Internship Report (Data Analysis Internship at Direct Link)

1 Internship Report: Data Analysis Internship at Direct Link Name Student’s Number Date

2 Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Inverted Pyramid Organization .................................................................................................... 4 Narrative .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Background and Specific Business of the Company ................................................................... 5 i. Global Deliveries .............................................................................................................. 5 ii. Nordic Deliveries .......................................................................................................... 5 iii. Warehouse Logistics ...................................................................................................... 6 Department in Which I Performed My Internship ....................................................................... 7 Internship Work ........................................................................................................................... 7 Main Duties ............................................................................................................................. 7 Weekly Reports ............................................................................................................................ 8 i. My Pack Report ................................................................................................................ 8 ii. Deliveries Report ........................................................................................................... 9 Custom Requests ......................................................................................................................... 9 i. External requests ............................................................................................................... 9 ii. Internal requests ............................................................................................................ 9 Web Dashboard .......................................................................................................................... 10 i. Customer success dashboard ........................................................................................... 10 ii. Deliveries account dashboard ...................................................................................... 10 Specific Issues That I Worked On ............................................................................................. 10 Importance of Proper Documentation at Direct Link ................................................................ 12 Analysis and Evaluation ................................................................................................................ 12 Main Lessons from the Internship ............................................................................................. 12 i. Lessons on Data Analytics .............................................................................................. 12 ii. Lessons on Writing SQL ............................................................................................. 13 iii. Lessons on Presentation and Communication ............................................................. 14 iv. Lessons on Building Dashboards ................................................................................ 14 Interaction with Other Employees ............................................................................................. 14 Overall Performance and Quality of Work Produced ................................................................ 15 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 15 References ...................................................................................................................................... 17

4 Introduction Direct Link, owned by Post Nord, provides personalized, global, and fully tracked delivery services, pick and pack, and fulfillment to each location globally. The primary services that are provided by Direct Link include warehouse services and Nordic and international deliveries (Direct Link, 2022). I interned at Direct Link as a data analyst, and this experience allowed me to use my statistical, web development, and SQL skills to execute the responsibilities that were assigned to me. I was tasked with presenting weekly reports and addressing external and internal requests. I was also responsible for updating and building two dashboards at Direct Link. Additionally, I identified, assessed, and proposed solutions to a problem that I identified at the organization. Ideally, Direct Link lacked proper documentation of the databases the organization uses, thus making it harder for recruits and interns to learn the crucial activities and roles they should execute while at the company. With the help of other interns and employees, I helped implement a workable web-based search engine for the data collected using the search engine and indexing. This allowed recruits and interns to access and utilize these documents securely and efficiently. Being part of Direct Link's workforce provided me with an opportunity of putting my academic knowledge to use. Direct Link is an organization that offers an educational and healthy environment to interns with an open-door policy that prompts the company's staff to provide their best work. Therefore, working as a data analyst at the organization was a good experience since I dealt with significant data collected from the company’s databases. My internship as a data analyst is related to the overall work done by Direct Link since the company deals with large amounts of the delivery date. Therefore, the company needs to collect data on the deliveries made to different locations globally to understand the behaviors of their clients and determine which regions make the company the most profits so that they can capitalize on them. At the end of my internship, I gained new skills and sharpened my analytics skills. One of the vital business skills that I gained is teamwork and effective communication. Working with large amounts of data often requires that a data analyst works alongside other data analysts and employees in the organization to ensure that they achieve correct analyzes of the data being analyzed. Therefore, in solving analytics issues, I learned how to communicate effectively with others by approaching them for clarity on topics that I found challenging. I also became an excellent team player since I was working in teams most of the time. Other skills that I gained during my internship are analytical skills. To study customer behavior, it is crucial to understand how to handle SQL, Python, and Tableau. Therefore, at the end of my experience, I had mastered using these tools to analyze a large amount of data. I also learned how to choose the correct tool for different types of data analyses. Inverted Pyramid Organization Direct Link boasts a massive workforce since it has many employees and staff that help handle the organization's daily tasks. The company has a global and dynamic team that works in its offices in the United States, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Sweden, Germany, and China (Direct Link, 2022). See Appendix 1 for Direct Link’s inverted pyramid organization.

5 Narrative Background and Specific Business of the Company Direct Link is a popular organization that develops borderless-commerce resolutions for worldwide deliveries and enhances their clients' markets worldwide. This organization is a member of the Post Nord Group; thus, it integrates corporate responsibility with entrepreneurial flexibility. Since there are no standardized requirements in international deliveries, the organization does not settle for homogeneous solutions. Direct Link utilizes the extensive global postal network to reach its clients' mailboxes. i. Global Deliveries Direct Link helps its clients find the best delivery choices to global markets. The organization takes care of international deliveries and ensures that the items their clients have ordered are delivered to their mailboxes, making such deliveries convenient and secure for the client and the company. Their clients achieve efficiency and reach worldwide postal systems when they utilize Merchandise Mail Plus. Additionally, the organization ensures that customer communication is smooth and customized to their needs. The organization also sends a confirmation to business people and their customers when the company receives the item for further processing, making delivery convenient for any business person's customers. Ideally, when the items are enormous for a mailbox, the organization sends them to a service point or local post office for collection. This makes it convenient for items to be sent throughout and outside Europe. Once the items arrive in the designated locations, clients are notified through their email informing them that their order is ready to be dispatched and delivered at their location. This ensures that the clients have peace of mind and are assured of their delivery and also minimizes the calls they make to the business person's customer service center. Direct Link's website also provides a 'Fully Tracked' feature which allows the business person to gain end-to-end tracking of their deliveries to the main destinations globally and, if demanded, the delivery confirmation. Items are often signed off by the clients-either at their office, homes, or service points. With Direct Link’s tracking system, a client and a business person know where their items are every time; it is easier for a business and their customers to access this tracking system regardless of the delivery options that have been provided. With worldwide shipping. Complications of customs are inevitable. Therefore, surprise surcharges, value-added tax (VAT), and duty often exist, and customs issues could delay the arrival of a client's item. Nonetheless, Direct Link offers reasonable solutions on how these issues could be overcome. The company finds flexible solutions which are tailored to the sales strategy and shipment of a business person.

7 Direct Link’s warehouse services also provide ‘Pack and Pick’ options. Primarily, the company generates pick lists from the organization's integrated system. Picks items and packages them in ways that are preferable to a business. Direct Link makes both inbound and outbound quality checks to reduce returns and claims during this process. This solution is based on the business needs since it aims to give clients good experiences during the unpacking moment and at the delivery point. Direct Link's warehouse logistics also provides delivery services by ensuring that customers get the most convenient and best delivery option and handle returns. The challenges business experience at borders is easily addressed by Direct Link since it manages to deliver products worldwide. A business person's products are then delivered directly to their client's mailboxes, ensuring that delivery is convenient and secure for each party. By using the extensive worldwide postal network, a business could achieve both efficiencies and reach regardless of where clients are located internationally. Besides, Direct Link recognizes the importance of having an excellent returns management policy, and this is a significant reason why the organization provides return services in international e-commerce hot spots. The company's services could be adapted to match a business's returns needs for destination, frequency, and speed. This service also makes it easier for businesses to pint their return labels through the organization's label printing software. Moreover, this service allows a company to hold the power of their returns with updates sent daily. Department in Which I Performed My Internship I worked at Direct Link's data analytics department as a business analytics student. The primary responsibilities of this department include responding, questioning, and identifying data constituencies at the organization. This department also solves problems related to inquiries from Direct Link stakeholders, supplier clients, distributors, or client services to attain database integrity. The data analytics team also researches stock-keeping units at the supplier and distributor levels to verify and identify the necessarily required segmentation variables. This department also follows up with distributors by addressing product and client questions or inquiries. Another primary responsibility of the data analytics department is creating extra tools outside client packages, including standard queries, SKU lists, quarterly tables, and internal tools. The last significant role of the data analytics department is to apply tools including formulas, sorting, filtering, pivot tables, and VLOOKUPs to achieve data quality and integrity which exceed and fulfill the organization’s and their client's standards. Internship Work Main Duties i. Conducted industry and market research on logistics and cross-border e-commerce to determine industry and customer trends. ii. Evaluated Direct Link's business processes, uncovered areas requiring improvement, and developed solutions to these problems. iii. Provided the commercial and management team with quality industry intelligence and reporting at the city, country, and regional levels.

8 iv. Devised strategies and methods to extract and obtain data to achieve business insights. v. Maintained, modified, and updated two web dashboards that displayed the uploaded information using tables and interactive charts, coded using several JavaScript packages, including Jquery, cross filter, and Data-Driven Documents (d3). Several departments at Direct Link used these dashboards to track the number of deliveries that have been made, their clients, system utilization, and weekly performance. vi. Accommodated many forms of custom requests from clients and departments that comprised developing complex and customized SQL queries to achieve accuracy and precision of the retrieved information. vii. Organized and generated weekly analytical reports, which went to Direct Link's departments using Microsoft Excel and SQL. Weekly Reports i. My Pack Report This was the most crucial report I worked on since it highlights visuals on customer behavior and provides a summary of delivery data. This report is vital because Direct Link's top management analyzed it to gain business insights. The My Pack report was divided into the sections highlighted below. Geographical distribution and growth This section of the My Pack report contains a summary of the number of deliveries made across the Nordic nations, Europe, and the rest of the world. It indicates the growth of deliveries made to each country. Business’ web login activities This section of the My Pack report tracks the login activities of different businesses on Direct Link's website since they registered with the company. This information is crucial because it helps recognize which businesses frequently access the organization's website. Marketing statistics This section of the My Pack report highlights the statistics on the number of businesses that permitted Direct Link to receive company advertisements and other marketing promotions. Notifications and alerts This section of the My Pack report illustrates the number of important alert messages and notifications generated by Direct Link's system. For instance, badges, Usage Praise, AHI alert, and leak alert help identify red flags concerning business people's and their clients' experiences with the company's delivery services. Access method

10 receiving email or text notifications by reviewing the latest notification the company acquired before they opted out. Web Dashboard The key reasons for utilizing web dashboards are their capability to deliver updated interactive content securely and efficiently. During my internship, I was responsible for adding new features, updating, and maintaining two dashboards. i. Customer success dashboard This dashboard is used by Direct Link to summarize the organization’s activities and the number of business people accessing their systems. If a business shows a low score, the customer care at Direct Link contacts them to see how they can help them use their services better and improve their deliveries to their clients internationally. I was assigned to update this dashboard using the correct data from SQL servers and to load it to the dashboard website. I also helped implement several updates and changes to the dashboard, which required me to modify the current SQL queries to accommodate new changes. Additionally, I changed Direct Link's website's javascript and HTML codes to display new visuals and features. ii. Deliveries account dashboard This dashboard is used by Direct Link to summarize important customer information, including the business name, the number of deliveries that Direct Link has made to a particular business' clients, and the account manager. My primary responsibility was ensuring that this dashboard was updated every week with the current delivery date. This was made possible by retrieving data from SQL databases and loading it to the deliveries account dashboard website. I was also assigned to develop a similar dashboard that enables any user to view Direct Link's deliveries to certain locations and can switch between the organization's views and areas. I also helped add functions that would allow users to export data tables to Excel sheets for smoother and more straightforward use. Specific Issues That I Worked On In my first week of the internship, I underwent basic training on the organization, its services, and, more specifically, the organization's database structure in which I would retrieve data. The supervisor assigned to me did an excellent job in explaining and teaching several aspects associated with the teams, businesses, and systems which I would interact with. Moreover, the supervisor took more time educating me on the different fields and structures of databases. During this time, I realized that the organization did not have adequate detailed documentation associated with the databases. The organization depended on its tactical knowledge, and nobody recorded this information anywhere. Therefore, whenever I wanted input on a particular issue relating to data analysis, I approached my supervisor for advice and clarity. Besides, if the supervisor lacked clarity in one specific area, I was referred to the software development team to

11 obtain the correct information. I recognized that the company lacked documentation of multifaceted and large databases. Therefore, using my data analysis and business analysis skills, I proposed a workable yet simple knowledge management solution through the key procedures of mapping knowledge. My recommended solution comprised non-technical and technical components. Non-technical components include all non-technical and managerial steps. In contrast, for the technical component, I resorted to using Lucene-a search library (full-text) embedded in Java that facilitates the addition of search functionalities in websites or applications. Lecene achieves this by adding information to full-text indices (Tan, 2022). Moreover, Lucene is crucial in indexing various text formats, including HTML and text files. Additionally, Lucene allows an analyst to search every indexed information via a website interface. The main steps to be followed in the solution that I recommended for Direct Link are as follows. Step One Recognize the business problem. The problem that I identified at Direct Link during the beginning of my internship experience is the lack of appropriate documentation of the current databases. Step Two Gaining approval from the required top management. To achieve this, I presented the top management with the advantages that Direct Link would enjoy by addressing the documentation issue. This is a crucial step when trying to implement new policies and while attracting some staff from their duties. Step Three Develop a knowledge management team that researches the current issue and helps create and implement the solutions. This team was made by selecting a member from every department impacted by the lack of knowledge documentation issue. Step Four Problem-solving commences. The team that was developed in step three began the problem- solving process by analyzing current documents and recognizing which information was missing in the databases. Step Five Recognize knowledge experts of Direct Link’s databases. Step Six

13 data remains intact. Moreover, if data can be analyzed using the Pivot table, it is illogical and unnecessary to use R or Python. Secondly, I learned that data analysts should ensure that tabular analyses in spreadsheets are flexible. While using either SQL, R, or Python to perform calculations, a data analyst may need to import the analysis outcomes to spreadsheets before sharing them with their colleagues. However, if a data analyst decides to present the analysis results in tabular forms, the analyst should make structural adjustments. In most cases, an organization's employees want to conduct further analyses or check the data. Nonetheless, if different people had manually adjusted the data on tables, it would be challenging for other people to work on it. Hence, the key lesson I learned in my data analytics internship experience is tabular data should be flexible by avoiding regular manual structural changes. ii. Lessons on Writing SQL First, I learned that data analysts should reduce SQL running time but ensure that they do not over-optimize. The tables that data analysts handle might contain millions of columns and rows, and distinctions in syntaxes could increase the computing time by extra minutes, particularly when these queries must be run frequently. During my internship, I discovered that data analytics could explore two different directions. The first direction which could be explored is selecting an inefficient table. For instance, while at the internship, I wrote a query that could be done by selecting one of the main columns-one column contained 200,000 rows, and the other column had 1 million rows. I selected the 1 million rows column because I assumed the codes would be easier since it only required fewer relative tables to filter the data. Nonetheless, this strategy took six extra minutes. The second direction that a data analyst could explore is tuning the syntax. Secondly, I learned to determine whether the SQL query results are correct. When data analyst queries inaccurate data, they might make wrong suggestions from the incorrect analysis, reducing their credibility in the team. Therefore, achieving data correctness is one of the most crucial roles of a data analyst. Typically, there are different ways of getting comparable data. Therefore, to check the correctness of the data, I used to examine other tables and previous data to determine whether the query results made sense. Thirdly, I learned the importance of attaching the original SQL codes that I used to query data while sharing my analysis results with others. This is important because if a query is complex, other employees would need to confirm the correctness of the code. Secondly, attaching the original SQL codes is crucial when the manager or team members wish to perform further analysis on the work that you have done. The last and most important lesson I learned about writing SQL is understanding the database schema. Before writing any SQL code, a data analyst should comprehend the tables that contain the data that they want, the main keys, and the default forms of data. For instance, if the data a data analyst wants to analyze categorical data (often uses abbreviations), they need to understand the meaning of each abbreviation. Additionally, a data analyst should comprehend the relationship between different tables since it helps them write excellent SQL codes. The one thing that surprised me the most in my internship experience was that Direct Link has many

14 tables in their databases (over 100). The intricacy of data schemas is subjective to products and businesses. Some organizations have over 150 tables, while others have only 20 tables. Hence, I believe that the most crucial thing that data or business analysts should study at the beginning of their job is the data schema to comprehend that the information is connected and constituent. iii. Lessons on Presentation and Communication The first lesson that I learned about presentations is explaining data sources. When presenting data to an organization’s top management, a data analyst needs to explain the data sources due to various reasons. To begin with, this helps the administration and other employees understand data schemas and allows them to assess whether the analyses match the data sources. Secondly, it will enable other colleagues to recommend sources that the data analyst would not think are crucial for their research. Thirdly, explaining data sources helps the senior colleagues in the organization determine which data was exempted from the data schema yet would benefit the project. The second lesson on data presentation that I learned is comparing figures with industry standards. It is crucial to attach comparative figures while presenting data since if you fail to do so, it would be difficult to understand the data. Thirdly, I learned the importance of explaining the denominators while presenting data in percentages. My supervisor constantly asked what the denominators meant when giving data in terms of ratios. Therefore, it is important to explain the meanings of denominators if the data is in ratio or percentage form. iv. Lessons on Building Dashboards The main lesson I learned about dashboard building is drafting and frequently communicating before creating a dashboard. One of the major responsibilities that I executed during my internship at Direct Link was making and updating weekly dashboards. The most crucial factor to consider while building dashboards is frequently communicating with the executive team, managers, and teammates. At Direct Link, we utilized Metabase to create dashboards (See Appendix 2). If the final dashboards are not what the company needs, a data analyst might waste time writing unnecessary scripts or arranging layouts if they use Metabase. Henceforth, the most crucial principle while building dashboards is communicating with the company's entire staff and drafting the dashboards before making them. Interaction with Other Employees One of the key skills that I adopted during my internship at Direct Link is open communication through the help of other employees and interns in the organization. At the beginning of my training, I was nervous and intimidated to ask for clarity and questions regarding data analysis since I did not want to acknowledge that I had little understanding of some analytics areas. Fortunately, I overcame this fear and started asking my supervisor and colleagues questions about the areas I did not understand. This marked the beginning of invaluable learning. I discovered that other employees and my bosses appreciated when I asked them for clarity on an issue, and they were more than open and friendly to answer and give me clarity. If I did not work

16 supervisors. The internship helped me reinforce my knowledge of ambition, drive, focus, and responsibility. Practical experience is excellent, and internships are good since they give interns the hands-on experience to advance their careers. This internship experience helped me embrace the importance of quality internships in developing the skills that a student cannot get in school. Such skills include dealing with deadlines, diversity, communicating with other employees, and multitasking. Besides, the internship allowed me to network with other individuals in the data analytics industry. I would advise a student applying for any internship opportunities to select an internship at an organization that they would enjoy working. This is a crucial factor because an internship could be lengthy if a person decides to work at an organization they do not enjoy working at. Secondly, I would advise them to take time and be intentional about learning key professional issues at the internship they are in. this could be achieved by setting goals they want to meet at the end of their internship and ensuring that they meet them. Lastly, I would advise new interns to stay professional but also interact with their colleagues so that they can learn from them and gain the necessary information that they should have gained during their internship. This will also help them build lasting professional relationships with people who would help them while seeking employment opportunities.

17 References Direct Link (2022). What we do. https://www.directlink.com/ Direct Link (2022). Careers. https://www.directlink.com/careers/ Metabase (2021). Metabase 0.41. https://www.metabase.com/releases/2021-10-06-Metabase- 0.41 Stangarone (2014). Three reasons your pivot tables belong on the web. https://www.mrc- productivity.com/blog/2014/05/3-reasons-your-pivot-tables-belong-on-the-web/ Tan, K. (2022). Basic Concepts. https://www.lucenetutorial.com/basic-concepts.html

19