MGMT Boutique Inc. is a high end retailer that operates a chain of boutique stores in major hotel properties along the west cost of Barbados, including the famous, five-diamonds Sandy Lane Hotel. Operating in eleven (11) locations, the company offers chic brands like Roberto Cavalli, Pain-de-Sucre, Versace, Etro Milano to name a few; and is well known for an eclectic collection of designer swimwear, fine linens, cotton and silk apparel for warm days and sultry evenings. A fine complement of shoes, hats and handbags with hand-picked custom jewelry are included to embrace the very essence of luxurious fashion.

The locations connect over a MetroE wide area network (WAN) provided by FLOW. Each store has a local Point-of-Sale (POS) but these all replicate back to a central hub in the main office. Replication occurs once every 15 minutes, so the head office is virtually up-to-date, in real time and can see, at a glance transactions in each store.

Customers primarily shop duty free, paying in either Barbados (BDS) or USA dollars. Duty free sales do not attract 15.0% VAT tax. The list price, seen on the shelf, is the price paid. For customer convenience, the company does however offer a limited range of duty paid items. Again customers can pay in either currency, and the price listed on the self is still the price paid. However this price now includes 15.0% VAT. Customers pay by cash, card or charge the expense to their room, and settle the bill later.

As a reporting requirement for a duty free establishment, POS details for customers are routinely captured. This information has proven to be so useful for analyzing behavior that, the company also tries to capture the same details for duty paid transactions. As a rule, duty free transactions will be done in US dollars while duty paid transactions will appear in BDS dollars.

Prior to the Metro-E, the company did not have a distributed POS, and sales reports from each site were manually combined in excel for analysis.

Now the company even allows VPN connectivity for the purchaser, when on business trips, to access reports and use her soft-phone.

The Metro-E, VPN and internet access have changed everything.

As a new employee of the boutique, you would have produced some reports to review performance in preparation for an upcoming trip to purchase new merchandise. Now you are required to participate in an asynchronous, distributed, online meeting ( like a chat really).

NOTES

You have been placed in a group of 5 or 6 group-mates. You are required to share with and critique information in the group.

This is an exercise where you get to experience and demonstrate several concepts in gathering, analysing and using information for management reporting.

You are now a manager in one of the departments of the company. Each of you will select:

ONE Management Level that you will represent (operational, management/tactical or strategic). More than one person will have the same level.

ONE department that you will represent. A department can only be represented ONCE in the group. Firstcome, first-served allocation method.

Once you have chosen a persona, all contributions MUST be delivered from the perspective of that persona.

REQUIRED

Management Reporting

You are attending a number of routine meetings that are conducted online. You are to post questions and response with information related to your analysis. Posts can be conversational among managers asking and responding to questions. There is no requirement for groups to meet outside of the course for this discussion, as it is expected that the meetings/posts will proceed in a manner similar to messaging with a corporate collaboration tool.

Forum 1: Introduce yourself, identifying your Management Level and your Functional Area

For your FIRST discussion post state your management level and department you will represent. No two students should choose the same department.

For example: CIO (strategic) of the IT department (functional area).

Forum 2: Discuss how the Metro-E can contribute with respects to both the POS and Phone systems

From the perspective of your department and management level:

Suggest ONE advantage for the POS and ONE advantage for the phones.

Request information from TWO other departments that could assist in your investigation. Please specify both the TYPE, and specific CONTENTS of the report you are requesting (Unit 3 types of output)

Forum 3: Discuss how the metro-E and the internet can contribute with respects to backups and disaster recovery

From the perspective of your department and management level, discuss the implications of backup and recovery over Metro-E and into the cloud.

Suggest ONE advantage and ONE disadvantage.

Discuss ONE security consequence that could arise from VPN access to the companys IT infrastructure.

Critique TWO post made by group mates from other departments

Forum 4: Create the process diagram

DESIGN and DRAW a high level as-is process diagram depicting how the company could have complied a combined sales report BEFORE the Metro-E system was introduced (i.e. no connectivity among the sites).

Forum 5: Summarise and make Recommendations

Summarise the information shared thus far, and discuss TWO findings about your analysis from your management level that can be used to justify the Metro-E and VPN solutions. Make TWO recommendations to prevent security breaches.