MIS770: Foundation Skills in Data Analysis- Analysing the Visual Presentation- Business Report Writing Assignment

Internal Code: IAH319

Business Report Writing Assignment:

Task:  Analysing the Visual Presentation of an Organisation’s Annual Report Overview For this assignment, we will use the ideas and concepts introduced in Module 1 to evaluate the presentation of information.The evaluation will centre on the suitability of Charts, Tables and/or Graphs used to represent, or visualise, data. The source document for these Charts, Tables and/or Graphs will be a published report from a Government or significant Organisation of your choice. (An example of a suitable annual report can be found at the end of this document under “Supporting Materials”.) There are many suitable reports that you can use for your evaluation and you might be comfortable selecting a document that is aligned with your current field of study. For instance, if you were a Business student then you might like to choose a listed (public) company’s Annual Investor Presentation such as the example shown under “Supporting Materials”. These types of reports can be sourced from a public company’s website (usually under Investor Centre) or the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Other suitable sources could be international organisations (e.g. World Health Organisation (WHO)), government departments or enterprises (e.g. Education Departments, water authorities, etc.). When selecting a report to evaluate, ensure that the document is publically available and has a wide selection of Charts, Tables and Graphs. Part A: Develop Evaluation Criteria Your evaluation criteria need to be objective, in that they stipulate the rules you would use in establishing whether a Chart, Table or Graph utilised in your selected Report, is appropriate for the data being presented. You need to make sure that each of your criterion is written in such a manner that a reasonable person can readily understand, or appreciate, the message being conveyed. You are expected to address approximately 20 criteria. Part B: Report Evaluation Select 12 to 15 diverse Charts, Tables or Graphs from your chosen Report (but not including any “Infographics”) and evaluate these visualisations using your criterion developed in Part A. It would not be unusual for an individual visualisation from your report to refer to multiple criteria. Further, any given visualisation you select may conform to some of your criterion but be in contravention of others, and this would need to be reported. It is expected that each of your criterion would be used at least once when eva luating your chosen Charts, Tables or Graphs.