Tara Is a Cost Accountant for Jameson's Flavored Sparkling Water

Essay

Tara is a cost accountant for Jameson's Flavored Sparkling Water, and she is in the process of implementing a data analytics program. Management currently feels overwhelmed by the prospect of integrating a brand-new system of any kind, especially when they do not fully understand what that means for the company. Tara decided to create some documentation to put their minds at ease. With this goal in mind, please answer the following questions so Tara can complete her documentation.
a. What are hard and soft data, where does each of these come from, and how much effort does this require? Can Tara exclusively use only one type or the other?
b. What are internal and external data, and can you list several examples of sources for each?
c. What are some of the categories of data a company may try to collect about its customers, and can you list several examples of items that fall within each category?