ICT601 Business Analytics: Analyzing Global Store Data Trends

This report, created for the ICT601 Business Analytics course, analyzes the Global Superstore dataset to examine profit and sales trends across different Australian territories, product categories, and time periods. The analysis utilizes Tableau to visualize data and identify key insights. Task 01 investigates negative profits in Australian territories, revealing losses in the Australian Capital Territory. Task 02 analyzes sales across Australian states, highlighting the highest sales in the Northern Territory. Task 03 focuses on product categories, determining that technology products have the highest sales and profit. Task 04 examines the changes in sales and profit in Western Australia and Victoria between 2011 and 2014. The report uses charts and graphs to compare and contrast the data, providing a comprehensive understanding of the business performance. The analysis includes average profit and sales comparisons, along with trends over time, to provide insights into the performance of different states and product categories.

Running Head: ICT601 BUSINESS ANALYTICS
ICT601 business analytics
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Table of Contents
Task 01.............................................................................................................................................2
Task 02.............................................................................................................................................2
Task 03.............................................................................................................................................3
Task 04.............................................................................................................................................5

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Task 01
For investigating the negative profit (loss) of any of the Australian territories the
variables profit, order date, country and state are used. For the analysis state was placed as
columns and profit as rows. The measure of profit was changed to average. Further the variable
profit was placed over the colour marks. In addition, country and order date was placed as filter.
Australia was selected as the country. Further the year 2014 was selected as the year.
In the above chart the average profit is calculated for each state of Australia. Bar chart is
used to represent the profit (loss) of the states. The legend is divided into two colours (green and
orange). Green colour is used to represent average profit more than $0. Orange colour is used to
represent average profit below $0. From the above chart it can thus be envisioned that average
profit of Australian Capital territory is below $0. Thus Global store dataset it can be said
Australian Capital Territory had a loss. Australian Capital Territory posted a loss of $52.8.
Task 02
To investigate the sales of Australian states the variables country, state and sales are
selected. The variable country is placed in filter. Country Australia is selected using the filter for
the analysis. Further, State is placed in columns. Thus, only states of Australia are selected for
analysis. The variable sales is placed in rows. The measure of sales is converted to average. In
addition, sales is also placed at marks. The variable sales in marks is used to colour the bars. The
higher the height of the bars (the more the sales) the higher the intensity of the colour of the bar.

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From the legend it is found that the average sales in Australian territories ranged from
204.7 to 401.8. The volume of sales is represented by the height of the bars. Visual inspection of
the bar chart elucidates that the height of the bar for Norther Territory is the tallest. Thus it can
be said that the average sales for Northern Territory was maximum.
Task 03
In order to investigate which product category had the highest sales the variables product
category and sales are used. The variable product category is placed in columns and sales is
placed in rows. The measure of rows is changed to average. In addition, horizontal bars is
selected to view the chart. The horizontal bars provide a bar chart. The height of the bar
represents the amount of sales. Further, the variable sales is placed in colour of marks. This gives
colour to the bars. The intensity of the bars also represents the amount of sales. The higher the
intensity of the bar the higher the sales.

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From the above chart we find that the bars have different colours. It is found that there
are three product categories – Furniture, Office Supplies and Technology. The legend shows that
the average sales ranges from $121.1 to $467.9. Visual inspection of the bars can prove that the
colour of the bar of Technology is maximum. Moreover, the height of the bar for Technology is
also maximum. Thus it can be envisioned that the sales of Technology is maximum at $467.9.
In order to compare sales with profit the variables sales and profit are selected. The
variable Category is placed in columns. The variable profit is placed on one side of rows.
Horizontal bars of sales are formed. The variable sales is placed on other side of rows. Thus sales
form a secondary axis. The visualization of Sales is converted from bar to line. This a
combination chart of bars and line is formed. This form is used for easy representation of the
information. The measure of the variables profit and sales is converted to average.

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The above image provides a comparison of the average profit and average sales of the
three product categories. From visual examination of the above combination chart it is found that
the average profit for Technology products is the highest. In addition, the average sales of
Technology products is also highest. When the cursor is moved around in Tableau near
technology bar it is found that the average sales is $467.9. In addition, the average profit for
Technology products is $65.45. For the product categories Furniture and Office Supplies the
average sales and average profit are lower than for Technology products.
Task 04
To understand how sales and profit have changed in Western Australia and Victoria over
the period 2011-14 the variables Country, State, Order date, Sales and profit are used. The
variable Country and State are placed in Filter. From country – Australia is selected. From State
– the states of Western Australia and Victoria and Victoria are selected. The variable order date
is placed in columns. On the x-axis of the chart area the years 2011-14 appear. The variables
profit and sales are placed in rows. Two line charts are generated – one for profit and another for
sales. The colour of the lines represents the two states.

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Blue colour in the above chart represents Victoria and pink colour.
In 2011 the average profit for both the states was approximately similar. However, the
average profit decreased from 2011 to 2013 for Western Australia. Further, during the period
2013-14 the average profit rose drastically. In the state of Victoria, the average profit of Global
Superstore decrease slightly during the period 2011-2012. The average profit rose marginally
during 2012-13. However, the average profit again fell during the period of 2013-14 for Victoria.
Thus for global super store the average profit for the state of Western Australia was substantially
higher than for the state of Victoria.
Similarly, the average sales in 2011 for Western Australia was slightly higher than
Victoria. During the period of 2011 – 13 the average sales for Western Australia fell slightly
from 358.02 to 337.26. However, during the period of 2013-14 the average sales of Western
Australia rose slightly to 377.92. During the period 2011 – 13 the average sales of Victoria rose
slightly from 326.20 to 333.09. However, the average sales fell during the period 2013-14 to
285.29. Thus the average sales of Western Australia was higher than Victoria in 2014.