BCOR 2500 Summer Session A: Test 5 – 12 points

Focus of this Test:

  • The only KPI you are concerned with for this exam is increasing gross margin from 47% to 50%
  • The only question management is interested in is “Who are our best vendors?”
  • Use only the information provided in this exam to do your analysis. Assumptions must not change information provided, but simply further clarify it

Background Information:

  • 80% of insignia products sold by the book store come from 20% of the vendors we buy from each year
  • Sales data including, gross sales by product and vendor are currently being collected
  • Sales data by customer is only being collected for approximately 50% of all sales
  • Vendor data including, actual delivery date and quantity received by SKU are being collected (SKUs are unique for each product, color and size combination)
  • Product gross margin can be calculated using information already being collected
  • Expected delivery date is currently being made up and entered into the system by the buyer
  • Book store currently purchases insignia items from more than 100 vendors
  • Book store currently spends more than $200,000 per year receiving products from vendors and correcting receiving errors consumes 50% of the receiving staff’s time
  • Book store currently sells more than $1,000,000 per year in insignia items with a 150% markup from cost

Question 1: In order to complete the BI Blueprint below, make sure to use the information provided to identify all appropriate measures and dimensions. For each measure/dimension combination, note the lowest level of detail at which data is currently being collected. Where data is not currently being collected, note this with NA.

BI BlueprintDimensions

Measures

The opportunities identified that must be chosen between are as follows:

  1. Reduce order turnaround time from six weeks to three weeks on all insignia items.
  2. Reduce order errors (excluding delivery time) from 15% of all orders to less than 5% of all orders. Delivery errors include incorrect SKU, incorrect quantity and damage (damage means logo is incorrect or product has been broken in transit)

Question 2: Complete the following importance criteria table using the information provided

Opportunities / Actionability / Materiality / Tactical or Strategic / Overall
Reduce Order Turnaround Time
Reduce Order Errors

Question 3: Complete the following difficulty criteria table using the information provided

Opportunities / Cross-Functional / Availability of Data / Complexity of Calculations / Overall
Reduce Order Turnaround Time
Reduce Order Errors

Question 4: Based on the above analysis, which opportunity do you recommend management pursue?

Question 5: Mock up one sample report that you feel would best inform the buyer of the status of the opportunity you chose. This report would be used after this opportunity has been implemented to report vendor performance on an on-going basis.

Book Store Data Model:

Product Receiving

Order_Product

Receiving_Product

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