Create a 5–10 minute video using Kaltura (or similar courseroom-compatible software) in which you propose a departmental financial plan for the upcoming year in the City of Acme, along with supporting data visualizations and discussions of economic principles and drivers behind the financial plan.
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Introduction
Data Visualization Revisited
You’re already familiar with data visualizations that inform your decision-making. You might look at a pie graph on your phone or laptop to see how much cloud storage you have left. Or you might look at line graphs from a weather service to see how temperatures are forecast to change over the next week. These visualizations are built on data has been compiled into a specific data set, analyzed, and organized into an easy-to-understand graph or chart.
Data visualization is all about making critical information easier to communicate. If you’re trying to find out the weather for your weekend plans, you need the right data, presented intelligently, to know if you should go out or stay home. When working with data sets, it’s imperative to keep in mind who the audience is, what information they might value the most, and what you want their takeaway to be.
For example, your office might be upgrading a software program and the CFO may ask for a cost-benefit analysis to compare upgrading all at once versus over several months. What is the most critical information is the CFO likely to want? How would be the best way to communicate this to them?
When it comes to thinking critically about the data you analyze and using it to make decisions, your problem-solving skill can help you examine how a particular set of data relates in the most meaningful way for you and your audience. By using data to identify and frame the problems that concern a group, you can help them verify what matches and what contrasts in the data set, identify clear trends, draw conclusions about basic relationships, and make predictions about patterns.
Just like with your personal finances, if you are dealing with financial considerations in your career, you can use the same process to make visualizations about potential budget plans or even to recognize how much certain areas, resources, or even lack of investment could end up costing the company.
Presenting Professionally
Throughout your career, you will likely be called upon to present on some topic relevant to your work, such as a project, a department, or a proposal for something new at your workplace. No matter what the specifics are, it will be critical that you present yourself and your material professionally. This means making sure you are using the appropriate terminology and tone for the topic and the audience. It also means that the information and visuals you present should be well polished, well researched, well cited, and well organized.
When presenting:
· Consider your audience.
· Make sure you are sharing the right information.
· Polish your words.
· Polish your visuals.
· Cite your sources.
· Stay organized.
Following these basic points can help you deliver a professional-quality presentation.
For this assessment, you will be drawing upon your problem-solving, agility, and technology skills to design and effectively communicate a budget that works.
Overview
As a departmental or organizational leader, you are likely to be required to prepare a proposed budget for each fiscal year. Budgets provide parameters for achieving goals. Spend too much and you’ll have a deficit. Spend too little and you could have a surplus, which may not be a good sign if organizational goals have not been met. Using technology can help you stay organized throughout your analysis, as well as help you visualize financial data. Displaying the data visually will allow you to observe general trends in your department finances and to communicate about them effectively to stakeholders.
For this assessment, you will use Excel to analyze and represent department data. The approach to learning and working with Excel software in this course is one you can apply to other technology tools in your life and career as well.
Your goal for this assessment is to continue building your confidence in using a technology tool while conducting a department financial analysis. You will use Excel to organize quarterly and annual budgets, visualize this financial data using charts and graphs, and discuss the results of your financial analysis, including progress toward your department financial goal.
Preparation
Read the following scenario for the context of this assessment. Download, save, and read the
Assessment 4 Template [XLSX]
. This completed template will be one of your deliverables for this assessment. Do not create your own version of this template. You must download these templates and fill them in as part of your analysis.
Refer to Audio and Video in This Course in Tools and Resources as needed for help with creating your video.
Scenario
You are the associate administrator of a large department in the City of Acme with an operating budget of 1.8 million dollars. Your boss, the administrator, has asked you to create a presentation with graphs indicating next fiscal year’s proposed budget allocations.
Instructions
Using what you have learned about budgeting, Excel, and creating data visualizations, populate the Assessment 4 Template. Then create a 5–10 minute video in which you present your proposed budget to the department staff and leadership.
For this assessment, complete the following steps:
1. Create a proposed budget based on a professional financial analysis of a year-to-date budget.
· Use the Assessment 4 Template to review the current annual budget, then prepare a new proposed budget.
· Based on this data, how will you propose to update the budget for the next fiscal year? Consider the following before populating the cells for the next fiscal year:
· It is rumored there will be a 3 percent increase in cost of living. Consider budgeting this increase for personnel cost.
· Two-thirds of the computers were outdated and failed, requiring replacement during this budget year, which accounts for the increase at the 9-month mark. It’s up to you to decide whether to budget enough to replace the remaining one-third of the old computers still in use.
· You won’t need as many vehicles next year. If each vehicle is valued at about 36,475 dollars, consider a conservative amount to budget for next year. If you don’t add more vehicles, consider a substantial increase to Vehicle Maintenance for repairs next year.
· Please read the comments (notes) in the cells, indicated by
red triangles in the upper right corner of the cells.
· You have the original budget, the nine-month budget (or year-to-date at nine months), and the empty budget spreadsheet for the next year.
2. Create appropriate graphs to illustrate the findings of a professional financial analysis.
· Prepare graphs for the current year budget, the year-to-date budget, and the proposed budget.
· You may wish to display these graphs during your video, so it’s worth considering the audience for your video and how the graphs will appear during the presentation.
· You should use Excel to create these graphs in the Assessment 4 Template.
3. Explain the results of a professional financial analysis, including overall progress and why the proposed budget is the best possible forecast for the new year.
· Make a video presentation using Kaltura (or another familiar video recording method that is compatible with the courseroom) in which you review your analysis and proposed budget.
· Discuss whether your final budget is conservative (meaning it would still work in a worst-case scenario) or aggressive (meaning that all budget metrics must be met to avoid a deficit next year).
· Make your recommendation for the proposed budget with your logic for the proposed increase or decrease in the new budget.
4. Step 4:
Explain how your selected graphs are the best choice to communicate financial information.
· Discuss the graphs that you chose to present the data from the three budgets in the Assessment 4 Template.
· How do they help the audience better understand the presented financial data?
· How are they better than other types of graphs you considered?
5. Address the appropriate audience, using familiar, discipline-specific language and terminology.
· Are you speaking to the audience in the scenario (that is, department members and leadership) in your presentation?
· Is the language you are using appropriate for the scenario and your role as an assistant administrator?
· Are you using appropriate economic and finance terminology?
Remember to submit the completed Assessment 4 Template and your 5–10 minute video presentation for this assessment.
Additional Requirements
Your assessment should also follow the following requirements:
·
Communication: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, respectful, and consistent with expectations for professional practice in education. Original work and critical thinking are required. Your writing must be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
·
Video presentation: 5–10 minutes.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:
· Competency 3: Explain the findings of a personal financial analysis with regard to progress toward a financial goal.
· Create an accurate proposed budget based on a professional financial analysis of a year-to-date budget.
· Explain the results of a professional financial analysis, including overall progress and why the proposed budget is the best possible forecast for the new year.
· Competency 4: Create spreadsheets, charts, graphs, or other data visualizations to organize and present financial information.
· Create appropriate graphs to illustrate all findings of a professional financial analysis.
· Explain how selected graphs are the best choice to communicate financial information.
· Competency 5: Develop professional written communication in a well-organized text, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.
· Address the appropriate audience, using familiar, discipline-specific language and terminology.
