.

The My Study Skills Area on iLearn contains useful resources relating to referencing.

You must use the AU Harvard Referencing method in your assignment.

Additional notes.

Students are required to indicate the exact word count on the title page of the assessment.

The word count excludes the title page, tables, figures, diagrams, footnotes, reference list and appendices. Where assessment questions have been reprinted from the assessment brief these will also be excluded from the word count. ALL other printed words ARE included in the word count See ‘Word Count Policy’ on the homepage of this module for more information