Exploring and analyzing data

This is where you start exploring the data that you have modeled, try to make sense of it, and look for insights.

We have two measures that we can play around with in a model: Amount and Quantity. Let’s start out our analysis by putting up Amount broken down by Type, just to check how big the Direct sales are compared to the main channels, and then also break it down further by Year to double-ensure that it is indeed the case every year:

Figure 3.28: Verifying direct sales’ makeup for total sales

The hypothesis that we tested is true. Hence, we can safely disregard direct sales and analyze them separately later if required. Let’s turn our attention back to the main sales channels by filtering out direct sales.

Let’s continue by looking at the sales amount by year (Figure 3.29); they show an increase each year and a dip in the last year. What if we break it down by product category to see if...