Why does Robin needs a database for her business? Provide justification for your answer.

Case Study

Robin is a local artist who has years of experience in the textile industry. Her children attend the local university, and they sometimes ask her to design and print custom t-shirts for their university organizations, such as clubs or sports teams. Friends of Robin's children have always complimented them on the custom shirts, and have requested some of their own.

Robin has decided to go into business printing custom apparel and selling it to organizations at the local university. Her forecasts indicate that her first-year sales will be quite high, so she will be very busy generating all the products for the orders. As a consequence, she wants to hire a part-time worker to handle the orders that come into the shop. One of Robin's children is a friend of yours, and knows you are currently studying accounting information systems. Your friend asks you to apply for the job. Before you begin, you interview Robin about how the company works.

YOU: Tell me about how you take orders.

ROBIN: When a potential customer requests a custom job, I first take down all the customer information, such as the person's name, street address, city, state, and postcode. I also request their phone number in case I have questions about the order.

YOU: Sorry to interrupt, but can some customers have the same name?

ROBIN: Yes. As I was saying, then I show them the list of items I have for customization in our showroom, which is my dining room. There I show them t-shirts, both long and short sleeved; fleece jackets, either pullover or zipped; hoodies, caps, and fleece hats. Each has a different price, which is marked on the item, and each can be ordered in a variety of colors and sizes, except headwear. When the customer is ready to order, I fill out a form with the customer information repeated on the top of the order. I would like not to have to rewrite -all this information because I sometimes make copying mistakes. Then I put the date at the top and usually include an order number that I have created. After that heading, I list the item the customer wants, including size, color, and quantity.

YOU: What other information would you like to get out of the database?

ROBIN: I would like to be able to take orders quickly, because certain times are very busy for me. In addition, my market is college students, who are often on a limited budget. I would like to be able to show them which items are cheaper than $20. I would also like a way to change prices easily, because the cost of textiles is rising fast.

YOU: I can create form for you to enter the orders quickly, and queries will help you with the other two tasks. I can also help you analyze your sales with specific queries that might help you sell more in the future. Can you think of some marketing analysis that would be helpful?

ROBIN: I would love to see a listing of the best-selling products, the best-selling colors, and a list of who my best customers have been. That way, I can send them coupons for future work and hope to increase sales.

YOU: How about creating the bills to send out to customers?

ROBIN: I would like to have a list of all my customers with their orders individually noted, and a summary of what they owe me. I could pass the list on to my collection agency, which handles all my unpaid bills. In addition, I often give a 20% discount to customers in the next city, Glendale, to create more repeat business.