BACKGROUND MGMT Boutique Inc. is a high-end retailer that operates a chain of boutique stores in significant hotel properties along the west coast of SanGre Island, including the famous fivestar Castle Height Hotel. Operating in eleven (11) locations, the company offers chic brands like Roberto Cavalli, Pain-de-Sucre, Versace, and Etro Milano. It is well known for its eclectic collection of designer swimwear, fine linens, cotton, and silk apparel for warm days and sultry evenings. A fine complement of shoes, hats, and handbags with hand-picked custom jewelry is included to embrace the very essence of luxurious fashion. The locations connect over a MetroE-wide area network (WAN) that FLOW provides. Each store has a local Point-of-Sale (POS), replicated to a central hub in the main office. Replication occurs once every 15 minutes, so the head office is virtually up-to-date, in real-time, and can see, at a glance, transactions in each store. Customers shop duty-free, paying in local Grees (G) or USA dollars. Duty-free sales do not attract a 15.0% VAT tax. The list price, seen on the shelf, is the price paid. For customer convenience, the company offers a limited range of duty-paid items. Again, customers can pay in either currency, or the price listed on the self is still the price paid. However, this price now includes 15.0% VAT. Customers pay by cash or card, charge the expense to their room, and settle the bill later. As a reporting requirement for a duty-free establishment, customers' POS details are routinely captured. This information has proven helpful for analyzing behavior, and the company also tries to capture the exact details of duty-paid transactions. As a rule, duty-free transactions will be done in US dollars, while duty-paid transactions will appear in G dollars. Before Metro-E, the company did not have a distributed POS, and sales reports from each site were manually combined in Excel for analysis. Now, the company even allows the purchaser to access reports and use her softphone when on business trips through VPN connectivity. Metro-E, VPN, and internet access have changed everything. Question – As a Strategic Manager of the IT Department, DESIGN and DRAW a high-level “as-is” process diagram depicting how the company could have complied a combined sales report BEFORE the Metro-E system was introduced (i.e., before no connectivity existed among the sites)
BACKGROUND MGMT Boutique Inc. is a high-end retailer that operates a chain of boutique stores in significant hotel properties along the west coast of SanGre Island, including the famous fivestar Castle Height Hotel. Operating in eleven (11) locations, the company offers chic brands like Roberto Cavalli, Pain-de-Sucre, Versace, and Etro Milano. It is well known for its eclectic collection of designer swimwear, fine linens, cotton, and silk apparel for warm days and sultry evenings. A fine complement of shoes, hats, and handbags with hand-picked custom jewelry is included to embrace the very essence of luxurious fashion. The locations connect over a MetroE-wide area network (WAN) that FLOW provides. Each store has a local Point-of-Sale (POS), replicated to a central hub in the main office. Replication occurs once every 15 minutes, so the head office is virtually up-to-date, in real-time, and can see, at a glance, transactions in each store. Customers shop duty-free, paying in local Grees (G) or USA dollars. Duty-free sales do not attract a 15.0% VAT tax. The list price, seen on the shelf, is the price paid. For customer convenience, the company offers a limited range of duty-paid items. Again, customers can pay in either currency, or the price listed on the self is still the price paid. However, this price now includes 15.0% VAT. Customers pay by cash or card, charge the expense to their room, and settle the bill later. As a reporting requirement for a duty-free establishment, customers' POS details are routinely captured. This information has proven helpful for analyzing behavior, and the company also tries to capture the exact details of duty-paid transactions. As a rule, duty-free transactions will be done in US dollars, while duty-paid transactions will appear in G dollars. Before Metro-E, the company did not have a distributed POS, and sales reports from each site were manually combined in Excel for analysis. Now, the company even allows the purchaser to access reports and use her softphone when on business trips through VPN connectivity. Metro-E, VPN, and internet access have changed everything.
Question – As a Strategic Manager of the IT Department, DESIGN and DRAW a high-level “as-is” process diagram depicting how the company could have complied a combined sales report BEFORE the Metro-E system was introduced (i.e., before no connectivity existed among the sites)
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