Joseph Hankins 5071
(a) (i) - Definition – nature of the problem to be investigated
Nature of the organisation – ‘Toppe Croute’
‘Toppe Croute’ was originally a small sandwich delivery business based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, which employed around 4 people. However the owner, Guy Hankins, decided to change the business into a buffet service. Originally the sandwich delivery service did not require a database as it only involved a small number of customers that were the same for a number of years. The buffet delivery service involves taking orders of food and drinks for a client and putting on the buffet at a particular venue at a specified time and date.
The client – Mr Guy Hankins
The organisation is run and owned by Guy Hankins. He works from home to produce the food along with his wife and two other employees. Other tasks Guy has to complete involve advertising the business, receiving orders and managing the financial accounts of the business. I will be working closely with Guy throughout the project to ensure that I gather all the relevant information in order to produce the best solution to the problems his new business venture has encountered.
Problem outline
Since establishing this venture Guy has encountered several problems. Previously the business would deliver to the same clients on a daily basis however now orders for buffets are larger and are made by different clients all the time. With more customers and more food to produce the management of the business is becoming less easy to organise. Also another problem that has arisen from the launch of the buffet service is that now customers just make single, ‘one off’ orders, sometimes they do not arrive at the venue which causes the business to loose a lot of money and waste a lot of time. Guy needs a way of being able to keep track of the customers and orders in an easily usable format. He needs a way of storing all the information about food, orders and customers so it can be straightforwardly viewed if required.