Notes for Interim Report

    This report has the simple purpose of showing to the CEO what progress you have made in finding a solution that may meet their needs. The CEO will be expecting that this report does not present a complete solution. Nevertheless, it should still be professionally presented and frankly discuss areas that still need to be researched, etc… - Aims at selling your preliminary ideas to senior management - Brief, & simpler than your final report since you may not have enough information in such an early stage. - Explain in your report if you do not have enough information now, and need more time & efforts for further study. This is a limitation that must be stated clearly.) - Briefly talk about possible solutions and discuss which approach is better. - Should still be professionally prepared Business/User Requirements Read the case (pp. 6-7, syllabus) and have a good understanding of the requirements. Assume that you can interview the CEO, and his staff to clarify their requirements. From what you capture from the interviews, you develop the functional requirements (and non-functional requirements if your clients have some). In real-world project, you will have to go through many rounds of interviews and meetings/workshops to clarify requirements. In this project, you may make up the requirements. But they must be reasonable & logical. Need to do some research before writing Assignment Background You are an information system and technology consultant hired to design and implement a Customer Service System (CSS) designed to support the following business: Just Relax Inc (JRI) is a unique vacation spa concept. JRI's guests check everything at the door, except their clothes and some personal items. No laptops, phones, briefcases, wallets or anything else are permitted on the grounds. The exception is a combination picture identification and credit card issued by JRI at check in and given to each guest upon arrival. JRI has a golf course, tennis courts, bicycle paths, a restaurant and a nightclub. Guests stay 1 to 4 nights and use the ID/credit card to rent equipment, book and pay for green fees and courts, purchase food and other refreshments. At the end of their stay, they review their bill, receive their personal belongings and are off. JRI is at capacity. The resort's reputation is perfect. Management has a knack for delivering a value package unequalled by anyone in JRI's market. JRI management would like to take advantage of new technology to help accomplish the following goals: - Increase security. - Increase the customer value package by eliminating line-ups for equipment pick up and payment. For example: a guest should be able to walk in, find a tennis racket and walk out to the court. Similarly a guest should be able to return the racket to the shelf without having to stand in line to pay for the rental fee. Another example is the ability of any guest to pre-order lunch and have it delivered to his/her table upon arrival at the sun deck. When lunch is over, the guest can leave without having to wait for the check. Management has already fingered the use of the ID/credit card as the bottleneck. Management would like to rid themselves and their guests of the hassle of constantly showing the card for verification of person (picture and signature) and having the guest sign off on the account. The project should include hardware, software, communications, financial, human resource issues and solutions as well as anything else that you deem to be important. Above all, it needs to be feasible. Preliminary groundwork for this project includes the identification and analysis of the underlying business processes involved as well as a clear definition of the scope of your project. I suggest you complete an environmental scan of available (and future) technology. This preliminary groundwork will be presented to your instructor as an interim report. The output from your work will be a formal report (including table of contents, executive summary, annotated bibliography and data disclosure). Headings and organization are up to you. Significant primary and/or secondary research is expected to support your findings (e.g. cost to manufacture, marketing costs, distribution costs, advertising costs, etc.). Valuable sources include third party analyses in business periodicals and credible Internet sites (e.g. Strategis, Dunn & Bradstreet), the websites of the organization and insider interviews. The entire research finding used to generate the report must be properly referenced and included in a portfolio to be handed in with the report. Relevant findings should be presented within their appropriate contexts and highlighted for quick reference. The analysis in the report itself must, however, be able to stand on its own. Note: Reports that do not apply the citation and bibliographical standards described below are unlikely to receive a grade higher than 80%. Citations & Bibliographies - APA Standards (LRC) Plagiarism often occurs unintentionally because students have not yet become accustomed to applying proper citation standards. Here are some guidelines to help you apply these important standards: - Cite all sources used to prepare your analyses in the body of all of your assignments. Each and every idea that is not your own, whether quoted, paraphrased, or otherwise used to substantiate your analysis, should be accompanied by a reference in a foot- or endnote. From the placement of the note and, where relevant, the quotation marks, it should be evident to which idea the note applies. • - Unless otherwise directed, always include a list of references or“bibliography” - Use the APA standards described on the LRC website. Citations give credit to the original author and help the reader find the sources used. Submissions that do not appear to meet these citations standards will be penalized.