Module 3 Case Study

Continuing Case: Personal Trainer, Inc. Personal Trainer, Inc. owns and operates fitness centers in a dozen Midwestern cities. The centers have done well,

and the company is planning an international expansion by opening a new “supercenter” in the Toronto area.

Personal Trainer’s president, Cassia Umi, hired an IT consultant, Susan Park, to help develop an information

system for the new facil ity. During the project, Susan will work closely with Gray Lewis, who will manage the new

operation.

Background

During requirements modeling for the new system, Susan Park met with fitness center managers at several

Personal Trainer locations. She conducted a series of interviews, reviewed company records, observed business

operations, analyzed the BumbleBee accounting software, and studied a sample of sales and bil ling transactions.

Susan’s objective was to develop a l ist of system requirements for the proposed system.

Fact-Finding Summary

• A typical center has 300–500 members, with two membership levels: full and limited. Full members have

access to all activities. Limited members are restricted to activities they have selected, but they can

participate in other activities by paying a usage fee. All members have charge privileges. Charges for

merchandise and services are recorded on a charge slip, which is signed by the member.

• At the end of each day, cash sales and charges are entered into the BumbleBee accounting software,

which runs on a computer workstation at each location. Daily cash receipts ar e deposited in a local bank

and credited to the corporate Personal Trainer account. The BumbleBee program produces a daily activity

report with a l isting of all sales transactions.

• At the end of the month, the local manager uses BumbleBee to transmit an a ccounts receivable summary

to the Personal Trainer headquarters in Chicago, where member statements are prepared and mailed.

Members mail their payments to the Personal Trainer headquarters, where the payment is applied to the

member account.

• The BumbleBee program stores basic member information, but does not include information about

member preferences, activities, and history.

• Currently, the BumbleBee program produces one local report (the daily activity report) and three reports

that are prepared at the headquarters location: a monthly member sales report, an exception report for

inactive members and late payers, and a quarterly profit-and- loss report that shows a breakdown of

revenue and costs for each separate activity.

During the interviews, Susan received a number of “wish list” comments from managers and staff

members. For example, managers want more analytical features so they can spot trends and launch

special promotions and temporary discounts. Managers also want better information about the

profitability of specific business activities at their centers, instead of bottom-line totals.

Several managers want to offer computerized activity and wellness logs, fitness coaching for seniors, and

various social networking options, including e-mail communications, fitness blogs, Facebook, and Twitter

posts. Staff members want better ways to handle information about part-time instructors and trainers,

and several people suggested using scannable ID cards to capture data.