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The non-financial benefits include:

Trusty Carpets currently utilizes diverse solutions to provide for order, accounting, payroll, sales, and vending. Maintaining the current approach brings several benefits and risks to the company.  

Benefits

There are no gains in benefits by continuing with the current system. By continuing with the current processes in place, Trusty Carpets will continue on their recent growth and sales margin glideslope.

Costs/Risks

There are no tangible additional costs to maintain the current way of doing business by not changing processes and systems. However, there may be costs incurred by not altering the status quo.

· Audits. If Trusty Carpets were to be audited by the IRS or another financial regulatory entity, the time and effort expended by the staff would result in high overtime costs to meet the needs of the audit. If the company chose to hire an accounting firm to handle the audit, it would also result in increased cost due to the paper-based sales system for the two locations.

· Lost Sales. The lack of a website in the modern era is stunting the advertising and growth avenues for Trusty Carpets. This loss will grow with time.

· Increased Risk of Errors. Managing business operations in different locations using different methods, particularly the paper-based method, means the approach is error-prone, which could result in harm to business’s reputation and affect profits.

Feasibility/Defining Issues

Trusty Carpets ownership has a vision for the future and where to take the company. But unfortunately, the status quo cannot meet those needs for growth, modernization, and technological IT solutions that meet business sales and development objectives. Instead, as sales increase, labor costs to hire additional people to keep up with bookkeeping requirements.

The proposed solution for Trusty Carpets and its upcoming merger is Block’s Square Retail. This option is an industry-leading financial services company specializing in the processing of digital payment systems. Their Retail solution brings an end-to-end integrated solution to link geographically separated locations through robust inventory management, payment, accounting, customer relationship management, payroll, and appointment systems, as well as a unified website (Block, Inc, 2022).

Benefits

As a cloud-based solution, Square Retail enables connection between multiple locations and mobile users to provide cohesive management across sites seamlessly over the internet. Specifically:

· Inventory management. Systems provide for stock counts and forecasts, barcoding systems, and stock management across multiple locations. Additional integration supports connections to vendors for ordering.

· Payment systems allow acceptance of cash, check, debit, and credit cards with magnetic strip, embedded chip, or touchless as well as e-payment methods from Apple and Google. Industry-leading security standards protect these methods (Block, Inc, 2022).

· Website. Square provides an easy-to-use website builder that meshes with the rest of the system to provide for online orders for shipping or in-store pickup, gift cards, and, importantly, listing via Google products search engine.

· Electronic accounting. Square centralizes all transaction records in a federally compliant central database that allows for an easy understanding of business transactions. Square can also generate reports like sales, vendor usage, inventory, and profit margins. Payroll is the last module that allows Trusty Carpets to easily add or shrink the employee pool if there are surges in work for installations or holiday seasons. The system provides timecard reports and labor versus sales reports at a touch of a button (Block, Inc, 2022).

Costs

To bring Square Retail solution to Trusty Carpets locations and mobile installation teams, there are some IT infrastructure purchases and upgrades that must be made.

· Hardware. Square Retail provides several options to allow the in-store setup of their software (Block, Inc., 2022). The recommended setup includes the procurement of:

· Two Register kits per location at a price of $1,269 each.

· Two iPads for the Metro location at $329 each

· Two Blocks for smartphone use for mobile installation teams, $49 each

· Networking.

· Installation of broadband internet connection at the Metro location

· Service. Square Retail service has several fee structures depending on how money is received.

· Premium service is $299/month per location (Kriss, 2021). This gives you the full integration necessary to manage people, inventory, financials, and website seamlessly.

· Card fees are: 2.5% + $.10 for cards present at transaction, 3.5% + $.15 for online purchases, invoice fees are 2.9% +$.30 and through the online store 2.9% +$.30 per transaction (Kriss, 2021).

Feasibility

The feasibility of this solution is relatively straightforward. The lack of an IT team at Trusty Carpets is not a concern due to the user-friendly setup and design of the Square Retail software and hardware. When new equipment connects to the system, it receives automatic syncing and minimal configuration. The integral structure of the software makes it intuitive for first-time users or those who do not wish to learn complex software. As the organization is just transitioning into a much larger company, the culture is ready to adopt a new way of doing business without the change causing shockwaves.

Risks

A few of the risks with this solution are:

· Loss of Internet – Loss of broadband connection can bring the business sales capabilities to a halt if an alternate link is not found. This is the Achilles heel of cloud-based solutions. However, this risk is mitigated with offline storage as long as transactions are processed within 72 hours (Block, Inc., 2022).

· Potential Data Breach – Any system with network connectivity is at risk for a cyberattack, which could result in loss of service or exposure of confidential data.

· Portable Devices – Businesses must safeguard portable devices to prevent unauthorized use and security breaches.

Defining Issue

Square Retail exists to help accelerate small businesses into the modern connected age of sales. It was designed from the ground up to be an easy-to-use, quick to startup, and simple-to-maintain system that provides robust business capabilities to small business owners. Its widespread acceptance and success have fueled its development and further integration and usage. Square Retail offers a quick way for Trusty Carpets to modernize and move into the future with a persistent online presence.

Benefits

An aggressive marketing strategy coupled with the proposed system will enable Trusty carpets to realize measurable increases in efficiency, metrics, and data analytics. In addition, intangible benefits to the company manifest through better understanding their customers. By implementing a master system to track and understand their clients, Trusty Carpets will be better poised to anticipate needs and changes in the market. This will result in higher customer satisfaction and increased word-of-mouth advertising. In addition, the proposed system will improve customer data security and significantly reduce threats posed by external actors.

Costs

Establishing a full server stack CRM is an expensive endeavor up front. To onboard an enterprise system, a substantial amount of equipment will need to be purchased.

· Hardware.

· Server stack - the CRM is comprised of a four server stack including the SAP server, SQL database, and terminal server (SAP, n.d.). $35,000

· 6 Personal Computers – Business specific personal computers for front of house, accounting, and stock management. $600/each

· Software

· SAP Business 1 modules to support sales, accounting, payroll, email, supply chain management, order processing, and data analytics. $3,200 one time or $132/user per month

· Networking.

· Installation of broadband internet at the Metro location $100

· VPN router with wireless access point at each location. $400 each

Feasibility

As a small market capacity company, Trusty Carpets is looking to scale production in an existing market and not seek to be at the forefront competing against large international sales. To that end, a cutting-edge solution is not necessary. Solutions that utilize on-site hardware, software, and networking using a pre-built enterprise software solution are within the capabilities of a contract team to provide support in the event of a service interruption. While a full-blown IT system changes the organization, it fits in with the expansion to new locations and the possible incorporation of mobile user teams in the field installation business. Financially, the company can cover the costs necessary to incur these products; however, the service contracts required for maintenance can be steep.

Risks

A few of the risks with acquiring and implementing this solution are:

· Loss of Servers – Losing the server will cause serious damage and requires a robust backup contingency plan for on and off-site data backups.

· Loss of Internet – This may cause issues between the servers in the two locations unable to sync, process billing, or payments.

· Security Breach – centralized data without constant IT monitoring is more at risk due to lack of updates to operating systems and antivirus definition updates.

Defining Issue

While enterprise CRM solutions offer a large amount of customization, storage, and expansion, these types of solutions are expensive. They require a large amount of up-front investment in equipment, tailoring, and training. To maintain an on-site network server stack, a team of dedicated IT professionals or a contract company will be necessary to perform preventative and corrective maintenance to ensure software, hardware, and networking devices are up to date and secure at all times.

Trusty Carpets could modify the process for ordering and scheduling installation of carpets to consolidate the businesses without acquiring new IT. Now, as described above, ordering carpets and scheduling installation is a two-step process. Orders are processed using a Google document and then shared using Google cloud. Separately, Trusty Carpets’ salespeople must contact Mike’s installation company to determine availability of the installers and determine availability of the customer to schedule an installation day and time.

Instead, the sales staff from Trusty Carpets could use the Google calendar to schedule installation of the carpet with the customer at the time of the order without needing to make separate contact with Mike or his installers. In addition, Trusty’s salespeople can use the same Google document form to store the installation details.

Benefits

Enabling the salespeople to place both the order and schedule the installation saves time and money. First, this method streamlines the business process by eliminating time-consuming steps. Second, this method reduces the number of records, particularly paper records, to be stored by the business reducing storage costs. Third, combining the ordering and installation onto the Google doc form allows for digitization of the files associated with the installation of the carpets. Fourth, digitizing files will allow the files to be shared with the accountant who handles the financials for Trusty Carpets. Ultimately, this process change will allow Trusty Carpets and Mike’s installation business to operate as one business.

Costs

Risks

There are a few risks associated with this process change. First, the salesperson scheduling installation must be familiar with the amount of time needed to install the carpet purchase. The time needed to install could vary based upon the complexity of the job. The scheduling needs to account for these different variables and unanticipated issues. Failure to do so could result in overlapping or missed installation appointments and unhappy customers. So, organizationally, the salespeople need to have a basic understanding of the installation process.

Feasibility/Defining Issue

Overall, while this solution is organizationally, economically and technically feasible as it will take minimal skill, time, and expense to implement, it does not fully achieve the goal of consolidating the three businesses into one. This process change would merge Trusty Carpets and Mike’s installation business, but it would not assist with merging Metro Carpets. Metro Carpets has no IT within its store and would need some capability to use the Google form and Google cloud. Without IT, the Metro Carpets location will operate with different business processes and use a different method for storing data, meaning Trusty Carpets will not be as efficient, in both time and costs.

The table below summarizes the pros and cons of the four alternatives discussed above. Comparing the alternatives reveals which option is most beneficial for Trusty Carpets.

Table of Alternatives for Trusty Carpet’s Business Consolidation

Square Retail is the selected alternative for Trusty Carpets. It provides a consolidated system to manage brick-and-mortar locations and integrate the carpet installation business with a single solution. The cloud-based solution provides a lightweight, flexible, and expandable product that modernizes Trusty Carpets' business processes. Square Retail addresses concerns over business practice modernization without a bloated enterprise architecture solution that provides way too many features that a small business does not need. Square employs world-class security professionals and maintains industry standards for security, a critical requirement for expanding the business to accept electronic transactions and the institution of a website.

This is accomplished while maintaining federal, state, and local financial regulations. Square Retail is a tested and proven solution used by small vendors to large-scale companies around the globe.

A feasibility analysis indicates that Trusty Carpets has the economic, organizational and technical feasibility to successfully acquire and implement the Square retail POS solution.

Trusty Carpets is a profitable business and has the financial resources to support the IT solution. Trusty Carpets, with newly acquired Metro Carpets and the merger of Mike’s installation business, has a combined annual revenue of approximately $4.6 million with a 9% profit margin. Trusty Carpets has annual sales of about $1.2 million with $100,000 in net profit. Metro Carpets has annual sales of about $3 million with $360,000 in net profit. The installation business earns $1.50 per square foot of installed carpet which amounts to about $375,000 in revenue from installation of Trusty Carpets alone. With increased efficiencies and increased profits, Trusty Carpets should start recovering the costs of implementation within two to three years.

No additional staff are needed to implement this solution. The current employees would be trained on the use of new technologies as they evolve in the company. Square could consolidate the accounting functions of Trusty Carpets, the installation business and Metro Carpets and eliminate the need for multiple personnel.

The Square solution must meet certain requirements to enable Trusty Carpets to achieve its business objectives. Generally, the solution must meet the following types of requirements: 1) functional requirements – what the system must do; 2) data requirements – how the system must handle data; 3) technical requirements – how the system must perform; and 4) security requirements – how the system must secure data.

Requirement 1 – The system must calculate the cost for carper based on the amount of square feet needed and the price per square foot.

Requirement 2 – The system must display whether an item is in-stock at the business’s warehousing using the item number.

Requirement 3 – The system must accept in-store and online purchase orders.

Requirement 4 – The system must accept all current credit card technology payment methods.

Requirement 5 – The system must provide an enterprise solution to inventory management.

Requirement 1 – The system must provide a report of in-store purchases.

Requirement 2 – The system must calculat4 the square footage of a carpet order.

Requirement 3 – The system must be compliant with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Requirement 4 – The system must connect to a website for online sales.

Requirement 5 – The system must generate cost of goods reports.

Requirement 1 – The system must be able to operate on tablets.

Requirement 2 – The system must have at least 99.97% availability daily.

Requirement 3 – The system must support mobile users through an app.

Requirement 4 – The system must utilize a redundant cloud-based storage solution.

Requirement 5 – The system must support at least 20 concurrent users.

D. Security Requirements

Requirement 1 – The system must require two-factor authentication for log-in access.

Requirement 2 – The system must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) (U.S. Treasury, 2021).

Requirement 3 – The system must limit access to personally identifiable information.

Requirement 4 – The system must utilize end-to-end encryption protocols.

Requirement 5 – The system must support VPN technology.

Diagramming system functionality from a top-down perspective is critical to creating a great product. This method analyzes external interfaces and drills down into high- and low-level functions (Conger, 2008). This method ensures the scope of the project is bounded correctly. Context diagrams examine external entities that interact with the system and are uncontrollable by the modification to the processes. These diagrams will show relationships, data flows, and data stores to help determine the interactions and improve them. The context diagram for Trusty Carpets is listed as Appendix A below. Here, Square Retail is located in the center as the enterprise solution to be employed. Arrows demonstrate the data flows in and out of the system to support the processes of the outlying blocks regarding customer data, purchases, inventory management, and installations.

The implementation of the Square Retail POS must be carefully managed to ensure achievement of Trusty Carpet’s business objectives. Specifically, successful implementation requires developing a project management plan, identifying the project team and establishing a project schedule.

The project management plan serves as the blueprint for carrying out the project and “defines how the project is executed, monitored and controlled” (OSP International LLC). The project management plan includes the following areas:

1. Project Scope

To manage the scope of the project, the first step is to meet with the relevant parties within Trusty Carpets and the installation business that will use the Square system. The goal is to ensure there is a comprehensive list of the specific requirements for the Square solution in order to accomplish the business objective. Using this list coupled with the business objective, Trusty Carpets can develop a scope statement, which will help guard against scope creep. During the development and implementation of the Square solution, Trusty Carpet’s project team must review all deliverables to ensure consistency with the project scope. Finally, the scope should be reviewed at regular intervals throughout the course of the project to determine if changes are necessary to complete the project consistent with the business needs.

2. Time/Schedule

To manage the project’s schedule, the first step is to identify the project team member(s) who will develop and monitor the schedule. To develop the schedule, the project team should develop a list of the specific tasks that need to be accomplished and order the list in the sequence needed to complete the project. After determining how long it will take to complete each individual task, the project team can determine how long it will take to complete the project. The project team must also determine when deviations from the schedule will be permitted. The project team should monitor the schedule throughout the development and implementation of Square to ensure the project is on schedule and whether changes are needed.

3. Cost

To manage the project’s cost, the first step is to develop a plan for maintaining control of the budget. After determining project costs and finalizing the project budget, the plan should identify when budget changes are permitted and the method for approving any budget changes. For example, a 10% cost increase in any budget line item should need approval from the project sponsor. During development and implementation of the Square solution, the project team should regularly compare expenditures with the project budget to ensure that the project is staying within the budget scope or if adjustments are needed.

4. Quality

To manage the quality of the project, the first step is to develop a plan identifying the quality standards that the Square solution must meet to be acceptable and how the solution will be inspected to determine that the standards are met. Quality standards should be identified after discussions with relevant stakeholders and consistent with the identified requirements. The project team should ensure that the Square solution is tested throughout development and implementation in accordance with the plan to ensure that the solution meets the standards, requirements and business needs.

5. Communications

To manage communications during the project, Trusty Carpet’s project team must develop a communications plan. The plan must set forth how often to communicate with the relevant stakeholders and the appropriate methods for communication. The plan should be followed throughout the development and implementation of Square and the project team should regularly revisit the plan to determine if changes are needed.

6. Stakeholders

To manage the project’s stakeholders, the first step is to identify the stakeholders and their interests with respect to the business objective and the Square solution. As the Square solution is being developed and implemented, the project team should regularly communicate with the relevant stakeholders to provide updates about the project. Engagement with stakeholders should also include addressing any concerns or questions from stakeholders.

To successfully develop and implement the Square solution to accomplish Trusty Carpet’s business objective, Trusty Carpets needs a project team, which will be responsible for developing and overseeing the project management plan and the completion of the project. The project team will consist of:

1. Project Sponsor

The project sponsor is generally responsible for approving the project, including the financing of the project. For the Square solution, the project sponsor will be responsible for approving the project management plan, the project budget and approving advancement of the project phases. The project team, or primarily, the project manager, will report to the project sponsor. The project sponsor will also help resolve any disagreements or major problems that arise during the completion of the project (Villanova University, 2021).

2. Project Manager/Business Analyst

Generally, the project manager is responsible for ensuring that the project is carried out successfully and consistent with the project management plan. The business analyst’s role is similar to the project manager. However, the business analyst is generally responsible for ensuring that the project is meeting the business objective and the identified requirements (Villanova University, 2021). Given that Trusty Carpets is a small company, the project manager and business analyst roles can be consolidated and filled by one team member.

3. Project Team Member

The project team member will help accomplish the various tasks associated with the project and assist the project manager/business analyst as needed.

C Schedule. Provide a schedule that lists the major tasks involved and how much time they require. The schedule should be detailed enough to cover all the important activities, but does not need to include a Work Breakdown Structure.

Approach to Developing this Section

The six management areas listed come from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) list of about 10 knowledge areas. Use the resources provided in the Week 6 Content to fully understand what is to be included for each of the above management areas.

In developing the list of the project team members, keep in mind the scope and budget for the project. The project team should have all the required skill sets, but team members may function in multiple roles. In order to keep costs low, the team should be as small and efficiently designed as possible. The team should include both functional and IT personnel.

The schedule should be developed with the understanding that when the business case is approved, many of the project planning and analysis and design steps will have been completed. So, using the information previously documented in the business case, the team should identify the major steps that remain to fully implement the project, and determine reasonable timeframes for them to be accomplished. The schedule should be presented as a table with tasks, duration, and participants, including the person who has the lead for that activity. The following table may be copied and used, if so desired:

1. Scope.

Implementation of the proposed solution requires acquiring some user devices. The company will need to acquire two registers for each location, two iPads for Metro Carpets, and two Square Blocks for the mobile installation teams. These devices are all one-time purchase and will be owned outright by the company. Due to the equipment and application’s proprietary nature, the equipment will only work with Square Retail’s software and is only customizable within the limits of Square’s software.

2. Infrastructure.

Beyond the edge devices, system connectivity will be accomplished via wireless connections from the service-provided wireless internet modem/router combination units from Cox Business Internet Services at each location. Square’s devices come pre-loaded with the latest software that incorporates industry standard security protocols for the devices and payment information to protect it from malicious actors. Wireless connections will be protected via 802.11 WiFi security protocols.

3. Contracts.

Acquisition of the required hardware will be accomplished via two direct purchase orders. Square Retail registers and Blocks are purchased directly from Square and iPads will be purchased directly from Apple.

1. Scope.

Square Retail is acquired as a complete service utilizing tiers for access to various modules. To achieve the desired end state, the premium tier is required. This provides access to digital process payments, inventory management, accounting, customer relationship management, payroll, appointments, and integration of the website.

2. Infrastructure.

All Square Retail services are hosted at cloud datacenters around the world. This allows Square to provide complete off-site data redundancy and access via any web-enabled device with proper login credentials in the event of disaster or loss of devices. Connectivity to the Square services is accomplished via the internet in any form through the registers or via iOS application on smart devices. Square offers industry-leading security for the applications, retail software and server-side applications.

3. Contracts.

Services for Square will be acquired through a subscription to the software-as-a-service via monthly or annual service subscriptions. There is no cancellation fee or contracted time period before ending service.

1. Scope

a. What items in this category need to be acquired (list)?

b. Buy as a product or service? (some items may be purchased and others may be acquired as a service)

c. Commercial-off-the-shelf (including open source) or custom?

d. Will in-house staff or external contractors support custom development, integration, or sustainment?

2. Infrastructure

a. Will system hosting services be needed?

b. How will connectivity be made available?

c. What security considerations should be included in the contracts?

d. Will any specific hardware or software need to be acquired to provide security?

e. Will Business Continuity requirements need to be included in the contract(s)?

f. Will separate Business Continuity solutions or components need to be included or acquired?

g. Are there any data management considerations to be included in the acquisition(s)?

3. Contracts

a. Purchase order?

b. Local commercial purchase?

c. Service Level Agreement?

d. Lease?

e. Subscription?

f. Service Agreement?

g. Competitively awarded contract?

h. Time and materials contract?

i. Fixed price contract?

Approach to Developing this Section

Before beginning this section, read the "Basics of Defining Information System Acquisition Strategies," in the Week 6 Content. It explains how to approach acquisition planning and will help in responding to the questions above. That document provides a guide to completing the documentation for a full acquisition strategy plan, which would include many of the same topics as are included in the business case. For this section, focus on responding to the questions above, as they apply to what will need to be acquired for the system you are proposing. Multiple acquisition strategies may be identified for the proposed solution. For example, some components may be purchased outright, other products or services may be leased or available by subscription/service contracts. If such is the case with the proposed solution, all of the applicable questions for each type of acquisition recommended need to be considered and responses should be provided if they apply to what is being acquired. Some questions may not apply to the component being acquired (e.g., there does not need to be a data management strategy identified for a printer that is to be purchased). Keep in mind that the full security requirements and solution will be covered in Section XII (yet to be developed), but your solution should have identified what security hardware and software would need to be acquired, and you should include here any security requirements that should be included in contracts or service requests associated with your solution.

References