DYS542: Harvesting Spreadsheet Data

Dyson, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Action Plan
Professor Haeger has explained that there are three criteria generally used to define big
data, but that more simply, you can think of big data as any time you have to scroll to
view it all. Using that definition, you’re probably working with big data now. Consider the
data you work with routinely and the challenges you face: what are the key business
questions you’re hoping to answer?

Answer the following questions, using as much space as you need.

1. Describe the key business need you have for harvesting data, or the problem you
wish to solve.

The company I work for needs to harvest data to determine how to source and deliver
alcohol to customers to minimize travel time and maximize profit.

2. What is it that you need to do, better or for the first time? Describe your goal(s).

Even though I work in the legal team, I could help with business operations if I
gathered data for the first time on customer orders our couriers complete for our
customers.

3. Identify the main categories of data you expect to gather in pursuit of your goal. For
example, in terms of customer data, this might be: First and last name; street address;
city; state/province; mailing code; email; phone; purchase history.

Courier’s starting location, store (purchase) location, delivery location, item price, and
time spent

4. Describe your plans for making sure that the data you’re working with is accurate
and up to date. How do you think you can best accomplish this? Which colleagues or
departments will you need to collaborate with?

I can collaborate with the data science team and operations team to see if my
company’s app is retrieving this data in a way that can be downloaded in Excel.

5. Describe what success looks like. What will be the net result of your efforts? How
will your work here positively impact you, your team, your department, or your
organization?

Success looks like organizing the data so I could potentially use Excel’s Solver tool to
optimize for the most efficient store in each area or neighborhood for our
couriers to purchase the items they need to deliver. Reducing the time it takes
to source the products will help my organization service more customers

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 DYS542: Harvesting Spreadsheet Data
Dyson, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

quickly.

6. Set a timeline for success: What do you plan to do in the next month? In the next
three months?

In the next month, I plan on discussing this proposal with my manager. In the next
three months, I’d like to work with the Data Science team to see if we have the
necessary data already available.

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