PART ONE: ORGANIZING & ANALYZING DATA
Scenario:
Your manager has asked you to look at two pivot tables that summarize monthly performance at Marcy Market across four boroughs. These pivot tables are powerful tools for helping spot business trends, regional differences, and seasonal shifts. Your job is to study both and summarize what you observe. They break down:
Total Sales by month and borough
Total Units Sold by month and borough
What is a pivot table?
Never heard of a pivot table? No worries!
A pivot table is a data summarization tool that organizes and aggregates large datasets into a more readable, interactive table. It allows users to "pivot" or rearrange data to analyze it from different angles, making it easy to find trends, perform calculations like sums or averages, and answer specific questions without using complex formulas.
Watch the videos below to learn more about pivot tables:
Instructions:
Navigate to the “Task 2-Introduction to Pivot Tables" tab in the spreadsheet. Review the data in columns A-E and the two Pivot Tables (starting in column G).
Use the data you've reviewed to answer the questions below.
Place your answers in the "Your Responses" tab of the Google Sheet.
QUESTIONS:
Spot the Peaks
a. Which borough had the highest total sales in any single month?
b. In that same month, how did that borough’s units sold compare to others?
c. What might explain a high sales month that doesn’t have the highest units sold?
2. Sales vs. Units Sold
a. Pick one month where units sold are high but sales are not the highest.
b. What might explain this difference?
3. Borough Patterns
a. Looking across the full year, which borough seems to consistently perform well in total sales?
b. Is there any borough whose units sold appear high but total sales lag behind?
c. What’s one theory you have about that borough’s sales strategy or customer behavior