“IFSM 300 Final Assessment Exam

By my signature below, I confirm that the work contained here is my own, I have
received no outside assistance and have properly cited and referenced any
external research that has been incorporated in my answers. I have fully complied with UMUC’s Policy on
Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism (Policy 150.25). Failure to properly
credit your research sources is a violation of this policy.
_______________________________________

(Typed
signature represents actual signature)

Instructions:
Use the Case Study presented here to answer
the questions below. Your answers should
be long enough to answer each question fully and completely and typed below the
individual question in this document.
Follow the instructions in the questions to determine the appropriate
length of your responses. Your answers
should demonstrate an understanding of the concept(s), should apply critical
thinking, and should provide analysis of the Case Study in light of the
concepts(s). You should not just
re-iterate what has been presented in class, but integrate the information and
relate it to the Case Study. Proper APA
style must be used for any citations and references that you use. Your exam will be graded on the completeness
and accuracy of your responses and whether you have appropriately tied your
responses to the Case Study. Responses
that do not mention the Case Study will receive very few points, if any. Each question is worth 10 points.

.jpg””>

Virginia Bikes
Case Study

In 1985 Bill Thomas took
$6,000 of his savings, borrowed another $4,000 from his best friend, and opened
a bike rental business in Vienna, VA.
The rental shop is adjacent to the Washington & Old Dominion Trail
(W&OD) that goes from Purcellville to Old Town Alexandria (45 miles),
connects to the Mt Vernon Trail (18 miles) and ends at George Washingtons Mt
Vernon Estate. Bill, bought 10 bikes for
his first store. The location has parking, and is near the historic Vienna Inn
and a number of food and drink establishments.
He has since opened stores in Old Town Alexandria and Reston, VA, where
he sells, rents and repairs bicycles.
The Vienna store is now Bills
anchor store, and at 5,000 square feet, it is three to five times larger than his
other stores. Bill estimates he sells
around 3,000 new bikes a year. Because of the high use of the W&OD trail,
especially on weekends, he also provides tune up and maintenance services at
all of his stores for the many riders from up and down the trail.
In 2012, Bill leased a
store in the heart of D.C., near the Smithsonian Museums and other tourist
attractions. He uses this store to rent
bikes to tourists and residents of the city, and does some repairs to his rental
bicycle inventory in the back of the shop.
Although he has always
made money, or he would not be in business, Bill has seen a decline in bikes
sales of about 20 percent since 2008. He
attributes this to the downturn in the economy and the growth in Internet sales. However, his rental, tune up and repair
business has increased dramatically. Over
the past few years, he realized that he must be more aware of expenses and
decrease them wherever practical in order to preserve profits.
Bill thinks that the one
of the most important factors is the weather, but has no data to support that
thinking. On rainy days, there are few customers
in the stores, while on sunny weekends all of his locations are extremely
busy. From spring through fall, Bill
keeps all his stores open seven days a week, while in the winter months he
opens his stores on the weekend when the weather is good for riding. Through observation, Bill figures his highest
sales occur in May, and that June and September are his best months for
rentals. He also sells many bikes during
the holiday season in December, but in January and February, he often wonders
if he should close shop and go to Florida for a couple of months.
Virginia Bikes grosses
between $5 and $8 million annually and earns Bill a comfortable six-figure
income. Each year, he leaves a
considerable amount of cash in the business so that he does not have to borrow
money to keep his business going. He
sells a wide variety of bikes (from tricycles for toddlers to sophisticated
racing bikes) and accessories such as helmets, speedometers, bike racks, repair
kits, and clothing. Bicycle sales have
decreased to account for 25 percent of revenues. Accessories such as helmets, bike racks,
gloves, and locks amount to another 5 percent.
Rentals make up about 35 percent, and repairs make up the remaining 35
percent.
In recent years, he has
noted that customers are less likely to purchase the high-end road and
triathlon bikes, and are purchasing bikes in the range of $400 to $1,000. The lower-priced bikes are also easier to
sell and to keep the inventory moving.
Most of the rental
business is concentrated in the downtown D.C. and Alexandria stores, due to the
tourists and university students located near those stores. Bill is excited about rentals, as they have a
huge profit margin. He can charge as
much as $50 a day, which means the bikes pay for themselves after just a few
rentals.
Bills expenses include such
costs as new bikes, parts and accessories, rent and payroll. He negotiates leases for all his locations
except the Alexandria store, which he owns outright. Bill has 15 full-time employees and usually
hires another 15 part-time employees during the busy months and weekends.
Until two years ago, he
was spending about $30,000 a year on advertising in local papers. Now he uses a simple website and has links on
many of the local biking trail sites to provide information about his various
locations, and his advertising budget is close to zero.
In the late 1990s, Bill over-expanded
to six stores, including a store in Purcellville, VA, and one in Bethesda, MD. The expansion necessitated a warehouse in
Springfield, VA, the hiring of a general manager and considerable overhead
expenses. In a subsequent cost-reduction
effort, Bill closed the Bethesda store, gave up the warehouse and moved his
inventory to the Vienna store, and let the general manager go. Now, he handles all the general management tasks
himself, which affects the time that he has available to plan and develop
strategies.
Bill further reduces his
expenses by working in the Vienna store two days a week. Since he has only one staff person in some of
his stores, he has to make special arrangements if that person does not come to
work, or takes a day (or week) off.
He is trying to expand
the bicycle repair work, especially on the weekends, so he will be able to
increase revenue from this profitable aspect of his business. He needs to have repair capability at each
store to maintain the rentals, prepare the new bikes for sale, and perform the
periodic maintenance for the bikes that he has sold, as well as provide the
breakdown repairs and adjustments for the riders on the trail.
In an effort to increase
profits, Bill tries to get good deals from his suppliers so he can realize a good
margin on bike and accessory sales and repairs.
He looks for situations where suppliers have more bikes in a line than
they need and buys those bikes at a discount for rentals and low-end sales,
while maintaining a rapport with high-end suppliers so that he can offer his
customers the best at reasonable prices.
By doing so, he can sell bikes at a lower retail price with on-the-spot
delivery while still realizing a nice profit.
Bill has no bank debt
and has long since repaid the $4,000 he borrowed from his friend to start the
business. He feels that, because he has
a diverse business strategy that addresses the many different aspects of the
local bike business, he will do well in the many different economic climates as
long as he is able to manage his varied business. He also feels that he is insulated from
substitutes from the electronic world, due to the rental and repair aspects
of his business.
Bill is seeking your
help to analyze his business and identify areas where information systems could
help him better manage and grow his business.

Questions:
Analyze the Virginia Bikes business
using Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
to complete the table below.

FORCE
List Porter’s Five Forces

IMPACT (POSITIVE, NEGATIVE, or NEUTRAL)
This must have an entry

JUSTIFICATION of
your selected impact
Minimum 2 good sentences that explain the impact
of the force on Virginia Bikes to demonstrate understanding of the
force.
Refer to specific details from the business in
the case study to support your explanations.

Identify which of Porter’s Generic
Strategies is most appropriateto Virginia Bikes and explain why
you selected it in light of your Five Forces Analysis.

Bill
uses the three business processes listed below, and each of them could be
improved using technology. Explain
in general how an information technology system solution could improve
each one of the processes without naming a specific solution.
Selling
bicycles – how technology could improve the process:

Repairing
bicycles – how technology could improve the process:

Managing
inventory – how technology could improve the process:

Using
the three business processes listed in question #3, list one input and one
output that would be part of that process. (These are for the entire process, and
are not limited to any particular step in the process.)

Process

Input
Information/data
item entered into the system as part of this process
(input needed for the system)

Processing
Processing
or action the system must perform for this process
(what
the system will do with the input)

Output
Information/data
item displayed or printed out for the
user in this process
(what the system will output/display)

Selling Bikes

Repairing Bikes

Managing Inventory

Bill
has decided to use technology to improve one of business processes
identified in question #4 above. Select
one of the processes and analyze
the IT requirements as they apply to that process using the table
below.

Name the
business process that you selected from #4 here: __________

IT
Requirement

Importance/
Relevance
High,
Medium,
Low, or Not Applicable (N/A)
(each must have a ranking)

Explanation for
Ranking
(Write a minimum of 3 good sentences for
each. Use the name of the business and
the selected process in each answer. Identify
the data or type of data used in your explanation, where it applies.)

Usability

Information
Quality

Database

Reliability/
Availability

Security

List and briefly explain three specific quantifiable
(measurable) business benefits
that Virginia Bikes would get from using a cloud-based
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution. Your explanations should include references
to the Virginia Bikes business in the case study.
Business
Benefit #1 and explanation:

Business
Benefit #2 and explanation:

Business
Benefit #3 and explanation:

Bill
has decided to implement a cloud-based SaaS solution to improve the bike repair
process for his business. Identify one important activity
that Bill would need to do during each of the following phases of the system development life
cycleto implement his solution (an example answer is provided for the
Programming phase):Planning:Analysis
and Design:Programming: Since the system has already been
developed by the SaaS vendor, Bill is not required to take any action
regarding the Programming Phase.Configuration:Testing:Implementation
and Use:

Bill
would like to increase repair work and rentals as they are the highest profit
aspects of his business. He wants
to analyze the data he will be collecting in his new information system to
help him do this. Identify three questions that Bill
would want answers to in order to determine ways to increase repairs and
rentals. Then, identify what informationBill would need to answer each
question. Finally, explain how that information and
the answers to the questions would help Bill increase repair work and
rentals.
Question,
information and explanation #1:

Question,
information and explanation #2:

Question,
information and explanation #3:

Bill
has set up a website with information about his stores, and he wants to
expand this website to conduct e-commerce.
Identify two different categories of e-commerce (as defined
in the Week 2 Learning Resource “”Categories of Electronic
Commerce””) that Bill could use to improve his business. Explain
how each e-commerce category would be used. Your explanations should include the
name of Bill’s business and demonstrate your understanding of each of the
two e-commerce categories.
E-Commerce
category #1 and how it would be used:

E-Commerce
category #2 and how it would be used:

Explain
how each of the following could benefit
Bill’s Virginia Bikes business. Use
2-3 sentences for each and be sure your explanations mention Virginia
Bikes and show that you understand
each of the types of systems.Supply
Chain Management System

Customer
Relationship Management System

Enterprise
Resource Planning System
IFSM 300 Final
Assessment ExamBy
my signature below, I confirm that the work contained here is my own, I have
received no outside assistance and have properly cited and referenced any
external research that has been incorporated in my answers. I have fully complied with UMUC’s Policy on
Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism (Policy 150.25). Failure to properly
credit your research sources is a violation of this policy._______________________________________
(Typed
signature represents actual signature) Instructions:Use the Case Study presented here to answer
the questions below. Your answers should
be long enough to answer each question fully and completely and typed below the
individual question in this document.
Follow the instructions in the questions to determine the appropriate
length of your responses. Your answers
should demonstrate an understanding of the concept(s), should apply critical
thinking, and should provide analysis of the Case Study in light of the
concepts(s). You should not just
re-iterate what has been presented in class, but integrate the information and
relate it to the Case Study. Proper APA
style must be used for any citations and references that you use. Your exam will be graded on the completeness
and accuracy of your responses and whether you have appropriately tied your
responses to the Case Study. Responses
that do not mention the Case Study will receive very few points, if any. Each question is worth 10 points..jpg””>Virginia BikesCase StudyIn 1985 Bill Thomas took
$6,000 of his savings, borrowed another $4,000 from his best friend, and opened
a bike rental business in Vienna, VA.
The rental shop is adjacent to the Washington & Old Dominion Trail
(W&OD) that goes from Purcellville to Old Town Alexandria (45 miles),
connects to the Mt Vernon Trail (18 miles) and ends at George Washingtons Mt
Vernon Estate. Bill, bought 10 bikes for
his first store. The location has parking, and is near the historic Vienna Inn
and a number of food and drink establishments.
He has since opened stores in Old Town Alexandria and Reston, VA, where
he sells, rents and repairs bicycles. The Vienna store is now Bills
anchor store, and at 5,000 square feet, it is three to five times larger than his
other stores. Bill estimates he sells
around 3,000 new bikes a year. Because of the high use of the W&OD trail,
especially on weekends, he also provides tune up and maintenance services at
all of his stores for the many riders from up and down the trail.In 2012, Bill leased a
store in the heart of D.C., near the Smithsonian Museums and other tourist
attractions. He uses this store to rent
bikes to tourists and residents of the city, and does some repairs to his rental
bicycle inventory in the back of the shop.Although he has always
made money, or he would not be in business, Bill has seen a decline in bikes
sales of about 20 percent since 2008. He
attributes this to the downturn in the economy and the growth in Internet sales. However, his rental, tune up and repair
business has increased dramatically. Over
the past few years, he realized that he must be more aware of expenses and
decrease them wherever practical in order to preserve profits.Bill thinks that the one
of the most important factors is the weather, but has no data to support that
thinking. On rainy days, there are few customers
in the stores, while on sunny weekends all of his locations are extremely
busy. From spring through fall, Bill
keeps all his stores open seven days a week, while in the winter months he
opens his stores on the weekend when the weather is good for riding. Through observation, Bill figures his highest
sales occur in May, and that June and September are his best months for
rentals. He also sells many bikes during
the holiday season in December, but in January and February, he often wonders
if he should close shop and go to Florida for a couple of months.Virginia Bikes grosses
between $5 and $8 million annually and earns Bill a comfortable six-figure
income. Each year, he leaves a
considerable amount of cash in the business so that he does not have to borrow
money to keep his business going. He
sells a wide variety of bikes (from tricycles for toddlers to sophisticated
racing bikes) and accessories such as helmets, speedometers, bike racks, repair
kits, and clothing. Bicycle sales have
decreased to account for 25 percent of revenues. Accessories such as helmets, bike racks,
gloves, and locks amount to another 5 percent.
Rentals make up about 35 percent, and repairs make up the remaining 35
percent.In recent years, he has
noted that customers are less likely to purchase the high-end road and
triathlon bikes, and are purchasing bikes in the range of $400 to $1,000. The lower-priced bikes are also easier to
sell and to keep the inventory moving.Most of the rental
business is concentrated in the downtown D.C. and Alexandria stores, due to the
tourists and university students located near those stores. Bill is excited about rentals, as they have a
huge profit margin. He can charge as
much as $50 a day, which means the bikes pay for themselves after just a few
rentals. Bills expenses include such
costs as new bikes, parts and accessories, rent and payroll. He negotiates leases for all his locations
except the Alexandria store, which he owns outright. Bill has 15 full-time employees and usually
hires another 15 part-time employees during the busy months and weekends. Until two years ago, he
was spending about $30,000 a year on advertising in local papers. Now he uses a simple website and has links on
many of the local biking trail sites to provide information about his various
locations, and his advertising budget is close to zero.In the late 1990s, Bill over-expanded
to six stores, including a store in Purcellville, VA, and one in Bethesda, MD. The expansion necessitated a warehouse in
Springfield, VA, the hiring of a general manager and considerable overhead
expenses. In a subsequent cost-reduction
effort, Bill closed the Bethesda store, gave up the warehouse and moved his
inventory to the Vienna store, and let the general manager go. Now, he handles all the general management tasks
himself, which affects the time that he has available to plan and develop
strategies. Bill further reduces his
expenses by working in the Vienna store two days a week. Since he has only one staff person in some of
his stores, he has to make special arrangements if that person does not come to
work, or takes a day (or week) off. He is trying to expand
the bicycle repair work, especially on the weekends, so he will be able to
increase revenue from this profitable aspect of his business. He needs to have repair capability at each
store to maintain the rentals, prepare the new bikes for sale, and perform the
periodic maintenance for the bikes that he has sold, as well as provide the
breakdown repairs and adjustments for the riders on the trail.In an effort to increase
profits, Bill tries to get good deals from his suppliers so he can realize a good
margin on bike and accessory sales and repairs.
He looks for situations where suppliers have more bikes in a line than
they need and buys those bikes at a discount for rentals and low-end sales,
while maintaining a rapport with high-end suppliers so that he can offer his
customers the best at reasonable prices.
By doing so, he can sell bikes at a lower retail price with on-the-spot
delivery while still realizing a nice profit.Bill has no bank debt
and has long since repaid the $4,000 he borrowed from his friend to start the
business. He feels that, because he has
a diverse business strategy that addresses the many different aspects of the
local bike business, he will do well in the many different economic climates as
long as he is able to manage his varied business. He also feels that he is insulated from
substitutes from the electronic world, due to the rental and repair aspects
of his business.Bill is seeking your
help to analyze his business and identify areas where information systems could
help him better manage and grow his business.Questions: FORCEList Porter’s Five ForcesIMPACT (POSITIVE, NEGATIVE, or NEUTRAL)This must have an entryJUSTIFICATION of
your selected impactMinimum 2 good sentences that explain the impact
of the force on Virginia Bikes to demonstrate understanding of the
force. Refer to specific details from the business in
the case study to support your explanations.Selling
bicycles – how technology could improve the process:Repairing
bicycles – how technology could improve the process:Managing
inventory – how technology could improve the process:ProcessInputInformation/data
item entered into the system as part of this process(input needed for the system)ProcessingProcessing
or action the system must perform for this process(what
the system will do with the input)OutputInformation/data
item displayed or printed out for the
user in this process(what the system will output/display)Selling BikesRepairing BikesManaging InventoryName the
business process that you selected from #4 here: __________ITRequirementImportance/
RelevanceHigh,
Medium,
Low, or Not Applicable (N/A)(each must have a ranking)Explanation for
Ranking(Write a minimum of 3 good sentences for
each. Use the name of the business and
the selected process in each answer. Identify
the data or type of data used in your explanation, where it applies.)UsabilityInformation
QualityDatabaseReliability/
AvailabilitySecurity Business
Benefit #1 and explanation:Business
Benefit #2 and explanation:Business
Benefit #3 and explanation:Question,
information and explanation #1:Question,
information and explanation #2:Question,
information and explanation #3:E-Commerce
category #1 and how it would be used:E-Commerce
category #2 and how it would be used:”