The task and original case
Profile supplier lead times with both the typical middle observation and the long delay. The three completed orders are an invented practice sample. Your output should make the twelve-day case visible rather than reducing it to an unexplained average.
| Case element | Value or requirement |
|---|---|
| Inputs | Three completed orders take 2,2 and 12 days. |
| Build | A supplier lead-time profile and a cautious planning recommendation. |
This is an original invented exercise. It is independent practice, with no employer assessment or open-vacancy claim. Download the inputs, attempt your own result, then open the separate answer key.
Data and worked inputs
Build a result another person can follow
Use one row per completed order with order date, receipt date and elapsed days. For the supplied durations 2,2 and 12, sort the observations to find the median and calculate their arithmetic mean separately. Declare whether durations use calendar days or business days; this fixture uses already-supplied elapsed day values.
Keep a small distribution table alongside the summary. If a PivotTable supplies sums or counts, verify the field setting using Microsoft's documentation; calculate the median explicitly when needed rather than labelling an average as a median. Retain incomplete orders in a separate status register if you add them later, because their final lead time is not yet observed.
Sources[1]
Check the worked result
The median is two days. The mean is(2 +2 +12) ÷3 =16 ÷3, approximately 5.33 days. The maximum observed completed duration is twelve days. These summaries highlight different features: the middle observation is short while one large delay raises the mean.
A cautious practice recommendation is to investigate the delayed order and display a sensitivity scenario before choosing a planning assumption. Three completed orders do not establish a service guarantee, a stable delay probability or a universally correct inventory buffer.
Make the failure visible
Change the 12-day row to an open order aged 12 days. It must leave the completed-duration calculation and appear as unresolved age, not remain a completed lead time. Also test an end date earlier than its order date and flag the negative duration. Avoid discarding the long observation merely because it seems inconvenient.
Revise it and ask someone to reproduce it
Have a peer add a fourth completed order lasting eight days. The mean becomes six days and the median becomes five days from the sorted list 2,2,8,12. Explain why both changed. Preserve the individual rows so a reviewer can check whether the revised summary hides an unresolved or invalid record.
- Individual durations support both mean and median.
- The long-delay observation stays visible.
- Completed lead time is separated from open-order age.
Describe the work accurately
After completing your own version, you could adapt this project bullet: “Profiled invented supplier lead times using mean, median and visible delayed orders, with explicit handling of incomplete and invalid records.”
Use Projects or Independent practice as the heading. Keep the input files, result and revision together. Describe only your own completed work; the invented numbers are model outputs, not employer results or measured business impact.