The Broadway Cafe Business Case Information Technology Essay

The Broadway Cafe has hired RAR to bring The Broadway Cafe some modern technologies to help with their declining sales. The Broadway Cafe is under new management with a sales history of declining sales of 8% from the previous year and a 12% decrease from the year before that. The management for The Broadway Cafe is apprehensive about installing a computerized platform because the current staff has very little technological knowledge. The Broadway Cafe is also very concerned with the new competition in the neighborhood, a Starbucks down the street. The Broadway Cafe is very involved with the community activities, but currently has limited exposure by word of mouth only. The Broadway Cafe needs to change the way they have done business in prior years in order to remain viable.

The scope of this project will be tapping into unexplored avenues of approach for this small but quaint coffee house with a warm, home-like atmosphere. The RAR team will be setting up an E-commerce solution that will tap into the vast reaches of the internet for The Broadway Cafe. This will get great exposure for the coffees The Broadway Cafe plans on selling to new customers around the world. This will also give customers with tight lunch schedules the ability to preorder at the office, have it prepared when they arrive and bypassing the wait in lines. The internet will also give more exposure to artists and live concerts that The Broadway Cafe promotes. This will give greater exposure to The Broadway Cafe and be able to promote in conjunction with concerts, events, and venues promoted by The Broadway Cafe. The Broadway Cafe will be able to promote web-only deals to customers searching for a concert venue of the local artists. With the internet solution, the RAR team will be able to track all orders and incorporate a more efficient ordering and delivery system. The Broadway Cafe will have the ability to track orders, check demand for products, and discontinue less desirable or non-profitable merchandise. This system will give the most exposure to new customers while keeping the simplicity of The Broadway Cafe that patrons have come to enjoy.

The RAR team has identified a few assumptions for the implementation of the e-commerce solution. The first assumption is that The Broadway Cafe will allow for the e-commerce information to be stored on a server outside their physical security location, a virtual server located at the web hosting providers’ location. Another assumption is that The Broadway Cafe employees will be trained on basic computer operations and language. The last assumption is that the system will work in parallel to the old way. The Broadway Cafe was doing business until all employees are trained and proficient on the new system.

Project Measurable Organizational Values – Ryan Klockmann

With this e-commerce solution to install a Cloud Platform for Broadway Cafe we need a set of measurable criteria to allow Broadway Cafe to be able to see success of their financial investment. Entering in to Web-based sales will utilize vast reaches of the internet to bring new customers to The Broadway Cafe. This system will give customers the flexibility to order and enjoy the goods of The Broadway Cafe when they didn’t have the option before. With being able to order from the customers’ office over the Web will save the customer time and be as convenient as a Fast food store. Customers will be more satisfied with the time-saving from streamlining the process of ordering to the time they receive the goods they ordered. The ability to run reports on the goods sold and track the peak hours of operation will give the management of The Broadway Cafe the ability utilize their employees more efficiently and able to change inventory for what goods are sold to reduce waste and increase profit. The project will be successful if Broadway Cafe keeps their existing sales and increases its revenue through new transactions with internet sales and exposure with advertisement for the store and its goods.

Cost/Benefit Analysis – Ryan Klockmann

The upfront cost of the solution for The Broadway Cafe is $15,900 for the Cloud Technology Platform. This will include the developmental cost of $1800 for the initial development of the system even though this is an On-demand solution; there is still ample work to be done developing the correct network and tools desired to not waste money with services that will hinder or not be used by The Broadway Cafe. To implement this system it will cost $2000 for one senior network installer, one IT specialist, and one project manager from the RAR Company. The initial hardware purchase of $7,900 will include 2 computer systems, 2 Point-of-Sale machines, a printer, and a scanner. There will be a $200 software purchase to make the computers compatible with the Point-of-Sale (POS) machines and the Cloud Platform. To make all of the employees computer literate and knowledgeable of the new system there will be a $1000 training program to include operation, reports, and common system language so all inputs will be accurate and correct. There will be a recurring cost of $3000 per year for the annual fees for the Cloud Platform and the high speed internet provider. The benefits analysis will give the benefits over a period of three years. The new internet sales will be based on $800 in sales a month with a 10% annual increase per year. The increased sales for the store are measured by a 3% increase in sales from the previous year’s sales of $895,000. Even though the RAR team has estimated a conservative figure of 3% increase in sales for The Broadway Cafe. The store sales combined with the new internet sales is a total of $92,780 for 3 years. These figures show there is a huge advantage for The Broadway Cafe to take on this endeavor, and make this huge change in the way The Broadway Cafe will do business in the future.

System Protoype – Rod McLennan

Transaction Processing System

Transaction processing for the e-commerce system can be narrowed down to the following three categories: Point of Sale (POS) transactions, internet transactions, and administrative transactions. Point of Sale (POS) transactions are those that are performed on the Point of Sale (POS) computer in The Broadway Cafe’s physical location. Internet transactions are those that occur on The Broadway Cafe website. Administrative transactions are those that are accessible to administrative users only.

A POS transaction occurs when a customer makes a purchase and the employee enters in the sale. Required information for a POS transaction includes the employee approval code, details about each item being purchased, tax, discounts, total, and payment information. Depending on the type of payment, the POS application may return a value for change. The POS application will open the cash drawer for filing of cash, checks, or credit card receipts and print a receipt for the customer.

Internet transactions occur when the user registers, logs in, makes a purchase, logs out, opts-out of mailing lists or submits a contact form. If a user chooses to register with the website, the user will be required to enter personal information including name, address, phone, email, username, and password. Once registered, a confirmation email will be sent to the user. Users will be required to enter their username and password in order to log into the website. Once logged in, the user will be greeted by name, and a link to the users account information and purchase history will appear. If the user chooses to make a purchase, the user will be required to enter their billing and shipping information. If the user has previously registered with the site, the billing and shipping information will be filled in automatically. The required shipping and billing information includes name, address, city, state, zip, phone, and email. All users making purchases through The Broadway Cafe’s website will need to enter credit card information in order to complete the sales transaction. Tax and shipping charges will be calculated automatically based on the user’s zip code and shipping preferences. Users will also have the option to enter a coupon code to apply a discount to their purchase. Once the sale is complete, a receipt of the order will be emailed to the user.

Administrative transactions are exposed to the user once the user has logged in with administrative access. Administrative users will have the option to view and print several reports as outlined in appendix 4. Administrative users will also have the ability to add, edit, and delete users through a back-end user management tool. The Virtuemart extension provides an interface to manage inventory, vendors, products, product categories, coupons, tax information, and shipping information. Administrative users will also have the ability to view and update website content through the use of the content management tool.

Decision Support System – Rod McLennan

The decision support system will be powered by the Joomla Virtuemart extension, InteraMind 360 Suite, and the Google Analytics. The Virtuemart extension contains several reports to assist in business decisions. InteraMind 360 Suite will be installed to further extend the reporting functionality of Virtuemart. Lastly, Google Analytics will be installed to provide reports pertaining to user experience, access locations, and session tracking. Additionally, the SQL2Excel extension for Joomla will be installed to provide means for custom report and spreadsheet generation. A complete list of available reports can be found in Appendix 4.

Technological Infrastructure – Rod McLennan

Software Infrastructure

The software used for the e-commerce system is centered around the Joomla Content Management System (CMS). Content management systems are designed to be easily expandable and user friendly. The Joomla CMS is an Open Source project, meaning it is freely distributed and no license fees are required. Many plugins and modules exist for Joomla, several of which will be installed as part of The Broadway Cafe website portion of the e-commerce system. The Virtuemart E-Commerce extension will be installed to provide the shopping cart functionality, inventory control, coupon management, and reporting capability. The InteraMind 360 Suite for Virtuemart will be installed to expand the E-Commerce reporting system to include a broader range of reports. The Kassanova Point of Sale (POS) Plugin for Virtuemart will be installed to expand the Virtuemart functionality to include Point of Sale (POS) transactions. In order to allow online credit transactions, the Authorize.net plugin for Virtuemart will be installed. The Authorize.net plugin will allow credit card processing and will be tied into The Broadway Cafe’s existing bank account. The Google analytics extension for Joomla will be installed to enhance the webpage and user tracking capabilities. SQL2Excel for Joomla will be installed to allow for custom report and spreadsheet generation. Lastly, the JEvents extension will be installed to provide event management functionality so that The Broadway Cafe can promote any events online.

In addition to the web software, certain workstation software is installed on The Broadway Cafe’s workstation computers. The computers will run on the Windows 7 Professional operating system, which is the latest release from Microsoft and provides a look and feel that is friendly for novice users. Windows 7 Professional comes with the Internet Explorer 8 web browsing software which will be used to access the web application for The Broadway Cafe. Open Office Suite will be installed to provide common business applications including word processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation software. Open Office is an Open Source project and therefore does not require any licensing fees. Lastly, AVG anti-virus software will be installed to protect the workstations from viruses, spyware, and phishing attacks. The workstations will be configured to allow remote access to facilitate training and support for The Broadway Cafe.

The web hosting environment will consist of a virtual private server (VPS) with Ubuntu Linux installed as the operating system. Apache web server, MySQL database server, PHP 5.2, Tomcat JAVA server, Open SSL, and the Webmin management tool will be installed as well. The Apache web server is the software that will recognize requests from the website and perform the actions the client requests. MySQL database server is the software that will handle the database transactions necessary for the web application to run. PHP5 is the language translator for the PHP scripting language and will handle the parsing of the web application source files. Tomcat JAVA server is used to allow the Apache web server to parse JAVA server pages. The current application will not be using the Tomcat service; however, it is scoped at this stage to allow for additional functionality at a later state. OpenSSL will be installed to manage the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates. SSL certificates are used to secure the communication between the client and server through the use of 128 bit encryption. Lastly, the Webmin management tool will be installed to simplify server monitoring and management tasks. The Webmin tool will only be available to the RAR team or The Broadway Cafe administration and will not be exposed to the public.

Hardware Infrastructure – Rod McLennan

The system hardware used within the Broadway Cafe consists of a Point of Sale (POS) computer, an administrative workstation, credit card machine with integrated receipt printer, report printer, network router, 2 UPS units, wall jacks, and cabling. Further details regarding system hardware can be found in appendix 5. A Point of Sale (POS) computer will be provided to allow The Broadway Cafe employees to perform Point of Sale (POS) transactions. The Point of Sale (POS) computer will be located at the front counter and connected the network through Category 5 cabling. The Point of Sale (POS) computer will be connected to the receipt printer for printing customer receipts. The administrative workstation will be located in the back office and will be used to perform administrative actions. The administrative computer will be connected to the network though Category 5 cabling. The workstation will also be connected to the report printer to allow the administrative user to print administrative reports. The network router will be used to connect the Point of Sale (POS) computer and the Administrative workstation to the internet while restricting outside access through a firewall. The network router will also provide wireless internet access to The Broadway Cafe customers through a guest network. The network router will allow the RAR team to gain network access through a remote desktop client to allow remote training and support to The Broadway Cafe. The Point of Sale (POS) computer and administrative workstation will each be connected to an American Power Conversion(APC) uninterrupted power supply (UPS). If a power loss occurs, the UPS units will allow the workstations to continue functioning for a maximum of 15 minutes.

The server network that will be used to host The Broadway Cafe website will consist of thousands of EDGE servers that pool their resources together and appear to The Broadway Cafe as a single server. This type of technology is known as ‘Cloud computing’. Cloud computing will provide scalable web space, scalable resources, and 100% uptime. The virtual server that is hosted in the Cloud will be fully replicated across the servers and will be subject to incremental backups. Backups will be run twice a day, once a week, and once a month. Images of the virtual host will be restorable through the hosting company’s web portal.

Security and Privacy – Rod McLennan

Website security will use encryption, Secure Socket Layering (SSL), and authentication standards in order to achieve full Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) compliance. All information saved within the system will be encrypted using the MD5 message-digest algorithm. The MD5 algorithm takes an input string and provides 128 bit encryption (Rivest). The Joomla content management system is written in PHP which provides direct access to functions to encrypt and decrypt data within the application, with no need for additional tools. In addition to encrypting information that is stored, all administrative and purchase transaction communications will be encrypted using SSL. SSL is implemented by establishing a private line of communication between the client and server through the use of a signed certificate. The certificate contains the information necessary to encrypt and decrypt the information as it passes through (Verisign). Lastly, strong authentication requirements will be forced on the administrative users at The Broadway Cafe to reduce the risk of un-authorized access. Users will be required to provide a username and password no shorter than 7 characters each. Passwords must contain upper and lower case letters as well as at least one number and one special character.

Workstation security will include standard Windows authentication. All users will be required to provide a username and password in order to access the system. Usernames and passwords will be required to be no less than 7 characters and passwords must contain at least one number and one special character. Based on the role the user belongs to, different system functionality will be exposed or hidden. Users will be assigned to the employee, manager, owner, or administrative roles. Employees at The Broadway Cafe will be limited to Point of Sale (POS) functions only. Managers will have access to both Point of Sale (POS) and any Spreadsheets necessary to provide accounting and scheduling tasks as defined by the owner of The Broadway Cafe. The owner role will have access to virtually all system functionality with the exception of operating system tasks and operations. Lastly, the Administrative role will have full system access. In addition to login credentials, each employee at The Broadway Cafe will be assigned a transaction approval code which the employee will enter with each transaction. This will allow for transaction auditing per employee and restrict unauthorized access to the Point of Sale (POS) functionality.

Network security will consist of a firewall, hard wired network connections, and authentication controls. The network router will provide a hardware firewall that will prevent outside users from accessing the network. The router will be configured with a guest network so the wireless internet provided to customers will be separate from the network accessed by the workstations at The Broadway Cafe that are physically plugged in. The network card addresses of the workstations at The Broadway Cafe will be configured in the router to disallow all other addresses requesting wired network access. The router will be password protected to prevent unauthorized access. The wireless network will be password protected with a rotating password that is available to customers upon request.

Customer privacy policies will be disclosed on The Broadway Cafe’s website. Customer information will be captured to enhance the customer experience, provide marketing resources, and for analytics tracking. User information will be used to provide a personal greeting and a transaction history for the customer to view. Customer information may be used for email marketing campaigns and targeted advertising by The Broadway Cafe. Information regarding the customer’s location, browser, operating system, and URL click tracking will also be gathered by The Broadway Cafe. Customers will have the option to opt out of any or all of the information categories.

Project Planning – Solution Deployment Plan – Adam Thrasher

The RAR team will deploy the hardware and software solutions after successfully testing the Point of Sale (POS) system and web interface in a controlled environment. The RAR team has decided to perform a parallel integration plan. The first stage will consist of hardware and networking infrastructure installation. Once the hardware and networking infrastructure have been installed, the second stage will begin. The second stage will consist of introducing online orders from The Broadway Cafe website to the existing operational procedures. Once the online system has been implemented, the RAR team will complete the final cutover to the new Point of Sale (POS) system, eliminating the prior manual order taking and processing procedures that The Broadway Cafe used.

Project Planning

Approach to Ongoing Operations and Support – Adam Thrasher

After the e-commerce solution has been Implemented and all of the hardware and software is in place, the RAR team will conduct a series of training sessions designed to familiarize the staff at The Broadway Cafe with the new operational procedures. The RAR team will offer a one year maintenance contract to Jimmy Delgado that will cover the newly installed hardware, POS system, software updates, and additional training sessions if necessary for The Broadway Cafe.

The RAR team acknowledges that the majority of the staff at The Broadway Cafe is not technologically savvy and plans on providing full documentation for all Point of Sale (POS) functions and report generating procedures. The RAR team will involve Nick Zele in most of the technological and troubleshooting training process, as he is the most technologically savvy of the current staff at The Broadway Cafe. The RAR team has suggested to Jimmy Delgado, the owner of The Broadway Cafe, that Nick’s duties be somewhat altered to incorporate the maintenance and upkeep of the new hardware and the web interface.

Estimate of Work Days – Adam Thrasher

The RAR project team will work normal five day work weeks of approximately 8 hours each day. This work Schedule is based on the Gantt chart. The project will require 72 full work days to complete all project phases from conceptualization to evaluation. This schedule is a rough estimate of days depending on ordering of computer equipment delays.

Detailed Budget – Adam Thrasher

The Broadway Cafe’s expected budget for the implementation of an e-commerce website and Point of Sale (POS) system would be $14,200. The first three phases which are Planning, Analysis, and Design would cost about $2000. The implementation phase would cost about $12,200 of the budget. The maintenance and support phase would be an annual cost of about $3000 to keep the e-commerce up and running (Appendix 1).

Risk Analysis – Adam Thrasher

The risk analysis for The Broadway Cafe will include some strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Some of the strengths The Broadway Cafe has before the upgrade are a long standing relationship with the community and personal services with the customers. The Broadway Cafe has an all manual Point of Sale (POS) and inventory system. Compared to The Broadway Cafe’s competition, Starbucks, having no automated process will continue to boost the declining sales. Opportunities for small businesses, like The Broadway Cafe, are getting more affordable. Computer hardware and software can increase business to The Broadway Cafe by increasing how and when customers are able to order.

Appendix 1 Three year breakdown of the financial projections- Ryan Klockmann

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Developmental cost

$2,000

implementation cost

$2,000

computer hardware

$2,000

computer software

$200

Pos devices

$4,000

Training

$1,000

Annual ISP Fee

$1,200

Annual support

$1,000

Annual Hosting fee

$700

Annual SSL Certificate

$100

Total Annual cost

$14,200

$3,000

Internet Sales

$9,600

$10,560

$11,520

Increased store sales

$26,850

$27,650

$28,500

Total Annual Profit

$22,250

$35,210

$37,020

Appendix 2 Project Planning – Implementation Phase – Adam Thrasher

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Conceptualize and Initialize

The Broadway Cafe is facing a decline in business due to nearby competition and outdated business practices.

The Cafe’s owner, Jimmy Delgado, wants to modernize the day to day operations in order to stay competitive.

Propose the creation of a web presence with a custom website featuring online ordering in combination with updated in house procedures.

Define Resources

Nick Zele – local liaison for questions regarding technical feasibility with relation to day to day operations

Rod, Ryan, and Adam – Project development team

Determine Budget

$16,000

Determine timeline

72 days

Analysis and Design

Develop a strategic plan for web presence and in-store integration

System Proposal

Hardware

Networking

Software

Transaction processing

Decision support

Web-Site Hosting

Construction and Implementation

Purchase equipment

Install hardware

Install networking

Develop web content

Documentation

Testing and Training

Conduct real world scenario tests

Analyze test results

Correct deficiencies

Train staff for use of new hardware and new operational procedures for online orders

Evaluate project success

Appendix 3 Project Organizational Chart

Appendix 4 Decision Support System Output

Report

Component

Process

Details

Abandoned Cart

InteraMind 360 Suite

E-Commerce

Displays information regarding customers who added to their cart but didn’t complete the checkout process

Global Orders Heat

InteraMind 360 Suite

E-Commerce

Displays a global map with color differentiation of access regions

Analyze Orders

InteraMind 360 Suite

E-Commerce

Displays various information regarding orders based on user input

Analyze Items

InteraMind 360 Suite

E-Commerce

Displays various information about specific items based on user input.

Analyze Coupons

InteraMind 360 Suite

E-Commerce

Displays coupon performance information

Access Map

Google Analytics

User Experience

Displays information regarding user access location

Traffic Analysis

Google Analytics

User Experience

Displays information regarding number of page hits, length of visit, and most visited pages.

Custom Reports

Google Analytics

User Experience

Custom report generation for website traffic and user access

Virtuemart Dashboard

InteraMind 360 Suite

E-Commerce

Visual report summarizing information from various paths. Information includes the following: Total orders income per period, Orders list per period, Top best sellers per period, Daily orders vs. 10 days moving average, Compare monthly income, Orders by status per period, Top buying and most loyal customers, People who bought this, also bought…, Products trends in the last year, Waiting list status

Appendix 5 Detailed System Hardware Specifications

Administrative Computer

Dell OptiPlex 780 Desktop Computer

Dell 21″ LCD Flat Panel Monitor

Brother MFC-7340 Laser Multi-Function Printer

USB Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

APC Smart-UPSÂ® 750VA 6-Outlet UPS unit

Point of Sale Computer

Dell OptiPlex 780 Desktop Computer

Dell 17″ LCD Flat Panel Monitor

VeriFone Omni VX-510 Credit Card Machine

USB Wireless Keyboard/Mouse

Wasp (576574) WCD5000 Cash Drawer

APC Smart-UPSÂ® 750VA 6-Outlet UPS unit

Network Hardware

Cisco WRVS4400N Wireless Router

Category 5e cabling

2x Category 5e wall jacks

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