Competency

• Create a plan to deploy technology solutions in alignment with strategic business needs.

Scenario

North American Transport (NAT) is a fast growing long-haul trucking company that specializes in the delivery of fresh foods to many of the leading fresh-food retail chains across the United States. NAT is based out of Kansas City, Kansas and employees 75 drivers, loaders, mechanics, communications technicians, business developers and managers. NAT’s business plan includes 20% growth per year or 225 employees within 5 years. NAT is also planning on adding additional Fleet Resource Centers in California and Virginia. Fleet Resource Centers are NAT owned service facilities used to maintain the fleet of trucks, vans, trailers, refrigeration etc. Fleet Resource Centers also offer growth and will require resources.

Business Goals for the MIS Architecture:

• An architecture that is flexible and scalable; Company growth is projected to be 20% per year
• An architecture that can rapidly deploy/employ new systems and technology; Agile system development
• An architecture that meets the demands of evolving business processes; Information Technology cannot “hold up” any business process, IT must be adaptable
• An architecture that is easily understood and easy to manage; Minimize IT department footprint. Take advantage of cloud services
• An architecture that is secure; Deploy state-of-the-art security software/hardware

MIS Architecture

Current MIS Architecture Capabilities:

• One 12 port 10 Mb/s switch
• Laptop computers used to support administration with various operating systems
• 1 shared printer
• MS Office 2007
• Exchange Server 2007
• MS SQL on a stand-alone computer
• ADSL broadband Internet 8 Mb/s

Instructions

Create an MIS Architecture Plan

• You will use Microsoft Word to develop a MIS architecture plan that analyzes the current capabilities, lists available resources, aligns capabilities with business objectives in order to identify gaps and recommends IT solutions.
• Your plan must include a Table of Contents and Headers.
• Analyze and explain the current MIS architecture: Discuss bandwidth, speed of service, reliability, scalability, mobility and security.
• Create a list that identifies and outlines existing resources being utilized in the company.
• Discuss the operational objectives of the company using assumptions gained from the scenario.
• Develop a recommendation plan for an improved MIS architecture. Your plan should examine whether or not the current architecture meets the business needs and if not, identify those gaps. Be sure to consider the businesses’ goals and objectives.
• Using software of your choosing (Ex. Power Point or Visio), construct a revamped architecture diagram that meets the needs of the company. Attach your architecture diagram as an appendix.

Resources (if needed)

High Performance Data Network Design: Design Techniques and Tools

Business is booming at your firm! New client projects just keep pouring in. It’s time for you to lead your first big client project, and you will start by selecting a client, identifying the client’s marketing research objective, writing SMART goals to achieve that objective, evaluating the use of quantitative or qualitative marketing research to achieve the objective, and conducting primary and secondary research to gather information for the project.

To complete this assignment, first choose one of the following scenarios:

Scenario 1: Really-Rocking Retailer would like to improve the shopping experience of its customers by offering a more ergonomic and user-friendly shopping cart.

Scenario 2: Snazzy Sneaker Co. wants to launch a new athletic shoe line and needs help determining the key features to include in its new shoe design.

Next, in a minimum of three double-spaced pages (not including the title and references pages), do the following:

1. Identify the scenario you chose and the marketing research objective for that client.
2. Write a minimum of one SMART goal based on the scenario you selected.
3. Explain how quantitative and qualitative marketing research could be used to achieve the objective. State which method is the best choice for your client and explain why.
4. Using an Internet search and/or the library databases recommended in the MAR3250 Course Guide, conduct secondary research to identify 3-4 credible sources of information that could be helpful for the project. Include a screenshot showing the search keywords you used and the search results you obtained from those keywords. List the resources you chose to use for this assignment on an APA-formatted references page.
5. Provide 2-3 examples of the types of primary research methods you would use and discuss the types of information you would seek to collect through marketing research.

Consult the MAR3250 Course Guide for helpful information regarding database search techniques, how to verify credible sources, screenshot instructions, and APA.

Submit your completed assignment by following the directions linked below. Please check the Course Calendar for specific due dates.

Save your assignment as a Microsoft Word document. (Mac users, please remember to append the “.docx” extension to the filename.)