BPP Coursework Cover Sheet

Please use the table below as your cover sheet for the 1st page of the submission. The sheet should
be before the cover/title page of your submission.

Programme

Module name

Student Reference Number (SRN)

Report/Assignment Title

Date of Submission

(Please attach the confirmation of any

extension received)

Declaration of Original Work:

▪ I hereby declare that I have read and understood BPP’s regulations on plagiarism and that
this is my original work, and that I have researched, undertaken, completed and submitted
in accordance with the requirements of BPP School of Business.

▪ I declare that where I have used any AI tools, it was for the following reasons (highlight as
appropriate):
o To review a draft
o To correct language errors
o Other (please describe)

_______________________________________________________

▪ I have copied & retained for BPP University’s reference, all AI prompts used in the creation
of AI content and all AI-generated responses in support of my assignment and attached
relevant evidence in the appendices.

▪ I understand that I may be required to participate in a viva voce, where I will be questioned
on any aspect of my assignment, including key concepts, theories, examples used, & any
sources included.

▪ The word count, excluding contents table, bibliography and appendices, is ___ words.

Student Reference Number: Date:

DDDB CW4[S] Page 1 of 16

By submitting this coursework you agree to all rules and regulations of BPP regarding assessments
and awards for programmes. Please note, submission is your declaration you are fit to sit.

BPP University reserves the right to use all submitted work for educational purposes and may
request that work be published for a wider audience.

BPP School of Business

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 Msc Management

Data Driven Decisions for Business

Coursework Assessment Brief [CW4(S)]

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 1. General Assessment Guidance

• Your summative assessment for this module is made up of this 2,500 word submission which
accounts for 100% of the marks.
• Please note late submissions will not be marked.
• You are required to submit all elements of your assessment via Turnitin online access. Only
submissions made via the specified mode will be accepted and hard copies or any other digital
form of submissions (like via email or pen drive etc.) will not be accepted.
• For coursework, the submission word limit is 2,500 words. You must comply with the word count
guidelines. You may submit LESS than 2,500 words but not more. Word Count guidelines can be
found on your programme home page and the coursework submission page.
• Do not put your name or contact details anywhere on your submission. You should only put
your student registration number (SRN) which will ensure your submission is recognised in the
marking process.
• A total of 100 marks are available for this module assessment, and you are required to achieve
minimum 50% to pass this module.
• You are required to use only Harvard Referencing System in your submission. Any content which
is already published by other author(s) and is not referenced will be considered as a case of
plagiarism.
You can find further information on Harvard Referencing in the online library on the Hub. You can
use the following link to access this information: https://bpp.libguides.com/home/business
• BPP University has a strict policy regarding authenticity of assessments. In proven instances of
plagiarism or collusion, severe punishment will be imposed on offenders. You are advised to
read the rules and regulations regarding plagiarism and collusion in the GARs and UPPs which
are available on the HUB in the Help and Support section under Documents and Forms.
• Use of AI in assessments is only allowed for the purposes of reviewing a draft, correcting
language errors or if specified in the summative assessment brief. If you have used AI for any of
these purposes, you should indicate this on the Assignment Cover sheet. For more information
regarding acceptable and unacceptable use of AI, please enrol onto the Generative AI
Foundations course on the HUB.
• You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission without
this completed Assignment Cover sheet may be considered invalid and not marked.

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 2. Assessment Brief

2.1. Assessment learning outcomes

This assessment is designed to gauge your understanding, skills and application of common data
analysis techniques used in business and other organisations today. As such you need to
demonstrate your attainment in these areas according to the four Module Learning Outcomes (LOs):

• LO1: Critically evaluate the evolving use of data in solving business problems, presenting
logical arguments based on evidence
• LO2: Explore how data analytics can be used within a business context
• LO3: Critically appraise the presentation of data within a business environment
• LO4: Critically evaluate different business analytical techniques as part of planning a data
analytics initiative.

2.2. Scenario

You have recently been employed by Crowe & Cooper International as a data analyst.

Crowe & Cooper International is a multi-national, fully online accounting firm offering accountancy
services in the UK and over 50 subsidiaries in countries around the world. The firm’s core services
help organisations with tax related decisions, accountancy and audit.

Crowe & Cooper International uses sophisticated data-encryption and communications technology
to link clients to their services via an online platform. Source documents and data are uploaded to
cloud storage where they can be accessed from any remote location. The firm typically bills for its
services at a fixed monthly rate, benefiting its clients from a budget planning standpoint.

Since its foundation, Crowe & Cooper International established a partnership with SAGE to deliver its
online services. Sage is the flexible and scalable financial platform that delivers deep accounting
capabilities to thousands of businesses across the world. Sage allows Crowe & Cooper International
to offer online accounting services such as general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable,
cash management, and order management, as well as built-in dashboards, real time reporting, time
and expense management, project accounting, revenue management, and global consolidations for
multiple entities.

Crowe & Cooper International has a structure of a limited liability partnership or LLP, which allows to
have a flexible organisational structure to adapt to each country’s workforce profile. The possibility
of having independent and yet coordinated organisational structure across countries allows the
company to offer and deliver fully online services using the local workforce, enabling it to support a
wide range of customers from local clients to multinational organisations.

As Crowe & Cooper International grows, it continues to increase its data analytic roles within the
organisation to strengthen its strategic and operational decision-making capabilities. The
recruitment strategy is to employ young professionals with strategic and data analytics skills willing
to provide Crowe & Cooper International top management with strong evidence-based foundation
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for their business decisions. They like recruits to have broad management experience combined with
strong academic background. Your MSc degree at BPP University was a key element in their decision
to recruit you.

As part of your first assignment at Crowe & Cooper International, you have joined the Marketing
department as data analyst. Your manager, the Marketing Director, requested you to complete a
number of tasks to ensure that you have a grounded knowledge and understanding of data analytics
and its application in decision-making. This is your opportunity to demonstrate your capability and
give your employer the confidence to let you run your own project in the future.

The Marketing team is analysing different digital marketing strategies to provide a more balanced
growth in the future, combining traditional online promotion with more advance social media
tactics. In particular, the Marketing department has teamed up with other divisions such as Finance,
Audit, Tax and Advisory, to explore how more modern digital marketing strategies can provide the
basis for developing effective client engagement strategies. As in most strategy development
processes, three steps are needed: first understand where the company stands now (where we are),
second define strategic objectives (where we want to be) and third develop the
approaches/initiatives/tactics to achieve these strategic objectives (what path we are going to take).
So, you have been given the responsibility to analyse Crowe & Cooper International’s current
business performance (where the company stands now).

Your job will be to analyse the performance of three of the best regions where Crowe & Cooper
International operates: North America, Western Europe and the Middle East.

Crowe & Cooper International has experienced strong competition in these regions from other local
online accounting firms. For instance in the UK competition comes from e-accounts, The
Accountancy Partnership, Crunch and Gorilla Accounting. So, the performance of these three regions
is a good indication of the current global market performance of the company.

2.3. Research objectives and tasks

The Financial Director is interested in identifying the best region to start implementing the new
strategy. For this purpose, he wants you to:

Perform an analysis of the revenue and number of projects of the three regions to identify
the best region to start the new strategy.

As part of the analysis, the top management wants to consider the strengthening of the business by
acquiring other companies, which are strong in the areas where the organisation is weak. The option
being considered is to acquire a competitor which would give, in one hand, a competitive advantage
to Crowe & Cooper International by reducing competition, increasing market share, and improving
its market position. On the other hand, the acquisition would provide access to the competitor’s
customer base and possible easy entry to new markets where the company has not yet any
presence.

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Therefore, the Financial Director also wants to understand the weakness of the company’s client
portfolio, that is to identify those client sectors with low revenue and low project pipeline. Crowe
& Cooper International’s client portfolio is composed by clients from the following industry sectors:

• IT and Telecom
• Manufacturing
• Healthcare
• Public and Government
• Finance
• Energy

In this respect, she wants you to:

Perform an analysis of the client sectors in the three regions to identify the lowest
performing sector which might benefit from a competitor acquisition.

Since its foundation as an online business, Crowe & Cooper International has used digital platforms
to promote its business such as corporate website and accountancy portals. However, since social
media has become so dominant in the online world, the company feels it doesn’t exploit entirely the
spectrum of opportunities this new and powerful digital channel offers. So, in January 2024 the
company established an equity partnership with UK-based One-click Media Group, a social media
marketing agency specialised in B2B social media for the European market. The idea of the
partnership is to allow Crowe & Cooper International to quickly acquire for the Western Europe
region marketing capabilities in the social media arena, such as brand positioning, content
promotion, recruitment activity and direct lead generation.

The Marketing Director is keen to understand if the business model used in Western Europe with
One-click Media Group could be applied to other regions, so that similar partnerships with regional
social media marketing agencies can be established. So, she wants you to address the question:

Did the equity partnership with One-click Media Group, which brought social media know-
how to the operations in Western Europe, increase the revenue and overall performance of
the region?

The responses to the issues detailed above should be included in a summary MS Word report that
you save and submitted.

2.4. Report Sections

Because this is your first project within Crowe & Cooper International, the management team has
given you additional details regarding the structure and content that it is expected to see in your
report. This is set out in Section 3 – Report Structure.

The set of data is available (see module dataset spreadsheet file). Since the data comes directly from
the countries, quality issues are present which will require your attention!

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You have four Sections to complete for your summative report.

Section 1 (LO4): Introduction and project plan

Summarise what you are going to present in the report. Then justify your plan for delivering the
research project to the management of Crowe & Cooper International, making sure you also clearly
refer to a data analytics implementation framework as part of your plan. Finally, explain how data
analytics can add value and help to drive business performance improvements to Crowe & Cooper
International.

Section 2 (LO2):

a) Data quality issues and remedies

Proceed with preparing the dataset for the analysis. Discuss initially the general issues
encountered in collecting, reviewing and cleansing data and then detail the specific data
quality issues you found in the project dataset and how these issues will be addressed.

b) Data analysis and commentary

Using only tables, set out and explain the results of your numeric data analysis and
supporting commentary. Start by including a summary of exploratory data analysis of the
dataset. Then create tables where you can analyse the overall performance of Crowe &
Cooper International as well as its performance by region and by client sector. To answer the
Section, you should perform your analysis using at least 3 tables (see guidelines for further
details).

Section 3 (LO3): Data charting and commentary

Use your data charting and interpretation skills to develop graphical presentations of the data
together with bullet-points setting out the key findings and inferences from the analysis. Create
charts where you can compare and analyse project volume and revenue trends over time by region
and by client sector, in particular where you can see evidence of any performance change due to the
partnership with One-click Media Group in 2024 for the Western Europe region. To answer the
Section, you should perform your analysis using at least 3 charts (see guidelines for further details).

Section 4 (LO1): Conclusions and recommendations

Based on your analysis and findings in Sections 3 and 4 set-out your conclusions and
recommendations to Crowe & Cooper International’s top management. As part of your conclusions,
include answers to the three project objectives raised by the top management.

Report Structure and References

In addition, marks are awarded for the overall professionalism of your report and the adoption of
academic standards.

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 2.5. Section guidelines

The following section provides guidelines on the steps needed to perform each one of the Sections
of this assignment.

Section 1 (LO4)
Guidelines:
• State the purpose of the report and describe the report
Critically evaluate
structure and contents
different business
• Present your overall project plan for delivering the project
analytical techniques as
• Ensure that your project plan explicitly refers to a data
part of planning a data
analytics implementation framework and explain how the
analytics initiative.
chosen framework is applied to the project and used to
address the core project objectives assigned to you.
• To analyse the value of Data Analytics, suggest a list of Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) Crowe & Cooper International
can use to measure its performance. Then explain how data
analytics can help to improve the performance of the
company by looking at how data analytics can improve these
KPIs.

Section 2 (LO2)
a)Data quality - Guidelines:
Explore how data • List and explain generic data problems during the processes
analytics can be used of data collection, integration and cleansing, and how to
within a business context identify them. What are the different options for resolving
these generic issues?
• Search and list all data quality problems you have identified
in Crowe & Cooper International’s dataset. Explain how you
identified the problems (e.g. give examples of the issues) and
how you propose to address/solve them.

b)Data analysis - Guidelines

• To fully complete the Section, it is recommended you
support the analysis by producing the following data tables:
➢ Data and trends in total project volume and revenue
by month, by year across the 3 years period.
➢ Benchmark comparisons of project volume and
revenue between regions by quarter, by year across
the 3-year period.
➢ Benchmark comparisons of client sectors
performance covering project volume and revenue
by quarter, by year across the 3-year period.
• Include in a separate section the summary exploratory data
calculations for total project volume and total revenue. The
analysis could include for example top and bottom
performing client sectors, averages, standard deviations; top
and bottom performing time-periods, etc.

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 • Ensure your tables are professionally presented: Headings,
units, data formats. Highlight and annotate key data
elements.
• For each table, paste the table in your report, include firstly
an explanation of the table and its contents, then a bullet-
point list of what you can see or infer from your analysis of
the data.

Section 3 (LO3)
Guidelines:
Critically appraise the • Start the analysis by producing different graphics/charts
presentation of data showing visually the performance of Crowe & Cooper
within a business International. It is suggested to produce the following charts
environment showing:
➢ Comparison of revenue trends across regions over
time,
➢ Client sectors volume and revenue over the 3-year
period
➢ Assess the impact of the partnership with One-click
Media Group in 2024 for the Western Europe region,
in comparison with the previous years.
• Ensure you provide well-presented and labelled charts
• Use a combination of visual data presentation techniques
such as bar charts, stacked bar charts, trend charts, pie
charts and tree map charts (each graphic type has its
strengths and weaknesses so choose the best graphic type
that suits your analysis)
• For each chart, paste the chart in the report, include firstly
an explanation of the chart and its contents, then a bullet-
point list of what you can see or infer from your analysis of
the data.

Section 4 (LO1)
Guidelines:
• What conclusions can be inferred regarding Crowe & Cooper
Critically evaluate the International’s performance? Remember to answer the
evolving use of data in three project objectives raised by the top management.
solving business • What are your business recommendations to be presented
problems, presenting to Crowe & Cooper International’s CEO and Board of
logical arguments based Directors?
on evidence • Include any suggestions related to data analytics and its
better use within the company.
• Note that it is also acceptable to add to your data analytics
recommendations, possible actions that Crowe & Cooper
International might take, based not only on your findings but
also on your wider knowledge of business and the insurance

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 sector (you can use what you have learned in GSS and LTDD
modules!).

Report structure and references guidelines:

• Your report should follow the section naming structure and order set out in the Brief. You
should also add your own sub-headings as you see fit to demonstrate your ability to on-
develop structure and content.
• Your report should include an auto-generated contents page including section headings and
sub-headings. The contents page should also include a page-referenced list of all tables,
charts and figures provided in your report. Remember to number all pages in your report,
for example ‘Page 8 of 12’.
• Ensure you develop your discussion in a logical progression: Findings, inferences,
conclusions, recommendations.
• Do not make general assertions without supporting evidence.
• Zero spelling errors and grammatical mistakes.
• Cite all your sources in the body of the text and in the Referencing using the Harvard
Referencing style.
• Include a blend of industry research, case studies and academic references.

3. Report Structure

You should set out your report according to the following heading structure. You should add sub-
headings under this overall structure as you feel fit to demonstrate your ability to on-develop the
section themes and to provide meaningful sub-structure. But you must use this overall structure in
order to provide a consistent framework against which your marker will allocate marks. You will be
deducted marks if you do not follow this structure. Also note that there is no requirement for
producing an Executive Summary.

University Cover Page

Table of contents

1. Introduction and project plan

2. Data quality issues and remedies

3. Data analysis and commentary

4. Data charting and commentary

5. Conclusions and recommendations

6. References
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7. Appendix (optional)

In addition, you may wish to add further appendices as you see fit in order to support your work.

Word count: 2,500. Cover Page, Table of Contents, References, Appendices, Tables, Charts and
Figures do not count towards word count.

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 1. Marking Guide

The assignment is marked out of 100 and counts towards 100% of your module mark. The following
table shows the Sections, marks and marking rubric. You should iteratively self-assess your
performance against the Marking Guide as you develop your draft submission, in order to evaluate
your performance against your target grade.

Fail Marginal Fail Pass Merit Distinction High

Distinction
Learning (0-39%) (40-49%) (50-59%) (60-69%) 70-79% (80-100%)
Outcome
LO1: Inadequate Limited Satisfactory Good critical Excellent Outstanding
Critically or weak critical critical evaluation of critical critical
evaluate critical evaluation of evaluation of the use of evaluation of evaluation of
the evolving evaluation of the use of the use of data in the use of the use of
use of data the use of data in data in solving data in data in
in solving data in solving solving business solving solving
business solving business business problems. business business
problems, business problems. problems. Demonstrates problems. problems.
presenting problems Original work Wholly intellectual Demonstrates Demonstrates
logical with some with personal original work originality intellectual intellectual
arguments difficulties. reflection and with good and originality, originality,
based on Largely broad reflection and imagination integrity, integrity,
evidence. imitative and evidence- solid, well- in presenting coherence coherence,
descriptive based reasoned logical and creativity and
consideration critique. judgements arguments imagination imagination
s on how to forming from based on in presenting in presenting
use data in evidence- evidence. logical logical
business based arguments arguments
issues. Some critique. based on based on
difficulty with evidence. evidence.
presenting
logical based
arguments/ab
sence of
evidence
based
arguments.

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LO2: Inadequate Limited Satisfactory Good Excellent Outstanding
Explore how or weak exploration of exploration of exploration of exploration of exploration of
data exploration of how data can how data can how data can how data can how data can
analytics how the data be used be used be used be used be used
can be used can be used within a within a within a within a within a
within a within a business business business business business
business business context. context. context. context. context.
context. context with Original work Wholly Demonstrates Demonstrates Demonstrates
some with an original work intellectual intellectual intellectual
difficulties. inappropriate with an originality originality, originality,
The analysis breath of appropriate and integrity, integrity,
presented is techniques breadth of imagination coherence coherence,
not in line explored to techniques and presents and creativity and
with answer the explored to a good imagination imagination
requirements business answer the breadth of in exploring in exploring
(e.g., data is issues. The business techniques the best the best
not cleaned). analysis issues. The explored to analytical analytical
presented is analysis answer the solutions in solutions in
partially in presented is business answering the answering the
line with basically in issues. The business business
requirements line with analysis issues. The issues based
(e.g., data is requirements presented is analysis on evidence.
not cleaned (e.g., data is in line with presented is The analysis
or poor not fully requirements in line with presented is
understandin cleaned, but (e.g., data is requirements in line with
g of the the approach cleaned). and is clearly requirements
cleaning is discussed and is clearly
process). appropriate). with an discussed
evidence- with an
based evidence-
approach based
although the approach
evidence with also a
shown lacks clear analysis
depth of of the
analysis. procedure.
LO3: Inadequate Limited Satisfactory Good critical Excellent Outstanding
Critically or weak critical critical appraisal of critical critical
appraise the critical appraisal of appraisal of the appraisal of appraisal of
presentatio appraisal of the the presentation the the
n of data the presentation presentation of data within presentation presentation
within a presentation of data within of data within a business of data within of data within
business of data within a business a business environment. a business a business
a business environment. environment. Demonstrates environment. environment.

DDDB CW4[S] Page 14 of 16

environmen environment Original work Wholly intellectual Demonstrates Demonstrates
t. with some with personal original work originality intellectual intellectual
difficulties. reflection and with good and originality, originality,
Largely broad reflection and imagination integrity, integrity,
imitative and evidence- solid, well- in presenting coherence coherence,
descriptive based reasoned logical and creativity and
consideration critique. judgements arguments imagination imagination
s on how to forming from based on in presenting in presenting
present data evidence- evidence. logical logical
in business based arguments arguments
contexts. critique. based on based on
Some evidence. evidence.
difficulty with
presenting
logical based
arguments/ab
sence of
evidence
based
arguments.
LO4: Inadequate Limited Satisfactory Good critical Excellent Outstanding
Critically or weak critical critical evaluation of critical critical
evaluate critical evaluation of evaluation of the evaluation of evaluation of
different evaluation of the the techniques the the
business the techniques techniques used and of techniques techniques
analytical techniques used and of used and of their used and of used and of
techniques used and of their their consequences their their
as part of their consequences consequences within a consequences consequences
planning a consequences within a within a business within a within a
data with some business business environment. business business
analytics difficulties. environment. environment. Demonstrates environment. environment.
initiative. Largely Original work Wholly intellectual Demonstrates Demonstrates
imitative and with personal original work originality intellectual intellectual
descriptive reflection and with good and originality, originality,
consideration broad reflection and imagination integrity, integrity,
s on how to evidence- solid, well- in presenting coherence coherence,
plan a data based reasoned logical and creativity and
project in critique. judgements arguments imagination imagination
business forming from based on in presenting in presenting
contexts and evidence- evidence. logical logical
in how to based arguments arguments
interpret the critique. based on based on
conclusions. evidence. evidence.
Some

DDDB CW4[S] Page 15 of 16

 difficulty with
presenting
logical based
arguments/ab
sence of
evidence
based
arguments.
Research Inadequate Limited Satisfactory Good Excellent Outstanding
Skills academic/ academic/int academic/int academic/int academic/int academic/int
intellectual ellectual ellectual ellectual ellectual ellectual
skills with skills. Original skills. Wholly skills. skills. skills.
some work with original work Demonstrates Demonstrates Demonstrates
difficulties. personal with good intellectual intellectual intellectual
Largely reflection and reflection and originality originality, originality,
imitative and broad solid, well- and integrity, integrity,
descriptive. evidence- reasoned imagination coherence coherence,
Some based judgements and creativity and
difficulty with critique. Solid forming from imagination. imagination
structure and structure and evidence- working
accuracy in accuracy in based consistently in
expression, expression. critique. the higher
but Practical/prof Consistent cognitive
developing essional skills structure and domains to a
practical/prof evident. accuracy in professional
essional skills. expression. standard.
Practical/prof
essional skills
established.
Referencing Inadequate Limited and Satisfactory Good with Excellent with Outstanding
references full and with precise, precise, full precise, full with precise,
and notes but appropriate full and and and full and
may contain references appropriate appropriate appropriate appropriate
inconsistencie and notes references references references references
s, errors or with minor or and notes. and notes at a and notes at and notes at
omissions. insignificant high near- publishing
errors standard. publishing standard.
standard.

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