Moore Skateboards Inc
Moose Skateboard Inc. has been one of the major innovators in the skateboard industry for the past twenty years. Its founders, Ben and Bob Drew had started off as a couple of college graduates developing products for skateboarders across the southwest. Their original designs came from skateboards they had built for themselves. They had long been known as innovators who are always on the cutting edge of technology and performance. Their skateboards are preferred by those interested in the most complicated tricks and advanced maneuvers. They have sold their product primarily over the telephone with an 800 telephone number. They ship the product directly from their manufacturing facility to the customer and have never had a strong retail presence outside of their one store in Glendale, Arizona.
More of their customers are asking about the Moose Skateboard web site. They put a website up on the Internet two years ago mostly so that their customers could see their product for the orders done over the phone. They are now getting more and more customers who would like to purchase the skateboards directly from the website. Both Ben and Bob think that selling their products on the web site is very consistent with the focus of technology they have built into their skateboards. They believe most of their customers are techno savvy and would have no difficulty placing an order over the Internet. The business problem presented in this case study surrounds the programming activities necessary for Moose Skateboard to supply e-commerce capabilities to customers.
Bob in Ben are creative people and a Ben especially has taken an interest in the Internet. They are undecided if they want to hire a person to help them develop their website operation or if they want to have the programming serviced out or outsourced. Since they've always been in direct control of their product and because their personality is reflected in their product line, they are leaning towards hiring a new person to work directly with Ben in making sure that the web sites theme is consistent with the theme they have long used with their product. They have decided to hire you to help Ben with the Internet programming.
Because of the cost savings related to this type of selling, Ben and Bob are hoping that many of their existing customers will not take advantage of the website over the toll free telephone lines currently used to buy skateboards. They also believe that this new web site might attract customers outside of the southwest which has always been where most customers live.
The company is privately held as a partnership between Ben and Bob. Their business has been successful and they have a significant line of credit that their bank for any additional money necessary to see the skateboard web site off the ground.
Exercise:
1. Explain to Ben why SDLC and the Program Development Process are important to the projects success.
2. List the people (by job description ex, salesman, buyer, etc.) at Ben's and Bob's business that would be needed to interview to gather the systems requirements. What questions might you ask them?
3. Since many on Moosehead staff are new to technology, provide a definition and example of (1) program logic and (2) the role of programs so they will understand what you will be doing to create the system and how they might help.