System Request West Gulf Marine Web Site Khoa Huynh Sosheel Saleem

System Request – West Gulf Marine Web Site Project Sponsor: Steven Futrell, Project Sponsor: Steven Futrell, Vice-President of Marketing Vice-President of Marketing

Outline  Background  Business need  Business requirement  Business value  Special issues

Background – West Gulf Marine West Gulf Marine was established in 2000, located in Houston, Texas. We supply merchant vessels on the gulf coast from Corpus Christi to New Orleans. After 6 years, we are ready to expand our business through more aggressive marketing and would like to fine tune our operational procedures.

Business Need Project is being established to make marketing to overseas contacts simpler, more efficient and to reduce manpower hours related to sales and data entry. Project is being established to make marketing to overseas contacts simpler, more efficient and to reduce manpower hours related to sales and data entry. Current marketing is labor intensive with one on one contact with each ship captain or owner by , fax, & phone. Current marketing is labor intensive with one on one contact with each ship captain or owner by , fax, & phone. In addition, West Gulf needs a standard method of providing rebates/discounts for customer purchases. In addition, West Gulf needs a standard method of providing rebates/discounts for customer purchases.

Business Requirements Clients need to be able to use a web based shopping application to search and place orders for inventory based on departments (provisions, deck, galley supplies, engine, and bonded stores, services). Furthermore, the web application will provide the following functionality: Clients need to be able to use a web based shopping application to search and place orders for inventory based on departments (provisions, deck, galley supplies, engine, and bonded stores, services). Furthermore, the web application will provide the following functionality:  Introduce company and explain services and products available  Enable quoting prices/discounts (for the ships particular requirements) according to that ship owner’s particular type of payment option (cash on delivery, 30/60 day payment, etc.)  Create an invoice for the purchases made. Send a confirmation of the purchase order via .

Business Requirements  Store Customer purchases in order to keep track of loyal clients and provide reward rebate/discount programs.  Provide automatic metric conversions from scientific to standard and vise versa  Enable automatic price quote adjustments based on case lot size of product purchased.  automate conversion of international product descriptions to our standard product description.  Data base storing information on products, vendors, customers, invoices, departments.

Business Value (tangible) Decrease staff salary by $130,000 a year The average time for data entry for a typical purchase is 8 hours. Yearly salary spent on data entry is $15,360 per clerk. West gulf marine employs two clerks for data entry thus spending roughly $30,000 a year. The average time for data entry for a typical purchase is 8 hours. Yearly salary spent on data entry is $15,360 per clerk. West gulf marine employs two clerks for data entry thus spending roughly $30,000 a year. We expect that staff reduction of ship chandlers will be made from 3 employees to just one, due to the decrease in time a ship chandler will spend in advertising and promoting the company. The ship chandlers make an average of $50,000 a year, thus reducing staff salary of $100,000 a year. We expect that staff reduction of ship chandlers will be made from 3 employees to just one, due to the decrease in time a ship chandler will spend in advertising and promoting the company. The ship chandlers make an average of $50,000 a year, thus reducing staff salary of $100,000 a year. Decrease communication costs by $54,000 We expect lower communication costs for expensive overseas contact which is currently $25/minute for satellite phone calls. the current monthly bill is $4000-$5000 a month, thus saving $54,000 a year. We expect lower communication costs for expensive overseas contact which is currently $25/minute for satellite phone calls. the current monthly bill is $4000-$5000 a month, thus saving $54,000 a year.

Business Value (intangible) Increased customer satisfaction Increased customer satisfaction Less time spent confirming price quotes Less time spent confirming price quotes Participation in reward rebate programs Participation in reward rebate programs

Special Issues Prices are updated often, but because of the type of product (perishables), the prices are subject to market adjustments Prices are updated often, but because of the type of product (perishables), the prices are subject to market adjustments In order to stay competitive with other marine supply stores which already have a web site, the web site should be in production within 6 months from project initiation. In order to stay competitive with other marine supply stores which already have a web site, the web site should be in production within 6 months from project initiation.