Using Tableau to Analyze Finance Data

(Choose either Finance or Marketing)

1. Your executive summary is a Word file. It must have a cover page. Number each page in top, right corner. Following the cover page, include a maximum “4-pages,” double-spaced, executive summary. This is followed by readable screenshots of all charts. Each chart must have a proper, relevant title at top (e.g., Figure 1: Heat map of the average eps/stock price for 30 companies, 2012-2014 – RP Raghupathi).

2. Each chart must be on a separate page. Cite the charts (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2, etc) in your executive summary. Do not put charts in the middle of the executive summary. Put your name in chart titles in Tableau prior to copy/paste into Word; Highlight key values.

3. Use font size: 12 or above.

4. The “4-pages” executive summary should be properly organized and structured: use sub-titles, indenting, paragraphing, etc. DO NOT UNDERLINE OR USE ITALICS. You can ‘bold’ the sub-titles. WRITE IN 3RD PERSON (NOT IN 1ST PERSON – I/WE, OR 2ND PERSON – YOU). Include the following sections - Introduction, Research question/problem statement, Overview of data, Overview of what was done, Discussion of results/outputs in aggregate (at high level), Conclusion(s), Implications, and Recommendations.

5. Please do not use Google Docs – it does not format well in Word.

1. Do 8 different specific types of analytics (charts) on the data. The eighth analytic should be a dashboard.

2. Use multiple dimensions and factors (variables) in each analytic for robust and rich analytics.

3. Use a variety of features such as dynamic trend analysis, heat map, bubble chart, bullet chart, combination chart, basic statistics, bars, circles, scatter plot, trend line, etc.

4. As you formulate your analytics and choose dimensions (factors/variables), think about causality and correlation among and between the dimensions.

5. There should be a good mix of descriptive and predictive analytics.

6. Our goal is to be ‘data driven.’ Let the data speak for itself.

7. Study the visual charts to gain insight (conclusions).

8. From the insight make recommendations.