DATABASE EXERCISE: ADDING VALUE TO INFORMATION FOR MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING

Effective information systems add value to data to create meaningful information for management decisions that improve business performance. At the Companion Website for Chapter 1, you can find a Store and Regional Sales Database with raw data on weekly store sales of computer equipment in various sales regions. The database includes fields for store identification number, sales region number, item number, item description, unit price, units sold, and the weekly sales period when the sales were made. Develop some reports and queries to make this information more useful to management. Modify the database table, if necessary, to provide all of the information you require. Here are some questions you might consider:

1. Which are the best performing stores and sales regions?
2. What are the best-selling products?
3. Which stores and sales regions are strongest in which products?
4. What are the strongest and weakest selling periods? For which stores? Which sales regions? Which products?
5. How can your company improve sales in the weakest store and sales region? (Answers will vary.)