A New Computer System for Staples - Essay Example

Staples, Inc. invented the office superstore concept in 1986 and today is the world's largest office products company. With 65,000 talented associates, the company is committed to making it easy to buy a wide range of office products, including supplies, technology, furniture, and business services. With 2004 sales of $14.4 billion, Staples serves consumers and businesses ranging from home-based businesses to Fortune 500 companies in 21 countries throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. Headquartered outside of Boston, Staples operates approximately 1,695 office superstores and also serves its customers through mail order catalog, e-commerce and contract businesses. Staples, Inc. has a website available at www.staples.com. (Corporate Profile, 2005) Each Staples superstore carries over 7,000 brand name products for businesses and home offices, including supplies, furniture, small business machines, computers and peripherals – all at Guaranteed Low Prices. In addition, each store features a full–service copy center and UPS Authorized Shipping Outlet. (Staples, The Office Superstore, 2005) I suggest implementing a new computer system that allows getting full description of every item in sales area and give consumer complete information about this item. Sales consultants with PDAs and barcode scanners will be walking on the sales area and retrieve information about goods via WiFi connection by consumer’s demand. The information about goods is retrieved from the database server via WiFi connection. The database server renews information about goods from the external database; so it is the same for all Staples stores. Following two challenges will be solved this way: Customers receive the newest and complete information about every item: information about producer, what modifications of this product are available, is foolproof, what is the difference between it and competitor’s analogue and what else people buy with it. So the quality of services increases. The computer system includes expert information and can give a piece of good advice to consumer. For example, if he or she is interested in a drawing board, the system prompts to purchase a set of colored markers as well. If the customer is interested in a table, the system prompts to purchase a chair of the same color and displays prices on them. So the information system helps to increase sales. The computer system must be integrated with the internal goods database of Staples, Inc. So is must provide information only about those goods that are in sight. Following additional hardware should be investigated for implementing the computer system: PDA Barcode scanner WiFi access point Following infrastructure issues must be entirely determined before implementing the computer system: Security Policies - a comprehensive compilation of all security policies for all stores. Server Systems - list of all server systems, their current operating system and version number, their current IP addresses, their physical location, their logical (network) location, and applications that reside on each server system. Network Equipment - List of all current network equipment such as routers, switches, WiFi access points, encryptors, their current operating system (if any) and version number, their current IP addresses, their physical location, and their logical (network) location. Applications - list of all applications that must be functioning over the new integrated infrastructure. A special software application must be created for the computer system. It must be an expert system that applies for information to the database server. The supply department should provide the database of goods; it also must be integrated with existing product database. Use of the computer system gives a number of advantages. First, customers are provided with the newest and complete information about every item, so they see that it is really worth to buy. Second, the computer system gives customers advice what they can also buy. Third, it helps to train new personnel in range of goods. There are also a number of complex issues with the computer system. The new computer system is supposed to be distributed and high-performance information system, which operates with huge data levels and allows simultaneous work of hundreds users. That’s why special attention must be paid to hardware vendors, because even the most qualities software occurs to be low productive when it runs on outmoded facilities. Also it worth to pay attention to the software platform and database engine, for the large distributed systems relational database (such as Oracle) is used. Quick and wide range telecommunications should be used to hasten data exchange between external database and store database servers, such as optical fiber or satellite communications. Usage of the most current technologies raises quality of service and reduces modernization costs in future. System reliability and survivorship are also very important issues. There are a lot of technologies developed for ascending of IT system reliability: backup servers and channels, RAID massive, caching and compression of data, etc. (Jones 1986) It is important to choose competent software development company for creating the software part of the computer system. Before selecting software provider it is necessary to gather information, on what sort of software it is specialized in, how many completed projects it has and if the customers are satisfied with the product of the company. (Brooks 1995) It is also impossible not to admit importance of human factor during use of information system (Maslow 1999). The computer system must have comfortable and easy-to-understand user interface, so as novices in company could quickly to know about the system. Only simultaneously taking into consideration of all these factors allows creating really usable and productive computer system, which will satisfy Staples’s requirements for the powerful information system. References 1. Brooks, Fredrick P. 1995. 'The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering'. Reading, MA: Addison-Wessley, pp. 55-63 2. Corporate Profile. (2005). Retrieved July, 25, 2005, from 3. Jones, Capers 1986. 'Programming Productivity'. NY: McGrow-Hill, pp. 92-106 4. Maslow, Abraham H. 1999. 'Toward a Psychology of Being'. NY: John Wiley & Sons. 5. Staples, The Office Superstore. (2005). Retrieved July, 25, 2005, from Staples, Inc. Website Read More