RFPmaryam.docxMaryam Mardo
Business Drivers
This project was motivated by the need to fill the existing niche in the candy market. There exist very many brands and variety of products in this sector as well as substitutes. The main goal of anyone buying candy has been and is mostly the sweetness. This is achieved by having several flavors and sweeteners blended to achieve this. Candy is a simple product which a consumer takes a little time to think about the purchase and most of the purchase is usually impulse buying. However, its worth noting that today's customer is looking for more than value for money in terms of quantity and quality. Health concerns have taken a stage in today's consumables market. Information sharing and access to internet access have made today's customer more aware of their health and therefore any food item should address health concerns clearly for it to be competitive. In the candy and chocolate market, there is little effort to address these health concerns. This creates a niche of a brand of chocolates and candy which are organic and sugar-free. This being an original idea requires proper distribution and marketing channels. An online platform will serve this purpose better because of the expected wide coverage of the product.
The company
As earlier stated, this company will be a candy store that will deal with sugar-free chocolate and organic candy. The company will be located in metro Detroit in the state of Michigan. The business will operate both online and will also a physical store. The store will also act as the manufacturing area so as to cut cost and maximize the available space. Below is the description of the company’s core values
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Company name |
Marsa’s Candy Store
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Mission |
To produce organic and sugar-free products with natural ingredients without eliminating the original candy and chocolate taste at affordable prices for the health conscious clients |
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Vision |
To be the market leader in the new niche of healthy candy and chocolate |
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Tag line |
“you don’t have to worry about your health when it comes to candy and chocolate” |
Objectives of the website
The website should ideally cater to several users. The users and their needs are highlighted below.
a. Customers
As described earlier, the customer will be both online and over the counter with distributors also classified as customers. The customers should be able to view available products fully described and prices well illustrated. The customers should be able to view available quantity and make orders.
b. The system admin
The system admin should be able to add new products, delete products and set prices. Also, the system should be able to give reports on the quantity available, quantity sold, orders and well as the company performance. Data on the cost of raw materials should also be available and the profit margin available for the preparation of financial statements. He should be able to monitor employee and customer accounts with actions such as approval or deactivating
Technological requirements of the website
This being an online store with possible payment check out system, the two opposing parameters will be the cost since the company is a startup with limited capital and security since financial data will be provided. hosting will be outsourced as opposed to having local servers which will be costly. Secure e-commerce shopping cart software
1. Java- to ensure that the website is versatile with all browsers and also make debugging easier
2. Javascript- this will make the website interactive and make back end and front end development easy.
3. PHP- This will ensure that the business function and scalability is achieved
4. CSS and HTML- this being an online shop will need the best interface design since it sets the image of the company
5. MariaDB- This is a cheap option for the database needs.
6. nsProtect™ Secure SSL Certificates
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User interface
Colors
To be consistent with the organic theme while at the same time highlighting a good taste, colors close to nature will be used in the background. Green range of blues, cerulean and some shades of blue will be used. To highlight good taste the products will be highlighted in orange, yellow and purple
Homepage
The homepage will contain several pages on a drop-down format with links opening on different pages. The pages will be
1. About the company
2. The products
3. Blog
4. Place order
5. Contacts
Schedule
The website will take three weeks to be completed and presentation and installation to be done on the fourth week. This will start after the proposals have been analyzed and a winner is chosen
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Phase 1 |
Week 1 |
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System request |
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Feasibility study |
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Risk Assessment |
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Project plan |
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System proposal |
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Phase 2 |
Week 2 |
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Requirements Definition |
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Use cases |
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Process model |
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Data Model |
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Architectural Design and network diagrams |
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Hardware specifications |
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Software specifications |
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Phase 3 |
Week 3 |
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Data dictionary |
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Data flow Diagrams |
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Entity Relation Diagram |
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Database Design |
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Interface Design |
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Phase 4 |
Week 4 |
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Development environment |
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User Interface creation |
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Database creation |
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Business logic |
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Website creation |
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Documentation Review |
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Project presentation. |
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Evaluation criteria
The major consideration will be cost and knowledge of the major security features. Knowledge and experience in the use of the stated programing language will be a major consideration. The other main Area will be the ability to stick to the schedule.
Service level agreements
The minimum criteria should be met. The project should be piloted for at least a month before the handover. This will follow by six months of observation where the vendor will be required to be available for any troubleshooting.
