Business Forms Incorporated (BFI) is a Canadian company based in Calgary, Alberta. Our company sell business forms such as invoices, receipts, ordering forms, and sales contracts. The forms may be universal in layout or custom designed for a business. For example the company's logo, address, and slogan may be printed at the top.
We currently employ 300 people in 40 regions across the country. Each region has a distribution office with a salesman and a small support staff. Our current success has led to potential future growth, expected as early as next year, with expansion into various areas of Canada as well a the United States.
With our expected expansion we are in need of new software that will ease operations in our regional offices and assist our salesmen in their work. We require software that will create a list of all customers a salesman should visit on a specific day. The necessary information will come from an existing customer and product database.
It is important that the software can expand along with the growth of our business. As well, since our salesmen are not fully computer literate, the software should be simple to use, i.e. minimal interaction between the salesmen and the program. The program should also provide some form of backup in case of an act of God or that the wrong buttons were pushed. This should be done in the form a secondary copy of all information stored with the system, so the backup copy can be stored on a alternate system. It is also important that any unnecessary information on the list be suppressed. For example if client X orders forms A and D only, it is not necessary to display any of the other products available, such as forms B and C. Finally, the cost of the software should not exceed our system budget of $400,000, which includes both the cost of hardware, estimated at $330,000.
Our organization requires a database system to manage our various business form clients. It is essential that the database be able to isolate optimum sales routes from these clients. Ideally we foresee a system whereby a variable number may be input into the system and a list of that variable size is produced. The list, which will represent an optimal sales route, should contain the clients which are estimated to be the most in need of our products or most likely to place a new order. So, as an example, if a list of ten is required then a list of the ten clients most likely to place a new order should be produced and this list should be in an order that fits an optimal sales route to service these clients. (By optimal it is meant that time/distance is minimized.)
The database should track the following attributes:
* By order rate information we mean the projected number of days that their current supply will last.
In addition we would like our product line, including names, prices and any related discount rates in the database. This line is currently seven products large and is contained at the end of this specification.
The database should also be able to handle various maintenance functions such as:
In order to produce a route the printout should contain the following information and structure:
Hardware Requirements
As of yet we have no preference onto which platform this system is designed and will entertain all reasonable alternatives. However, we ask that you keep in mind that we presently use an IBM pc network and MS Windows software.
Product Information
Products-
========
We sell 7 main types of forms. They are:
Options for each type of form are:
1) single sheet
2) carbon copy
3) computer form
Pricing information:
====================
Each box contains 100 forms.
All single sheet forms: $20.00/box
All carbon copy forms: $30.00/box
All computer forms: $25.00/box
Discounts:
=========
5% off initial order price
10% off orders over 10 boxes
15% off orders over 50 boxes
Shipping costs:
==============
- charged by distance traveled
- free local delivery
Additional Requirements:
- Total price for the order must be displayed and recorded.
To see Supplier Group One's response to our specification:
click
here.