Family Farm Fresh Foods (F4) Information System

Business Background

Family Farm Fresh Foods (F4) is a business owned by Jack MacDonald that deals with farming of vegetables on a large scale and fruits on a small scale basis. The business was acquired by Jack from his father who had also acquired from his father as the organic farming rans in the family. Jack is married to Jane who is a partner in the business and this has helped to disseminate different roles of the business between Jack and Jane. Jack is in charge of everything to do with production and harvesting while Jane is in charge of everything to do with the clients, orders and pickups. The initial business process was simple where by customers would make a phone call to place their order and then Jack would record the order and package the produce according to the order. While the customer placed the order, Jack would take up this opportunity to inform the customer about other produces that are ready. The customers would then come to Jack’s premises to pick up their orders. The business is rapidly growing but Jack and Jane have not changed the initial business process. Instead, they have acquired employees and given them different roles to help them deal with fast growing business and complexities that arise along the way. These employees either report to Jack or Jane. Jane is well informed and thinks that it’s the high time that the business embraces technology by coming up with an information system to help manage the farm and all possible activities that can be managed with an information system.

The organization chart below shows the simplified structure of the business. The chart is structured shows who each worker in the business reports to in order of hierarchy.

The area of the organization under study is the business aspect of the organization stating from the production to sales by capturing all the records necessary at the production level so that this information can be made available to facilitate the sales of the produce. To help come up with the requirements of the proposed information system, some key areas of the business have to be analyzed in details. For the production, there is need to record information about various plants by extracting all the knowledge possessed by Jack about organic farming. This information will help the production department while doing their normal activities because it is easy to look up information in an information system instead of relying on Jack every time an employee wants to do something in the farm. The system should also enable the production team to record information about produces as soon as they feel the produce is ready so that customers can know what is ready for purchase in the farm.

Key Areas to be Automated

The business is constantly growing and Jack intends to purchase manure from other organic farmers. The system should capture details of these farmers and any purchases of manure made to these farmers.

For the client side of the business, the information needs to record information about all customers that F4 has. The system should also record those customers that purchase regularly to make it easier for them to make an order using the system. The information system should also record all orders placed by customers to help the in packaging of the items specified in the orders. Customers make payments for their orders thus the information system should record all payments and which method of payment was used. The system should show customers who have not paid for their orders.

The business is moving from the normal operation of customers picking up their orders to making all deliveries to every customer at their door step. Delivery of the orders to different customers should be optimized to make sure that maximum orders are delivered within the shortest period of time to customers depending on the four different zones. The system should use an algorithm to come up with a delivery schedule for every delivery. The delivery schedule should be followed by the staff making the delivery to make sure they make the maximum possible deliveries with minimal amount of time.

Jane would also like to record different recipes that can be used to cook different farm produces thus the information system should provide a page where customers can search for recipes for different farm produces they purchase.

The business is aiming to venture to sale of fruits produced by other farmers thus the system should capture information of all approved farmers by jack and the produce that they give to the business for sale.

F4 is constantly growing due to an increase in their customer base as more people are in high demand of the organic produces produced by the business. Since starting of the business, a few things have changed in the way the business carries out its operations. A simplified business process involves customers making orders by phone and then that information is recorded by the staff in charge of taking all orders. The produce from the farm is then packaged according to the orders and deliveries are made to all the customers who made their orders. The business is experiencing loss of customers because of the current system of operations as customers are finding it hard to know what produce the farm has and even more customers feel the current method of making orders via telephone and then they are informed of the current produce wastes a lot of time. For regular customers, their regular orders are recorded manually by pinning orders in a board. With all these operations a lot of information is generated by the business and its all recorded manually in books. This poses a problem to the business as the current procedures of recording and accessing information are tedious and time consuming thus there is need for an information system that will be used to record all these information thus make it easy to assess the information.

Proposed Information System Capabilities

F4 intends to acquire an information system to help in managing the farm. If the information system is implemented, many aspects of the business will improve and thus lead to more profits. The following are some of the business benefits expected from implementation of the proposed information system;

• The new information system will make it easy to store information about customers especially for regular customers. This information can help enhance the concept of customer segmentation where by regular customers can be identified with their corresponding regular orders. Segmentation of the customers will help the business to evaluate its line of customers.
• The new information system will be able to record information of ready produce when it is ready. This information is then used in the web application to help customers to know what produce is ready for order. This is beneficial to the business as it will help increase sales as existing customers as well as new customers are able to see what produce is available for sale by the farm. The information system can also implement a simple recommender system to recommend items to customers before and after they have made a purchase in the website.
• The new information system will be able to record information about all the orders placed by customers. Analysis of the order information can be helpful to the business as it can help them to know which farm produce is on more demand than the other and thus they can make decisions depending on the results of the analysis.
• The new information system will record information about payments made by customers for various orders and payments made by the business either to the staff or to other farmers during purchase of manual or other activities. This will help the business maintain a consistent book of accounts which can be analyzed to show the level of profits the business is getting at different seasons of the year.
• The new information system will be able to hold information about deliveries made to customers on their respective orders. The system will help the business cut on costs by implementing a schedule generating part of the system which will generate delivery schedules to help the delivery staff to make the maximum amount of orders using minimal amount of time. This will help the business as more customers are going to receive the ordered items thus ensuring customer satisfaction.
• If the new information system is implemented and used over time, the information stored can be used to do business analysis to assess the performance of the business thus facilitate better decision making.

The proposed information system will be used by the farm to record information both in production side and the client side of the business. The two departments rely on each other as there is flow of information between them thus to implement the new information system, the most suitable approach will be to design a web application using a central database. The web application will be used by both departments and also by the customers since it’s accessible from anywhere. The following will be the capabilities of the new information system;

• The new information system will be used to record information of the all the customers. This will be achieved by creating a customer registration page where customers can register by filling a form of all the required details. New customers will be able to do registrations without having to consult the farm.
• The new information system will enable the production and harvesting department to record all the ready produces. This information will help customers to access the web application and see all the ready produce that is available for purchase so that they can make orders.
• The new information system will enable customers to make orders by just accessing a webpage and logging in into their account. Customers will only be able to make orders on produce that is ready. After making the orders customers can also pay for the order through the new information system. This will require the new information system to have a payment system which should be secure for the users.
• The new information system will be used to make deliveries to customers. The system will implement an algorithm that will evaluate all the orders place by customers depending on the zones they are located and generate a delivery schedule depending on the location of the customer.
• The new information system will be used to record details of farmers from whom the farm purchases organic manure for use in the farm.
• The new information system will be able to record details of farmers producing fruits and bringing to F4 for sale. The system will also record every delivery made by those farmers.
• The new information system will be able to record information about organic farming that jack has. This information can be used by the staff in the production department.
• The new information system will be used to record recipes prepared by Jane for various vegetables. This information will be accessible to all customers who have an account in the system.

The following table shows the tasks and their respective durations;

Task	Duration
Meeting with all farm staff	1 Day
Staff interviews	5 Days
Review of farm records	4 Days
Observing business operations	3 Days
Analyzing accounting processes	3 Days
Studying sample orders and payments	2 Days
Home delivery field work	2 Days
Reporting	2 Days
Review report	1 Day

The overall duration is 23 days if the whole process is continuous and the resources are easy to find.

The following are the possible risks that might be experienced through out the project and their likelihood of happening (Stoy, 2010).

Risk	Description	Likelihood
Lack of executive support	Jack may not be on board with the implementation of the new information system	Very low
Scope creep	Uncontrolled changes in the current scope which will lead to a continuous growth in the scope	Low
Schedule underestimation	The time allocated to different tasks may not be enough to complete those tasks	High
Budget underestimation	The money allocated for carrying out different tasks may not be enough	Moderate
Missing activities from scope	Some critical activities required to be carried out in the project are missing in the scope of the project	Low
Conflict among stakeholders because of requirements changes	Stakeholders may disagree on changes in requirements thus leading to conflicts	Low
Disengagement of stakeholders	Stakeholders involved in the project ignore the agreed upon channels of communication thus leading to disengagement	Low
Inaccurate expectation from the end users	The end product may not be what the users expected	High
Loss of a key development team member	A member in the development team can quit or fall ill thus leading to lack of certain skills in the development team	Low
Change in business	A change in the way business operates thus leading to a major change in the requirements while the project is underway	Low

The following are the anticipated benefits of the new system;

• The new information system will simplify the process of recording data for all the staff thus making work easier.
• The new information system will simplify the process of making orders for customers as well as paying for those orders.
• The new system will make it easy to analyze the accounts of the business since the information is readily available.
• The new information system will be integrated with a website thus it will help create an online presence for the business and ultimately reach more customers.
• The new information system will make easy to make deliveries to different customers as the system will be generating an optimal delivery schedule for every delivery done by the delivery staff.
• The new information system will keep records of data which can be analyzed over time to help make important business managerial decisions.
• The new information system will help eliminate some redundancies in the current work force.

The following are the expected costs that will be incurred throughout the project lifecycle;

Activity	Estimated cost
Requirement gathering	$5000
Paying the development team	$30000
Web application hosting	$5000
Training	$2000

Cost benefit analysis is the process of evaluating the cost against the benefits of the project to determine whether the project is feasible or not (Bowen, 2013). Depending on the possible costs estimated for the system the project might roughly cost $45000. If the project is implemented the business will handle get more customers and will be able to handle more orders than before. This means that the business will experience more profits. The business will also restructure its workforce as some of the tasks like placing orders will be now automated. These workers can be laid off or assigned other roles thus saving cost. Thus the project is feasible.

The cost and benefits associated with the project are based on the following assumptions;

• The project will be developed by an independent development team with all the necessary skills
• The project will purely be a web application
• All the staff will have to be trained before they start using the application for their respective roles.
• The web application will be hosted in an off premises server to save on the initial hardware and configurations costs.

The proposed system presents a strong business because it is clear that after implementation of the proposed information system, the business will immediately start to experience the benefits ranging from more customers and more orders, reduced workload for the staff, and better record keeping.

Apart from interviews, the following fact finding techniques are recommended;

• Observation- this involves doing an observation of the business processes to understand how the business works
• Questionnaires- This involves coming up with questionnaires and conducting a survey to get the answers from all the staff.

The employees considered for the interview are Chris who is in charge of taking orders and Jim who is in charge of deliveries. Both interview are expected to take 30 minutes each.

1. What is the normal procedure of taking orders from customers?
2. How do you know what the customers is ordering is available?
3. How do you record orders by customers?
4. How do you know a regular customer and a new customer?
5. How do you pass the order to the packaging department
6. How do you know which orders have been processed and ones that are not processed?
7. How do you know which orders have been paid for?
8. Would you recommend an information system?
9. How would you recommend the information system to work?

1. What is the normal procedure of making deliveries to customers?
2. How do you know which orders you are supposed to deliver?
3. How do you determine the schedule you are going to use to make deliveries?
4. How do you know if a customer has made a payment for the order or not?
5. How do you record which deliveries have been made?
6. How do you ensure the customer gets the delivery?
7. What would you recommend to change in the way deliveries are done?
8. Would you recommend and information system to help manage the deliveries?
9. How would you recommend the information system to work? 

Use Case	Brief Use Case Description
Register	The customer have to resister with their username, password and other details to open an account on F4 information system and use it.
Login	The login option is kept for the customer and the other staffs of the F4 organization. After a successful login the user can access the information system.
View item	The customer can view different items available in F4 for purchasing the item or placing order.
Place order	The different items are viewed and compared for selection of the best suited product and placing order.
View items	One or more items can be selected and added to the cart, the cart can be reviewed to make a final decision and proceed with the payment option.
Make Payment	A payment gateway is opened and the user pays using different payment option for buying the selected product/s.
View Orders	The order staffs can view the orders placed by different customers for arranging the products from the warehouse and ready them for shipment.
View payment	The account staffs can view the payment made by the customer and generate invoice for the payment
Approve payment	The account staff is responsible for the approval of the payment and transferring the money in the bank account of F4.
Check order	The packaging staff can use the information system after a successful login and check the orders placed by the customer for starting the packaging process.
Enter package number	The packaging staff enters the package number based on the order number for easy identification of the item and management of the shipment process.
Add organic info	Jack is responsible to add the organic information to each of the item
Generate delivery schedule	The delivery needs to log in into the information system for generating a delivery schedule and deliver the ordered item according the order placed time
Update delivery status	The delivery staffs also updates the delivery status for maintaining a transparency with the customer and notify them for delivering the products
Generate report	Jack and jane generates report regarding the orders and the account status for analysing their current progress in the business and maintain the records of each of the transaction
Add receipt	Jane adds receipt for each of the placed order for organizing the records

 Use Case Description (Full)

Use Case Diagram:	Generate Delivery Schedule
Scenario:	Register new Customer
Triggering event:	Adding a new customer in the database of F4 information system
Brief Description:	Creation of a new record of the customer by taking the details of the customer including the address and the phone number
Actor:	Customer, order staffs, accounts staffs, packaging staffs, delivery staffs, jack and Jane
Stakeholders:	The customers and the other staffs of F4 are the main stakeholders identified for the development of the information system.
Preconditions:	The customers and the products that is to be ordered by the customers must be available
Postconditions:	The customer must have knowledge of computer to use the information system and all the details required for creation of the new account must be available for the customer
Flow of Activities	Actor System Customer fills the registration page details for opening new account The details are stored in the database     An user account is created in the information system The customer logs into the account to view different available in the website for selection of an item to purchase Checks validation of the user by authenticating the username and password provided by the user If the account is not validated an error message is displayed to the user. The customer selects an item and places an order The availability of the item is checked and the order is received If the item is not available a message is displayed to the customer providing the availability date and time. View order details The order staffs maintain the records of the orders and the items that are unavailable are listed for making it available to the customer. The customer makes payment On placing the order the customer is redirected to the payment gateway page for making the payment for the orders placed. The total cost of the item/s and the tax are calculated for showing the final price before the final step. The account staffs checks the payment On successful payment the payment is checked and an invoice is generated for storing the record of the payment Approval of the payment The account staffs approves the payment for storing it in the files of the database. System print receipt with full details of the transaction The order is checked by the packaging staff A packaging number is entered for each of the order for delivering the ordered items Generate delivery schedule The delivery staffs analyses the packaging number and creates schedule for delivery. The system is updated with the information for helping the user to track their order
Excepted Condition	Low internet connectivity speed In sufficient details of the customers Forgotten email ID by the customer   Incomplete transaction from the payment gateway sever

Customer  {customerID, Names, Address, Email, Creditcardno.}

customerID = Varchar2(20)

 Names = Varchar2(20)

Address = Varchar2(30)

Email = Varchar2(20)

Creditcardno. = Varchar2(10)

{Order_ID, Customer_ID, Date}

Order_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Customer_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Date = Date

Payment_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Amount = Int (20)

Order_ID = Varchar2 (20)

{ Item_ID, type, name, u/ m, cost, info}

Item_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Type = Varchar2 (20)

Name = Varchar2 (20)

u/ m = Varchar2 (20)

cost = Int (10)

info = Varchar2 (30)

{Order_ID, Item_ID, Quantity}

Order_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Item_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Quantity = Varchar2 (20)

{delivery_ID, Order_ID, Status}

delivery_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Order_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Status = Varchar2 (20)

{delivery_ID, Staff_ID, Date}

delivery_ID =  Varchar2 (20)

Staff_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Date = Date

{Recipe_ID, name, description}

Recipe_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Name = Varchar2 (20)

Description = Varchar2 (20)

{Item_ID, Recipe_ID, quantity}

Item_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Recipe_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Quantity = Varchar2 (20)

{Staff_ID, name, email, address, salary, department}

Staff_ID = Varchar2 (20)

Name = Varchar2 (20)

email = Varchar2 (20)

address = Varchar2 (30)

salary = Float (10)

department = Varchar2 (10)

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