Homework Exercise - CIS 211 - Management Information Systems

Paired Work Policy

On this assignment, students have the option to work with one teammate. If two students choose to work together, they can collaborate only with each other. Pairs cannot collaborate with other students, whether individuals or members of a different pair. Actions such as one member of one pair directly collaborating with another member of a different pair, referring to the work students formerly enrolled in the class, and using other people to complete the assignment are all examples of violations of this policy. Students should use the instructor for any questions about completing the assignment.

Academic Integrity

Students who choose to violate the independent work policy must cite the use of other people's work by including the names of those people in a conspicuous location. By providing citations, students avoid violating the Elon Honor Code. Students who both violate the independent work policy and fail to cite the names of contributors are subject to the Elon University Academic Integrity Policy.

Format

Students will create three flowcharts using Microsoft Visio (or another tool of their choice, with prior instructor permission). Each flowchart should use no more than two pages and should be printed on one sheet of paper (front and back is OK).

Students will also engage in brief analysis activities by crafting a document by using word processing software. The document should be no longer than two pages, have a 1-inch margin, be typeset in a reasonable, readable 10- or 12-point font, and be printed on one sheet of paper (front and back is OK).

Students should staple all four sheets of paper together for submission to the instructor.

This exercise constitutes homework assignments #6 and #7 and thus is worth 120 points.

Directions

Students should read the business description provided at the end of this Web page and then address the following exercises. Note that additional requirements appear after the numbered list.

  1. Create a flowchart of the customer order process, including logic to calculate the delivery fee for an order. Do not include any individual steps taken by a manager facilitating customer service or a delivery person pickup and dropping off ordered items.
  2. Create a flowchart of the manager order facilitation process, including order packing, restaurant order placement and confirmation, and route assignment. Do not include the other manager responsibilities.
  3. Create a flowchart of the driver pick-up and delivery process, including collecting payments from a customer (you can assume that the customer has selected a cash payment or a credit card payment at the time of order).
  4. Analyze your flowcharts by creating a document that executes the following exercises. Ensure to write the questions themselves (not just the exercise numbers). Each answer should comprise about 3 to 9 sentences.
    1. Identify and justify the most complicated process (or section of a process) and suggest a method to improve it.
    2. Identify and discuss any confusion you had about any of the processes as you created their flowcharts.
    3. Explain a way that Zifty.com could improve its business through implementation of a SCM system.
    4. Explain a way that Zifty.com could improve its business through implementation of a CRM system.

Each flowchart must start with a terminator labeled Start and end with a terminator labeled End. Use only the rectangle, diamond, circle, pentagon, and arrow shapes in creating the remainder of each flowchart. Rectangles must have at least one arrow in and one arrow out. Diamonds must have at least one arrow in and two differently-labeled arrows out. Circles must be used for on-page connections and should be labeled in pairs. Pentagons must be used for off-page references and do not need to be labeled.

Flowcharts should exhibit the design principles discussed in class. More detail on design mistakes to avoid appears in the following section on grading.

Grading

Each flowchart is worth 30 points. One point will be deducted for any of the following mistakes. Except for missing process pieces, a maximum of two points will be deducted for each type of error. For example, three spelling errors results in only two lost points; a crossing arrow, misspelling, and missing process piece results in 3 lost points; and three missing process pieces results in 3 lost points.

Each question is worth 7.5 points and will be graded on the following scale. 

(2.0) Poor - difficult to understand, unclear how answer relates to question
(4.0) Fair - addresses topic clearly, but lacks sufficient detail or is largely incorrect
(6.0) Good - addresses topic in sufficient detail but has minor flaws or small errors
(7.5) Great - clear, correct, detailed, error-free answer

Grading Legend

The following letters were used to grade the assignment. Please let the instructor know if there are any questions about grading.

  1. mis-used shape (type, arrows, border)
  2. inappropriate labels (> 5, text touch border)
  3. spelling errors or incomprehensible labels
  4. missing or incomplete process pieces
  5. process pieces that contain multiple steps
  6. decision arrows lacking appropriate labels
  7. repeated process descriptions
  8. crossed arrows
  9. inconsistent time flows ("backwards" arrows)
  10. arrows lead to wrong step
  11. non-verb process
  12. mis-labeled decision or process
  13. out-of-order process
  14. see below

Problem N describes an issue in which some situations are covered by the diagram but others are not, or that some unnecessary steps are depicted as being necessary. For example, for the manager order facilitation process, a number of students required managers to pack a warehouse order or place a restaurant order prior to assigning a route to a delivery person, but these might happen in any order. Another example is for the delivery process. A number of students required one pickup and one dropoff in that order, but pickups and dropoffs could occur in any order (in fact, on a route, a driver might not have any pickups).

Delivery

Students should submit physical copies of their work at the beginning of class in accordance with the formatting instructions above and the due date listed on the class schedule.

Students electing to work in a team of 2 people should submit only one document that indicates each student's name.

Business Description

Zifty.com is an Internet-based delivery service, offering customers a place online to order food from local restaurants, to buy convenience-store items, and to rent DVDs. The total selection of items exceeds 15,000 so orders are only taken over the Internet. Any customer who calls to place an order on the phone is directed to the web site. Zifty works with 60 local restaurants and has pre-arranged contractual agreements with these select restaurants to deliver their food when people order from the Zifty web site. All other items, such as candy, drinks and movies, are stocked in Zifty's own warehouse.

Zifty employs a staff of 50 people: 2 owners, 4 managers and 44 drivers. Everyone works out of the warehouse location. The managers oversee the process by providing customer service via phone, email and web chats, as well as assist the drivers via the Nextel phone walkie-talkie feature. Drivers use their own vehicles to perform their deliveries with one exception. Zifty recently acquired a Toyota Yaris that it assigns to more senior drivers as a benefit, allowing them to drive the company car and not have to worry about paying for gas or maintenance. The Nextel phones also have a program installed on them that communicates with Zifty's servers to assist with processing payment and directing drivers to their next stop. A driver's day begins with being assigned a set of equipment consisting of an electric hot bag (which plugs into their car), a magnetic car sign for the roof of their car, a soft cooler bag to store cold or frozen items, a clipboard that opens up to hold pens and receipts, a Nextel phone, a T-shirt, and $20 in $1 bills for making change. Each piece of equipment, including the T-shirt, is numbered and is checked out to the employee by a manager. The driver sets up their car with the equipment and is then ready to receive their first route.

The route is printed out for them by a manager and consists of an overview sheet listing each stop, including the address and estimated time of arrival, copies of the receipts for both the driver and the customer, and lastly a set of maps from MapQuest that go from each stop to the next. Before leaving Zifty, the driver will look at their overview sheet to see if any of their orders have items from the Zifty warehouse. If they do, the items will have already been packed into plastic bags by a manager and put into a numbered basket set on a counter. The driver picks up the bags from the basket with the number on his route sheet. The driver must then proceed from stop to stop, picking up food from restaurants and dropping off items at customers. Each route usually consists of multiple deliveries and pick-ups and drop-offs will be in the most efficient order, so drivers must take care to ensure that they give the correct customer the proper items. Additionally, since there are up to 25 drivers working for Zifty at a single time, there may be multiple orders waiting for multiple drivers to pick-up at a single restaurant. Therefore it is necessary for the drivers to always double check what they pick-up from a restaurant to ensure it matches what the customer ordered. Also, this protocol prevents common restaurant mistakes to Zifty orders.

As a web-based business, Zifty accepts orders anytime but only processes orders for delivery between 10 am and 1 am every day of the year. When customers first enter the web site, they must type the zip code of where they'd like their delivery to be made. Since Zifty only offers its services to a select portion of Atlanta, any zip code outside its delivery area results in a page informing the visitor that they aren't in the current delivery area. Assuming the customer lives within the delivery area, the restaurants they can choose from vary based upon the zip code. These parameters ensure that delivery drivers won't have to drive across the city for a single delivery, while also guaranteeing the food the customer receives will still be fresh and hot. Customers make their selections as they would on any e-commerce site, adding items into a shopping cart and choosing options for items ordered from restaurants. There is a minimum order of $9.95, and the delivery fee is a base fee of $1.99 plus $3.00 per restaurant. If a customer only orders items that Zifty stocks in its warehouse, the delivery fee is just $1.99. Orders over $50 receive free delivery. Customers can either pay with a credit card or cash upon delivery.

The manager has a bird's-eye view of the operation from an order list screen. The screen lists actions that need to be taken, such as packing items from the warehouse for an order or calling a restaurant to communicate food that has been ordered, as well as a list of routes -- both the assigned and the waiting-to-be assigned routes. When the manager decides to pack an order, they click on the appropriate icon and a list of the items from Zifty in that order are listed. The manager then retrieves them from the warehouse and scans the bar code on each item. The system, in turn, checks off the items, and once all have been scanned, prints a receipt for the manager to place in the bag(s) with the item. When a manager sees that an order needs to be placed with a restaurant, they click on the appropriate icon and the system will prompt them to either fax a print-out or to call the restaurant and relay the order verbally, depending on the preference of the restaurant. If the order is faxed, the manager calls the restaurant to verify that the fax was received properly. The timing of when to pack or call-in an order is dictated by an automated routing system that keeps tabs on where drivers are and what must happen to successfully complete their orders. When the time is appropriate, it will prompt the manager to take the proper actions. When a driver is at Zifty waiting for a route, the manager can assign an open route to a driver by selecting the driver's name from a drop-down list. This action causes the route to print out for the driver and gets them going on their way. The order list also shows computer-calculated estimated time of arrivals for every stop on all routes, allowing the manager to see if any orders could potentially be late and to take proactive steps to prevent it.

The manager also receives a number of calls from customers throughout their shift. Most calls are generally inquiries into when a delivery will arrive or to make minor changes to an order. Orders can be edited by the manager using a web interface. If a more serious problem occurs, such as a missing or incorrect item, the manager can use a special "problem order" screen to identify what was wrong (and who was at fault) for the problematic items and select from several various resolutions such as waiving a delivery fee, discounting the order, placing a credit on their account good towards their next order, setup a re-delivery, or any combination of the preceding. Sometimes problems are caused by the customers in that they chose the wrong delivery address or were not home at the time of the delivery, in which case the same problem screen is used but usually only a re-delivery is scheduled.

The managers are also responsible for ordering inventory to keep the Zifty items in the warehouse well stocked. This occurs on a rotating basis once a week. One of the four managers will re-count a portion of the inventory and place orders with particular vendors. Deliveries of new stock are generally made a day or two later, and the manager who is working at the time is required to put the received items into the inventory system and to stock the items on the shelves. Since the majority of items are perishable, it's important that newer items are put behind older items such that older items are picked off the shelves and sold first to reduce the chance of having to throw out unsold goods that went bad.

The preceding description was generously provided by Todd Miller, owner of the Web-based business Zifty.com. The description has not been altered in any way from Mr. Miller's description. Students wishing to gather additional information about the site may visit http://www.zifty.com (try the zip code 30324 for the delivery pages). However, students should not contact the owners of the site via email or phone. Instead, direct all questions to the instructor.