All of the results that Neil provides are readily produced by Access or by any SQL-processing DBMS. With a basic understanding of SQL, you could write the queries in Two product managers, Jeremey Will and Neil Town, are arguing about the effectiveness of a September product sales promotion in front of their boss, Sarah Murphy.
Sarah: “So, should we repeat that promotion in October?”
Jeremey: “No way. It was expensive, and there was no increase in sales.”
Neil: “I disagree. Well, wait, I agree there was no increase in sales from August, but if you look at sales history, we have a substantial increase over past Septembers.”
Jeremey: “Where’d you get that data?”
Neil: “Extract from the sales database. Anyway, on average, our sales are up 11 percent from past years.
And, even better, most of that increase is from new customers.”
Jeremey: “I don’t think so. I called four different sales reps, and they said they can’t get any prospects to bite.”
Neil: “Not what the data says. I put it into Access and then did a series of queries. Nineteen percent of sales in September were from new customers.”
Sarah: “Amazing. But can you relate that to the campaign?”
Neil: “Yes, strongly. Turns out of the new customers’
sales, almost two-thirds used a coupon.”
Sarah: “Neil, put this into a report for me. I want to take it to the executive meeting tomorrow.”