MIS Chapter 9 Exercises

Holmes, Nicholas, and Walker Associates

April 8th, 2008

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Wentworth Institute of Technology

Table of Contents Case Study Second Time Around Movie Rentals Page 3 Application Exercise Priceline.com Financial Analysis Internet Skills Exercise Online Shopping Comparison Page 6 Page 8

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To: From: Date: Re:

Taylor and Berkley Daniels Holmes, Nicholas, and Walker Associates April 8th, 2008 Customer Information Database Alterations

Company Background The Daniels twins have created an offshoot of their grandmothers movie rental chain, an online video membership group. The rental service allows members in several states to select the titles they want, and hold on to them for a certain period of time, before returning them by mail. The service offers varying levels of membership, each allowing its own maximum set of rentals. Case Objective The owners are satisfied with their current set up, but are looking to expand. Therefore they have requested that a series of detailed reports and database changes be implemented in order to better assess the clientele with which they are dealing. Through the collection of data about publicity, location, and various demographics we will be able to give the business a better picture of where they need to focus their business efforts. Information Alterations and Reports Figure 1.1- This report serves to show, by state, how the customers are hearing about the service, and totals it by state. These numbers will allow Second Time to see how they can best advertise to each of their markets.

Count by State
Initial Contact Description
Another Web Site Another Web Site Another Web Site Another Web Site Friend Friend Friend Friend Magazine Magazine Magazine Newspaper Newspaper Other Other Other Radio Radio Radio Radio Search Engine Search Engine

Sta te
AR KS LA TX AR LA OK TX KS LA TX OK TX AR KS OK AR KS OK TX AR KS

Total State
5 5 5 5 12 12 12 12 5 5 5 3 3 4 4 4 7 7 7 7 3 3

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Count by State
Initial Contact Description
Television Television Television

Sta te
KS OK TX

Total State
6 6 6

Figure 1.2- This report will assist Second time in determining who among their users is currently subscribing to their newspapers. This will allow them to go back to those publishers and give them feedback about the customers level of satisfaction with their product.

Newspaper Recipients
Last Name
Kelly Michaels Randolph Viaze Wu Lavender Sharman Hsieh Kopochesk y Brady Wolfe Ewing Naron Morimota Chinyere Kyoko Peter

First Name
Val Baylee Danette Joan Tan Omar Debra Katie Paul Paul Dean Bryce Mike Yosheto Vadnais Kokotan Kowalski

Email
imafriend@hotmail.co m onthego@hotmail.co m lookatme@hotmail.co m jviaze@motorco.com mrwutoyou@home.co m osharif@hotmail.com dshrmand@juniper.or g khsieh1234@aol.com mrkopochesky@aol.c om pbrady@aol.com iamnice@coxnet.com bweing@aol.com mikeguy22@home.co m kxy97@home.com chinyere@home.com kyoko@home.com kowalski10@hotmail. com

Figure 1.3- This chart shows the distribution of tastes among the various plans offered by Second Time Around Movies, as divided by percentages among the whole of the user base.

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Customer Demographic Data 1. The twins best approach would be to approach both Visa and Mastercard. Those are the two most frequently used by the customers, and both is used across state boundaries in enough frequency to warrant involvement in both. 2. This report shows conveniently which customers are using hotmail accounts.

Hotmail Users
Last Sta Name te
Kelly Michaels Randolph TX AR TX

Email
imafriend@hotmail.co m onthego@hotmail.co m lookatme@hotmail.co m osharif@hotmail.com kx874474@hotmail.c om lparish@hotmail.com fredsred@hotmail.co m callwally@hotmail.co m terman@hotmail.com kowalski10@hotmail. com

Lavender KS Burgerman OK Parish McMann Wallace Burma Peter KS LA TX TX OK

3. This report lists all the members in Texas towns.

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Texas Members
City
College Station Commerce Dallas Midland Midland Midland Sherman Sherman Sherman Silver Waco

Stat e
TX TX TX TX TX TX TX TX TX TX TX

Case Summary This case was a very straightforward exercise in creating tables, reports, and forms. The main challenge in this case was merely keeping the information organized, so as to access it in an efficient way. The information was readily accessible to us, and it was easy to read. Reports were simple to create thanks to thorough tables. Overall it was a simple database exercise.

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To: Professor Cindy Stevens From: Holmes, Nicholas, and Walker Associates Date: April 8, 2008 Re: Application Exercise

Priceline.com
Success or Failure?
After looking at the income statements of Priceline Com Inc. the company is a success. It is a success because its gross profits have increased over the past three years. The margins it works in have also increased, but that should be expected with any growing business. Though the net income for stockholders has shifted, and is lower in 2007 than it was in 2005, I still feel the company is still a success. If Priceline wanted to increase its success, it could potentially expand its offered services. It could also diversify and create smaller businesses to increase total profits across the board. By focusing more into customer service and decreasing prices, it would also be able to turn a higher profit. On the attached page is a detailed spreadsheet which helps to prove this indefinitely.

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Year End (Value in Thousands, 2007 Total revenues $1,409,409 .00 Total costs of $769,997.0 revenues 0 Gross profit $639,412.0 0 Total operating $501,477.0 expenses 0 Operating $137,935.0 income 0 Total other income (expense) $12,088.00 Income tax benefit (1) $12,059.00 Equity in income (loss) of investees and minority interests $5,000.00 Net income (1) $157,082.0 0 Net income applicable to common stockholders $155,527.0 (1) 0 Net income applicable to common stockholders per basic common share (1) $4.13 Net income applicable to common stockholders per diluted share (1) $3.42 Total assets $1,350,856 .00 Long-term obligations, minority interest and redeemable preferred stock $646,702.0 (2) 0 Total liabilities $754,713.0 (3) 0 Total stockholders $579,107.0 equity 0

Except Shares) 2006 2005 $1,123,103 $962,660. .00 00 $722,004.0 $694,797. 0 00 $401,099.0 $267,863. 0 00 $339,113.0 $231,979. 0 00 $35,884.0 $61,986.00 0 $3,646.00 $12,388.00 (181 $156,277. 00

$3,554.00 $74,466.00

$749.00 $192,729. 00

$72,539.00

$190,875. 00

$1.88

$4.87

$1.68 $1,105,648 .00

$4.21 $754,028. 00

$656,420.0 0 $721,136.0 0 $348,556.0 0

$313,942. 00 $347,828. 00 $369,071. 00

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To: From: Date: Re:

Cindy Stevens Holmes, Nicholas, and Walker Associates April 7, 2008 Building Internet Skills Yahoo! Store has a good backing of people and allows you to communicate

with other people to find the cheapest product possible that you need. Yahoo has been around for a long time and the technology they have on their site makes it easier to use. I like yahoo because its user friendly and it makes my job easier finding the products and learning how to set my business up online more sufficient. Freemerchant.com is a company that many people do not know about but they have products on there that you can find it just takes you a little bit longer to find because not many people use it like they do with yahoo. Freemerchant.com is easier sometimes because they do not have all the other things like yahoo has for example email, IM, games and auto store. Freemerchant.com just deals with things that you could buy in a mail or a local retail store. For me though I like yahoo because it has a better reputation and I know how to use it because I have been using yahoo ever since dot coms came into the internet.

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