MANAGEMENT PROBLEM 2: Eat-Lite is a small chain of health-food stores on the East Coast. The company has grown rapidly and is now investigating the possibility of developing an information system to help control its operations. Wendy Schwartz, the firm's founder, described the reasons. "We need to get better reports back on our sales, and we have to replenish the stores faster from our suppliers. We are out of stock too many times." "I have used e-mail myself, and I think it could help us communi- cate with the local store managers-you know-make the company seem a little more personal. We could also handle sales promotions and new-product introduction using it. I also think we have to consider the Internet as a way to reach stores and customers." Wendy talked to a number of consultants, each of whom had dif- ferent recommendations for systems and equipment. The consultant that she liked the best wanted to first decide on the architecture: Should Eat- Lite try PCs in the store and a client-server architecture or think more about a midrange minicomputer at headquarters that would do most of the processing? How should store-headquarters communications be han- dled? Does the company want to use the Intermet as its communications network or develop a private net? Wendy was a little confused. The book she read on systems analysis and design made it sound like it's best to do the logical design of a system without thinking about the hardware on which the system would run. Why is this consultant talking so much about hardware in the first place?
MANAGEMENT PROBLEM 2: Eat-Lite is a small chain of health-food stores on the East Coast. The company has grown rapidly and is now investigating the possibility of developing an information system to help control its operations. Wendy Schwartz, the firm's founder, described the reasons. "We need to get better reports back on our sales, and we have to replenish the stores faster from our suppliers. We are out of stock too many times." "I have used e-mail myself, and I think it could help us communi- cate with the local store managers-you know-make the company seem a little more personal. We could also handle sales promotions and new-product introduction using it. I also think we have to consider the Internet as a way to reach stores and customers." Wendy talked to a number of consultants, each of whom had dif- ferent recommendations for systems and equipment. The consultant that she liked the best wanted to first decide on the architecture: Should Eat- Lite try PCs in the store and a client-server architecture or think more about a midrange minicomputer at headquarters that would do most of the processing? How should store-headquarters communications be han- dled? Does the company want to use the Intermet as its communications network or develop a private net? Wendy was a little confused. The book she read on systems analysis and design made it sound like it's best to do the logical design of a system without thinking about the hardware on which the system would run. Why is this consultant talking so much about hardware in the first place?
Practical Management Science
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Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
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Transcribed Image Text:MANAGEMENT PROBLEM 2:
Eat-Lite is a small chain of health-food stores on the East Coast. The
company has grown rapidly and is now investigating the possibility of
developing an information system to help control its operations. Wendy
Schwartz, the firm's founder, described the reasons. "We need to get
better reports back on our sales, and we have to replenish the stores
faster from our suppliers. We are out of stock too many times."
"I have used e-mail myself, and I think it could help us communi-
cate with the local store managers-you know-make the company
seem a little more personal. We could also handle sales promotions and
new-product introduction using it. I also think we have to consider the
Internet as a way to reach stores and customers."
Wendy talked to a number of consultants, each of whom had dif-
ferent recommendations for systems and equipment. The consultant that
she liked the best wanted to first decide on the architecture: Should Eat-
Lite try PCs in the store and a client-server architecture or think more
about a midrange minicomputer at headquarters that would do most of
the processing? How should store-headquarters communications be han-
dled? Does the company want to use the Interet as its communications
network or develop a private net?
Wendy was a little confused. The book she read on systems
analysis and design made it sound like it's best to do the logical design
of a system without thinking about the hardware on which the system
would run. Why is this consultant talking so much about hardware in
the first place?
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