The Fluffy Certification Activity

Certification Exercise

BA131 uses a certification process to ensure that all students who pass the class can perform basic activities in a reasonable manner. For the last ten years or so, this has involved requiring student to pass the final exam. If for some reason a student got tripped up mentally during the final exam, that student received an F -- even though the student might have done well throughout all the other class activities.

In order to preserve the good things about using a certification model while avoiding the prospect of receiving a surprise F at the end of the term, BA131 will use a different method to certify your skill. Each student will need to record a video showing exactly how the student goes about building a simple spreadsheet model from start to finish. Thus, each student in BA131 this term must successfully complete this "Fluffy Spreadsheet Model" in order to pass the class.

Background Ideas

I want to encourage you to practice, practice, and practice the skills associated with this class. Becoming really comfortable with using a computer has many advantages:

In good jobs; that is, one's where you are given real responsibility and are paid for completing work rather than putting in hours ... the faster you complete the work, the sooner you can play.
When giving the necessary commands becomes second nature, you can devote more attention to producing high-quality, reliable work.
Pride.

So I want to you to practice building the Fluffy Spreadsheet Model until you can complete it in a reasonably quick time -- and for this exercise, that means ten minutes or less. The Fluffy Spreadsheet Model assumes a local firm is thinking about building a business around washing pets. The actual store would be located near Cub Foods and would let customers drop off their cat or dog for a thorough washing (complete with an automatic spin-cycle) while they shop for groceries nearby.

"Fluffy" Activity Description

Create a new folder in your P:\classwork\ba131 folder called Fluffy. Then, put a copy of this Fluffy.xls file in the new folder you just created. If you do this correctly, and if you are logged into the college's network, then you should be able to click on this P:\classwork\ba131\fluffy\fluffy.xls link to open the Fluffy.xls file with Microsoft Excel.
Change the formatting and build formulas to complete the Fluffy.xls model. As an example of a completed model, look at the following picture:

Caution! Do not edit or change any of the numbers in the worksheet: you are only to change formatting and build formulas. If you feel the urge to type numbers into the worksheet, don't do it!
You should build formulas that will copy well. For example, in the worksheet shown above, the formula for cell D7 should be "=C7+$B$21".
Do not put numbers in your formulas. Thus, the formula for D7 cannot be "=C7+1500" even though it will display the "correct" answer on the screen. Why is this so important? First, the numbers are well identified in the assumption block, but their meaning is obscure when they are buried in formulas. Second, people should be able to change the numbers in the assumption block to determine "What-if" answers about the spreadsheet model.
Use either an IF-test or a Max function to calculate taxes; that is, pay taxes only if Pretax Cashflow is positive.

Prior "Fluffy Model Building" winners

I've asked students in my BA271 class to complete this activity as an optional competition. Students who could complete the activity in six minutes or less were given a few bonus points in the class. The links in this section lead to videos they recorded showing how they went about building the spreadsheet model. I recommend playing a few of these entries to determine how someone with real model-building skill goes about completing work.

The five fastest winners during Spring term, 2006 were:

Jacob Talpos submitted this 2 minute and 23 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.
Nicholas Anderson submitted this 3 minute and 2 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.
Garrett McLeod submitted this 3minute and 2 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.
Rebecca Refvem submitted this 3 minute and 4 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.
Pinyarat Sirisomboonsuk submitted this 3 minute and 11 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.

The five fastest winners during Winter term, 2006 were:

Takuro Goto submitted this 2 minute and 38 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.
Eric Le submitted this 2 minute and 43 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.
Kaylee Pfennig submitted this 3 minute and 12 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.
Evan Dahlquist submitted this 3 minute and 16 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.
Jessica Gebhardt submitted this 3 minute and 34 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.

The top two winners during Spring term, 2005 included:

Bryan Jordan completed the task in 2:29 seconds.
Jonathan Lund completed the task in 2:29 seconds.

The top two winners during Fall term, 2005 included:

Andus Hui submitted this 2 minute and 10 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry. Given the speed with which this model was built, I decided to overlook to fact that the column headings were poorly aligned with the numbers below them.
Sandila Ekaputri submitted this 3 minute and 36 second Fluffy Spreadsheet competition entry.

Recording an on-screen video:

I'd like you to record your work in a file named Fluffy.wmv; that is, a Windows Media Video file. This will let us play back the video to see what you did to complete the Fluffy model.
Use Microsoft Producer to record the Fluffy.wmv file.
- Find a microphone and plug it into your computer (you can check out a headset with a microphone from the Help Desk in the basement computer labs).
- Microsoft Producer can be downloaded from the Microsoft website for free (as long as your computer already has a copy of Microsoft Office on it).
- Begin by opening Microsoft Producer and ask to "Start a new blank project".
- Give a Tools-Capture command and ask to capture a Video Screen Capture with Audio. While you work your way through the model, describe what you are doing on the audio track.
- Fill out the Capture Wizard dialog box as shown to the below.
  
  Thus, you should:
  - Set the Target Audience Connection to: "Corporate LAN connection at 300 kbps"
  - Set the Video Display Size to "Large - 800 x 600"
  - Open Excel and adjust its borders to fit within the 800 by 600 pixel outline.
  - Open the unformatted Fluffy.xls spreadsheet.
  - Click on the Capture button and begin formatting and building formulas as rapidly as you can.
  - Please describe what you are doing on the audio track -- your video needs your commentary.
- When you have finished building the Fluffy.xls spreadsheet model, return to Microsoft Producer and save your video as p:\classwork\ba131\fluffy\Fluffy.wmv.
- Finally, so that I know to begin grading your Fluffy model, send a short email message to me (Dave Sullivan) whose subject line is, "My BA131 Fluffy Video is Ready to Grade". The body of the message should briefly describe your thoughts about this exercise, and it needs to say how long your Fluffy video is.

Grading

So I know to begin grading your Fluffy model, send a short email message to me (Dave Sullivan) whose subject line is, "My BA131 Fluffy Video is Ready to Grade". The body of the message should briefly describe your thoughts about this exercise, and it needs to say how long your Fluffy video is.
If your final Fluffy model contains a logical error ... or if your model is not formatted correctly ... or if it doesn't have an audio commentary, you will be asked to re-do your entry.
While I will allow you to take up to ten minutes to complete this activity, everyone should learn to build a well-formatted, logically-correct spreadsheet model in less than 6 minutes. As you practice this activity, your times will come down, and you will be learning useful shortcuts that will help you complete every computing task more quickly.
If you have difficulty completing this task, please come talk with me during office hours or a help session. I want this activity to go smoothly for you and end up being a positive experience.
My strong preference is to have you complete this activity sooner rather than later.
- I will accept submissions anytime before the end of the 9th week of the term without penalty.
- Any submissions or "redo" efforts received during dead week will incur a mild grading penalty.
- Any submissions or "redo" efforts that are received during finals week will result in a substantial grading penalty.
- Anyone who is unable to complete this activity by the end of finals week will receive an F in the entire course this term. Thus, this is not an optional activity.