You are an RD running a weight-loss and healthy eating program at a local endocrinologist’s office. This three-month program consists of once-weekly private, one-on-one nutrition counseling sessions with you, as well as once-weekly group meetings where you lead a discussion on a topic relevant to healthy eating and physical activity. It costs $600 to enroll in the three-month program. Currently, you have 20 clients enrolled, all direct referrals from the endocrinologist’s practice. The program is designed to appeal to both men and women, ages 18 and up.

The endocrinologist would like to grow this wellness program and expand it beyond her own client pool. Not only do you have to market the program to attract new clients but also create marketing tools that will keep current clients interested and possibly spur them to re-enroll beyond three months if needed. This takes time, and you are the only RD managing the program, plus counseling clients.

You need to consider your competition. This includes not only other dietitians in your area but weight-loss companies that are well known and cheaper, such as Weight Watchers. One advantage is that your program may be covered by some insurance plans, mostly for cases where clients have diabetes.

Another consideration is that you have little experience with marketing. You do know how powerful marketing can be to help build the practice. You have a limited budget that will not allow for advertising on TV, radio, or in local newspapers. In addition, the endocrinologist does not use or understand social media such as Facebook. She feels the program can grow successfully by word-of-mouth alone and that marketing may not be necessary. You must figure out a way to create buzz about the program to get potential clients in the door within budgetary constraints.

1. What are your challenges in marketing this weight-loss program? What are some things you may be unsure of in this marketing process?

2. Using information from your text about brand image, identify a “brand image” for your weight-loss program. Be creative in coming up with a name for the program, potential slogan, brand logo, and other branding ideas.

3. What marketing tools will you use? Consult your text and the three websites listed at the beginning of this case study. Also use any of your own knowledge on topics such as social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter). List each marketing tool and your rationale for choosing that particular tool. Be sure to include a mix of traditional marketing tools and new ones such as social media. For each tool:

• Explain what the tool is and why you are using it.
• What audience do you plan to target with this tool?
• Draft an example of the actual tool, or an outline of what content will be included in the tool.
• How do you plan to measure the success of this tool

4.outline a timeline for rolling out your marketing plan

5. identify some tools you will use for current clients to keep them interested in the program and returning for more nutrition services as needed.

6. Describe how you will evaluate and measure the success of your program and your return on investment (ROI) for each marketing tool used in order to determine whether they are cost-effective enough to be used again. Brainstorm ideas on your own and consult Step 5 (“Evaluation”) of the Social Marketing for Nutrition and Physical Activity web course.

Once you have the dataset, please use knowledge gained in other business and/or economics classes to realize what topic and theory the data could relate and a research question that it could allow you to answer. More specifically, please put together an analysis by making sure your project report includes the following:

1. Brief statement of the research topic and problem. As you get the dataset from me, you would need to use some imagination what research problem that data could be related to. Nevertheless, please state very briefly (i.e. in one paragraph) what theory (research literature or textbooks related to business or economics) says about the research problem – e.g. is there some dilemma or controversy that your research will help to clarify.
2. Clearly worded research question that limits the research problem to researchable task. (This is a short sentence that ends with the question mark and it is suggested that you draw from theory (research literature / textbook knowledge) in one of the business studies field to word it!)
3. Please identify the type of data that you are working with – on what type of measurement scale(s) where the selected variables measured by the original data collectors. (As you work with the dataset given by me, use your educated guess).
4. Describe the data with the tools of descriptive statistics, using both numerical as well as graphical methods. In addition to reporting and commenting on the values central tendency and diagrams, please also justify the choice of method (e.g. why a particular kind of measure of central tendency was selected and the chosen graphic is appropriate to use in this context).
5. Justify the selection of the specific data analysis method of inferential statistics. Recommendation – use the decision tree (introduced in Ch. 9ff) to make the selection and justification of it. You should look up also the assumptions and comment how your data meets them but I will not penalize you if it does not meet all the criteria. Nevertheless, please make sure that you include the basic information about distribution of the variables – are they more or less normally distributed (use both numerical as well as graphical methods). It is required that you restrict the choice of data analysis method(s) to the ones introduced in the class. (In addition to the fact that we covered only the most basic / frequently used methods in class, also the spreadsheet program (Excel) which the textbook is based on and that I presented during the course, has limited set of methods available).
6. Formulate the null and research (alternative) hypothesis – similarly to point 2 it is recommended that you word them on the basis of research literature / textbook knowledge in one of the business studies field that you know);
7. Determine the test criteria:

7.1. Specify the level of significance (Type I error associated with the null hypothesis),

7.2. Determine the test statistic (the appropriate statistical test as mentioned under point 5 above),

7.3. Determine the critical values (and region(s) if applicable),

8. Calculate the value of the test statistic (obtained value).
9. Make a decision about the null and research hypothesis by comparing the obtained value to the critical value and interpret the results of the data. You can pay attention also to the p-values.
10. Sum up you research report by relating the statistical test result(s) to the research question and theory that you set to test.

Retail operations and retail inventory ‘Splash Out The Back’ began business on 1 November 2019. The business has been set up as a partnership between Mr. and Mrs. Fisher. It operates an online store, selling inflatable swimming pools to the public, for use in back yards. The business began by selling one particular model of inflatable swimming pool but will look to expand the product lines that it sells within the next year. The business is registered for GST. The following transactions occurred during November 2019:
Date Details
1 Nov Mr. and Mrs. Fisher deposited $20,000 into the business bank account ($10,000 each).
1 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ rented a small warehouse for the business, to store inventory that is purchased. The warehouse rent costs $330 per month (including GST). ‘Splash Out The Back’ pays the landlord $990 from the bank account, for rent for November, December, and January.
8 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ purchased 30 of the inflatable swimming pools on account for $88 per pool, including GST, from the pool manufacturer, Intex Pools Ltd. Intex Pools Ltd also charged a delivery fee on the invoice of $55, including GST (to deliver the swimming pools to ‘Splash Out The Back’). The invoice is due for payment on 20 November.
15 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ paid the invoice from Intex Pools Ltd (for purchases made on 8 November) from the business bank account.
16 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ sold 12 of the swimming pools via its online store, at $165 each (including GST). All of the customers paid by Paypal and the money was received in the business bank account by the end of the day. Note: ‘Splash Out The Back’ does not pay any PayPal fees when customers pay by PayPal.
20 Nov One of the customers who purchased a swimming pool on 16 November returned their swimming pool for a refund. The swimming pool was returned in an original, brand new condition (unopened). The customer paid for the freight to return the swimming pool, and ‘Splash Out The Back’ refunded the customer $165 from the business bank account.
22 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ purchased 40 of the inflatable swimming pools on account for $99 per pool, including GST, from the pool manufacturer, Intex Pools Ltd. Intex Pools Ltd also charged a delivery fee on the invoice of $55, including GST, to deliver the swimming pools to ‘Splash Out The Back’. The invoice is due for payment on 5 December.
23 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ had a 24-hour sale, and sold 34 of the swimming pools via its online store, at $143 each (including GST). All of the customers paid by Paypal and the money was received in the business bank account by the end of the day.
25 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ was contacted by a primary school. The primary school wanted to purchase 10 of the inflatable swimming pools for their school water fun day. ‘Splash Out The Back’ agreed to sell 10 of the swimming pools to the primary school for $154 each (including GST). The sale was made on credit terms of 2/10, n/30.
27 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ received the money in the business bank account from the primary school that purchased swimming pools on 25 November. The amount received was the invoiced amount, less the sales discount.
30 Nov Mrs. Fisher accidentally damaged one of the swimming pools in the warehouse, and the swimming pool needs to be written off.
30 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ received an invoice from Telstra (for telephone and internet used by the business), with an amount payable of $88 (including GST). The due date for payment is 16 December.
30 Nov ‘Splash Out The Back’ received an invoice from Australia Post for postage costs re. delivering swimming pools to customers. Australia Post charges $9.90 postage per swimming pool delivered (including GST). The invoice is due for payment on 20 December.
Mr & Mrs. Fisher don’t have any experience keeping inventory and accounting records. They have come to you for assistance.

Required:
i. Prepare a business report*for ‘Splash Out The Back’ to help the owners understand the different inventory accounting systems (periodic and perpetual), and costing methods (specific unit cost; first-in-first-out (FIFO); last-in-first-out (LIFO); and average cost methods). In your report, also discuss any advantages and disadvantages of these different systems and methods. Given your knowledge of the business and your knowledge of the regulatory requirements that will apply to ‘Splash Out The Back’, include a recommendation on the inventory system and costing method/s that ‘Splash Out The Back’ should consider adopting. (Word guide: 1,000 words)

ii. Prepare Excel worksheets for the swimming pools for November using the perpetual inventory system and the FIFO, LIFO, and average-cost methods. In your spreadsheets, keep track of the number of swimming pools purchased, swimming pools sold, swimming pools on hand, cost of goods sold, and gross profit made.

iii. Now assume that ‘Splash Out The Back’ has adopted the perpetual inventory system and the FIFO costing method. Prepare journal entries (including any adjusting entries) for all of the business’s transactions for November. Include dates, references, and narrations. (4.5 marks)

iv. Prepare T-accounts in an Excel spreadsheet, and post all of the above journal entries
to the T-accounts. Include dates and references for each entry. Total all of the T accounts to determine their balances at the end of November 2019. (1 mark)

v. Prepare the ‘Adjusted Trial Balance’ in an Excel spreadsheet as at 30 November 2019. Use formulas to generate all of the figures in the ‘Adjusted Trial Balance’ from the balances in the T-Accounts. (1 mark)

vi. Prepare the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of changes in equity in Excel. Use formulas to generate all of the figures in the financial statement reports from the ‘Adjusted Trial Balance’.

vii. Assume that ‘Splash Out The Back’ has a year-end date of 30 November. Prepare the closing entries as at 30 November 2019. (1.5 marks)
Please also refer to the 'Requirements' section below for additional submission and spreadsheet requirements. *Note: a business report includes:
• a coverage addressed to your desired audience; • an executive summary(refer to the note below regarding an executive summary); • a table of contents (linked to the headings in the report); • headings and subheadings clearly identify what is being discussed; • conclusion, • recommendations; and • reference list (using APA style - either the 6th or 7th edition). Note: an Executive Summary is not an introduction. An Executive Summary should be an overview of the entire report, including recommendations, and no longer than one (1) page in length. This may be the only page read by busy managers.

The word count guide does not include your:
• cover page; • executive summary; • table of contents; • tables/calculations; and • reference list (in-text citations and reference list).

1. You have just finished a 25-page paper that you have written using Emacs.The file containing the paper is called /assignments/data_sources.After your instructor has briefly looked at the paper, she recommends that you change all instances of the ref- erence “data is” to “data are” before you submit it.Which of the following com- mands can you use to locate these references in the file for a quick assessment of how much you have to change?

a. find - i 'data is' /assignments/data_sources

b. test /assignments/data_sources "data is"

c. grep "data is" /assignments/data_sources

d. scan -t data is /assignments/data_sources

2. You are interested in determining the number of words in your /assignments/ data_sources file mentioned in Question 1.Which of the following commands should you use?

a. wc -w /assignments/data_sources

b. wc -m /assignments/data_sources

c. counter /assignments/data_sources

d. counter -c /assignments/data_sources

3. Which of the following are examples of manipulation and transformation commands? (Choose all that apply.)

a. sed

b. pr

c. join

d. Paste

4. Which of the following is true of the pipe operator? (Choose all that apply.)

a. Only one pipe operator can be used on a single command line.

b. It is used to perform division on the results of a numerical command operator.

c. It is used instead of the colon (:) for entering multiple commands

d. It redirects the output of one command to the input of another command.

5. Because the data was formatted the same in two inventory files, you decided to com- bine their contents into one file. Now you want to determine if there are duplicate entries on consecutive lines in the new file.Which of the following commands enables you to find the duplicate entries?

a. dup

b. pr

c. uniq

d. Cat

6. Your friend is using the command comm entryfile, but is getting an error message. What is the problem? (Choose all that apply.)

a. entryfile contains only numbers, but the comm command must be used on a file with text.

b. It is necessary to use either the -m or -t option with the comm command.

c. entryfile is too long, because the comm command can only be used on a file under

100 KB in size.

d. It is necessary to specify two files when you use the comm command.

7. Your boss is trying to import the customers file into her spreadsheet program, but the data goes into the spreadsheet incorrectly.This is because the fields are separated by dashes (-) and the spreadsheet program requires the fields to be separated by colons (:).Which of the following commands can you use to convert the

customers file?

a. replace - : customers

b. tr "-" ":" < customers

c. sed %- %: > customers

d. cat -r -/: customers

8. How can you link multiple files to manipulate the data in those files?

a. with a linker

b. with a project field

c. with a common or key field

d. with an operator entry

9. While in the Bash shell, you have written a simple script file and now want to execute the script.Which of the following commands enables you to run the script?

a. sh

b. go

c. ex

d. !!

10. You are using the grep command, but it is only searching through files in your imme- diate home directory.What option enables you to search through subdirectories below your home directory?

a. -s

b. --sub

c. -c

d. -r

11. Your software has a bug in that it enables you to create a vendors file in which there are duplicate entries of vendors.Which of the following methods enables you to remove the duplicate vendors in this text file?

a. Sortthefileandthenusethecommcommandtoremovetheduplicates,inputtingthe result into the same file.

b. Sort the file in reverse order and then use the dump command to remove the duplicates.

c. Sort the file and then use the uniq command to remove the duplicates, inputting the result in a new file.

d. Reverse sort the file, use the join command, and output the results back into the vendors file.

12. Each time you list the files in your home directory, the output scrolls by so fast you can’t read it.Which of the following enables you to view the output one screen at a time?

a. cat -pause

b. ls -l | more

c. window ls -a

d. dir < display

13. You are creating a file to send over the Internet via a satellite connection that only allows you to send files under 250 KB.Which of the following commands enables you to determine the number of bytes in the file before you try to send it?

a. cat -s

b. tr -b

c. counter -k

d. wc -c

14. In the command sed -f fixit notes > instructions, what is “fixit”?

a. a script file

b. an operator

c. a function

d. a formatting interpreter

15. When you design a record layout, you should do which of the following? (Choose all that apply.)

a. identify each field by data type

b. plan to delimit fields using a dash

c. identify each field by name

d. store only fields relevant to the record’s purpose

16. What sed command option enables you to append new text to a file?

a. p

b. -n

c. a\

d. |add

17. Your boss has two salary scale files, salary and salary1, and wants to compare their contents side by side to see if there are any differences in the files.Which of the fol- lowing commands should he use?

a. diff -S salary > salary1

b. comm salary salary1

c. uniq salary < salary1

d. sed --comp salary salary1

18. When you use the pr command how can you limit the output to only a screen full of text to view. (Choose all that apply.)

a. Maximize your terminal window to hold 24 lines.

b. Pipe the output into more.

c. Use the -l 23 option.

d. Pipe the less command into the more command.

19. When you use the Awk printf capability, what does the dollar sign ($) represent?

a. a field size limit

b. a multiplier

c. a command to put text in lowercase

d. a data field

20. Your boss is trying to delete the word “difficult” as it appears in a text file containing his speech about motivation.The name of the file is motivate.When he decides to use the tr command to delete this word, it instead deletes characters throughout the text.Which of the following commands is he likely to have used?

a. tr -d "difficult" < motivate

b. tr difficult motivate

c. tr -o 'difficult' > motivate

d. tr --eliminate difficult motivate

21. When you enter the command grep Linux /info/Linux_ features | head, what is the maximum number of lines that will be displayed?

a. 24 lines

b. 23 lines

c. 15 lines

d. 10 lines

22. List four examples of selection commands.

23. What is the general format for using the pipe operator?

24. Briefly explain what you can accomplish with the sed command.

25. You want to create a file of your friends’ and relatives’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, and other information.When you mention this to your sister-in-law, she recommends having separate fields for the first, middle, and last names. Briefly explain why this is a good idea.

Lab 12 - If y cn rd ths, y cn b a gd prgrmmr.

In this lab, you will explore String manipulation by removing characters from Strings. Even with many characters removed, it is still possible too get the meaning. While this isn’t exactly lossy compression, it does show you that even with information removed, you can still understand what you are looking at even if the quality is not the same.

Step 0: Constant

Create a public static final String called VOWELS at the topic of your class. Initialize it to “aeiouAEIOU”. You will use this later.

Step 1: lettersAndWhitespaceOnly(String)

For this method, you will take in a message, and keep only letters and whitespace. Everything else (numbers, punctuation, etc) will be removed. So for example

String value = lettersAndWhitespaceOnly("The number 42 is a number that is popular due to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.")

would set value equal to

"The number  is a number that is popular due to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy"

While

String value = lettersAndWhitespaceOnly("!@!(*&(*&)!(!x*@)9191828101")

would set the value equal to

"x"

Writing lettersAndWhitespaceOnly

For this method, we already gave you the method stub, so you will only need to write a loop.

To help the loop conditions are from 0 to the length of the String, so as follows:

for(int i = 0; i < message.length(); i++) {
   // do something here
}

You will then want to check the character at that location, to see if it is a letter or whitespace and if it is, add it too the return string.

Some helpful methods are:

• .charAt(index)
• Character.isWhitespace(char)
• Character.isLetter(char)
• Zybooks Chapter on Character

Step 2: removeWhiteSpace(String)

For this method, you will take in a message, and remove all whitespace from the message. Imeanwecanallreadwithoutwhitespace - ok, let’s try that again. We can all read without whitespace.

In either case, this is a nice warm up, that will help for the other methods.

Writing removeWhiteSpace(String)

You will start off with a very similar loop as the last method, and instead of looking for whitespace and letters - you will only need to look for whitespace. The difference is:

• If you find whitespce - DON’T Add it to the return String
• everything else, add it!

Step 3: hasCharacter(char, String)

This is your first helper method for the lossy compression, and will make it easier to work getting this one right. The goal is to take a character, and check to see if that character is in a group of characters. For example, is x in the AeiOu? You know that it isn’t, so the method should return false.

Start thinking of ways that you can solve this problem, and then you can start writing after you get an idea.

Writing hasCharacter(char, String)

First, you will need to write the method signature. If you look at the comments there is a good spot to add it. The hasCharacter method is a public static method that returns a boolean value. It needs to take in a character and String as parameters in that order. You can call them what you want, but I called my character x and my string group (ok, maybe not the best names for each…)

Second, you will want to go through the String to see if the character from the parameter exists in the String. You can do this either with a loop and charAt, or you can do it with .contains (group.contains()). I found using the built in String method to be easier.

Step 4: stringShortener(String, String)

Next, you will want to find the comments just above the main method - the ones for the 2 parameter stringShortner method. You will work on this one first, and then go back up to the one parameter version.

This method is your lossy compression! (finally!). The goal is to write a method that takes in a String, and removes all characters that show up in the second string passed in. It will keep a character if it is the start of a word (i.e. following a space)

For example

You can be a good programmer, if you can read this.

would return if VOWELS was used as the list of characters to remove

Y cn b a gd prgrmmr, if y cn rd ths.

Writing stringShortener(String, String)

• First write the method signature. It is a public static method that returns a String, and takes in two String parameters - a message and a group of characters to remove as a String - in that order.

• You will then need to create an empty String like was created in the first two methods you wrote. This is the same String you will return. Hint: I would compile here, just to make sure it is compiling.

• Next, loop through the first String (your message), and check to see if the character at position i is in your group of characters to remove. Hint use hasCharacter! If it is NOT in that group, OR if the character before your current location is a space (the tricky part), then you add it to the the rtn string.

It may be easier to ignore the ‘space’ rule, and get it working. You will then want to try it again, figuring out the space condition. Remember, prototype and repeat tirelessly.

Step 5: stringShortener(String)

Now go up into your code that talks about a stringShortener that only takes in 1 parameter. This is your chance to practice method overloading.

The goal is to assume the default group to remove is VOWELS, as really, who needs vowels when you are writing?

Writing stringShortener(String)

• First write the method signature. It is the same as the other stringShortener, but only has a String messafe as a parameter

• call stringShortener(String, String) passing in message and VOWELS as your parameter. Return the value returned from that method!

PROVIDED CODE:

public class LossyString {

// ADD CONSTANT HERE

/**
* Keeps both letters and whitespace only. Everything else is removed
* @param message the string that you want to keep letters and whitespace only
* @return the converted string
*/
public static String lettersAndWhitespaceOnly(String message) {
String rtn = "";

// STUDENT CODE HERE
return rtn;
}

/**
* Removes all whitespace from a string
* @param message the string you wish to have space removed
* @return the new string with whitespace removed
*/
public static String removeWhiteSpace(String message) {
String rtn = "";
// STUDENT CODE HERE

return rtn;
}

/**
* hasCharacter(char, String) Helper method for two-parameter {@link #stringShortener(String, String)}.
* This method determines if one character from the source String is included in the characters
* of the String representing all characters to remove. If so, return true.
*
* @param x A character representing one character from the source String.
* @param group A String representing all characters to remove.
* @return A boolean.
*/
//STUDENT CODE HERE

/**
* stringShortener(String) Remove vowels from a string.
* It will use the default {@link #VOWELS} constant variable for the second parameter, as often
* VOWELS removed from words are easy for our mind to replace.
* @param stringToCheck A String representing the String to check for matching characters in.
* @return A new String with matching characters of source String removed.
*/
//STUDENT CODE HERE

/**
* stringShortener(String, String) Remove all characters listed in one String from another String.
* This method does not ignore case and does not remove a character if it is the
* 'start' of a word after a space.
* i.e.
* <pre>
* You can be a good programmer, if you can read this.
*
* Y cn b a gd prgrmmr, if y cn rd ths.
* </pre>
* @param stringToCheck A String representing the String to check for matching characters.
* @param charsToRemove A String representing the String of characters to remove.
* @return A String with characters removed.
* @see #hasCharacter(char, String)
*/
// STUDENT CODE HERE

public static void main(String[] args) {

}

}

Chapter 11 Process Analysis and Resource Utilization - Chapter Review

Bourbon County Court

“Why don’t they buy another copying machine for this office? I waste a lot of valuable time fooling with this machine when I could be preparing my legal cases,” noted Mr. H.C. Morris, as he waited in line. The self-service copying machine was located in a small room immediately outside the entrance of the courtroom. Mr. Morris was the county attorney. He often copied his own papers, as did other lawyers, to keep his legal cases and work confidential. This protected the privacy of his clients as well as his professional and personal ideas about the cases.

He also felt awkward at times standing in line with secretaries, clerks of the court, other attorneys, police officers and sheriffs, building permit inspectors, and the dog warden—all trying, he thought, to see what he was copying. The line for the copying machine often extended out into the hallways of the courthouse.

Mr. Morris mentioned his frustration with the copying machine problem to Judge Hamlet and his summer intern, Dot Gifford. Ms. Gifford was home for the summer and working toward a joint MBA/JD degree from a leading university.

“Mr. Morris, there are ways to find out if that one copying machine is adequate to handle the demand. If you can get the Judge to let me analyze the situation, I think I can help out. We had a similar problem at the law school with word processors and at the business school with student lab microcomputers.”

The next week Judge Hamlet gave Dot the go-ahead to work on the copying machine problem. He asked her to write a management report on the problem with recommendations so he could take it to the Bourbon County Board of Supervisors for their approval. The board faced deficit spending last fiscal year, so the tradeoffs between service and cost must be clearly presented to the board.

Dot’s experience with analyzing similar problems at school helped her know what type of information and data was needed. After several weeks of working on this project, she developed the information contained in Exhibits 11.36, 11.37, and 11.38.

Exhibit 11.36

Bourbon County Court—Customer Arrivals Per Hour (These Data Are Available in the Worksheet Bourbon County Court Case Data in MindTap.)

*A sample of customer arrivals at the copying machine was taken for five consecutive nine-hour work days plus five hours on Saturday for a total of fifty observations. The mean arrival rate is 8.92 arrivals per hour.

Exhibit 11.37

Bourbon County Court—Copying Service Times (These Data Are Available in the Worksheet Bourbon County Court Case Data in MindTap.)

*A sample of customers served at the copying machine was taken for five consecutive nine-hour work days plus five hours on Saturday for a total of fifty observations. The average service time is 0.0917 hours per copying job or 5.499 minutes per job. The equivalent service rate is 10.91 jobs per hour (i.e., ).

Exhibit 11.38

Bourbon County Court—Cost and Customer Mix

*The mix of customers standing in line was collected at the same time as the data in the other case exhibits. Direct wages do include employee benefits but not work opportunity costs or ill-will costs, etc.

Dot was not quite as confident in evaluating this situation as others because the customer mix and associated labor costs seemed more uncertain in the county courthouse. In the law school situation, only secretaries used the word processing terminals; in the business school situation, students were the ones complaining about long waiting times to get on a microcomputer terminal. Moreover, the professor guiding these two past school projects had suggested using queueing models for one project and simulation for the other project. Dot was never clear on how the method of analysis was chosen. Now, she wondered which methodology she should use for the Bourbon County Court situation.

To organize her thinking, Dot listed a few of the questions she needed to address as follows:

1. Assuming a Poisson arrival distribution and an exponential service time distribution, apply queueing models to the case situation and evaluate the results.

2. What are the economics of the situation using queueing model analysis?

3. What are your final recommendations using queueing model analysis.

4. Advanced Question: Do the customer arrival and service empirical (actual) distributions in the case match the theoretical distributions assumed in queueing models?

You have been hired as consultants to design and implement a widespread security initiative for a rapidly expanding global eCommerce corporation with two websites and locations in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris and Johannesburg. Business is good! In the next three months, the corporation will be acquiring another company in a different line of business with plans to offer products for sale online.

Part of your role is to recommend the best way for integrating both environments. However, not much information is available about the IT setup for the company being acquired. The other company might even have a mix of different operating environment – it is unclear since the IT staff in that company is not very communicative.

Some critical staff members in the other company are not happy with the upcoming merger and have sworn to be as uncooperative as possible. In particular, the Network Manager for the other company is a difficult personality – plans have been afoot to fire him but unfortunately he is the only one who knows the network architecture completely and he is not willing to share. You must find out everything about the new environment and propose specifics on how to seamlessly integrate both environments

In the initial conversation with executives of the global company, you realize that the company does not have a security policy. After much discussion, they have agreed that you should come up with a detailed security policy customized for the company.

In a follow-up meeting with the executives and IT staff of the global corporation, you are also assigned the task of identifying two (2) security audit tools (vulnerability/web scanners), two (2) intrusion detection systems and two (2) network firewall products that would be suitable for the global company. You are to test and describe the features of selected security solutions, indicating (a) which you prefer and (b) providing convincing rationale for why you prefer a specific solution in each category. In other words, you are to evaluate two products for each category and recommend one, giving the reasons for your choice.

Salient points: The new corporate acquisition will increase the total number of computers under you IT department’s care to about 60,000 computers and network devices. The exact number is not clear: even the management at the other company is not sure of the number of systems in that network because of the difficulty in finding out the specifics about the company being acquired.

From the little information that has been gleaned from the other company, it appears to run a mixture of a peer-to-peer network and the domain model. Part of the decision you would have to make would be how the integrated environments would be networked: you have been given the discretion to come up with the design and budget (subject to approval, of course) for the overall security initiative, covering (1) the security policy, (2) network audit to determine what devices and data are being protected, (3) seamless integration between the merging companies, (4) recommendation for IDS system(s), (5) recommendations for security audit tools (web/vulnerability scanners) and (6) recommendation for network firewall device(s).   

Deliverables:

The Security Policy Document (You can adapt an Acceptable Use Policy document from www.sans.org)

An eight-page paper in Microsoft Word double-spaced describing how you would go about implementing the overall security initiative for the company, including a budget. Breakdown:

1 page summary of your overall strategy

1 pages of information security-related recommendations for integrating both corporate environments

1 page for the IDS

1 page for the web/vulnerability scanners

1 page for the network firewall device(s)

1 page of your overall conclusions showing demonstrating you grasp of information security best practices and current trends

1 page for budget  

1 page of references

You determine the format. I would like you to use some computer application, not pen and paper. I would suggest WORD for any analysis comments and EXCEL for any spreadsheet analysis (Horizontal/Vertical) You are analyzing a company from a financial standpoint and comparing them to another company. Make it easy for us to read and understand. Make a recommendation to deal with this company or not based on your analysis. Choose a company from the following public companies. That means they trade their stock on a major stock exchange to anyone. TARGET, COSTCO, MACYS, NORDSTROM, WALLMART, CVS, ALBERTSONS (includes Safeway), AMAZON, OR KOHLS. Go to the company website to get the full financial information. Or just google the company name and 10K. The 10K or the earnings release at the fiscal year end has the financial results. YOU MUST USE A FULL YEAR INCOME STATEMENT. For most you should be able to find the 2019 10K. If not, use the 2018. Look at the Income statement, and balance sheet. If you want to know what the company says about its financial results read the latest financial statement released by the company.

1. Do a Horizontal analysis of the Income Statement and Balance Sheet and a Vertical analysis of the Income Statement using 2019 and 2018 or 2018 and 2017. If you can download into EXCEL that would work great for this. If not, input the numbers into EXCEL or some other spreadsheet program.

2. Tell me a little about the company.What does the company do? What do they sell?Where are they incorporated? Where is their headquarters? Who are their auditors?Who else is in this business? Who are the competitors?Look at their Statement of Cash Flows – did cash go up since last year or down. What caused the largest increases, largest decreases? List the top 3 things causing cash to go up and 3 causing cash to go down.Do the have a positive net income, is it higher than last year? What are the big changes on the income statement from last year?How do they account for inventory – FIFO, LIFO, or Weighted Avg?How do they depreciate their physical assets, straight line or other?Do they have any unearned or deferred revenue?Is their current ratio higher or lower than last year?What is their stock price per share? Is it higher or lower than a year ago?If you could ask the company president 3 questions, what would they be?

3. Choose a second company from the list above. These are all merchandise companies so choose any one you want. Some might have very big differences in their financials because some sell high volume at lower prices and some sell lower volume at higher prices. Analyze the financial results of the 2 companies side by side including the following: (For this, you will need to find the last full year of financial results for your second company, either 2019 or 2018) Current RatioDebt ratio?Quick ratio (to be discussed in class)How much cash do they have? Gross Profit – some don’t calculate it – if so, skip.Profit Margin (Net Income divided by Net Sales or Revenue)Accounts Receivable Turnover, Average days to collect (365/AR turnover)Inventory turnover. How many times in a year do they turn over inventoryWhat is their earnings per share? Or loss?What is their P/E ratio (use a current stock price, like May 15th)If you had the $$$ to invest, which company would you invest in?

Serenity Spa Vacations Inc. (SSV) is a company that specializes in organizing tours of luxury health and wellness spas around the world. During the first four years of its business, SSV experienced modest growth. Just over a year ago, however, the company was featured in an exclusive travel magazine. This, coupled with excellent web reviews and favourable word of mouth, fuelled a period of exponential growth that continues to this day. As there are a number of other well-established companies that offer similar services, SSV’s management knows that to continue its success, it must expand its loyal customer base by providing exemplary service and tours while controlling costs.
SSV’s accounting information system (AIS) currently consists of a purchased accounting software package that has only basic features and cannot be upgraded. It is supplemented by various spreadsheets used to track important information, including payroll, spa availability, bookings in progress, client preferences, and customer ratings of the wellness packages sold.
SSV’s vice-president of operations understands that the company’s current AIS is woefully inadequate and must be replaced with one that permits management to better direct the organization’s activities. The vice-president has requested you, CPA, the company’s chief financial officer, investigate the options that are available and make a recommendation as to how to proceed. The vice-president stated that the criteria considered should include cost, reliability, ability to accommodate continuing growth, reducing duplicative data entry, functionality, and compatibility with online purchases by customers.
You have eight people working for you in the accounting department in two locations and as such know that multi-user capabilities over a networked system are a must.
You are well aware of the inadequacies of the current system and the issues they are causing, and have researched various possibilities. You have narrowed the choice down to three options as described below, all of which meet the criteria of compatibility, multi-user functionality, network capability, and reducing duplicative data entry.

• Commercial package in the cloud (CPC) — SSV can arrange to access a widely used commercial software package for $2,750 per month based on an 18-month rental agreement. Your research suggests that the software package is very reliable, represents a significant improvement over SSV’s exiting AIS, and includes 100% of the identified “must haves” and about 60% of SSV’s “nice to haves.” Arranging access and uploading existing data take about two weeks. When a cloud-computing solution is used, expanding capacity is easily arranged at an additional cost. Moreover, as the host regularly upgrades the system on an ongoing basis, potential obsolescence isn’t a major factor.

• Commercial package purchased (CPP) — SSV can purchase the software package described above for $90,000. Installation of the program and conversion of the existing program will take about six weeks. The expected useful life of the new software is four years. Expanding capacity at a later date is easily accommodated by adding an additional module at a relatively nominal cost.

• Custom-built package (CBP) — You received two quotes from software engineers to custom build a system that meets all of SSV’s identified needs. The first engineer, who is very well known and has an excellent track record in building similar systems, quoted a price of $150,000. She suggests that the system will take about one year to build and install. The second engineer, who is new to the industry, promises delivery in six months at a firm cost of $80,000. The expected useful life of the custom-built software is four years. The system can be expanded at a later date; however, the expansion would have to be a customized solution, designed by a software engineer, at a cost that will likely be substantively higher than acquiring additional capacity for the CPP.

Required:
Make a recommendation to the vice president of operations of SSV.