This document outlines a plan to create a website and train staff for a florist business. It identifies problems with the current manual system such as slow customer service, high employee costs, and security issues. The plan is to develop a website to advertise locations, prices and allow online ordering. This will improve efficiency, reduce costs and generate revenue. CCTV cameras will also be installed for security. Networks and servers will connect shops and backup data. Vehicles will aid delivery. The website and technology solutions are expected to improve customer service, security and profits for the florist business.
3. INTRODUCTION
8We were askedtocreate a website andtrainthe staff fora florist.Inthisreportwe have includedthe
problemsassociatedwiththe manual processthe floristwasusinginsellingandadvertisingof his
flowerswhichsome of themwere:people didn’tknow where othershopswere located,there wasslow
handlingof customers,more money wasbeingspentonemployeesdue tocustomercongestion,the
securityof the shopswas prone totheftand how customers couldwaste theirmoneyandresourcesjust
to checkfor the price of the flowerstheywant.
4. CREATIONOFAWEBSITEANDSTAFFTRAININGFORAFLORIST
TASK 1
PLAN
RESOURCES DESCRIPTION QUANTITY COST
Computers These will beneededby
the Programmers who
will design the website
and some tobe usedby
Staff members
10 £4,000
Servers This will be used for
backing up the data if
the data from the
individual computers
gets lost.
Since this Central
Server will be accessed
by the different
branches of the florist
company it can be
networked for remote
access of data and
information.
2 £2,000
Secure Local Area
Network
This will make the
sharing of resources
easy between all the
shops.
The network will have
to be secure so that the
data is transferred
correctly and it is not
contaminated or lost in
the server or individual
computers.
The network has to be
secure from hackers as
well because the florist
company is a business
and un authorized
access to the
businesses data can
generate loses or
Embarrassments. Loses
here can be generated
£8,000
5. by hackers uploading
fraud information like
fraud prices of the
items being sold and
even removing
available items from
the website hence
customerswill optfora
different florist shop.
Hackerscan alsoupload
embarrassingnewsand
media which can repel
customers.
Uninterruptible Power
supply (UPS)
The UPS helps in a way
that when there are
power outages the
machines (computers)
still have power. This
acts as a power backup
and it is important to
have one to prevent
errors from power
failure.
1 £800
Trainees The staff needs to be
trainedforeasyuse and
management of the
website.
£3,000
Internet Will needafastinternet
for the information to
be backed up to the
cloudand for retrieving
the backed information
if needed.
£1,500
Vehicles This will allow the
employeestohave easy
transport to deliver
flowers
£5,200
TOTAL £23,700
6. 2. Description of Problem solving
a) Problem Definition
The way the selling and deliveries of the flowers was physical. In other words, we can say it was
a manual system. This makes the business run slow since workers had to attend to one person
at a time which may take time for a single worker to assist 10 people consecutively. To add on
that, more money is wasted on employees since you need a lot of people as you can have to
cover the many customers you have to sell your flowers to and in turn you end up not making as
much of a profit as you expected.
Many of your customers don’t know where your other shops are, they only know where the big
shop is and this is causing traffic congestion in your main shop and many customers don’t have
time to budget since they cannot access the prices of the flowers before getting to the shop and
many customers waste their money, time and resources in the process.
Most of your money goes to the security detail you have around the shops. You rely on the
security guards a lot because you have so many things to look out for and most of your profit
money goes to the security. To add on the security issue, you can never know if your staff
members (workers) are stealing from you, since you can not monitor them all the time and this
definitely costs you a lot of money without you really knowing what is going on.
Without a website people lack information about the services and the flowers the florist offers
and this lack of information causes people to waste their time and money. This wasteof time and
money also causes customers to bad mouth the business, building a bad reputation. People can’t
acquire flowers around the clock because the people working can’t work for 24hrs a day so the
business loses money from lack of a platform that orders.
b) Identifying selection criteria
The introduction of this website is a very good idea in a sense that it will eliminate this manual
system you have. It will reduce the labor and the money which was used to cover this part and
will be used for some other important things. Since we will add a feature of where your other
shops are located, people will know other close shops you have from their area. They will also be
able to check the prices of the flowers they want before going to the shop which will make it
easier for them to budget and minimize the cost of the resources they might use. This ordering
of flowers online and deliver them to their location is a feature that most of our customers will
like, since they will just sit at home and order the flowers and they will be dropped at their
doorsteps without them moving a single inch.
Talking about the security issue on which we said more money was going to the security detail
and that your staff members(workers) were able to steal from you, this can be dealt with by
installing CCTVinallyour shops .This will reduce the expenses made from the security guards you
employed since you will have cameras in and around all your shops and you’ll not need many
7. security guards as you used to have. Plus, it willbe easyto monitor your staffmembers in whether
they steal money/resources from you.
c). Process of selection (evaluation of solutions)
When we look at the solutions where we have the introduction of a website and installation of
CCTV,the website willbring more business sinceadvertising willbe at large.We willuse platforms
like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to reach out to people letting them know of what we offer.
This way we will acquire some new customers and definitely our profits will be doubled and even
be tripled. Even our customers will have a chance to choose whether to order things online and
be delivered to them and not necessarily going physically to the shops to order and pick them up
by themselves and not waste their resources.
The CCTVwilltighten our security detail which will at leastput our mind at easein worrying about
theft and what not since if the issue of theft happen it can be easily traced and items recovered.
This CCTV being one of a good solution in handling our security systemit also has some negative
effect inwhich we willuse extra money to installthe CCTV.This been saiditis wise to first develop
a website so that everything will be done online and make money of it and later on install the
CCTV for the security part.
d). Statement and details of solution
We will have a network for all our shops giving the employees around the clock access to the
network. The servers cut down cost for our company instead of us buying a space on a host
server. Us having our own vehicles would be time saving on deliveries.
The website will help us in advertisement and if the website is frequently visited, this will
generate some money for the company through advert popups of similar products and saves the
customers time and money.
As we said already the buying of vehicles will surely make it easy for the company to deliver the
ordered flowers and deliver them to the customers’ homes.
The CCTV will tighten our security detail and if the issue of theft happens it can be easily traced
and items recovered in no time.
REFERENCES
Cottrell 276-284- proposes similar approaches to research and critical thinking.
Bearley, W. Corkrum, S and Harvey, T
Wiley publishing Inc, 2009, Networking bible,Indianapolis,Indiana.
Mr. Tonthozo Uledi, 2019, NACIT , Lilongwe.
