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394 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age

Hands-On MIS Projects

The projects in this section give you hands-on experience analyzing business process integration, suggest-
ing supply chain management and customer relationship management applications, using database soft-
ware to manage customer service requests, and evaluating supply chain management business services.

Management Decision Problems

1. Toronto-based Mercedes-Benz Canada, with a network of 55 dealers, did not know enough about its
customers. Dealers provided customer data to the company on an ad hoc basis. Mercedes did not force
dealers to report this information. There was no real incentive for dealers to share information with the
company. How could CRM and PRM systems help solve this problem?

2. Office Depot sells a wide range of office supply products and services in the United States and internation-
ally. The company tries to offer a wider range of office supplies at lower cost than other retailers by using
just-in-time replenishment and tight inventory control systems. It uses information from a demand forecast-
ing system and point-of-sale data to replenish its inventory in its 1,600 retail stores. Explain how these
systems help Office Depot minimize costs and any other benefits they provide. Identify and describe other
supply chain management applications that would be especially helpful to Office Depot.

Improving Decision Making: Using Database Software to Manage Customer
Service Requests

Software skills: Database design; querying and reporting
Business skills: Customer service analysis
In this exercise, you’ll use database software to develop an application that tracks customer service requests and
analyzes customer data to identify customers meriting priority treatment.
Prime Service is a large service company that provides maintenance and repair services for close to 1,200
commercial businesses in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Its customers include businesses of all
sizes. Customers with service needs call into its customer service department with requests for repairing
heating ducts, broken windows, leaky roofs, broken water pipes, and other problems. The company assigns
each request a number and writes down the service request number, identification number of the customer
account, the date of the request, the type of equipment requiring repair, and a brief description of the problem.
The service requests are handled on a first-come-first-served basis. After the service work has been completed,
Prime calculates the cost of the work, enters the price on the service request form, and bills the client. This
arrangement treats the most important and profitable clients—those with accounts of more than $70,000—
no differently from its clients with small accounts. Managment would like to find a way to provide its best
customers with better service. Management would also like to know which types of service problems occur
most frequently so that it can make sure it has adequate resources to address them.
Prime Service has a small database with client account information, which can be found in MyMISLab. Use
database software to design a solution that would enable Prime’s customer service representatives to identify
the most important customers so that they could receive priority service. Your solution will require more than
one table. Populate your database with at least 10 service requests. Create several reports that would be of inter-
est to management, such as a list of the highest—and lowest— priority accounts and a report showing the most
frequently occurring service problems. Create a report listing service calls that customer service representa-
tives should respond to first on a specific date.

Achieving Operational Excellence: Evaluating Supply Chain Management
Services

Software skills: Web browser and presentation software
Business skills: Evaluating supply chain management services
In addition to carrying goods from one place to another, some trucking companies provide supply chain manage-
ment services and help their customers manage their information. In this project, you’ll use the Web to research

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