Architecture design: describe three popular architecture options and explain which one would best apply to Kuddler. 1,000 words.

1 Service Request SR-kf-013 Paper XXXXXXXXX 2 Service Request SR-kf-013 Quality customer loyalty programs succeed in fostering frequent or returning customer to generate added revenue. Customer loyalty programs additionally generate a positive corporate image, as customers who win will advertise their perks. The bottom line is customer loyalty programs that work bring in added revenue. Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is revising their marketing strategy to include a customer loyalty program. In order to successfully initiate an effective customer loyalty program, a consulting agency, our agency, has been hired to establish and field a program. We will be conducting a feasibility study, which will entail comprehensive involvement throughout the KFF staff for maximum input. Next, we will identify the project requirements. The requirements are inclusive of functional and non-functional requirements. Then, the architecture and design will be proposed for a clear and efficient way-ahead. Finally, a test plan will be constructed and exercised to ensure a quality product is delivered to Kudler Fine Foods. Scope & Goals Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) has contacted our company to develop "...a system to rack Customer purchases through a Frequent Shopper Program to award loyalty points for redemption" (University of Phoenix, 2011). The current problem is there is no system in place that allows Kudler Fine Foods to track what their customers are buying. Once a system is in place the company will be able to provide better customer service and ensure that the products that are in demand are always on the shelves. The main goal of Kudler Fine Foods is to be able to offer loyalty points that can be \"redeemed for high end gift items, airline first-class upgrades, or other specialty foods\" (University of Phoenix, 2013). By having such a unique loyalty program in place, it should also bring in additional revenue as it will attract more customers. 3 The deliverables for this project will include utilizing the demographic information from the purchaser database; produce a system that will produce a monthly newsletter with detailed information that is personalized for the customer. It will provide the number of current points and will also list what prizes they are eligible for. When the customer is ready to redeem their points they can call the customer service desk at Kudler Fine Foods, and they will assist with the redemption process. Kudler Fine Foods should also have a database in place that can track what the points have been redeemed for to ensure they are meeting their customers' needs. Supporting Measures for accomplishment of this project include conducting a feasibility & requirements analysis to ensure that we can design a system that meets the needs of Kudler Fine Foods (Dennis, Wixom, & Roth, 2013, pg. 9). Project Feasibility A feasibility study is used to conduct an objective and a reasonable analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of this project. A feasibility study is the primary and most important thing in the development of this project because it is an analysis of the viability of our ideas through disciplined and documented ways of thinking based on logic. The Project Feasibility Analysis is based on Operational, Technical, and Economic feasibilities. Here at Kudler Fine Foods, our plan is to develop a system that will keep track of the products being purchased and we will do that by the gathering of business and user data information through the use of prior project files and outside correspondence, the use of charts and diagrams, and implementing any software that is compatible with our current system that will help aid in achieving this goal. Our company's budget and beneficial aspects will be taken into consideration when these changes are made. Operational 4 From this standpoint, here at Kudler Fine Foods we would benefit consumers through developing the Frequent Shopper Program by developing contests that will allow them to gain points for each item based on their shopping needs. Also, by advertising any new products and services as well as any updated news. This will also determine how our business will make money overall by describing the products and services that will be marketable. For any additional operational issues, management can always seek out the technical team with the changes to be made to implement best architecture. Technical There would be software put in place by our IT department that is user-friendly for both the employees as well as the consumers. Our IT department will test the hardware and software used to eliminate any errors regardless of the user type. Our Analyst will make sure that all requirements are met as far as the architecture and overall design and that Employee training programs would be put in place for the new software implemented but all at a low cost to the organization. These trainings will prepare employees how to address any new problems that may arise such as unresponsive links. All changes will receive approval from the Management Team. There will also be web-based surveys put in place for any feedback necessary. The technical section is strong as the data was validated, by running completeness, format, range, digit, consistency, and database check. The technical customer purchased tracking system was a viable software package that can deliver all the requirements of the loyalty program with the services of awarding and redemption of points. After the implementation, there will be a support team in place to address the technical issues and to update the services from time to time for better business model. Economically 5 By developing this Frequent Shopper Program, it would help us at Kudler Fine Foods to determine or keep up with the estimate of credit needs, allow the analyzing of the return on investment, and compare the overall profit in order to estimate the long-term cost. These estimated costs will be based on the overall performance level and schedule of our plan. This will be done by conducting an overall analysis of the Benefit and Cost. Our net benefits will be divided by the total cost of this project. Through the use of charts and diagrams, we will be able to keep track of productivity, what works and what doesn't. The benefits of this approach would be the overall flexibility of the operation and the reduction in cost by keeping product availability on the shelves and doing what works for the consumers which in turn keeps our consumers loyal. Requirements Analysis To understand the requirements analysis needed for Kudler Fine Foods, we need to understand the consumer in all phases. We need to know and understand each consumer and their personal preferences when buying from any of the stores. We also need to know what the stakeholders and others major department goals are, and use the best method that everyone can live with. There are many methods, but the tradition method is a good starting point, because of the feedback you acquire through the many interviews and surveys. Requirements analysis is the process of defining new expectations to gather information about a project; these requirements must be clear and comprehensive and achieve all the goals of both parties involved. Requirements analysis main focus is communicating the spending habits of consumers and forms an outline that will enhance the Frequent Shopper Program. This will be a team effort and information from many departments will determine a system that will increase revenue through the benefits of this program and create new consumers also. After gathering all this 6 information through software, hardware, and social media; you can take a closer look into different patterns and form many diverse point of views on what works best, you can then customize a list of requirements. This list will form a template for every consumer that participates in the discount program. This list will consist of certain information available to each party that include, shopping frequency, points earned, special offers, and website access so both can learn valuable information through this Q&A. With all this information being gathered, you need to ensure the consumer that their information will be safe; so this is something that will get upgraded or modified, so consumers can be confident about shopping and focusing on their points with no fear of their information getting into the wrong hands. The interview process and survey methods that we plan to use will cover a wide range of people. From the business side, we plan to use the top down approach to get perspectives and viewpoints at every level. We will interview store managers, customer service managers, and random store employees at each of the 3 locations. We are going to ask several open-ended and closed-ended questions to all the interviewee to gather a strategic vision for the new system. The approach of each interview will be prepared to build a rapport in a logical order and only asking a question that the interviewee will know putting the highest priority in mind. We plan to answer all questions about the current problems, future goals, and the daily processes; our goal is to ask precise questions and receive rich answers. Once we are finished analyzing all the interview questions, we are going to form survey questions that will focus on customer satisfaction and service, as well as how knowledgeable employee are of the products. The survey will be in all the stores, company website, and sent to customer emails. Customers will be able to provide feedback on the new program, and that information will be sent to each store manager and the director of store operations, with the purpose of designing the best program for the future. 7 Requirements List System Functional Requirements: Track of most frequent purchases of products in every category - optional, but recommended. Suggest the loyalty points associated with a product depending on the demand - optional. Allow Kudler employees to create loyalty/gift cards - optional. Allow employees to cancel the expired loyalty points - mandatory. Sort out the product on the basis of loyalty points to track the success of improving sales - optional, but recommended. The system should allow the customer to redeem loyalty points - mandatory. Allow employee to view card history of the purchases - mandatory. Save the contact information to send promotional messages and emails. Remind customers about the total loyalty points and expiry date. System Nonfunctional Requirements Input validation key should be implemented for safeguarding the entry of harmful data - mandatory. Six types of validation checks to be implemented - mandatory. Should be developed over secured platform like SDK- mandatory. Account verification and authorization. Firewall implementation. Should use encrypted SQLite database for local storage - mandatory. 8 All the data should be encrypted at the time of storage - mandatory. No employee should be able to sell or reveal the card and personal information of the customer to third - mandatory. Proposed Logical Model Logical Modeling involves the gathering of information of business entities, processes, and units. It affects not only the database design but the overall performance and administration of the database. The general process model gives the development team an idea of how data moves within the organization (\"Logical Versus Physical Database Modeling", 2015). It is important to show the breakdown of categories to show how each of Kudler Fine Food's category of data relate to one another. The purpose of this Proposed Logical Model is to show how Kudler Fine Foods will gather its business requirements and convert them into model form. This model is determined by the needs of our business, so that information of the organization and its processes are gathered. This information is to show the visual relationship between the Kudler Fine Food's customer and flow of business. Time is very important and needed to invest into logical modeling to determine the physical design of the database. Physical Modeling involves the actual design of a database according to any requirements established during logical modeling. The Managers, end users, and developers all review the information as well as the diagram to determine if any changes are necessary before physical modeling occurs. 9 Here the objective of Customer Management System is to award loyalty points to the loyal customers and improves sales for the company. The proposed logical model is: The optimal loyalty program model will divide the customer base into three different segments- top elite, bottom elite and no status, where the customers in top elite will be targeted based on strategies varying from time to time. The customer population in this tier will be kept small, and the customer base of other tiers will be encouraged to shop more to get the benefit of top tier loyal customers. Keeping small customer base in the top tier is important to provide heavy discount without running out of profit. The research and experience also show that the fewer people in the top tier, platinum membership, more valued they feel and becomes loyal customers for a longer term. The customer management program in place will be responsible to provide sales forecast to determine the discount rates, loyalty points and product price at a particular duration of a season. This proposed logical model will work on the marketing of word of mouth where the 10 satisfied customers will encourage others to shop more and collect loyalty points and bigger discounts. Functional Allocation Model Kudler Finer Foods goal is to create a functional allocating system that will connect the three stores and study the sales information of each customer whether they visit the store or purchase from the website. This new information system will update the existing system, by integrating smooth flowing software and hardware while keeping cost down and staying competitive in their industry. This new system will combine frequent shopper program through a new POS system that will allow every \"customer who participates in the program to receive news about store events, featured products and sales. In addition, they will be given exclusive offers on select merchandise and discounts on cooking and wine classes" (University of Phoenix, 2011). The new POS system will include software and hardware upgrades that suit your business needs. Depending on which system you choose, a new database server will be needed to connect registers, barcode scanners, and card reader's hardware to support the calculating and updating of new information from the three stores. This information will include shopper's cards and phone numbers that will be tied directly to their loyalty points. Both parties will be able to track sales and loyalty points through credit, debit, or frequent shoppers cards as well as on the receipt and website. With a three stores seeing sales information, they can predict future sales and control inventory to keep that competitive edge. We suggest square register because of the contact and affordability of the service, which includes no extra charges or long term agreements. This service processes all types of credit, 11 debit, or gift cards; it can also send digital receipts via email, website, or mobile phones. Lastly, it will apply discounts, loyalty points, and any special promotions that are due to the customer. The functional allocation model design system will flow through various systems throughout the hardware, software, and human-computer interface; it will provide customer sales, personal information, and loyalty points. In addition we will also add software for reading the Frequent Shopper card; and to print the balances from the rewards program on the receipt, this will save time and money on any additional machine that reads the card. We tested several resources to develop and customize a system that will work with all departments built by leaders in the industry. We work with SAP, Oracle, BAAN, Lawson, and Apple; each has their own advantages and disadvantages, but we found that the one that address all of our customer needs were square register. Square register hardware model consist of the POS system and the database server; the software model consists of the POS software customer registration, purchasing, and rewards points; and lastly the human-computer interface consisted of the loyalty cards and the customer spending profiles. Square register also offered excellent customer support to technical training for the employees. Architecture Design Trade-Off Approach It would be beneficial to create a system through the use of a high-end system that keeps track of customer points for rewards to track the most frequent purchase of products on a frequent basis. This approach will save time and money and allow customers to buy items with the rewards points gained. It will also keep customers loyal to the business and allow them to share their experience with family and friends in the hopes that they will want to shop there as well. In the design approach, it would be convenient for the customer to navigate easily 12 throughout the website to find products based on categories listed with similar sub-categories such as meats and the types of meats. Taking the time to know what the customers want and advertising them will keep customers happy and allow the business free advertisement through the word-of-mouth of the customers experience to others. In creating such a system, the cost, time, and performance level of that system would have to be within a reasonable time frame together so that plan can be correctly implemented. The goal is to stay within the budget, so if any of these things are not in sync, then Kudler Fine Foods runs the risk of losing money. The first step in the trade-off process is data collection. When this is done, it is important to gather all the necessary and relevant data so that the objective can be put into action. In the models below, you will see an example layout of how we plan to compare cost, schedule and system performance. This information is obtained through the conduction of interviews and surveys of service. Design of Projected Plan of System Design Type Person Responsible Approval of Design Management Team/Stakehold ers - - IT Department - - Management Team Start Date End Date Planned-June 15 Actual-June 16 Comments /Feedback Planned-July 25 Actual-July 31 Testing Installation Planned-August 20 N/A Actual-August 21 When deciding in our choice of design and software, all alternatives and approaches are considered by the parties involved and are based on what requirements are needed to solve the problem as well as the resources that are readily available or needed to complete the task. The Cost and System Performance are the crucial in making sure the plan is effective and meets the 13 needs of the business as well as staying within the budget. The Schedule is important but can be adjusted according to any necessary changes that need to be made. Input Validation To ensure accuracy all data must go through checks to prevent invalid data from harming the system. \"Input validation is the \"key\" to application security. 50 to 60 % of security vulnerabilities in almost 70 % of applications are due to poor input validation\" (Nelabhotla, 2007). There are six types of validation checks to alert designers when issues occur; these types are completeness, format, range, check digit, consistency, and database check. We used all six, because we wanted to ensure that all data was entered correctly, all data was formatted correctly especially if special codes were used, and we also check that each numeric data was within range. To ensure that the correct codes were used we perform a check digit check to validate the correctness; and consistency checks to ensure data fields were correct, lastly we check the database to make sure all the other checks were valid and correct. Our design motto was to keep it simple for the users, we worked hard on this aspect, because the harder we work to simplify the system, the more comfortable the end user will adapt and learn the correct way to use the new system. This will result in less technical support, repeat training, and more production which is the primary goal; this system is designed to get effectively the most out of your employee using the least amount of effort and time. Testing Process The test plan will entail a series of tests ranging from data flow, or fundamental incremental testing for each data point of entry to the full beta test with the existing POS and Oracle, SAP and BAAN databases. Each phase of testing will be assigned a test ID and 14 documented. Documentation will include the tester, proposed results, actual results, and fields entered or changed. First, the programmers will test the data flow for customer account entry and customer data entry. Retrieval of such will be tested. Point accrual and extraction will be tested as well as changes to customer data and deletion of customer data or cancelation of rewards points. The integration testing follows: The systems testing will entail testing for vulnerabilities with a consultation white hat security company and with our Information Assurance Associates. Tests for security updates will be conducted to ensure that the anti-virus does not create usability errors or issues with the rewards system. Before fielding to Kudler Fine Foods, our team will test the database retrieval with a backup copy of the database in our development sandbox to test the loadand have a programmer build scripts for multiple users to enter, pull, change, or delete customer data to determine whether the system will break under a load. We will incrementally compound scripts to 75% of the employee workforce. If the system does not break under this load, it is not likely 15 KFF will realistically involve more than this capacity: it is likely for 45% of employees to be at a register to enter data at a given time at the maximum, based on previous employee usage data in the existing system. Our analysts have already blessed the usability of the system. We will further test the usability with the actual employees of Kudler Fine Foods for several days and remedy any issues they encounter concerning convenience and retrieval of information. We offer support to KFF for three years after the release of the rewards system to update user requirements for issues found later on that could not be determined upon careful testing. Installation Process & Training Plan The most important keys to a staying competitive in any business today, is maintaining current data technology and excellent customer service. Kudler Fine Foods will implement a frequent shopper program that will focus on these key points at each of their locations. To ensure the success of this new system implementation, there must be specific installation process and a training plan summary. To make sure we meet all the requirements, we approximate this project will be up and running smoothly between four to six months. We divided this section of the project into four major phases; implementation, installation, programming, and testing of each system to ensure the desired results at each level are achieved. The new POS hardware and software installation will take approximately three weeks to complete; this includes backing up all data from the old system and installing new software and any existing data that is needed from the old system. During these three weeks of the month three, we will integrate the database server, scanners, and scheduled time and training for all of these functions. This will include installing the POS card terminals, transferring the history of customer's transactions, and inventory for all three locations. Unfortunately the closing of each 16 location for one or two days will be needed for this process to flow smoothly from one system to the next, since we will constantly be on and offline throughout this process. We requested that the store managers choose which days based on customer sales at their locations. During week three we will also contract skilled personnel to test the system after this phase is completed, so any issues are address and any changes can be made before the training of management and employees begins. Starting the training plan will be a challenge because, we need to designed a plan that will make all employees comfortable with the new system by developing each employee skills through our knowledge and training; and exposing them to real life situation and conflicts and showing them how to manipulate the system to solve issues. All the training will be done at the main Kudler Fine Foods; the training process will be scheduled during the final week of month five, with duration lasting three to four weeks; one week for each location and one week for employees who need additional training. This training will consist of the complete infrastructure of the new system and will consist of hands on training through a series PowerPoint and other user interaction methods with complete documentation for continued practice when training is finished. This will give the employee additional practice and cut down on any help desk calls as well. We will be preforming test throughout this entire process for security, performance, and recovery to meet the level of integrity Kudler Fine Foods is known for. Documentation Plan Technical documentation is important when it comes to the creation of any software. Our goal is to create a system put in place that will keep track of the products being purchased here at Kudler Fine Foods. This will help us to provide better customer service and keep products on demand on the shelves. Documentation will be used so that we can update any changes made to 17 our files and reports. This is beneficial and important when trying to accomplish any goal within a timely manner as well as perform any system maintenance. When considering the various documentation types, our system documentation for our plan summary for Kudler Fine Foods will include: 1. A Step-by-Step Guide - We will add this guide to allow users to learn and understand how to use our site, for easy navigation, as well as answer any frequently asked questions. 2. Programs - This documentation will list all the software, features and settings added to our newly created system that allow us to put our plan in motion. 3. Files - This documentation will help us to keep our customer data in an orderly fashion. 4. Databases - This documentation will give an overview of any hardware or software requirements we decided to use within our system to make any maintenance easier and reduce any risks when upgrades are needed. 5. Operating Schedules - This documentation will give an overview of the time frame used to implement our plan as well as costs associated with it. 6. Displays - This documentation will be used to show an example of how each of our customers will be rewarded with points from each purchase. 7. Reports - We will use this document to keep track of the products being purchased by frequent customers for productivity. 8. Users - We will use this documentation to keep track of the type of customer's that frequently shop on our site whether it's commercially or from the general public. 9. Data Flow Diagrams - We will use these diagrams to document the interaction between programs, files, databases, and end users. This will also help us to keep track of the points that are being rewarded to each customer. 18 10. Troubleshooting - This documentation will be put in place in order to educate users on how to recognize any unexpected problems that may arise, what to do about it, and how to prevent it from occurring in the future. Support & Maintenance Plan With the continuation of Kudler Fine Foods requirement of customer purchased tracking system implementation which will use to provide loyalty points to frequently visited customers and redemption on points. As we know, this is completely a software system project; hence, there is a need of dedicated teams whom would be responsible for their delivery of work (Megill, 2005). Business team: will provide system requirements and also, will look into the completed delivered project; is meeting the expected requirements. Analyst Panel: feasibility study and freeze the requirements with business and development team Development Team: will develop the system as per requirements. Quality Assurance team: to ensure the quality is good and matching the requirements as well as no technical side-effect. Support Team: after successful delivery, will provide support in case of any realtime issue occurs. For these teams work, there would be a requirement of proper monitoring and guidance by managers and leads who have expertise in their respective domain, Kenneth Megill (2005). Implementation and Configuration Requirements: Hardware: Configured computer systems for every member in the team, Server system, VLAN and VPN device connectivity for technical members. 19 Software: Programming Language packages (Java), platform/ framework, database, scripting language for front-end support Network: intra-network connectivity among all the members of development and quality assurance teams, LAN connectivity for all teams. Once the system is complete and delivered with all the expected functionality and business team accepts then there will be a need of support team whom will help; to monitor the system real-time work, resolve issues (if any occurs), and provide facility on; how effectively can customized the system and can use significantly for business need by Kudler Find Foods (Megill, 2005). Conclusion Kudler Fine Food ultimately wants to provide the customer with the ultimate shopper experience and gain more customers in the process. By introducing a frequent shoppers program, it will provide added benefits to not only the stakeholders but to the customer as well. The team has designed and explained what the scope and goals for this project and through the feasibility study it is still perceived to be a project that is worth taking on. Through continued research and analysis, the new program will grow as new ideas are brought to the table. The service request document SR-kf-013, focused and listed the specific functional and security requirements; it also defined the proposed logical model for the new system that included a highlevel data flow diagram of the proposed system; all of these were address with the highest priority. The functional allocation model proposed and specified what system components could be built including hardware, software, and database to work with the human-computer interface. We gathered all the information through company interviews and customer surveys, to design the best system that will benefit both parties. 20 The next phase of the project we explained the three architecture designs that would work bests for Kudler Fine Foods, this address any question by answering all the needs of the frequent shoppers program. The design trade-off approach was an important part because cost, scheduling, and system performance options were all evaluated to design a unique system that is perfect for Kudler. We customized the software, hardware, and network environment that was within the budget, time frame and delivered the highest performance. Data must be validated, so we ran completeness, format, range, digit, consistency, and database check until we found one that would identify the highest invalid data. We also used error, confirmation, acknowledgment, delay, and help messages to see how the system responds to a user and inform him or her of the status of the interaction. Upon gathering all this information, we propose the perfect package for the best ROI. 21 References Dennis, A., Wixom, B. H., & Roth, R. M. (2015). Systems Analysis & Design (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Logical Versus Physical Database Modeling. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.developer.com/tech/article.php/641521/Logical-Versus-Physical-DatabaseModeling.htm Megill, K. A. (2005). Corporate Memory: Records and Information Management in the Knowledge Age (2nd ed.). : Walter de Gruyter. Nelabhotla, P. (2007). Input Validation - An Application Security Perspective. Retrieved from http://blogs.msdn.com/b/stronglinks/archive/2007/03/31/input-validation-an-applicationsecurity-perspective.aspx POS Systems Reviews and Comparisons. (2015). Retrieved from http://pos-systemsreview.toptenreviews.com/ University of Phoenix. (2011). Kudler Fine Foods Service Request SR-kf-013 [Multimedia]. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/ServiceRequests/index.asp#Kudler %20Fine%20Foods University of Phoenix. (2013). Sales & Marketing [Multimedia]. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/intranet/marketingoverview.asp