ASSIGNMENT FRONT SHEET <No.

1>
Edexcel

Qualification
Unit

BTEC

Level

HND

Diploma

in

Computing

and

Systems

Development

number

and

title
Assignment due

Unit 01: Business Skills for ECommerce

15-08-2016

Assignment submitted

Learners name

23-09-2016

Assessor name

Learner declaration:
I certify that the work submitted for this assignment is my own and research sources are fully acknowledged.
Learner signature

Date

23-09-2016

Grading grid
P1.

P1.

P2.

P2.

P3.

P3.

P3.

P3.

P3.

M1

M2

M3

D1

D2

D3

Assignment title

ULKOM BICYCLE HIRE

In this assignment, you will have opportunities to provide evidence against the following criteria.
Indicate the page numbers where the evidence can be found.

Assessment criteria

Expected evidence

Task

Assessors Feedback

no.
LO1. Understand the structure and aims of business organisations

1.1

assess

organisations

an What type of organization

core ULKOM is and what is their 1
main aim?

business functions
1.2

evaluate

an

organisations business
aims and show how
they

relate

A full SWOT analysis table.

to

stakeholders
LO2. Understand the impact of e-Commerce

2.1 analyse the impact,

including the risks, of
introducing

- The benefits to customers

and to the organization of
introducing the e-Commerce

an

e- solution.
Commerce system to - The potential
an organisation

implementing

the

2
cost

of

system,

any support staff that might

Your
discussion
should

2.2 discuss the global include a comparison of two

impact of e-Commerce countries across the world. 2
on society

Consider

for

example,

the

impact of e-Commerce in the

LO3. Be able to design e-Commerce solutions

3.1 investigate market You must find organizations 3

potential

for

an

e- that are involved in the same

Commerce opportunity

kind of business.

3.2 evaluate current eCommerce systems in

use by organisations
3.3

discuss

financial
of

an

the

implications

e-Commerce

solution

3.4

design

an

e-

Commerce solution
Use block diagrams to fully
design the structure for the

3.5

evaluate

suitability

of

the
an

e-

proposed system.
4

Commerce solution

Assessment criteria

Expected Evidence

Feedback
(note on Merit/Distinction if applicable)

M1

Analyse

theories

or

concepts,

principles

to

formulate own responses to

situations.
M2
Analyse
knowledge,

own

understanding

and skills to define areas

for development.
M3 Exercise autonomy and
judgement

when

implementing

established

courses of action.
D1 Evaluate approaches to
develop

strategies

in

response

to

or

actual

anticipated situations.
D2 Evaluate and apply
strategies to develop own
5

knowledge,

understanding

and skills.
D3 Determine, direct and
communicate new courses
of action.
Summative feedback

Assessors

Date

Signature
IV Grading Check:

Comments if any:

Agree
Disagree

IV Signature

Modify grade to

Date

Taks 1:
1.1

Assess the organisations core business functions and conduct a SWOT

analysis of the company in the given scenario.

ULKOM BICYCLE HIRE- is a bicycle hire business for many years and their main aim
is to help people can hire a bicycle in a convenient way and their branches placed at
London, Manchester and Cardiff. This aim is good but the way thay deploy seems to
be not effective and its hard to reach a higher revenue or widen their business
because all of their business process are doing by hand in spite of applying
information technology. They want to keep track on their customers, bicycles status
and their bicycle status immedately. Thats the point the company want to reach in
order to managing their business effectively and reducing any kind of risks occurred.
This is SWOT analysis of ULKOM company:
SWOT

Positive

Negative

Analysis
Internal

Strengths-S

Weaknesses-W

Experiences in this field for

many years
Existing customers
Flexibility renting

service:

Customers can rent bicycle

Dont

payment
Lack of technology skill
Working by hand
Connect between three

an

online

and return it in a different

branches over the phone

branch

may cause errors

External

have

and

very slow
Narutal disater(fire, flood,

accidents)
Threats-T

Opportunities-O

Expanding the system, get

new market.
Increasing
of

activities, apply new service

Cooperating
with
other

Lost

information

everything
business

is

when

managed

by print copy
Lose or damage bicycles

companies.
The amount of booking is
increasing every year

1.2

Explain how the existing business strengths can aid the company to achieve

the business aim. Further, you should evaluate how this aim relates to the
stakeholders and their interests (use the SWOT table (i.e., the strengths and
opportunities cell))
Business aims: ULKOM wants to build a new general database along with a
webpage in order to reduce management time and business operation errors,
moreover the company wants to keep track on their customers information.
Base on SWOT analysis above:
Working experiences(hiring out bicycles): this is neither support nor conflict
their business aim
Existing customers: the company wants to reduce management time and
errors in order to serve customers better and get more customers satisfaction
and that is what customers also want, in this case there is no conflict between
them.
Flexibility hiring service: this factor support the company business aims
Stakeholders and their interests:
Owners: They are interested in maximizing the profit the business makes and
this support for the business aim. On the other hand, the owners also want to
minimize the management cost, this conflict with their aim because of
deploying a new system will be costly.
Employees: They want to earn money and stay employed, by deploying new
system, the company will reduce management time and errors, employee will
be trained new technology in order to work more effectively, they will easy
keep track on their customers, in this case, employees will support for the
business aim.
Customers: They want the business to provide high-quality goods or services,
base on SWOT above, the company want to help keep track on their
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customers information in order to serve their customers better products and

services, in this case, this factor will support business aim. On ther other hand,
customers also want to purchase in a low cost, this will conflict with company
business aim.
Suppliers: They want the business to continue to purchase from them or
even increase sale, moreover, supplier also want to supply products with
higher price and higher quality, in this case it will supports the business aim.
Task 2:
2.1 Evaluate the impact of introducing an e-Commerce system for ULKOM. Identify
the risks involved to implement the system
"ULKOM BICYCLE HIRE" is a small business of bicycles hiring in the UK and they
want to appply e-commerce application for the business. Here I will analyze the
impact of e-commerce of this business:
Benefits to the organization:
By introducing an online system, the company now have an online marketing,
now marketing is not limited in a local scale, they can advertise in a global scale. In
addition, not limited information, they can introduce more information on the
internet to customers who are interested in and it is easy to update information
immediately and costly. Internet advertising also cost much lower than traditional
advertising such as advertising on television, newspapers or magazines, etc.
Finally, the company have to spend a small fee to maintain their website and
database.
In e-commerce, customers are not just in a local scale, customers from other
cities can rent bicycles online at anytime, from anywhere, so that the number of
customers will increase sharply along with 10 increasing revenue. But, be sure that
the quality and the price of the products and services must be good as much as
possible or e-commerce wont help them at all.
With e-commerce, the company can provide an online catalog, information,
bicycles facilities, customers can access to this data at any time, they can feel free
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to choose a bicycle they like. Moreover, transaction time will be reduced as much as
possible, customers dont have to wait too long to get a bicycles, that means the
company will get more customers satisfastion. Quality services is an important
factor in getting and keeping cutomers in a long term.
Risks involved:
Risk about data: The hackers can attack the data webpage to steal information or
delete all the information or even virus attacks. In some case, the company may get
fake customers, fake booking, etc..
Loosing customers information: When customers is doing an transaction,
hackers can attack and steal customers information such as credit card information,
bank account, etc..
Technological risks: The database can be harmed in some case such as power
losing, fire attack, etc.. The database can be destroyed or erased all data or
formatted the system's hard drive.
Customers risks: People always scare of something they dont know much ,
especially elderly, so if ULKOM apply e-commerce to their business, they have to
face of loosing some customers who are not willing to use a computer to book a
bicycle in spite of going to the store.
2.2 Discuss the economic and social impact of e-Commerce on society as a whole.
Also, discuss the impact of privacy issues on the use of e-Commerce solutions.
E-commerce has a huge impact on every corner, every sector of the society
such as the economy, education, health, etc It changes the way we go selling or
buying something. There are many advantages which e-commerce offers over
traditional method.
1. Wider range of choices
With e-commerce, the consumers have a wider range of choices for the
needed products from the variety of sellers. This possibly happens because at
present, many sellers use Internet sites as shop fronts
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2. Products or services can be purchased from remote areas

With e-commerce, a local company not only competes with competitors in the
region even other competitors are remote from them, so that, the quality and
price of goods will be the key point for the company to success.
3. Price comparisons
E-commerce enables consumers to perform price comparison, so that they
can make more appropriate purchasing decisions.
4. Save time
With e-commerce, consumers can save their time because they can have
access to the web- shopping at home through Internet with a simple computer.
5. Convenience
E-commerce can offer maximum convenient to consumers because they can
visit various online sites to compare prices and make purchases without having to
leave their homes or offices.
An easy example we can see that is website Facebook.com, Facebook has
changed the way people contact with othes, its not just by using cellphone,
email, or sms, etc., Facebook also changes the way we advertise our product to
customers.

With

those

impact

on

society,

Facebook

has

promoted

the

development of our life and the economy not just about us but our next
generation also.
The privacy issue is the most concern for consumers and any concern for
consumers must be treated as a major concern for e-commerce providers. On
the positive side, companies gather customers information in order to analyze
and offert a suitable service to the customer, that will help the company get more
customerss satisfastion. On the other hand, collecting customers information in
some case is used for bad purpose such as some companies collect customers
email or phone number and then they send an advertising to those emails,
numbers. Seriously, in some case, hackers can steal all information about credit

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card, payment online systems, etc. So that, on e-commerce, privacy and

security must be considered the highest priority of the system.
Task 3:
3.1

Investigate the potential of the UK market for the e-Commerce solution of the

company in the given scenario.

Nowadays, cycling is not just riding a bicycle, it is about protecting the
environment, reducing gas pollution and it is also very good for our health, in the
UK using a bicycle in spite of driving a car has become a common trend in these
recent years, especially in some big cities such as London, Manchester, etc.
With the population is around 63.7 millions of people, internet users per year go
to 82% of the population and revenue from online business is up to 110.5 billion
in 2013 according to IMRG/Capgemini, this must be one of the biggest online
market all over the world and ULKOM should catch up with the trend and they
should apply e-commerce business as soon as possible. Internet has grown very
fast in many years in UK, almost traditional transactions have changed into online
transactions, its quickly and effectively. ULKOM has realized the important of ecommerce in the UK, located in the UK is one of the first advantage and the
statistic aim to the UK market is point to the company to achieve. In addition, the
potential is also related to customers, in UK people are familiar with online
transactions, so ULKOM e-commerce will easy to build without any negative
reactions from the market, one more thing, ULKOM has built an e-retailer sales
plan for a long period so it will boost the rebuild infrastructure process faster.
Finally, UK has a few companies which have the same functions like ULKOM, so
the press of the competition is not much, especially by applying e-commerce, it
will help ULKOM be more special, unique, competitive, it will build a positive
image to customers and the company will get more customers in an easy way.
3.2

Evaluate the e-Commerce solutions used by three competitive organizations.

British Bike Hire:

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They have a good e-Commerce solution. On their website we can see all the
necessary of hiring out bicycles that a company should have. Different with ULKOM,
they have three branches to serve people in London only. Especially, they often
organize events such as a race to win a bicycle, this is very helpful to define their
brand to other competitives. The outstanding point of this company is that we can
book bicycles with one of group people at the same time which ULKOM doesnt have
The Malvern Bike Hire Company:
This is a traditional business but they organize their business effectively by
focusing on main function like hiring. Moreover, they also have an additional service,
they introduce some best places for customers to travel with a beautiful scenery in a
reasonable price. They have been voted for Best View in Britain by Rambling
Association. Comparing with ULKOM, this business can attract more customers than
ULKOM, their services is more attractive, its not just about hiring bicycle.
New Forest Cycle Hire:
Almost have main function like two other competitors. But they have a special
function than others, it is routine. This function can help people to make a schedule
for all activities they want to do in one week and the company will send suitable
bicycles with their plan. ULKOM is simplier than this business, they dont have a
complete customers database which allows the company to do anything more
complicated than hiring bicycles, thats why ULKOM needs a central database.
3.3

Discuss the financial impact of the e-Commerce solution to the company.

For the company, this is the revolution of all business operations and access to
the whole sale and retail market. It changes the whole things and creates new
financial service and new business model. In the transform process, the company
needs to define which is advantage and disadvantage of financial impact. At first,
the company have to pay for the technical process(building a central database, a
website) this is just a small fee compare to others, after that the company also need
to invest to marketing and advertising online, this costs not much, ULKOM must
have a good plan for a long term and effective. Building a trusted and simple hiring
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system will make e-commerce work better, when hiring a bicycle is just about a few
mouse clicks then a lot of transactions will be created, the more transactions they
get, the more revenue they have. In addition, a payment system is very important in
e-commerce, the company must have a trusted one, customers can use their card
such as master card, visa card or even online payment gate way like PayPal..
Because its totally safe so that the customers will feel comfortable to hire a bicycle
online and the companys revenue will grow dramatically.
Some of the main advantages of e-commerce for both the consumer and the
company are:
1. Lower advertising and marketing costs
2. It is very convenient and customer friendly
3. Twenty Four hour access from any where
4. Targeting remote customers
Taks 4:
4.1

Design an e-Commerce solution for the company in the given scenario.

e-Business objective: The company wants to deploy ecommerce in order to

reduce management time and business operation errors, they also want to keep
track on their customers information base on their central database in order to
serve their customers better.
Existing materials: The company has existing loyalty customers, their branches
are located in 3 big cities, moreover, each branch has their own database.
Implementation:
1. Change management:
Business process management: ULKOM has to change from working by
hand to using infortmation technology. Ssoftware tools is used to increase
process efficiency by improving information flows between people as they
perform business tasks.
Human resource requirements:

e-business

implementation

requires

specialist skills that may not be present within ULKOM. Managers have a choice
14

of building a new skills set for existing employees or outsourcing and

partnering with other organisations.
Risk management:
o Identify risks, including their probabilities and impacts.
o Identify possible solutions to these risks.
o Implement the solutions, targeting the highest- impact, most likely risks.
o Monitor the risks to learn for future risk assessment.
Customer management: Some customers may not adapt with ULKOM
changes, ULKOM has to send E-mail to customers to inform about their
updating frequently. Moreover, the company should keep track on their clients
interests and activities based on their behaviors but must be sure that privacy
information is secured.
e-Marketing: Marketing and advertising is now on a global scale, the
company must have a good plan for marketing in a long term, they have to
decide about the products information and services should be promoted to
online customers, on the other hand, ULKOM should promote on some popular
websites such as Facebook, twitter, yahoo, etc

2. Analysis and design:

Analysis for digital systems is concerned with understanding the business and
user requirements for a new system. Using analytical techniques to capture and

summarise business and user requirements.

Process modelling: analyze to identify the relationship between tasks within a
business process. Every process must be clearly defined purpose or objective and
clearly defined inputs and outputs.
User-centred site design and customer experience management: Design
based on optimising the user experience according to all factors, including the
user interface, which affect this.
Security design for digital business: Security is a prime concern of digital
business managers. The principal concern is the security of information: both
about customers and internal company data about finance, logistics, marketing
and employees. These steps can help company improves security in business:
o Network Security: ISP must have a fire wall built-in. If not then instal a
proprietary firewall (for example, from mainstream suppliers like Symantec,
Sophos, Kaspersky, etc., which is often included in a suite of software)

15

Manage IT Access : Employ usernames and good passwords to control login. Good passwords contain upper and lower case characters, numbers and

symbols. Dont write passwords down or share them between users.

The use of the cloud should be treated like any other outsourced provision
and (ideally) be subject to service level agreements. ULKOM can contact
them and ask for a service level agreement. Do ensure that the company
knows where and how their data is stored on the cloud and who is

liable/responsible for that data.

Website:
o Domain name: The domain name needs to be easy to remember and give a
o

vision of the compay, for example, ulkombike.com or hiring24h.com.

Web-hosting: We can choose a web-hosting service which provides suitable
package to the company in a low cost, moreover, this service must allow us
update and maintain the system easily or even widen our system in the

future.
Build a website: an attractive design should be mainly forcus, especially
using template for e-Commerce related to bicycle renting. Another
important step after front end design is creating catalogs of the bicycles
and bonus services with multiple images. The website also has to show all
the functions that the organization has such as booking, online payment,

price checks, etc.

Customer feedback: Ulkom must have a Contact page on the website which
allows customers to send feedbacks to the company. Those queries have to
be collected and evaluated as usually as possible to be able to implement a

FAQ page.
Payment processing: Customer can choose from multiple payment options
either paying online (e.g. via Paypal), credit/debit card or paying cash at the
store. A booking fee must be paid in advance which is 20% of the total hire

cost.
Delivery processing: When a customer receives the bicycle the booking
status becomes hired. The customer can hire bicycle at one store and
return it to another branch.

3. Digital business service implementation and optimisation

Managing web content: Managers need to be aware of some aspects of

managing content through content management systems:
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 Testing: Testing has two main objectives: first, to check how the website works
with the business and user requirements, and, second, to identify bugs or errors.
In other words, it checks that the site does what users need and is reliable
Changeover: changeover from a previous information system to a new system is
particularly important for ecommerce, it may have negative effects on customer
experience or disruption to the supply chain. The company must fully test the
system in a controlled environment before it goes live and thus minimise the risk
of adverse publicity due to problems with the site.

4.2

Using

CRM

(Customer

Relationship

Management)

approaches

identify

techniques that could be used for retaining customers and increasing sales.

Offert multiple services along with hiring out bicycle:

In order to

increase sales, we can offert many other services such as GPS map for
travellers, tour guides to some special places, protection equipments, flash
light using in the night, etc. These offerts will help the company increase

sales not only hiring out bicyle

Maintain friendly relation with customers: maintain a relationship with
existing customers is very important. We can give explanations before
customers have any complains about our products or services. Moreover, base
on buying history, online time on website, we can update new products
services or even ask for their demand in order to have a friendly relationship

with customers.
Building a personalize programs: Each employee in the company will
focus on a group of customers, this employee will have to contact with
customers when they order, explain to them before having any error, fix and
maintain bicycles,.All activities of this employee just mainly serve a small
group customers, this employee will understand these customer most and he
will offert the best product, special services that is most suitable for only these
customers, he is a connection point between customers and company. These
activities will make customers feel they are respected and they will be with the
company in a long term.
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