Requirements for Kudler's Find Foods Frequent Shopper Program

Requirements for Kudler's Find Foods Frequent Shopper Program

Introduction

In an effort to maintain a competitive edge in the gourmet food industry, Kudler Find Foods will implement changes to the company's infrastructure and overall networking capabilities to create a shopping program for our dedicated customers. A system analysis team has been created to meet this challenge led by Daniel W. Burgess, Vice President of Operations, Richard Rives, Director of Information Technology, Darrell Crosson, Director of Human Resources, Warren Johnson, IT Specialist, and Antoin Jenkins, Program Coordinator. The goal of the project is to provide our customers with the best processing methodology to complete error free transactions; generate feedback from users; and address any issues from customers by upgrading our customer service operations.

The scope of the Frequent Flyer Program (Service Request Form, SR-kf-013) will entail low-level processes that focus on the business aspects of our IT department and the processes that involve a RAD (Rapid Application Development) system. The program will be able to operate on a global scale with operations in Asia, China, Japan, and South America. Upgrades to our systems will represent different approaches that streamline and improve the system and design processes identified from different perspectives that affect the overall operations of our company.

The scope of the project will also include several requirements that affect the design of the system specifically "project requirements and "process requirements". The "project requirements" will describe the characteristics of the program. The requirements will focus on the most viable resources that are compatible with our current systems and the types of platforms that support our system processes. The process requirements will describe how people interact with our products and how a product interacts with other products. The processing upgrades will address the requirements for billing transactions, how invoices are updated, and what should be done if an account is out of balance.

The success of implementing the Frequent Shopper Program will be based on the decisions of the IT department and their analysis of the types of software that can be integrated into our as-is systems. Outsourcing will also be considered as the company is interested in using the most cost effective method to complete the transition, and the time frame needed to complete the modifications.

The modifications to upgrade the Frequent Shopper Program will be implemented in several phases to stem cost and identify any errors that might occur, and a feasibility study will be conducted in the early phase of the planning stage. The study will investigate the scope of the system and propose a plan or set of instructions for the analysis team to follow. The project plan will establish time lines and resources needed to execute the program. The study will also determine if the IT department will be able to develop a system that can resolve all outstanding issues that plague our computer system and exploit the opportunity to determine whether the costs of developing the system outweigh the possible benefits.

I. Project Goals

The project is to provide the ability to track all customer purchases using Kudler's point of sale (POS) system already in place. Our team, in cooperation with Kudler's stakeholders intends to implement a new frequent shopper rewards program that can assist Kudler Fine Foods in increasing customer loyalty and help to bring new customers in to shop. The outlook of this plan takes into account some of the following:

* Knowing what shoppers purchase most so that Kudler can keep good quantities of that on hand, as well as knowing what is not purchased so that Kudler doesn't spend money on items that do not move.

* Improved customer retention by rewarding customers for shopping at Kudler Fine Foods.

* Maintain customer trust by keeping their personal information private.

Kudler's research has shown that to be victorious in its plan sales would need to increase 3% per year over the next 5 years. Kudler's Fine Foods is looking forward to being able to offer its customers attractive food products and rewards to its cherished customers which will help to contribute to the success of the frequent shoppers program.

Measure for Success

Execution of several methods has been taken by Kudler Fine Foods to make sure that its customers have a memorable and pleasant shopping experience. By offering only the finest goods with fast friendly service, Kudler is doing its part to maintain its customer base. With the addition of the frequent shopper program it will only help. Kudler staff must be trained on all aspects of the program so as to explain how to use it, how to sign up for it, and what the benefits of becoming a frequent shopper are. The customer also needs to know that the information that they supply will be kept safe and confidential. To help Kudler build revenue, the use of the frequent shopper program can reward those that purchase items of higher markup better, thus allowing Kudler to target the high margin items that are sold.

To make this project successful, our team needs to stay on target with deadlines and budgets. Kudler has a specific timeline that must be met, with a specific budget. Keeping within those guidelines will not only help make the project successful, it will further the relationship with our team and Kudler Fine Foods. Our team will handle the design, programming, implementation, training, and support of the system. The return on which Kudler's market research has shown them will help to make this project meet or exceed project feasibility. By offering a tangible reward for spending money at Kudler customers will most likely continue to shop with Kudler Fine Foods. The initial cost of the system will be outweighed by the gain in customer retention and new customers. The frequent shopper plan is expected to be a self-funding plan with the outlay of the plan being negligible against the proceeds. The projected revenue lift of the frequent shopper program is 4.75%, with the largest portion of that coming in the fourth quarter of year one

II. Description of the Current Business Process and Systems

Currently Kudler's POS module captures and reports all retail sales in detail. Each cash register entry results in data transmitted to the accounting module, electronic payment clearing house, and purchasing module. Net sales are reviewed daily for reasonableness. Currently Kudler does not track what