Case study: SunRise

SunRise is an Australian-based solar panel manufacturer currently located in New South Wales. SunRise now manufactures solar modules and supplies for Australian residential customers via SunRise's authorised partners. SunRise plans to expand its manufacturing capacity to cater to residential, business and utility customers with the growing demand for solar panels with the zero-carbon energy initiatives. Also, the company focuses on expanding its global presence. To broaden the Australian and international customer base, SunRise must find new local partners to expand the supply for business, utility, and global partners. The company has decided to expand the existing manufacturing plant capacity and establish two new manufacturing plants in Western Australia and Regional Victoria to cater to the growing demand.

Previously, SunRise did all the residential installations with authorised partners and installers only. Now, the company have introduced a new online sales channel direct-to-consumers (D2C) sales to general residential customers who can directly purchase solar panels and install them with a qualified installer without going through SunRise authorised partners or installers. SunRise offer comprehensive aftersales local support for these customers at a reasonable rate. All the business and utility customers have to go through SunRise's authorised partners and installers only, and these customers are eligible for after-sales support without extra payment for the first three years.

The D2C channel is getting popular among residential customers, and the demand from commercial and utility customers is growing faster. SunRise promises all their customers they can deliver all solar panels on time. SunRise also wanted to guarantee aftersales support to all D2C channels and business and utility customers. Therefore, one of the most important objectives is to keep a good relationship with their customers and increase their satisfaction rate.

The key performance indicators are to increase the manufacturing capacity of the existing plant by 50% by the end of this year and double the total manufacturing capacity by the end of next year. SunRise is expected to increase solar module sales for residential customers by 30% by the end of this year by introducing D2C sales. Also, it focuses on expanding its customer base by raising at least 20% of new business and utility customers. By the end of next year, SunRise is planning to have at least 35% of business and utility customers from the entire customer base.

The progress of the solar module orders will be checked fortnightly by using the Solar Module Order Management System (SMOMS). Also, the customer satisfaction rate should be increased to 85% after a year. The rate will be measured monthly by analysing the 1-Stop Customer Relationship Management system (1S-CRM). Moreover, the company aims to keep their problematic product return rate below 3%, and the process of inspecting the product quality will be measured by Solar Manufacturing Executing System (SMES) to keep the qualified rate above 95%. Finally, to keep 95% of solar module installations on time, the monthly order to install time is measured by Fast Installation Management System (FIMS). Also, the Microsoft ERP system is deployed to support all other business processes.

Question 4: Enhanced Entity relationship Diagrams (EERD)

SunRise needs to expand their database considering the proposed expansions. Draw an EER diagram to depict the scenario considering business rules mentioned below.

The database needs to store all the details of customers, orders, installers, and parts required for each installation. Customer details of all residential, business and utility should be stored and there won't be any overlap between three types of customers.

The details of all the orders should be recorded and orders can be initiated by a customer. A SunRise authorised installer is assigned for all the business and utility customer orders. Residential customer orders can be of two types: (i) direct orders without installers and (ii) orders including a SunRise authorised installer. Each order must contain different parts, including at least one Solar Module and other essential accessories. You can assume all the parts are manufactured by SunRise and storing details of raw material suppliers and payment systems are out of the scope of this EERD.

Identify all entities, attributes, relationships and cardinalities.