| Course | BU 454 Data Visualization |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Time series visualization |
| Length | About 930 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BS in Business Analytics |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for BU 454 Unit 4
116 Days From Zero Up, With the Holidays and Storms Named: A Time Series Visualization of a Composite Montana Ski Area's Daily Visits, Separating the Weekly Beat From the One-Time Spikes
Student Name
Business, Herzing University
BU 454: Data Visualization
Instructor Name
February 25, 2026
116 Days From Zero Up, With the Holidays and Storms Named: A Time Series Visualization of a Composite Montana Ski Area's Daily Visits, Separating the Weekly Beat From the One-Time Spikes
The Series and the Question
Bearpaw Ridge, the composite western Montana ski area in this course, was open 116 days in the 2024 to 2025 season, from December 12 to April 6, and recorded 128,400 skier visits. The owners want to know whether the season was building, fading or holding steady, and which busy days came from lasting demand and which from one-time events. A daily line of visits answers neither question by itself, because the line jumps every weekend and spikes on holidays and powder days. This visualization plots the series across the stated period, states where the value axis begins and why, marks the events that would otherwise be read as trend, and separates the movement that repeats every week from the movement that does not.
Cleveland (1993) argues that a graph of data over time should help the viewer see the different components of variation, such as long-term level, regular cycles and irregular events, rather than presenting them tangled together. The design below does that with three panels drawn on the same time axis.
Where the Vertical Axis Begins, and Why
The value axis starts at zero. This is a deliberate choice, not a default. Lines, unlike bars, can sometimes begin above zero without distortion, because they show value by where a point sits, not by how long a shape is; that option suits small changes in a quantity that never nears zero. Here, two things argue for zero. The ski area closed for two days, a wind closure on January 7 and a power failure on February 26, and those days must appear as the drops to nothing that they were. And the owners compare daily visits with the mountain's comfortable capacity of about 3,200 skiers, drawn as a dashed horizontal line; judging how close a busy Saturday came to capacity requires seeing the whole distance from zero. The axis runs from 0 to 4,000 visits, and the choice is stated in the chart's note.
Panel 1: Daily Visits With Events Marked
The top panel shows daily visits as a thin gray line with events shaded or labeled directly on the chart, so that no reader mistakes a holiday for a trend.
| Event | Dates | Effect visible in the line |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas and New Year holiday period | December 21 to January 5 | The season's highest sustained stretch, peaking at 3,480 on December 28 |
| Wind closure | January 7 | A drop to zero |
| Martin Luther King Jr. weekend | January 18 to 20 | Three days above 2,600 |
| Storm cycle with 38 inches of snow | February 2 to 4 | A weekday spike to 2,310 on February 5, a powder day |
| Presidents' Day weekend | February 15 to 17 | Three days above 2,900 |
| Power failure closure | February 26 | A drop to zero |
| Regional school spring break | March 15 to 23 | Weekday visits near weekend levels |
Panel 2: The Weekly Beat
The middle panel isolates the movement that repeats every week. It shows average visits by day of week across the season: Saturday 1,960, Sunday 1,720, Friday 1,080, and Monday to Thursday between 610 and 720. Seen alone, this profile explains most of the jagged shape in the daily line. A weekday dip is not a sign of weakening demand; it happens every week. Few (2012) recommends showing a cyclical pattern in its own view, arranged by the cycle, when the aim is to tell repeating variation from change.
Panel 3: The Level Once the Week Is Smoothed
The bottom panel removes the weekly beat with a seven-day rolling average, the mean of each day and the six before it, so that every point averages over one full week. The smoothed line shows the season's actual shape: a rise to a holiday peak of about 2,700 a day in late December, a January level near 1,000, a February rise to about 1,350 driven by the storm and Presidents' Day, a March plateau near 1,200 helped by spring break, and a decline through early April as snow softened. The season was not fading in February, as a few weak weekdays had suggested to the owners; the smoothed level was higher than in January.
A formal seasonal decomposition, such as the loess-based method of Cleveland et al. (1990), would separate trend, weekly cycle and remainder more precisely. With a single season of 116 days, the rolling average and the weekday profile show the same components clearly enough for the owners' question, and they are easier to explain in a meeting.
Design Details Shared by the Panels
The three panels share one horizontal time axis, stacked vertically, so a date in one panel lines up with the same date in the others; a reader who sees the February 5 spike in Panel 1 can drop the eye straight down to see what it did to the smoothed level. Weekends are marked with light vertical bands in Panel 1 so that the weekly rhythm is visible without a legend. Labels are placed directly beside the events rather than in a key, and the capacity line is labeled at its right end. Dates are shown as month and day, with the first of each month marked, since the owners think in months. The daily line is thin and gray, and the smoothed line is darker and thicker, so the eye settles on the level while the daily detail remains available. Each of these choices is listed in a short design note under the figure.
What the Three Panels Separate
Read together, the panels divide the daily movement into three parts. The weekly beat, in Panel 2, repeats and needs no explanation each time it appears. The one-time events, marked in Panel 1, explain the spikes and drops that would otherwise tempt a reader to see a trend or a crisis. And the smoothed level, in Panel 3, shows the underlying season. The owners' most useful finding is that January, not February, was the weakest stretch, which points marketing effort at the weeks after New Year. Bearpaw Ridge and its daily counts are composites made for this course.
References
Cleveland, R. B., Cleveland, W. S., McRae, J. E., & Terpenning, I. (1990). STL: A seasonal-trend decomposition procedure based on loess. Journal of Official Statistics, 6(1), 3-73.
Cleveland, W. S. (1993). Visualizing data. Hobart Press.
Few, S. (2012). Show me the numbers: Designing tables and graphs to enlighten (2nd ed.). Analytics Press.
The Herzing BU 454 Unit 4 instructions
In the fourth unit, BU 454 asks students to visualize a time series. Common requirements include plotting a measure over a stated period, deciding and justifying where the value axis begins, annotating events that could be mistaken for trend, and separating repeating patterns such as weekly or seasonal cycles from non-repeating movement. Many instructors ask whether a truncated axis is allowed; for lines it can be, with clear labeling, but the choice must be defended. A formal decomposition is usually optional if simpler methods show the components. Plotting an employer's sales history is discouraged. A multi-panel chart description with a short APA 7 explanation is typical.
How this BU 454 Unit 4 example is built
The paper starts with the series, the owners' questions and the goal of separating components of variation. A section explains why the axis begins at zero and when starting higher would be acceptable. Panel 1 shows daily visits with a table of seven labeled events and their effects. Panel 2 isolates the weekly beat as average visits by weekday. Panel 3 smooths the series with a seven-day rolling average and describes the season's real shape, noting that a formal decomposition would add little for one season. A section lists shared design details such as aligned axes and weekend bands, and the paper closes by separating the three kinds of movement.
Reading the BU 454 Unit 4 rubric
Herzing's time series rubric generally rewards a clearly stated period, a justified axis, annotated events, separation of repeating from non-repeating movement and readable design, with writing and sources. The period criterion earns full credit when dates are explicit. The axis criterion rewards a written justification tied to the data and the question. Annotation scores highest when events are labeled directly on the chart. Separation is judged on whether cycles and one-time events are shown apart from the underlying level, by smoothing, panels or decomposition. Design earns points for aligned axes and a clear visual hierarchy between raw and smoothed lines. Instructors often credit students who state a practical finding the separation reveals.
BU 454 Unit 4 help: mistakes that cost points
Time series charts often lose points by showing a jagged daily line and leaving readers to guess what is trend and what is cycle. Another common problem is an axis starting above zero with no explanation, or a zero axis that hides meaningful change without saying why. Students frequently leave holidays and closures unlabeled, so spikes look like growth. Some smooth the data but remove the raw series entirely, hiding closures. Others use rolling windows that do not match the cycle, such as five days for a seven-day week. Many never state a finding. Finally, plotting a real company's sales history can disclose confidential performance; course data show the same technique. Labeling the smoothing window and its length in the chart note prevents readers from mistaking the smoothed line for raw data.
Get a BU 454 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Post the Unit 4 instructions to us with the BU 454 rubric and the series the assignment supplies, plus any period the instructions fix. We write a custom example that defends the axis decision in writing, keeps intervals even, marks events on the plot and separates the repeating movement before any trend is claimed. First custom sample free, returned in 24 to 48 hours.
More BU 454 papers and business analytics samples
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- BU 454 Unit 6: Accessibility and color
- BU 454 Unit 7: Dashboard with hierarchy
- BU 454 Unit 8: Visual report with rationale
- BU 351 Unit 4: Exploratory analysis
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BU 454 Unit 4 questions, answered
So is a truncated vertical axis allowed or not?
It is allowed when the movement you were asked to show is small relative to the level, which is common for rates, indexes and anything measured in percentages. What is not allowed is doing it silently. Say where the axis starts, say why, and where the design permits it, add a small full scale version alongside so a reader can see both readings at once.
Do I need to run a formal decomposition to show seasonality?
Usually not at this level, and the instructions decide. Plotting the same period from several years on top of one another shows a repeating pattern plainly and needs no method beyond arranging the data. Where your section teaches a moving average or a decomposition, use it and show the output rather than only the result. Either way, say which approach produced the second view.
Can I plot the sales history from the company I work for?
No. A revenue or volume history is among the most closely held records an organization keeps, and it stays inside whatever system holds it regardless of how the labels are changed. Public series give you everything this unit needs: long records, real seasonality, documented breaks and events you can mark with a citation. Say where the series came from and the material problem disappears.
Where can I find a free BU 454 Unit 4 sample paper?
The BU 454 Unit 4 time series visualization is published free on this page, with all three panels, the event table and margin notes. If your series is different, we can chart it the same way for you without charge once we have the prompt, usually within 48 hours.
Is a truncated vertical axis allowed in BU 454 Unit 4?
For a line, sometimes, if it is labeled and the question concerns small changes. The sample starts at zero because closures and a capacity comparison need the full range, and it says so in the chart note.