Analyzing Customer Traffic Patterns at CAR Bank: A Study of Arrivals by Day and Hour

CAR Bank operates a main location and three branch locations in a medium sized city. All four locations perform similar services and customers typically do business at the location nearest to them. The bank has recently had more congestion and longer wait lines.  As a part of a study to learn the causes of these long lines and to suggest possible solutions, all locations have kept track of customer arrivals during one-hour intervals for the past 10 weeks.  All branches are open Monday through Friday 9am until 5pm and Saturday, 9am to noon.  

The file Final Exam BUSA 5000 fall 2020 EXCEL contains the number of customer arrivals during each hour of a 10-week period. The following columns are listed in the spreadsheet: Day of the week, Hour of the Day, Number of customer arrivals for consecutive hourly periods at the Main Branch, Number of customer arrivals for consecutive hourly periods at Branch 1, Number of customer arrivals for consecutive hourly periods at Branch 2, and Number of customer arrivals for consecutive hourly periods at Branch 3.

The manager of CAR bank has hired you to make some sense of the data.  Specifically, you are tasked with presenting charts and/or tables that indicate how customer traffic into the bank locations varies by day of week and hour of day.  There is also interest in whether any daily or hourly patterns you observe are stable across weeks.  Although you do not have full information about the way the bank currently runs its operations- you know only its customer arrival pattern and the fact that it is currently experiencing long lines.  

Use Excel to help you answer the following questions.

Classify each of the variables. Go back to the Notes about Quantitative and Qualitative variables. Be specific. Quantitative, Qualitative, nominal, categorical, continuous, discrete, ratio, interval etc.

Create a histogram for each of the numerical variables.  Remember to label all axes and title each histogram. Are the histograms symmetrical or skewed? ?   EXPLAIN and DISCUSS your results.

Find the mean, median, and mode for each of the numerical variables. For each of the numerical variables which is the most appropriate measure of central tendency? Why?  explain and Discuss your results.

Look at the numerical variables, are there any outliers? EXPLAIN.

Analyze each day. Use the techniques you have learned from this class.  Be clear and detailed.  Clearly label your results.  Clearly explain your observations.

Analyze  each 1 hour period (9-10am, 10-11am, 11am-noon, noon-1pm, 1pm-2pm, 2pm-3pm, 3pm-4pm, and 4pm-5pm.  Use the techniques you have learned from this class.  Be clear and detailed. Clearly label your results. Clearly explain your observations.

Based on your results from a.) -g.)

What are your observations about the traffic patterns at the bank?

Why do you think the bank is experiencing long lines?

What are your suggestions to help the bank improve operational efficiency and reduce the long lines?