Projects
Group Projects
Electronic Commerce Projects
CONTACT INFORMATION: Stephen Haag is the primary author of all the
group projects. If you have any questions or comments, please direct them
to him at .
GROUP PROJECTS OVERVIEW: You can find the Group Projects on pages 286-309.
In all, there are 22 Group Projects; each applies to one or more chapters or
appendices, but you can certainly assign any project at any time during the quarter
or semester after you have covered the appropriate material. At the beginning of
the Instructor’s Manual for each chapter and appendix, you will find our
recommendations concerning which of the projects are best suited.
These are indeed “group” projects, and you should consider assigning 3 to 4
students per group. Most of these projects are not simple; many will
probably require a group of students to work all weekend to get the right
answers. Often times the solutions are not directly outlined in the chapter or
Extended Learning Module, therefore students will have to use either
additional tutorials or Help functions in respect to the application or project
task.
Most of these projects require that your students use existing files of
information which we have provided for you on the instructor CD-ROM. Feel
free to copy the files to your school’s network or distribute them in any way
you see fit. Your students can also connect to our Web site at
www.mhhe.com/haag and choose “Group Projects,” where students will be
able to download the necessary files.
,As you copy the data files to your network or distribute them to your
students, we would provide a word of caution. We have provided you with
solutions files as well – make sure you do not distribute those!
Finally, all files were created using Microsoft Office 2003.
,CASE 1: ASSESSING THE VALUE OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT
Trevor Toy Auto Mechanics
Page 286
THE ISSUE
Trevor Toy Auto Mechanics has grown substantially over the past few years.
Based on various pieces of information, students are asked to help Trevor
improve service and add a level of personalization to his customers.
However, Trevor has no idea who his best customers are, the work that is
being performed, or which mechanic is responsible for the repairs.
THE TECHNOLOGY
Spreadsheet software and a spreadsheet file, TREVOR.xls, which contains 8
columns of information and 750 transactions.
AVAILABLE INFORMATION
Repair information on cars, mechanics, type of repair, hours worked, number
of hours to complete work, cost of parts, total amount charged.
• CUSTOMER # - A unique number assigned to each customer
• CUSTOMER NAME - the name of the customer
• MECHANIC # - a unique number assigned to the mechanic who completed
the work
• CAR TYPE - the type of car on which the work was completed
• WORK COMPLETED - what type of repair was performed on the car
• NUM HOURS - the number of hours it took to complete the work
• COST OF PARTS - the cost of the parts associated with completing the
repair
• TOTAL CHARGE - the amount charged to the customer for the repair
, A PRE-ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION
• Considering the type of analysis to be performed, all the information is important.
• There are several other important pieces of information that your
students will need to derive including:
1. NET REVENUE PER REPAIR = TOTAL CHARGE minus COST OF PARTS
2. MOST FREQUENT CUSTOMERS = COUNT (CUSTOMER #)
• Your students will need to aggregate the above new information in
various ways – by type of repair, by mechanic, and by customer.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If your students are wondering why Trevor Toy
employs 21 employees but only 6 mechanics, alert them to the fact that
Trevor has a paint-and-body shop and an industrial repair division. The
information your students are working with deals with only the car repair
portion of Trevor’s business.
THE ANALYSIS
Your students will need to look carefully at the information and determine
what other information needs to be derived. It is all there in “data” form, but
it needs to be massaged into pertinent and useful information.
We specifically developed the file of information so that there is no absolute
right answer. Your students will certainly be able to make some
recommendations.
Most importantly, you should talk with your students about the ramifications
of their answers. If, for example, they recommend working with only certain
types of cars, what will be the lost revenue? If they recommend eliminating
certain mechanics, what are the ethical and social ramifications?
These are the types of issues the business world deals with on a daily basis.
Group Projects
Electronic Commerce Projects
CONTACT INFORMATION: Stephen Haag is the primary author of all the
group projects. If you have any questions or comments, please direct them
to him at .
GROUP PROJECTS OVERVIEW: You can find the Group Projects on pages 286-309.
In all, there are 22 Group Projects; each applies to one or more chapters or
appendices, but you can certainly assign any project at any time during the quarter
or semester after you have covered the appropriate material. At the beginning of
the Instructor’s Manual for each chapter and appendix, you will find our
recommendations concerning which of the projects are best suited.
These are indeed “group” projects, and you should consider assigning 3 to 4
students per group. Most of these projects are not simple; many will
probably require a group of students to work all weekend to get the right
answers. Often times the solutions are not directly outlined in the chapter or
Extended Learning Module, therefore students will have to use either
additional tutorials or Help functions in respect to the application or project
task.
Most of these projects require that your students use existing files of
information which we have provided for you on the instructor CD-ROM. Feel
free to copy the files to your school’s network or distribute them in any way
you see fit. Your students can also connect to our Web site at
www.mhhe.com/haag and choose “Group Projects,” where students will be
able to download the necessary files.
,As you copy the data files to your network or distribute them to your
students, we would provide a word of caution. We have provided you with
solutions files as well – make sure you do not distribute those!
Finally, all files were created using Microsoft Office 2003.
,CASE 1: ASSESSING THE VALUE OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT
Trevor Toy Auto Mechanics
Page 286
THE ISSUE
Trevor Toy Auto Mechanics has grown substantially over the past few years.
Based on various pieces of information, students are asked to help Trevor
improve service and add a level of personalization to his customers.
However, Trevor has no idea who his best customers are, the work that is
being performed, or which mechanic is responsible for the repairs.
THE TECHNOLOGY
Spreadsheet software and a spreadsheet file, TREVOR.xls, which contains 8
columns of information and 750 transactions.
AVAILABLE INFORMATION
Repair information on cars, mechanics, type of repair, hours worked, number
of hours to complete work, cost of parts, total amount charged.
• CUSTOMER # - A unique number assigned to each customer
• CUSTOMER NAME - the name of the customer
• MECHANIC # - a unique number assigned to the mechanic who completed
the work
• CAR TYPE - the type of car on which the work was completed
• WORK COMPLETED - what type of repair was performed on the car
• NUM HOURS - the number of hours it took to complete the work
• COST OF PARTS - the cost of the parts associated with completing the
repair
• TOTAL CHARGE - the amount charged to the customer for the repair
, A PRE-ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION
• Considering the type of analysis to be performed, all the information is important.
• There are several other important pieces of information that your
students will need to derive including:
1. NET REVENUE PER REPAIR = TOTAL CHARGE minus COST OF PARTS
2. MOST FREQUENT CUSTOMERS = COUNT (CUSTOMER #)
• Your students will need to aggregate the above new information in
various ways – by type of repair, by mechanic, and by customer.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If your students are wondering why Trevor Toy
employs 21 employees but only 6 mechanics, alert them to the fact that
Trevor has a paint-and-body shop and an industrial repair division. The
information your students are working with deals with only the car repair
portion of Trevor’s business.
THE ANALYSIS
Your students will need to look carefully at the information and determine
what other information needs to be derived. It is all there in “data” form, but
it needs to be massaged into pertinent and useful information.
We specifically developed the file of information so that there is no absolute
right answer. Your students will certainly be able to make some
recommendations.
Most importantly, you should talk with your students about the ramifications
of their answers. If, for example, they recommend working with only certain
types of cars, what will be the lost revenue? If they recommend eliminating
certain mechanics, what are the ethical and social ramifications?
These are the types of issues the business world deals with on a daily basis.
