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SEMESTER 1 2022/23

MANG2071

VBA Project

Business Analytics Programming

Purpose:

The objective of this project is to produce a VBA application to help automate a business or organisational process. Refer to part II of the module textbook, i.e. Albright (2013), for examples of different types of VBA Applications.

There are two components to the assignment:

VBA Algorithm (60%)

Create a VBA application in Excel to help automate the business or organisational process you have decided to address, which must:

1. Clearly highlight and explain the propose of the business process you proposed, highlight the main benefit of automate the business process. It would be good to specify the key aims of the business process and main criteria of good outcomes of such a business process (e.g. save time, costs or better decisions).

2. Have a graphical user interface within Excel (or other appropriate application such PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, etc.) such that a person who is familiar with Excel, but has no knowledge of VBA, can successfully operate your VBA application (you may discuss the GUI design of human friendly interfaces in your designs and VBA code).

3. Demonstrate the key programming skills expected on successful completion of the module including use of:

• Variables, Constants and Data Types;

• Routines, Procedures and Functions;

• Conditional Structures and Loops;

• Arrays;

• VBA Objects, e.g. UserForms and/or classes; etc.

4. Demonstrate a clear understanding of the importance of correctness/tolerate wrong inputs, usability/reusablity, readability and performance/efficiency (e.g. if you have Big datasets) in programming.

Report (40%)

Produce a report about your VBA application, which must include:

1. Introduction of your VBA Application:

• The background and rationale to the business issue or problem, which you have decided to address using a VBA application and key aims you would like to achieve for such a VBA application.

• You may refer to relevant literature but keep coverage of the literature brief.

• Clearly state the overall objectives of the VBA algorithm and how to measure such objectives have been achieved.

3. Discussion of the potential impact of the VBA Application:

• How do you think the application of your suggested solution would impact a business or organisation? Would you, for example, expect it to lead to lower costs, higher efficiency, higher accuracy, etc.? Discuss the potential implications of implementing your application within a business or organisation. For example, how to deal with multiple users use the same application at the same time; when there large databases your application need to link with; deploy your application online in the cloud environment; and how to ensure unauthorised users cannot access change the data records etc. You do not need to cover all of them but may consider some of these issues in real-world settings.

• Discuss how well you believe your proposed solution is likely to address the problem/issue and make some suggestions on the how your model’s limitations that you have identified may be addressed. You may also motivae why VBA shall be adopted compared with other tools/programming languages.

4. User’s Operational manual:

Write an operational manual so that a user who is familiar with Excel, but has no knowledge of VBA, can successfully operate your VBA application. It should be brief: Bear in mind that well-written software needs less explanation. Note the following:

• Manuals shall be easy to read and follow

• Screenshots are not essential, but are useful.

• Any assumptions and limitations should be specified here.

• Specify your application deployment environment and versions which works in such an environment

• An explanation of any warnings and/or messages given by the program should be given (e.g. when users click wrong buttons or have wrong inputs). It is not essential, but you might want to combine this with a troubleshooting section.

5. Technical Documentation:

The technical documentation should describe the components of the application to a VBA-literate reader so that the VBA application can be maintained and enhanced in the future. It should include:

• The purpose of each file (module, class, UserForm). You may draw a system diagram to illustrate relationship of these files.

• For each file, a brief description of the purpose of each routine, method, properties and event (e.g. consider you are in a project group and your descriptions shall allow other members to continuously develop or improve the application). This should be no more than a few sentences; often one will suffice.

• A description of how the files are linked together.

6. VBA program code:

Your VBA code must be able to run. Also copy and paste the entire text (not a picture) of your VBA code as appendix to the report.

You must submit the report ad the report must not exceed 2000 words including everything except the VBA code text, bibliography and reference list.

Towards the end of term, we will run an assignment workshop where we will clarify the expectations of the project, look back on students’ performance in previous years and review ideas for VBA project apps. Please attend.

Submit to blackboard:

• A single pdf document containing (i) your report and (ii) the entire text of your application VBA code copied from Excel. You must submit the pdf document to the Turnitin submission tab on blackboard.

• An Excel file in xlsm format containing your VBA application. You must submit xlsm file to the ‘VBA Model Submission’ tab on blackboard.

• If your application inputs a data set, for example a csv file, then you must also submit a sample data file to the ‘VBA Model Submission’ tab so that I can test your application with the input data.

Please name your files using the final eight digits of your student ID number prefixed by VBA2, e.g. VBA2_12345678.xlsm and VBA2_12345678.pdf. Do not include your name.

Collaboration, plagiarism and cheating

• Note that while may use the examples from Albright (2013), or other sources, to inform your ideas, however you are expected to come up with your own, new application rather than simply replicating an existing one: Copying the VBA code from an existing source will be regarded as plagiarism.

• Unlike the exercise sheets for the course, you should work on your own when carrying out the coursework.

• Your report should acknowledge clearly all the people with whom you have discussed any part of the coursework, as well as any references you may have used.

• Please refresh your memory of the University’s code on academic integrity, see http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/academic-integrity-regs.html

You are reminded that if the statement Option Explicit is not included at the top of the source code in every non-empty module, class and UserForm in your project, you will lose credit for the assignment.

Nature of Assessment: This is a SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT. See ‘Weighting’ section above for the percentage that this assignment counts towards your final module mark.

Word Limit: +/-10% either side of the word count (see above) is deemed to be acceptable. Any text that exceeds an additional 10% will not attract any marks. The relevant word count includes items such as cover page, executive summary, title page, table of contents, tables, figures, in-text citations and section headings, if used. The relevant word count excludes your list of references and any appendices at the end of your coursework submission. You should always include the word count (from Microsoft Word, not Turnitin), at the end of your coursework submission, before your list of references.

Title/Cover Page: You must include a title/ cover page that includes: your Student ID, Module Code, Assignment Title, Word Count. This assignment will be marked anonymously, please ensure that your name does not appear on any part of your assignment.

References: You should use the Harvard style to reference your assignment. The library provide guidance on how to reference in the Harvard style and this is available from: http://library.soton.ac.uk/sash/referencing

Submission Deadline: Please note that the submission deadline for Southampton Business School is 16.00 for ALL assessments.

Turnitin Submission: The assignment MUST be submitted electronically via Turnitin, which is accessed via the individual module on Blackboard. Further guidance on submitting assignments is available on the Blackboard support pages.

It is important that you allow enough time prior to the submission deadline to ensure your submission is processed on time as all late submissions are subject to a late penalty. We would recommend you allow 30 minutes to upload your work and check the submission has been processed and is correct. Please make sure you submit to the correct assignment link.

You will know that your submission has completed successfully when you see a message stating ‘Congratulations – your submission is complete…’. It is vital that you make a note of your Submission ID (Digital Receipt Number). This is a unique receipt number for your submission, and is proof of successful submission. You may be required to provide this number at a later date. We recommend that you take a screenshot of this page, or note the number down on a piece of paper. You should also receive an email receipt containing this number, and the number can be found after submitting by following this guide. This method of checking your submission is particularly useful in the event that you don’t receive an email receipt.

You are allowed to test submit your assignment via Turnitin before the due date. You can use Turnitin to check your assignment for plagiarism before you submit your final version. See “Viewing Your Originality Report” for guidance. Please see the Module Leader/lecturer on your module if you would like advice on the Turnitin Originality report.

The last submission prior to the deadline will be treated as the final submission and will be the copy that is assessed by the marker.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the version received by the deadline is the final version, resubmissions after the deadline will not be accepted in any circumstances.

Important: If you have any problems during the submission process you should contact ServiceLine immediately by email at [email protected] or by phone on +44 (0)23 8059 5656.

Late Penalties: Further information on penalties for work submitted after the deadline can be found here.

Special Considerations: If you believe that illness or other circumstances have adversely affected your academic performance, information regarding the regulations governing Special Considerations can be accessed via the Calendar: http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/special-considerations.html

Extension Requests: : Extension requests along with supporting evidence should be submitted to the Student Office as soon as possible before the submission date. Information regarding the regulations governing extension requests can be accessed via the Calendar: http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/special-considerations.html

Academic Integrity Policy: Please note that you can access Academic Integrity Guidance for Students via the Quality Handbook: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/quality/assessment/academic_integrity.page?. Please note any suspected cases of Academic Integrity will be notified to the Academic Integrity Officer for investigation.

Feedback: Southampton Business School is committed to providing feedback within 4 weeks (University working days). Once the marks are released and you have received your feedback, you can meet with your Module Leader / Module Lecturer / Personal Academic Tutor to discuss the feedback within 4 weeks from the release of marks date. Any additional arrangements for feedback are listed in the Module Profile.

Student Support: Study skills and language support for Southampton Business School students is available at: http://www.sbsaob.soton.ac.uk/study-skills-and-language-support/.