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Artisan Connect
- 3. Executive Summary The Need: Artisans are an endangered species; many see the allure of more lucrative jobs creating a mass exodus from villages to cities. With this exodus and globalization, there is less interest in crafting by the offspring of artisans impacting the village’s sustainability. Key challenge facing many of the artisans is market access and improved margins. Existing companies either return low margins, Artisan Connect intends to increase the margin, or lack at providing access to necessary markets. Many of the existing marketplaces are not appealing to target buyers and merely create a transaction not engagement with the artisans. The artisans’ brands are not built on reputation for high quality as existing companies are not good at marketing the artisans’ brands to conscious consumer. The main purpose of Artisan Connect, and thus the system, is to connect supply with demand and to do so in a way that the artisans will be able to retain the profit they earn instead of having to give most of it to a middleman. In addition, the online marketplace is a platform to help artisans gain access to a bigger market of savvy and affluent customers looking to obtain unique and authentic goods. This online setting also facilitates engagement with the artisans and enables the artisans to retain a fair portion of the proceeds. Ultimately, it creates a sustainable model that aims to preserve the dying traditions of the artisans’ crafts. The Solution: The system will have three distinct users to cater to the different types of stakeholders: the administrators, which include marketing report building capabilities, artisans which have distinct portal to input candidate profile, products and maintain product history logs and accountaing balances, and customers, which are able to browse, select and order products of their choosing. The system includes information on the artisan, including biography and detailed descrption of their products to help create a connection between the customer to the artisan that moves beyond just transactional. The administrator interface allows the Merchandising, Customer Relations and Sales & Marketing teams to manage the customer and artisan accounts. The Merchandising team will be able to catalog items from artisans and manage the inventory levels of each item. The Sales & Marketing team will be able to retrieve sales reports to track which items are best sellers and which items are not very popular with customers. For the artisan interface, the functionality will enable artisans to manage and track their sales, view analytical trends on their best seller items and interact with customers. The artisans can also manage their profile so that customers can learn about their works. For the customer interface, is intuitive and easy to use so all types of customers are able to learn about and buy from the artisans. The functionality mirrors other ecommerce websites so Artisan Connect 3
- 4. anyone can use, browse and selected desire items without getting lost or confused. BUSINESS NEED Artisan Connect Mission “Sustaining Ancient traditions. Bringing beauty to modern spaces”. Globalization is threatening the sustainability of authentic crafts in developing countries. Artisans see more lucrative ways to make a living through jobs such as call centers, factories, and tourism. And their offsprings are losing interest in their family businesses and traditional practices. Artisan Connect’s mission is to offer an alternative for artisans to retain their ancestral way of life and combat globalization that is threatening the sustainability of authentic crafts. Our ecommerce website helps take the mission to reality by offering high quality curated offerings to target buyers and creating a community to harness targeted buyers, increase propensity to purchase, cultivate partnerships, and create legitimacy with artisans. Business Opportunity As eloquently put by Ralph Lauren “Things made by hand are rare in this world. Every stitch, every detail represents a love and a tradition of craftsmanship handed down over generations.” The market for artisan goods globally in 2013 for handcrafts is $400 Billion and market for online home décor is expected to reach $23 Billion by 2015 (see Appendix A) . 1 Additionally, trends point to the fact that people are becoming globally minded “conscious consumers” who are willing to spend more on products from socially responsible companies. A study from Nielsen global Survey on Corporate Social Responsibility indicate that the number of socially responsible consumers have increased from 36% in 2011 to 44% in 2013 . 2 There exists a huge potential for highquality home products from artisans in developing countries. Affluent, discerning, globally minded “conscious consumers” in the US currently purchase these kinds of crafts largely through bricks and mortar retailers. Additionally, business opportunity Artisan Connect hopes to solve is improving artisan’s margins. The existing artisan margins are 57% of what existing competitors are offering while Artisan Connect strives to improve this margin to 30% (see Appendix B & C) . 3 Ultimately, the sales proceeds will be passed on directly to artisans, cutting out middlemen who take a huge chunk of artisan’s revenue. The online marketplace is also a platform to connect artisans and customers on a deeper level beyond just a transactional relationship. One of the biggest social benefits the system will provide is the promotion of social empowerment. Many of the artisans are women roughly 70%1 . The system will provide these women who are often lowskilled and homebased an opportunity to earn a stream of income. Through that, they will have a chance to improve their social mobility status. 1 Dasra (2013). Crafting A Livelihood. Retrieved from http://www.dasra.org/reports_2013/CraftingALivelihood_Report.pdf 2 AC Nielsen (2013). The Global, SociallyConscious Consumers. Retrieved from http://www.fi.nielsen.com/site/documents/NielsenGlobalSocialResponsibilityReportMarch2012.pdf. 3 Provided by Artisan Connect Artisan Connect 4
- 5. The key problem for many of the artisans is market access and distributors return a small percentage of profits to artisans. Existing retail stores and catalogs have low margins. Artisans who do have their own online presence have insufficient traffic to justify the effort in creating and marketing such an online marketplace. Existing online marketplaces that aggregate artisans are not that appealing to consumers, provide an eclectic range of offerings, tend to have lowquality items to increase the profit to the web designer not the artisan and are focused on transactions not engagements. The artisans’ brands are not built on reputation for high quality and existing nonprofits aren’t good at building markets of “third world” products to “first world” consumers. The target market for the ecommerce site is affluent individuals interested in unique quality wares created by the artisans themselves. Other customers might be interior designers who specialize in bringing beauty indoors, surrounding spaces with one of kind, special pieces. The ecommerce site will target many of the United States’ major metropolitan areas where many buyers seek exceptional and exclusive pieces. Buyers who are both globally aware and conscious consumers will also be drawn to the Artisan Connect online marketplace. Many of the millennial are also keenly aware of sustainability and maintaining artisans ancestral ways of life, the Artisan Connect online marketplace is an ideal area for them to purchase high quality, beautiful and sustainable items. The competitive players in this space include artisan sites that work with artisans in developing countries and commercialized home and decor sites. There are a few artisan sites that offer similar services such as Novica, Ten Thousand Villages, Dsenyo and Etsy. On the commercialized home and decor side, the players include One Kings Lane, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Wisteria and West Elm. (Please refer to Appendix D for more information on the competitors.) For Artisan Connect, the business goal is to create the capabilities of an online marketplace to sell high quality products made by artisans. By creating an online marketplace curated with home decor products, the aim is to drive high volume traffic to the site and convert this traffic to recurring customers in order to generate sales. Differentiators set Artisan Connect apart is category focus, brand reputation for quality and curated offerings, building a relationship vs. transacting a product, sourcing through nonprofits and collectives, maintaining a social mission and creating meaningful partnerships. The Artisan Connect ecommerce site strives to make it easy for shoppers to purchase beautiful and unique products in an online setting that allows them to engage with the artisans, while allowing the artisans to retain a fair portion of the proceeds. The ecommerce site will further connect artisans with buyers and allow the administration of Artisan Connect to run maintenance, support and marketing efforts, allowing the artisans to focus on their goods, keeping the priceless tradition of regional crafts living on. Business Process Needs Artisan Connect 5
- 6. The ecommerce system will have a crucial role to play to meet this marketplace demand to enable the social benefits to trickle down to the benefitting parties. The system will have three interfaces to cater to the different types of stakeholders, primarily the artisans, administrators and customers, who will be interacting with the system. The specific functionality of the system will need to include the following features. The customer interface will display the appropriate information on the curated products such as product description, product dimensions and size, images, information on the artisans who made these products for shopping and browsing. The customer will fill his or her shopping cart with the desired product(s). When the customer is ready to make the purchase, the system will either allow new customers to create an account or prompt returning customers to log in with their credentials to complete the transaction. Customers are also able to track orders to determine when they will be receiving the items. The customer shopping experience will be similar to many online shopping sites and it will be intuitive and easy to use. Each artisan will have access to the system with personalized login credentials to set up his or her own page complete with artisan’s basic contact information. In addition, the system will let the artisan enter a short blurb on the artisan describing his or her works, crafts techniques. Using this interface, the artisan can also enter in product information and images to showcase the types of crafts available for sale. The system will enable the artisan to manage a few processes such as manage and track sales payments, shipping orders and order fulfillment requirements. When an order has been placed by a customer, the artisan will be informed via email. The artisan will enter the expected shipping delivery times and status into the system. Finally, the artisan can view sales payment information when the payment has been posted. The system will also have an interface for the Sales and Marketing administrators to retrieve sales reports on a periodic basis. Administrators will be able to generate any type of reports that they wish to review on for analytics purposes. The key report that will be used heavily will be the sales reports to identify and determine which items are best sellers that artisans should be making more of. Using this data, administrators will be able to send monthly recommendation reports to the artisans via the system. The sales report will also provide accounting information such as sales proceeds generated for each artisan in that month and enable administrators to post monthly payments to artisans. Finally, an important aspect of the system’s functionality is that administrators to created targeted email promotional newsletters highlighting new artisan’s works to encourage more site visits and purchases. TECHNOLOGICAL NEED Artisan Connect 6
- 10. 4.1 Customer will provide payment information 4.2 System will approve payment information 4.2.1 System sends payment information to CCC 4.2.2 System receives approval from CCC 5. Order is Completed 5.1 Completed order information is provided to the Customer 5.2 Completed order information is emailed to the Customer 5.3 Order data store is updated with order information 5.4 Completed order information is sent to Artisan for fulfillment 6. Shipping is confirmed 6.1 Artisan provides shipping information 6.2 System updates shipping data store with shipping confirmation record 6.3 System sends shipping confirmation email to customer O: Payment Information I: Payment Approval O: Completed Order O: Completed Order Email O: Customer Order Update O: Order Email Notification I: Shipping information O: Shipping record O: Email notification Postconditions 1. Completed order information is provided to the customer on the screen and by email 2. Artisan has order information 3. Order data store is updated to reflect order 4. A shipping email notification is sent to customer to reflect shipment 5. Shipping data store is updated with shipping confirmation record Inputs Source Outputs Destination Item Selection Verify selection Customer Updates Customer Information Existing Customer Login Customer Information updates Payment Information Payment Approval Shipping Information Customer Customer Customer Customer Customer Customer Customer Credit Card Clearinghouse Artisan Final Order New Customer Record Existing Customer Information Customer record updated Payment Information Completed Order Completed Order Email Customer Order Update Order Email Notification Shipping Record Shipping Confirmation Customer Customer Data Store Customer Data Store Customer Data Store Credit Card Clearinghouse Customer Customer Customer Order Data Store Artisan Shipping Data Store Customer Artisan Connect 1 0
- 12. Inputs Source Outputs Destination Time interval for analysis New promotion information Items request Time interval & Artisan Account Marketing staff Marketing staff Marketing staff Marketing staff Sales reports Promotional information Promotional emails Items request email Invoice Payment record Marketing staff Promotions Data Store Customer Artisan Artisan Artisan Data Store Use Case Name: Artisan Group Administration Actor: Artisan Description: This use case describes how Artisan Connect staff administrates Artisan information. Trigger: Artisan contacts Artisan Connect staff. Type: External Preconditions 1. The system is online and available. 2. Artisan staff is authenticated and signed in. Normal Course Information for Steps 1. Artisan information 1.1 If the artisan is new 1.1.1 The system accepts new artisan information 1.1.2 The system creates artisan record in data store 1.2 If the artisan existing 1.2.1 The system retrieves existing artisan Information from data store 1.2.2 Existing information is presented 1.2.3 The system accepts updates on artisan 1.2.4 The system updates artisan record in data store 2. Inventory information Do until inventory information is captured 2.1 The system accepts inventory information including pictures, description and cost 2.2 The system creates a record of the inventory listing in the Inventory Data Store End Loop 3. Updating Inventory Information Do until updates are captured I: Artisan Information O: Artisan Record I: Existing Artisan Information O: Artisan Information I: Artisan Info Update O: Artisan record update I: Item(s) Information O: Inventory record Artisan Connect 1 2
- 13. 3.1 The system accepts updates to be made to the item(s) information. 3.2 The system updates Inventory Data Store to reflect updates End Loop I: Item(s) updates O: Inventory record updated Postconditions 1. The system creates and updates artisan information. 2. The system records and updates Artisan inventory. Inputs Source Outputs Destination Artisan Information Existing Artisan information Artisan information update Item(s) information Item(s) updates Artisan Artisan Data Store Artisan Artisan Artisan Artisan record Artisan information Artisan record update Inventory record Inventory record updated Artisan Data Store Artisan Artisan Data Store Inventory Data Store Inventory Data Store Data Flow Diagrams Artisan Connect 1 3
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- 17. Data Dictionary a) Data Structures Artisan Data Store The Artisan Data Store will store information on each Artisan group such as the Artisan organization name, address, description, reviews and ratings. It will also contain details on the Artisan’s bank account to facilitate monthly wire transfers for transactions that have taken place. Date Created Artisan ID Artisan Pictures Artisan Organization Name Artisan Profile Description First Name Last Name Street Address 1 Street Address 2 City State Zip code Country Phone Number Email Address Amount Paid Monthly Payment Status Inventory Data Store The Inventory Data Store will contain a complete catalog of all the product items that are available on the online marketplace. It will house product ID, product description, product images, review and ratings. Date Created Product ID Product Name Product Category Product Description Product Color Product Size Product Pictures Product Price Artisan Connect 1 7
- 18. Customer Data Store The Customer Data Store will store complete information on customer accounts such as the username, password, address, contact information and credit card information. Date Joined Customer ID Customer Username Customer Password First Name Last Name Street Address 1 Street Address 2 City State Zip code Country Phone Number Email Address Credit Card Number Credit Card Type CVC Number Credit Card Expiration Date Order Data Store The Order Data Store will have a list of complete transactions authorized by the customer. It will include information on the transaction ID, product purchased, quantity of the products purchased and shipping information. Transaction Date Transaction ID Product ID Product Name Quantity Total Amount Shipping Address 1 Shipping Address 2 City State Zip code Country Shipping Tracking Number Shipping Status Artisan Connect 1 8
- 19. Shipping Data Store The Shipping Data Store will store information on shipping records for each transaction. It will include information on the shipping tracking number, shipping address (if it differs from current mailing address), shipping status, transaction and product information. Shipping Tracking Number Shipping Status Shipping Address 1 Shipping Address 2 City State Zip code Country Promotions Data Store The Promotions Data Store will store information on promotions created. It will include the date the promotion is created, title, description and an image of the promotion. Date Created Promotions ID Promotions Title Promotions Description Promotions Picture b) Data Flow # Data Flow Data Element # Data Flow Data Element 1 Customer Information Date Joined + 1 cont. Customer Information Street Address 2 + Customer ID + City + Customer Username + State + Customer Password + Zip code + First Name + Country + Last Name + Phone Number + Street Address 1 + Email Address Artisan Connect 1 9
- 20. # Data Flow Data Element # Data Flow Data Element 2 Customer Account Customer Username + Customer Password 3 Customer Order First Name + 3 cont. Customer Order Credit Card Expiration Date + Last Name + Transaction Date + Street Address 1 + Transaction ID + Street Address 2 + Product ID + City + Product Name + State + Quantity + Zip code + Total Amount + Country + Shipping Address 1 + Phone Number + Shipping Address 2 + Email Address + City + Credit Card Number + State + Credit Card Type + Zip code + CVC Number + Country+ 4 Shipping Information Shipping Address 1 + 4 Cont. Shipping Information Zip code + Shipping Address 2 + Country + City + Shipping Tracking Number + State + Shipping Status+ 5 Artisan Information Date Created + 5 Cont Artisan Information Artisan Profile Description + Artisan Connect 2 0
- 21. Artisan ID + Artisan Organization Name + # Data Flow Data Element # Data Flow Data Element 5 Artisan Information First Name + 5 Cont. Artisan Information State + Last Name + Zip code + Street Address 1 + Country + Street Address 2 + Phone Number + City + Email Address + Artisan Pictures + 6 Artisan Payment Information Artisan ID + 6 Cont. Artisan Payment Information First Name + Artisan Organization Name + Last Name + Artisan Profile Description + Amount Paid + Monthly Payment Status 7 Product Information Date Created + 7 Cont. Product Information Product Color + Product ID + Product Size + Product Name + Product Pictures + Product Category + Product Price + Product Description + 8 Promotion Information Date Created+ 8 Cont. Promotion Information Promotions Description+ Promotion ID+ Promotions Picture+ Promotions Title+ Artisan Connect 2 1
- 22. 9 Sales Activity Report First Name + 9 Cont. Sales Activity Report Credit Card Number + Last Name + Credit Card Type + Street Address 1 + CVC Number + Street Address 2 + Credit Card Expiration Date + City + Transaction Date + State + Transaction ID + Zip code + Product ID + Country + Product Name + Phone Number + Quantity + Email Address + Total Amount + 1 0 Item Sales Report Product ID + Product Name + Product Category + Product Price + Artisan ID + Artisan Organization Name + c) Data Elements # Data Element Description Data Type Base / Derived Data Element Owner 1 Date Created Date the profile of Artisan is created DATETIME Base Artisan Data Store 2 Artisan ID Identification number of the Artisan’s profile Char (32) Base Artisan Data Store Artisan Connect 2 2
- 23. 3 Artisan Organization Name Name of the Artisan Varchar (60) Base Artisan Data Store 4 Artisan Description Description of Artisan Varchar (200) Base Artisan Data Store 5 First Name First name of contact person at the Artisan organization Varchar (25) Base Artisan Data Store 6 Last Name Last name of contact person at the Artisan organization Varchar (25) Base Artisan Data Store 7 Street Address 1 Address of location of Artisan organization Varchar (60) Base Artisan Data Store 8 Street Address 2 Address of location of Artisan organization Varchar (60) Base Artisan Data Store 9 City City location of Artisan organization Char (32) Base Artisan Data Store 10 State State location of Artisan organization Char (32) Base Artisan Data Store 11 Zip code Zip code of Artisan organization Varchar (32) Base Artisan Data Store 12 Country Country where Artisan organization is based Varchar (60) Base Artisan Data Store 13 Phone Number Phone number of Artisan organization Numeric Base Artisan Data Store 14 Email Address Email address of Artisan organization Varchar (60) Base Artisan Data Store 15 Artisan Pictures Picture files of Artisan organization Ole Object Base Artisan Data Store 16 Amount Paid Amount of monthly sales proceeds paid to Artisan Numeric Base Artisan Data Store 17 Monthly Payment Status Displays if payment has been made to Artisan Group Char (32) Derived Artisan Data Store 18 Date Created Date the product is cataloged DATETIME Base Inventory Data Store 19 Product ID Identification number that Char (32) Base Inventory Data Artisan Connect 2 3
- 24. Identifies the product Store 20 Product Name Name of product Varchar (60) Base Inventory Data Store 21 Product Category Category of product Varchar (60) Base Inventory Data Store 22 Product Description Description of product Varchar (200) Base Inventory Data Store 23 Product Color Color of product Varchar (60) Base Inventory Data Store 24 Product Size Dimension measurements of product (in inches or cm) Varchar (60) Base Inventory Data Store 25 Product Pictures Pictures of product Ole object Base Inventory Data Store 26 Product Price Price of product Numeric Base Inventory Data Store 27 Date Joined Date when customer signed up for account Char (32) Base Inventory Data Store 28 Customer ID Identification number to Identify customer account Char (32) Base Customer Data Store 29 Customer Username Username to log in to customer account Varchar (60) Base Customer Data Store 30 Customer Password Password set to log in to customer account Char (32) Base Customer Data Store 31 First Name Customer’s first name Varchar (25) Base Customer Data Store 32 Last Name Customer ‘s last name Varchar (25) Base Customer Data Store 33 Street Address 1 Customer’s residential address Varchar (60) Base Customer Data Store 34 Street Address 2 Customer’s residential address Varchar (60) Base Customer Data Store Artisan Connect 2 4
- 25. 35 City Customer’s city of residence Char (32) Base Customer Data Store 36 State Customer’s state of residence Char (32) Base Customer Data Store 37 Zip code Customer’s residential zip code Varchar (32) Base Customer Data Store 38 Country Country location of Customer Varchar (60) Base Customer Data Store 39 Phone Number Customer’s phone number Numeric Base Customer Data Store 40 Email Address Customer’s email address Varchar (60) Base Customer Data Store 41 Credit Card Number Customer’s credit card information Numeric Base Customer Data Store 42 Credit Card Type Identifies if it’s Mastercard, Visa or American Express Char (32) Base Customer Data Store 43 CVC Number Customer’s credit card’s CVC number Numeric Base Customer Data Store 44 Credit Card Expiration Date Customer’s credit card’s expiration date Numeric Base Customer Data Store 45 Transaction Date Date transaction is created and processed DATETIME Base Order Data Store 46 Transaction ID Identification number to Identify the transaction Char (32) Base Order Data Store 47 Shipping Address 1 Customer’s preferred shipping address Varchar (60) Base Shipping Data Store 48 Shipping Address 2 Customer’s preferred shipping address Varchar (60) Base Shipping Data Store 49 City Customer’s preferred shipping address Char (32) Base Shipping Data Store 50 State Customer’s preferred shipping address Char (32) Base Shipping Data Store Artisan Connect 2 5
- 26. 51 Zip code Customer’s preferred shipping address Varchar (32) Base Shipping Data Store 52 Country Customer’s preferred shipping address Varchar (60) Base Shipping Data Store 53 Shipping Tracking Number Tracking number of shipment Varchar (60) Base Shipping Data Store 54 Shipping Status Status on shipment Varchar (60) Derived Shipping Data Store 55 Date Created Date when the promotion is created DATETIME Base Promotions Data Store 56 Promotions ID Identification number to identify promotion created Char (32) Base Promotions Data Store 57 Promotions Title Title of the promotion created Varchar (60) Base Promotions Data Store 58 Promotions Description Description details of the promotion created Varchar (200) Base Promotions Data Store 59 Promotions Picture Images used in the promotion created Ole Object Base Promotions Data Store Artisan Connect 2 6
- 28. Customers View – Home Page Customers View – Product Page Customers View – Cart Artisan Connect 2 8
- 31. Future Enhancements As the site starts to attract a customer base and gains site traffic momentum, the system needs to evolve to meet future requirements. In anticipation of demand and growth in the foreseeable future, the initial version needs to be built on to include the following features as part of its roadmap. One of the future enhancements proposed is to include promotion code functionality. This feature will be a good opportunity to promote sales during the numerous holiday seasons. When the number of customers start growing, there will be a good amount of customer data that will be captured by the system. This data will provide good insights to identify customer purchasing trends based on past shopping activities. At this point, it would be good to use this data to push out product recommendations to consumers using analytics logarithm built into the system. Future version of the system should also include a search capability giving customers an optimized way to use the site. Customers will be able to search by products, region, artisans and more. This feature will be extremely useful when the catalog of products sold on the site starts to increase rapidly. Artisan Connect 3 1
- 33. Artisan Connect 3 3