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The Retreat House Bed & Breakfast & Holistic Center

Group #3Erika Sherman, Krystine Jordan, Broc Sutek, Will Shultz, and George Moga

+Background

The Retreat House Bed and Breakfast and Holistic Center, located in Dennison, Ohio, is a health spa that specializes in physical healing.

The establishment itself is very new having only opened in May of 2011 but the owner and operator, Daria Sherman has been doing massage therapy for 15 years.

The Retreat House offers a variety of services including; bed and breakfast, traditional massages, movement education, stress reducing massages, vibrational therapy, and acupuncture therapy

+Operations

Daria is the only employee of The Retreat House Bed and Breakfast and Holistic Center. She manages the email and phone service while also

dealing with booking reservations. She is the only massage therapist. She also produces a monthly newsletter, the Peaceful

Times Newsletter She operates the website for the Retreat House Bed and

Breakfast and Holistic Center It’s an informational website, which can answer most

prospective customers questions and give them a good idea on what to expect

+Information Technology

Hardware & Software All of the business’ operations are managed on Daria’s

laptop. She utilizes the web services, MailChimp and webs.com to

compose her monthly newsletter, the Peaceful Times Newsletter, and manage the business website.

Database, Communications, and Operating Systems Aside from Client emails all client information is stored in

paper files

Intranets and Extranets are not in use by the business as it is so small and operated by a single employee

+Information Technology cont’d

Security Both MailChimp and webs.com offer a degree of security

that safely store and manage client information. Aside from the security offered by those web services, no

other information security is in use.

There are currently no Decision Support Systems in use.

System Centralization The system is completely centralized, as all the information

is input and managed by a single individual

+Supply Chain Management

+Conclusions

This is a very small business with very limited IT resources and systems in use, but with further expansion and implementation of some key IT operations the business would benefit greatly.

We identified several IT areas where improvements could be made: The Website Add to existing Hardware and Software Add electronic client database and decision support systems As expansion continues, the use of an extranet Keep in mind future changes and the impacts of those

changes

+The Retreat House Bed and Breakfast and Holistic Center

Currently Those interested in the Retreat House Can learn about the

business and Daria Directions and local attractions are included on the webpage Provides spa prices and information on services provided Bed and Breakfast rooms are featured on the site Testimonials and pictures are also provided

Future Online Shopping, allowing customers to purchase products

from the company, this is already in the works. Such products would include books written by Daria and Vipes Up products.

Virtual Tour, allowing customers to have a guided tour through the Retreat House

http://www.theholisticretreat.com/

+Hardware and Software

We recommend that an additional computer, a desktop, be purchased to stay at the office at all times.

More importantly that a external hard drive be purchased, since all information is stored and composed on her laptop.

The Use of Microsoft Office, specifically Excel and Access, as those programs will help with the additional recommendations that we have made.

Hardware Purchases Software Purchases

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Database ModelBy developing a database system the flow and connectivity of client information, and their purchases of goods and services can easily be tracked and recorded.

+Database Application

Order ID Order Date Customer ID

Total

1331 2/13/2011 13 $100

Customer ID Name Prefix Contact Name

Email Phone #

13 Will Shultz Mr. Will Shultz willisshultz@walsh.edu

(330)123-4567

The above tables show how utilizing Microsoft Access can help Daria to track customers and their purchases. Efficient use of this system will eventually lead to increased sales and customer satisfaction, in addition to less work and more organization for Daria.

This type of table can be used for tracking every aspect of the business, not just the customers

+Decision Support Systems

Rate $100.00

Cost of Room Supplies $ 20.00

Cost of Food $ 25.00

Total Revenue $ 55.00

Profit Margin 55%

As no decision support systems are currently in use, we recommend that she start using one. Microsoft Excel will enable

this through the goal-seek analysis option.

A decision support system such as this is crucial, and can help increase profit margins. Daria can manipulate

numbers to determine pricing.

Rate $112. 35

Cost of Room Supplies $ 20.00

Cost of Food $ 25.00

Total Revenue $ 67.35

Profit Margin 60%

+Further Expansion

As the business expands, Daria should consider employing the use of an extranet. Customers that purchase products from the website can create

online profiles that store their information, making future purchases quicker.

Customers that receive the monthly publication will be able to also create a profile, so that if any of their contact information were to change they can update it so they continue to receive the newsletter

If billing information is ever stored with-in the in-house database, additional security features should be put in place.

Impact of the online-store Increased sales but will cause drastic changes to Current Supply

Chain Management

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The business potential of the Retreat House Bed and Breakfast and Holistic Center is very evident, but being that it is a very new business venture there is much room for improvement.

Daria was more than welcoming to our suggestions and has already made some changes to the Website since the commencement of this project.

We feel that implementing the suggested changes will not only increase the capacity to serve existing customers but also increase its ability to capture and retain new customers.

+Citations

Access 2010 – Database and Software Applications. (2011) Access 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2011 from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/

Baltzan, Paige, Phillips, Amy. (2010). Business Driven Technology (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

MailChimp. (2011). Features. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://mailchimp.com/

The Retreat House Bed & Breakfast/Holistic Center. (2010). Retrieved Novemeber 30, 2011, from

http://www.theholisticretreat.com/

Tour Factory. (2011). The Ultimate Tour. Retrieved November 30, 2011 from http://www.tourfactory.com/company/

Webs. (2011). Features. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://www.webs.com/