I have a question: If I want to use the information of number of new policies sold per quarter provided in advance material, should I just plot the table into graph? Can I use Excel to calculate the changes % between each quarter first, then I find the minimum and maximum changes % for PRESTIGE LIFE and YOUTHSURE? Its aim is to show that the business volume of YOUTHSURE is more volatile than that of PRESITGE LIFE. But I'm thinking whether CP3 allows this kind of extra calculation working. Another reason is if I plot them into line graph, the relative difference of the trend of business volume of these two companies cannot be clearly seen as the business sales of PRESTIGE LIFE is much higher than that of YOUTHSURE. Please advice me which way should I take.
Hi - do bear in mind that there are not right and wrong answers to things like this: you need to make the judgement call yourself and there will be many different approaches that are acceptable. It might be necessary at times to do some additional quick / simple calculations, but normally it is sufficient to illustrate / communicate figures that have been provided. When including a chart, aim for it to represent a message that is important to achieve the 'Why' of the communication. So step back a little and think: is it vital to illustrate to the reader that there has been a lot of volatility in Y's sales experience? They are a start-up company so isn't that only to be expected? And the sales volumes do seem to have stabilised for Y over more recent quarters, as would also be expected over time for a new company. The % change figures for Y (if you calculated them in addition) will be hugely positive or negative for some of those early stages - what point are you trying to get across by communicating such figures? Would it not be simpler just to state that the sales figures were very volatile over the first few quarters, but have subsequently stabilised (if this is felt to be an important message to meet the 'Why' of the communication)? Having said that, a graph showing the volumes sold for each company in direct comparison would help to illustrate how much smaller Y is than P - which you might decide is an important aspect to communicate. [Although perhaps a bar chart rather than a line chart, since they are discrete amounts?] However, it feels like there are probably more important things to illustrate visually to the recipient for this scenario, such as the relative levels of profitability (very different profit margins - and profit potential will be key to a merger scenario). So remember to think: What is the purpose of the communication overall (the 'Why')? What could I illustrate visually to help me to meet that? (Also think: are there some messages that would be easier to show visually than to try to explain in words?) What would be the best way in which to illustrate those aspects?
