Group Members:Saif Ahmed, Claudia Ledesma &

Sarah Rush

Reader’s Outpost

System Request

Project Sponsor: Michael Moore, President

Organization: Reader’s Outpost

Phone: 281-954-0003

Email: mmoore@readersoutpost.com

Business Model & Background

Family owned bookstore since 1988

About $400,000 in annual sales

Currently employees 3 full-time and 3 part-time employees

Very well know in the local writer’s community

Debt ratio has been maintained at a very low figure (20%) for the last 3 years

Bookstore specialty is carrying rare finds

Monthly book club meetings are conducted in the store

All transactions are conducted on a manual cash register

Business Need

Sales totals, inventory, and other pertinent information is being recorded manually in a sales ledger

Growth being threatened due to current outdated system

Need for a new computer system that will record transactions and capture all data digitally

Need for a system that will allow for reporting and trend charting

Instant access to past data

Increase growth by 25% for the next 3 years

Opening of more stores within 4 years

Business Requirement

Capture the data on book inventory, prices, author, sales transaction and employees

Search books by authors, book id, genre, quantity being sold, price

Ability to run reports and plot trend charts

Track employee productivity based on books sold

Instant access to profit margins on books and net sales

Ability to track refunds electronically

Business Value (Tangible)

Increase sales by 30% from $400,000 this year to $520,000 next year

50% reduction in overtime hours due to less paperwork

Cut down on time spent on month-end inventory by 70%

60% reduction in office supplies cost due to less manual paperwork

Business Value (Intangible)

Increase in employee efficiency, thereby increasing customer service

Employees will have more time to talk to customers, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty

Automated system will allow us to concentrate on marketing campaigns, which will bring more potential revenue in the future

More sales will lead to more employee bonuses, thereby increasing employee morale and decreasing turnover

Employees will have more time to work store appearance and condition

Special Issues or Constraints

Training issues need to be discussed early on in the development stage since all employees are used to doing things manually

The system should be user friendly, as this would prevent the need to hire tech savvy workers, thereby keeping labor costs down

Special consideration should be taken to allow the system to be able to handle online transactions in the future, since we do plan to expand and sell books online as well.

Questions?