Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Theoretical Framework....................................................................................................................2
Figure 1 Framework of BA......................................................................................................4
Data layer.....................................................................................................................................4
Analytics Layer............................................................................................................................4
Reporting and visualization layer................................................................................................5
Dashboard........................................................................................................................................5
Figure 2 – Kona Electronics sales dashboard........................................................................6
Dashboard Justification...................................................................................................................6
Figure 3: Kona Electronics dashboard card...........................................................................7
Figure 4: Kona Electronics dashboard slicer.........................................................................7
Figure 5: Kona Electronics sales by sales channel.................................................................8
Figure 6: Kona Electronics sales by product categor.............................................................8
Figure 7: Kona Electronics sales by state...............................................................................9
Figure 8: Kona Electronics sales by promotion name............................................................9
Figure 9: Kona Electronics profit by state............................................................................10
Figure 10: Kona Electronics profit by stat............................................................................10
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................11
Introduction
Monitoring and tracking sales performance are very vital in successfully operating a retail
business. When a business engages in tracking and monitoring its sales, it can lead to
performance optimization and produce better results. While it might sound like a tedious thing to
do, it is a valuable activity. Companies are looking for ways to prevent losses and make more
confident business decisions. According to (CommenceCRM, 2018) when a business leader
knows the numbers, you no longer make second guesses, you are equipped to make smart
decisions based on data which makes you a more efficient leader. One of the most important
resources to a business is data (Chawlani, 2021). Business intelligence (BI) is a technology-
driven process for analyzing data and delivering actionable information that helps business
leaders make informed business decisions. BI ultimately drives better business decisions to
enable increased revenue, seamless operations, and a competitive edge over business rivals.
(Stedman, 2020)
Kona electronics has been selling electronics for 4 years, with operations in 31 states across the
country. The company currently has no automated sales tracking or monitoring system. Instead,
sales are recorded on a daily basis in a book with columns and rows designed to capture relevant
data such as selling price, cost price, profit, order date, and product name to mention but a few.
Other inventory information is also recorded in a book. In summary, the current system being
used at Kona electronics is solely manual and paper-based and this is susceptible to natural
disasters like fire, flood, and security concerns. This is posing a huge challenge to the company
as the business leaders cannot easily make any informed decisions about moving the business
forward or even knowing the true state of the business
This report will show how business intelligence (BI) can improve sales tracking and monitoring
as this will help Kona electronics have a real sense of their business sales and enable them to
make better sales decisions. Firstly, BI analysis over 1000 electronics sales recorded by Kona
electronics over the last 4 years in an excel sheet. The data was further cleaned and visualized on
a dashboard to show various sales scenarios which will help to shed more light on the current
sales of the business and help to forecast sales and make better business decisions.
Theoretical Framework
(Kukucka, 2020) states that structured data is vital for decision-making and strategy creation in a
business. It is also a key success determinant in a business. The purpose of tracking and
monitoring your sales is to visualize and measure the progress of business sales as well as find
gaps that can be improved. When a business engages in sales tracking and monitoring, it stands
to gain better processes, quicker turnaround time, and effective workflows.
As a retailer, your success is dependent on your access to real-time sales data to understand your
product performance, where it is selling, the best sales channel, price point, and profit amongst
other things. Knowing this allows you to make more tactical and strategic decisions that drive
commercial growth and increase ROI (GFK, 2022). Business intelligence (BI) in retail, not only
allows you to predict sales, it also allows you to see future trends. It elucidates new market
opportunities, as well as give a deeper understanding of your customers buying habit. (Porri,
2021) Therefore, Kona electronics needs to invest in Business Intelligence (BI) to enable them
get real-time sales and maximise profit.

Business analytics concerns itself with extracting valid insights from and visualizing data to
accelerate the decision–making process (Gavin, 2019). Business analytics is a software solution
that helps users analyze big data in order to make essential business decisions. It aids continuous
investigation of historical business performance to gain a better understanding and drive business
planning. With valid data and the right skills, data analytics can help foster customer loyalty and
boost brand identity by meeting customer needs. (Bethi, 2020)
(Morris, 2021) lists analytics, dashboard, data mining, Extract Transfer Load (ETL), model
visualization, reporting, and predictive reporting amongst others as examples of Business
analytics technologies. Whereas the dashboard is an interactive collection of valid data with
congenital data visualization, analytics metrics, KPIs and other key points that influences
decision-making. Dashboard uses charts, tables, cards to visualise the performance of a business.
Sales dashboards are used to monitor the sales activities in the business and ensure profit is being
maximised.
(Rafi, et al., 2019)explains that the general framework for BA is made up of four layers which
are data layer, analytics layer, reporting/visualisation layer, and access layer.
 Figure 1 Framework of BA

Source - (Rafi, et al., 2019)

Data layer
Data appears in various forms and various places, it can be collected from both internal and
external sources. Internal sources being from the database of the business where daily
interactions are stored. (bad boys) Data collected is then stored in a data warehouse and analysed
for decision making. Data from both the internal and external sources must be transformed
before it is populated in the data warehouse. The transformation process is called Extract,
Transform and Load (ETL). (IBM, 2020)
Extract
In this process, raw data is extracted from either internal or external sources. It is then merged
and filtered.
Transform
In this process, the consolidated data goes through filtering, cleaning, validation and
authentications. Calculations, translations, formatting the consolidated data also happen here.
Load
In this last process, the transformed data is then loaded into the data warehouse for analysis.
Analytics Layer
Data loaded in data warehouse are further analysed by either using prescriptive, descriptive or
predictive analytics. This layer uses various technique for analytics. One of the techniques is
Data mining. This process sorts through the data set to pinpoint patterns and relationships that
can enable the business leaders make more informed decisions. (Stedman, 2020). Another
technique in this layer is the Multidimensional data analysis also known as Online Analytical
Processing (OLAP). This method allows users to simply extract and query data in order to gain
insights into the data from different point of views. This technique often helps in trend, analysis,
sales forecasting, financial reporting, and budgeting amongst other planning purposes.
(Biscobing, 2020)

Reporting and visualization layer

Dashboard are used to visualize the data analysed data by using charts, graphs, and cards
amongst others. It communicates results to the business and recommendations are easy to
deduce. The dashboard is interactive and can be filtered and drilled down to give more insight on
various aspect of the business. The dashboard will enable Kona electronics see their sales
performance over the past 4 years.

Dashboard
Below is the link to the file
https://app.powerbi.com/links/2IfbW-SAP-?ctid=6ca0b57c-9e59-44f8-b4ca-
c5f6f4a6aab8&pbi_source=linkShare
Kona electronics has a problem with tracking and monitoring its sales data thereby not allowing
the business owners easily make impactful business decisions that will further improve business
performance. It is important to collate all the sales data and this was gathered from Kaggle. After
collating the data, it is important to analyse various sales KPIs of the business. Like the total
profit, the sales by selling channel, product performance, sales performance in each state, and
performance of sales promotions amongst other relevant factors. When these KPIs are analyzed
and visualized on this dashboard, Kona electronics business leaders will have real-time
information on the overall sales performance and will be able to easily make impactful business
decisions to drive growth and improve ROI. It will also help in improving customer satisfaction
and improve overall business performance.
The data was extracted as an excel file into Power BI. The next step was to clean the data. Null
and unnecessary space was removed from the rows and columns. Some measures like sales and
profit were calculated on the transform page after which the data was loaded into the data
warehouse.
Figure 2 – Kona Electronics sales dashboard

Source – Own editing

Dashboard Justification
This dashboard will give an overall information on the total sales of electronics at Kona
Electronics store. The dashboard uses a bar chat to visualize all the product categories
(computers, camera and camcorders, tv and videos, cell phones, music, movie and audiobooks,
and audio). Kona business owners will gain insights on the sales performance of each product
side by side which will enable them to know the product to focus on. For example, if computers
continue to increase in sales and audio decreases, Kona business owners will know the product
category to constantly restock and market. This will reduce excess money being tied up in less
performing product categories.
Figure 3: Kona Electronics dashboard card

Source – Own editing

Cards allow users to see single numbers like total sales, total profit, etc at a glimpse. In this
dashboard, the cards show the total revenue, and the number of states Kona electronics operates
in. this is beneficial because this data can be viewed quickly. (Microsoft, 2022)

Figure 4: Kona Electronics dashboard slicer

Source – Own editing

Slicers allow users to interact with the dashboard by clicking to filter through the data. (A, 2021)
Users can filter through graphs, charts, and cards to get specific information. According to figure
I don’t know yet, the dashboard slicer is categorized in two types (Year and Zone). This slicer
will enable Kona electronics business owners easily get information about the sales performance
of products. For example, when you select 2014 and also select the North West Zone, Kona
electronics can see the profit, product performance, and sales data in that year and zone.

Figure 5: Kona Electronics sales by sales channel

Source – Own editing

Pie chart in (figure 5) provides insight on the sales of electronics by channel. Kona electronics
sells its product in store, online, through resellers and via catalog. This enables Kona electronics
business owners know where to focus their sales. This pie chart currently shows that sales are
more in store than any other channel. The pie chart alongside the slicers will further give in-
depth knowledge on how each channel has been performing in various zones over the years. This
factor can influence decision making in terms of business expansion and overall business
performance.
Figure 6: Kona Electronics sales by
product category
 Source – Own editing

Bar chart in (figure 6) provides insight about the sales by product category. If the sales of any of
these product category increases or decreases, it will reflect in this bar chart. For example, if
computer start to record decreased sales, Kona business owner will know to investigate the gap
and reason why. This helps the business to be aware of its best sellers and least performing
product category and also show to better serve the customers.
Figure 7: Kona Electronics sales by state

Source – Own editing

The map in (figure 7) provides insight on the overall sales by state. As sales continue to increase
or decrease in various states, it will reflect on the map. For example, Abakaliki state records the
highest sales so far in comparison to the other 31 states. This can further give Kona electronics
business owners insight to the sales performance in each state and enable them make effective
business decisions for overall business performance.
 Figure 8: Kona Electronics sales by promotion name

Source – Own editing

Bar chart in (figure 8)

provides insight about the sales by promotion. Kona electronics has engaged in different sales
promotion (Adventist promotion, winners promotion, deeper promotion, xmas holiday
promotion, conventional promotion, new year promotion, hammer promotion, easter promotion,
august promotion). For example, this bar chart currently shows that the highest sales were
recorded during Adventist promotion. This gives the business owners better insight on the best
promotions to engage in.
Figure 9: Kona Electronics profit by state
 Source – Own editing

Scroller in (figure 9) makes it possible to create a scrolling text on your dashboard. This is useful
when displaying on a large screen. (Microsoft, 2015). On this dashboard the scroller shows the
annual sales profit in each state of operation.
Figure 10: Kona Electronics profit by state

Source – Own editing

(Figure10) shows the bar and line chart. This provides insight about the sales and profit line over
4 years. As sales and profit continue to change, it will reflect on the dashboard. This enables the
Kona electronics see their sales performance and further investigate. For example, 2012 recorded
the highes sales and the highest profit which further declined in the following two years. This
begins to raise questions as to what happened and what can be done to further increase sales and
profit.

Recommendation
Business Intelligence (BI) provides valid insights to businesses in real-time. According to
(Barasch, 2019) data is important in retail as it enables the business owners to provide a
personalized shopping experience and improve customer service based on information from
historical data. Therefore, Kona electronics can implement BI for not just record keeping, but
also to enable them study customer purchasing power and know the right sales channels to adopt
to increase ROI.
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