Kudler Fine Foods Proposal

Team C - Group Assignment Week 2

Kudler Fine Foods Proposal

Instructor:

POS/410

Background and Business Application Proposal

Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale specialty food store, servicing the fine food conesouer from their three California locations. Kudler's business objective is to maximize profits by offering the highest quality products at competitive prices. Through adding the on-line ordering system, Kudler hopes to boost profits by increasing their customer base beyond customers in their local areas. The Kudler on-line ordering system will add three important advantages to Kudler customers. First, the on-line ordering system will allow current Kudler customers to access the system, place their order, and have it ready for pickup when they arrive at the store. The second benefit for Kudler's on-line clientele is the added convenience of local delivery service. This feature, allows the customer to place their order and select a timeframe in which the order will be delivered to their home or place of business. The third and final new offering from Kudler will be worldwide shipping. Using major shipping companies, such as Federal Express, UPS and DHL, Kudler will provide next day shipping to customers from around the world.

Database Revisions to support Application Proposal

In order to implement these new services, the current Kudler database needs to be examined and revised. The current database is in a Microsoft Access format and provides a basic inventory system, as well as a list of current customers. For the new application to be a success, there are several items that need to be addressed with the current Kudler Database.

* Additional Tables Needed

1. 'Reserved Inventory' table - this table will be a transaction table that will 'reserve' the items by removing them from inventory and holding them in the reserved table until one of the following conditions is met:

a. The transaction has obtained credit approval. Once this condition is met, the 'reservation' entry is removed.

b. The items have been reserved for 30 minutes without activity, at that time the reservation entry is removed, and the items are placed back in general inventory.

2. 'Shipping Method' Table - this table will indicate how the order will be delivered. Shipping charges will be calculated by multiplying the total purchase price by a shipping factor. Options for this table will include

a. In store purchase

b. Pickup

c. Local Delivery

d. FedEx

e. UPS

f. DHL

3. 'City State Zip' table - This table will allow the customer to enter their Zip Code and the city and state will automatically populate in the online order form.

4. Emergency Contact information - This information should be moved to its own table, making this information easier to maintain and update.

5. Building Information - Floor Space, Lease Owner, and Lease Rate should be in its own table.

6. Unit_of_Measure - Should be in its own table with an ID and a foreign key added to the Inventory table.

In addition to adding several tables to service the new capabilities for Kudler, there are several issues that will need to be addressed with the current database configuration.