Service Request SR-kf-013 Finalized
Michelle Coll, Stephen Gundrum, Christoper A Kane Brink, Sabrina Ruiz, Devan Winget
BSA/375
March 31, 2014
Ramana Metlapalli

Service Request SR-kf-013 Finalized
Kudler Fine Foods
Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is looking to develop a system to track customer purchases in order to identify purchasing behavior patterns. They hope to use the information gathered to refine the company's processes and offerings to best satisfy the needs of their valued customers.
Management has decided to approach this initiative is through the implementation of a frequent shopper program. Traditional programs of this sort would not begin to satisfy the sophisticated senses of Kudler's elite customer base; as a result, a decision has been made to partner with a loyalty points program that will provide rewards points to customers that can be redeemed for high-end gifts and upgrades.
System Requirements Gathering
During the initial stage of development, it is imperative to gather enough information to be able to accurately describe the system requirements. The first step is to determine the scope of the project based upon the objective outlined in the request. The next step would be to identify those that have a vested interest in the proposed new system. Once this information is known the project can be divided into modules and tasks can be assigned.
Scope
The deliverable for this project is to create a business/systems requirement document for the development of the frequent shopper program system to track the purchases of individual customers. The project should make use of the existing system when possible and develop enhancements, where necessary, to provide the added functionality necessary to meet this objective. In addition, the scope of this project should adhere strictly to the primary objective and avoid creep into areas not expressly stated through the service request.
Stakeholders
It is essential to the project's success to identify key stakeholders in the development of the new system before attempting to gather information to compile the list of system requirements. Some of these contributors will be directly interfacing with the system, while others are responsible for approving expenses related to the development and for establishing maintenance and training related to the deployment of the new system.
Kathy Kudler, President. Kudler Fine Foods is a small company and Kathy Kudler is very actively engaged in the daily operation of the business. She may want to ensure that the proposed system is in alignment with her vision for the organization and will probably need to be aware of the potential cost for the new system so that funding can be established. The organizational chart does not expressly identify the sales & marketing team, so it is possible that Kathy also heads this functional area as well. If so, she would need to make sure that group knows how the program works and how to use the information it provides to best advance the organization.
Harvey Stephens, Director of Financing and Accounting. Harvey should have considerable insight to the project as his direct reports include the accounting department and "computer specialists", which in a company this size, could represent the entire IT department. Harvey should be able to provide accurate costs, infrastructure requirements as well as the benefits expressed in controlled expense and increased revenue.
Yvonne Reynolds, Director of Store Operations. Yvonne and her direct reports are responsible for purchasing and managing inventory. Her group should be able to express their needs to the analysts so that the system can best accommodate her group in stocking what customers really want and are willing to buy.
Loyalty Points Program Partner. This company would have insight into the development of this program, as there will be logistical requirements that Kudler will need to adhere to during the development of their system. There is a good chance they can bring their experience from working with other clients on similar ventures to KFF. They may also need to know how order fulfillment is going to work as well as how the points will equate to goods and services.
Cashiers, General & Assistance Store Managers. Cashiers directly interact with customers and the entry of the data into the system. They should be able to provide valuable information related to the customer experience from the company perspective. Managers often cover cashiers and provide answers to their questions; their input could be considered equally valuable.
Customers. KFF's customer base may be the largest interest group as they will be interfacing directly with the program and it is their behavior that will be monitored. They may have concerns about privacy and may have thoughts about what they would like to see in terms of rewards.
Preliminary Assignments
The following team members have elected to complete their section in accordance with the requirements of the class syllabus.
Christopher Brink: Develop statement of scope and goals. Specify which functions will be included in the project. Identify the goals and include accomplishments, not a solution.
Devan Winget: Determine supporting measures for success. Specify tangible measures for determining the relative degree of success of the completed project. The measures must correlate with the goals specified in the first section of this deliverable.
Sabrina Ruiz: Provide a summary of project feasibility. Include specific operational, technical, and economic feasibility analyses. Operational and technical issues should specify how each issue will be addressed. The economic analysis must include quantified specific benefit and cost areas.
Stephen Gundrum: Summarize current business process. Provide a flowchart and a separate high-level logical data flow diagram of the current process. Michelle Coll: Compile proposed system requirement list. List specific individual requirement needs in measurable and objective terms. Functional Allocation Modeling
The design phase deliverable is to develop a complete set of physical system specifications. In order to achieve this we need to take the functional requirements obtained through analysis, identify the architectural components involved and align them to meet the deadline.
Software
The majority of the program will be dependent upon the organization's existing Retail Enterprise Management System (ERMS) platform. The SAP Retail software is installed on the La Jolla server and it is currently used to manage sales and customer relationships. Customers will also be provided access to their profile content on the database in order to view point values and to use those points to purchase high-end gifts through the loyalty partner.
POS. All three stores have dedicated POS systems in place. These servers currently run NCR POS management software. The only change to the current process is to provide a method of inputting a unique customer identifier into the order so that the items purchased and the sales total become associated with a particular customer. The software should be adapted to allow that input to occur in the form of a scanned barcode or phone number keyed into a touch pad. Order information should be forwarded to the HP Blade Server for processing by the SAP Retail software.
SAP Retail. The existing retail software platform will receive the order information from the POS server. At the Del Mar and Encinitas locations, order information will be forwarded from the respective HP Blade Server system to the La Jolla HP Blade Server system by way of the OC1 interconnect.
Sales representatives will be able to access customer's purchase data through the existing corporate admin terminals. They will be able to sort and filter the data as needed as well as format it for reporting. Management will be able to determine from these reports whether or not the program has resulted in the expected revenue increase.
The program will be designed to allocate reward points to customer profiles based upon sales totals. Point values will be forwarded to the Web server database to allow access by customers.
Web Content. Customers currently interact with the organization through its Web interface. They can view items, check store hours or ask questions via the Web server on the La Jolla HP Blade Server. An additional database, dedicated to this program, would need to be built to manage the customer profiles as well as the high-end gift items for purchase with rewards points. A commercial off the shelf software package could provide the shopping cart functionality or the organization may decide to outsource this function to the loyalty partner.
If the order process remains on the organization's server, high-end gift orders will result in a confirmation email to the customer as well as a fulfillment request email to the loyalty partner.
Hardware
Overall, there should be little that needs to change with respect to the hardware between the three store locations. From a hardware perspective, we are primarily concerned about the organization's client computers, servers and network environment. The existing system is fairly robust, is able to be modified and can accept the new load.
Client Computers. Management of the application and presentation logic needs will be addressed through the POS and corporate admin terminals as well as customer's personal devices. POS terminals at each store will accept a customer's unique identifier in addition to information on scanned items and payment method. The identifier will likely be in the form of a key tag with a barcode that can be scanned, a phone number that can be entered through the payment terminal or both.
Servers. Data storage and logic will be managed by both the POS servers and the HP Blade Server systems. The POS servers will continue to receive input from the POS terminals, aggregate the data and forward it to the local server to be processed. The HP Blade Servers at the Del Mar and Encinitas locations will forward that data to the HP Blade Server at the La Jolla store as it does in its existing configuration. If any upgrade to hardware is necessary, it is probably going to revolve around the Network Accessed Storage that is currently attached to the La Jolla server. The existing storage capacity is 10TB and appears sufficient for today's needs, but may need to be increased depending upon the size of the new system and the additional data that will need to be stored to support the new program.
Network. The existing 100 Base T Ethernet local network at each of the stores should be sufficient to address the needs of the new system. The dedicated OC1 circuits between La Jolla & Del Mar and La Jolla & Encinitas should also be sufficient to address any additional traffic between stores. All stores have a 25Mbps service provided to access the Internet. If La Jolla is used to serve the additional Web content to customers, it may need to be increased to 50Mbps to accommodate the expected increase in customer requests.

Human-Computer Interface
Special attention will need to be paid to the system interfaces that employees and customers encounter. Poorly developed interfaces will render an otherwise well-designed system useless.
POS. The POS terminal interface needs to be updated to notify the users (cashier and customer alike) of the option to engage in the frequent shopper program. The choice of using the scanner or the touch pad to enter the customer's identifier also needs to be included.
Forms & Reports. Standardized forms and reports need to be constructed in order to provide a consistent feel and meet the user's expectations. Development should be iterative and feedback should be provided by users to improve the overall look and feel of the forms. Proper flow and navigation need to be incorporated in order to reduce user frustration.
Web Interface. The organization's Web presence makes an impression on every visitor and the design needs to be clean and inviting. Navigational elements like breadcrumbs are worth considering as they notify visitors of their orientation within the system. Information that is readily available, like the date or time, should be provided by the system so the user is not inconvenienced.

System Process View
Below is a flow chart describing how the frequent shopper program should work.

A customer signs up with the frequent shopper program either at a store or via the company website. The customer’s information is entered into the frequent shopper program (FSP) database and tied to a unique identification number (UID) that is generated by the database. If the customer provided their telephone number, that number is tied to the UID so the customer can provide their telephone to the cashier so they can get the frequent shopper points when they shop. Anytime during a shopping transaction, the customer can provide their FSP card or their telephone number. This ties their transaction to them and will add the points from their purchase to their UID. The FSP will be sending coupons, special offers, the number of points the customer has available and the rewards available. The rewards available are provided to the FSP by the 3rd party reward program so they do not have direct access to the customer information. The customer decides which reward they want, let the FSP know so the appropriate number of points can be deducted and then the customer purchase is forwarded to the 3rd party reward program when then provides the reward to the customer.
The current Retail Enterprise Management System (REMS) platform that is currently in place contains the databases necessary for Kudler Fine Foods to initiate their Frequent Shopper Program (FSP). There are modifications that need to be made in the database structure to allow a bar code number be assigned to the company’s customers.
Customer Table With a customer database already in play within the organization, all that needs to be done is to add two fields to the database. The first field to be added would be points earned. These points would be accumulation of the points earned while shopping at any of the Kudler Fine Foods locations. If the organization decides at a future date to enable the purchase of their products via the Internet, the customer could use their telephone number, FSP member number or their customer ID and points earned online will be added to their overall point total.
POS
There are multiple tables within the POS Database. When a transaction starts, the order pulls data from the Store, Customer, item and tax tables. The inventory table can be modified by adding a line for the point value of the item. When the POS processes the transaction it can count the number of one item purchased and multiple that by the point value. When the transaction is tendered, the system can total the number of points earned during the transaction and add them to the customers total points earned.
POS Design

Transaction
Begins

Customer Data Store Data is processed is processed

Times of transaction
*
Point Value

End of
Transaction

Total of
Points Value

Hardware The hardware that is curently installed in all the locations is capable of running the Frequent Shopper Program. The amount of storage space should be investigated to see if the additional data that will be added to the data tables. Kudler Fine Foods Database Diagram (University of Phoenix, n.d.)

Feasibility
The feasibility analysis will occur once system and business requirements have been defined. Feasibility analysis assists as a guide to the organization and helps determine whether the project will proceed or not (Dennis, Wixom, & Roth, 2012). Feasibility analysis also indicates any risks that can be associated with the project. The feasibility analysis has three areas that are covered which are technical, economic and organizational.
Technical Feasibility
Technical feasibility addresses the potential success of the new system. Kudler Fine Foods Frequent Shopper Program offers loyalty points program to provide customers with points which can be redeemed for high end gift items, airline first-class upgrades, or other specialty foods (Apollo Group, Inc., 2014). Other stores such as Kroger and Food Lion offer loyalty point as a means of keeping and bringing in customers with success. The program has success benefits and risks but has the potential to bring in new customers and revenue.
Economic Feasibility
Economic feasibility reports estimated costs of the system. Economic feasibility also calculates any financial value of the project. This is of importance to the budget and success of the organization. Taking a look at other grocery stores that offer frequent shopper program, Kudler Fine Foods has potential to become a leader of customer loyalty. Offering rewards has the potential for bringing in new customers to Kudler. Stores like Wal-Mart and H-E-B do not offer customer loyalty programs so the customer buy-in is abundant.
Organizational Feasibility Organizational feasibility concerns how the system will impact the users and operations within the organization. This technique is also another method of conducting a stakeholder analysis. With the program implemented the organization and users will see changes. Changes for current customers can be received poorly or critically. However, nearly two-thirds of US households shop in stores that offer frequent shopper or loyalty programs ("Frequent Shopper Programs Move Into The Mainstream", 2014). Testing Process Summary
Testing of the software and hardware needs to take place just like the original hardware and software was when it was installed. By completing the system testing properly, it will help to ensure that the data output is correct and contains the correct information. Software and hardware needs to be checked to help prevent incorrect output and hardware errors. In order for Kudler Fine Foods to install the Frequent Shopper Program (FSP), it is necessary to test the software and hardware functionality. This section will list how the software and hardware is to be tested and what the expected outcome is to be.
Hardware
Item Tested | Expected Results | Memory | Total amount of memory in all systems is increased to help increase performance. | Central Processor Unit (CPU) | Increase the number of operations per second to increase the speed of the systems | Point of Sale (POS) System / Electronic Cash Register | Handles frequent shopper program, purchases and credit and debit transactions. | Operating System (Linux) | Provides server and storage operation. Allows for multiple user access requests. | Fault Tolerance Unit | Provides server clustering and RAID storage. |

Software Item Tested | Expected Results | FSP Integration | FSP integrated into the CRM and inventory database. Working connections with associated third parties. | Employee Training | Training software to train employees on the proper usage of the system. | Purchases | Provide purchase reports for items purchased by customers. | Points | Provide detailed points reports for customers. | Points contd | Customers able to redeem their points for high-end gifts, specialty foods or airline tickets. | Viewing customer FSP points | POS’s show customers accumulated points when requested. | Internal Changes and Updates | Store personel can edit or override transactions per their security settings. |

Implementation
Implementation is the final stage of the systems development life cycle. Implementation addresses major activities define the system and create a functioning and reliable system. Installation, conversion method and training are a part of the major activities that define a working system. In this section I will discuss the timeline for training, and installation as well as which conversion method Kudler Fine Foods will utilize.
Installation and Conversion Method
This part of the final phase is when the old system is exchanged for a new system. There are four approaches to installing which are direct, parallel, single location, and phased. Direct installation is changing from the old system to the new one once the new system like a swap. Parallel installation is running both the old and new system simultaneously. Single location is just that, the new system is run at a specific location for a period of time. This is to see how it will impact the organization as a whole. Changing the old systems to a new system gradually is called a phased installation. Out of the four approaches of installation, Kudler Fine Foods will use a direct installation since the program is completely new and there is no need to support any other system but the new one. Using a direct installation will save time during the project and allow for fast use of the new program.
Training
Since the system will be new to the organization and customers, training and support is vital to a working system. There are several types of training methods that can be conducted for the program use. Formal courses, resident expert, distance learning, blended learning, software help components and external source are the methods of training (Valacich, 2012). Kudler Fine Foods will use formal courses that will be instructor-led training. This type of training can teach various amounts of individuals at one time which can save time and effort. As time constraints tighten over the project, using formal courses to teach numerous individuals at one time will save vast amounts of time.
Training Plan
Time constraints often close on projects without timelines. Kudler Find foods will have a timeline that serves as a guide to the training plan. Training plans will consist of two weeks of in-class training led by an instructor. Classrooms will be led by an instructor to oversee a total of 13-15 individuals at a time. It is recommenced that there be more than one class training at a time. The first week will entail lectures on the system purpose, how it works, and any other instruction needed. It is during this week that any questions or concerns about the system should be addressed. On-the-job training is a must during the second week of training. On-the-job training will consist of hands-on and real life scenarios with the program. As the training comes to a close a questionnaire and test can be given to see the impact of the training. It is necessary to make adjustments to the training based on system time constraints. Issues with implementation, installation or testing can often cause the project to become delayed. If need be the training can be pushed either way to adjust to the overall timeline.
System Documentation
When developing or creating changes into a program, there are many tests that need to be processed to help the program work properly. Some of the documents for tests are checklists of all the tests that need to get done, and the test results. Saving these documents will help the testers’ specialists to cover each section of the software and continue any issues that were encountered during the process.
List of System Documentation * System Documentation: Focuses on the system’s functionality and records information about the system’s design. * Internal Documentation: Focuses on the program’s source code. * External Documentation: Focuses on the process of the program’s design, such as flow charts, pseudo code, or other programming planning practices. * User Documentation: Focuses on instructing the users in program uses and maintenance.
User Support and Training Documentation List of User Documentation * Reference guide: The reference guide is used to find a specific information or a specific topic which helps the user in making some questions clear. There are also quick references guides which offers short explanations of operating system uses. * User’s guide: User guides are mostly made to offer users a set of instructions to help them learn the uses and functions of a program. * Release description: The release description notifies the new functions or modifications and instructions of a new program. * System’s administrator’s guide: The system’s administrator’s guide is made for those who install and take control of the system. This guide offers information for fixing system’s issues, instructions to manage other devices, and users’ accounts set ups. * Acceptance Sign-off: The acceptance sign-off documentation instruct users to test system installation, and requests their signatures for the acceptance of the new system. System documentation is mostly used for training users and user support. Users are trained through e-learnings which helps businesses and stakeholders to produce faster and help users get involve more in technology. When users are trained, they can also find help through an electronic performance support systems, this way, the user would never have to leave his or her position to get trained or answer questions.
The main purpose of user support documentation is to help improve the system requirements because with users’ information and system results information, then the system designers will be able to follow up and work on the next system requirements.
Support & Maintenance Plan Summary
During the post-implementation stage of the project, the goal is to make the new system the normal, accepted, routine way of performing the daily business tasks. It is important to develop a support mechanism to provide assistance in the use of the system as well as a maintenance plan to continue to refine and improve it.
System Support
Support for the new system begins with the operations group. They are involved closely with the installation activities as they will be responsible for ensuring the new system actually works after the project team completes their work and leaves. One of the primary functions of the operations group is to assist users with using the system, by answering questions and helping users perform tasks within the system.
Online Support
This is the most common method of providing support to users because the information can be accessed by the user at any time, it costs less since it does not require a live support person and it also allows the user to work through an issue at their own pace. Online support typically consists of documentation and help screens embedded into the system as well as external Web sites with frequently asked questions (FAQ) pages and forums dedicated to answering commonly asked questions regarding the use of the system.
Help Desk
When a user can't find what they are looking for using online support, they may need to turn to a help desk for additional assistance. A help desk is typically operated by tier 1 support personnel via a phone or chat session. It is helpful for the user to be able to explain the unique nature of his or her issue to a live person and have that support person actively work with the individual to resolve their case immediately. The goal of the help desk is to resolve 80% of the help requests they receive on the first call using their broad range computer skills to address hardware, software and network issues.
Ticketing System
In the even the help desk cannot resolve a user's issue during their first interaction, the tier 1 support personnel may need to document the case and open a problem report, or case, and pass the issue to a tier 2 support person. When a case is opened, the support person will note the details of the user's complaint, the steps taken to correct the issue to date and the current disposition of the problem.
Tier 2 support personnel are much more familiar with the system and possess a greater specialization in troubleshooting than tier 1. They often work directly with the user throughout problem resolution. In the event that the problem turns out to be a system bug, the tier 2 support will create a change request and submit it to the maintenance group to address.
System Maintenance
Throughout the life of an information system, it is necessary to continually evaluate the system and confirm that it continues to meet the needs of the business. The evolution of a system requires additional money and effort be expended to keep it up to date. More money will actually be spent on system maintenance throughout its life span than was spent on the original development project.
In large corporations, an enterprise information system is "owned" by a project manager in the IS group. In the case of Kudler Fine Foods, it would not make sense to outsource the maintenance of the new frequent shopper program due to its simplicity; the additional workload could probably be absorbed by the two computer support specialists that report to Harvey Stephens.
Change requests will be the primary reason for making modifications to the new system. Change requests could stem from any of the following reasons: * Bugs - addressing bugs in the system * Enhancements - adding an enhancement to the system that was not identified during the original analysis * Integration – changes that need to be made when other system development projects need to work with this existing system * Infrastructure – changes that need to be made to work with new hardware, software or networks that provide the foundation for the system * Strategy – changes that are directed by senior management to align the system with the new business strategy

Regardless of the reason for the change, the process used will be similar to that of the original development life cycle. In the event the proposed change is large and costly, it will need to be approved by Harvey or Kathy prior to being pursued.

References * Smith services consulting Service requests. (2011). https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/ServiceRequests/index.asp#Kudler%20Fine%20Foods * Kudler Fine Foods Intranet home. (2013). Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/intranet/index.asp * Valacich, J.S. (2012). Essentials of Systems Analysis and Design (5th ed.). : Pearson Education, Inc.. * Apollo Group, Inc.. (2014). Sales & Marketing. Retrieved from Apollo Group, Inc., BSA375 website. * Frequent Shopper Programs Move Into The Mainstream. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.retailsolutionsonline.com/doc/frequent-shopper-programs-move-into-the-mains-0001 * University of Phoenix. (n.d.). Kudler Fine Foods Database Diagram. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Business/Kudler2/intranet/images/databaseDiagram.png