Barron Fuentes, Sharvari Gangal, Sharon Lee

Stephen Abraham, Ann Matthew, Christiian Ratliff

1-800-JUNK-VAN
Kingo is the owner of the rapidly growing business 1-800-JUNK-VAN. To
accommodate the growth of his business, he has hired our group of consultants to
analyze the business requirements and propose an information system. In this
document, we will identify potential solutions, create a decision matrix, and make a final
decision on which solution to propose.
Google Docs is a viable option. It allows for collaboration and access to
information hosted in the cloud. Google Docs is easy to use and has many different
online applications as well as the ability to set user profiles that limit certain users from
editing certain documents. However, there is no formal customer support and is
challenging to organize the information effectively. Even though Google Docs does the
basics of what Kingo needs for his company, there are more efficient alternatives that
we will evaluate for Kingos business.
If Kingo felt that his company needs to implement certain applications for his
business as his business grows or direction changes, he can utilize applications already
on the cloud or create his own application to be shared on the platform and hosted on
the cloud. Implementation of this solution could be finished in 3 days and includes data
migration. However, Kingo would have to pay around $300-$600 a month and $180/hr
for supplemental customization. But, if Kingo decides this solution isnt something he
wants to continue he can quit at anytime without penalty.
An example of a Platform as a Service provider is Salesforce. Salesforce offers
on-demand customer service in the Call Center Application. Salesforce also lets you
automate your marketing campaigns. Display a dashboard that displays performance
every quarter, lets you post in a Salesforce group, and gives user access to files and
campaigns used or previously used. Salesforce gives you access to apps for orders,
accounts, assets, cases, contracts forecasts and more.
Below is a decision tree which provides a summary overview of the comparisons
of information systems we have evaluated.

Decision Tree
Factors

Ease
of use

Interoper
ability

Need for
internal
IT staff

Perform
ance

Growth/Sc
alability

Security

Downtime
efficiency

External
IT
support

Total

Barron Fuentes, Sharvari Gangal, Sharon Lee

Stephen Abraham, Ann Matthew, Christiian Ratliff

Weights

MS
Access

12

15

49

Custom
Applicati
on

20

20

12

74

Google
Docs

20

16

16

12

80

PaaS

16

20

12

20

15

20

15

111

ERP
System

12

20

15

12

89

Of all the potential solutions made possible to Kingo, our group believes that
Platform as a Service would be the best choice. Platform as a Service (PaaS) offers
cloud computing infrastructure that addresses Kingos need for not only a centralized
database but also allow for remote access for all employees.
PaaS is designed for companies who have either an application or a set of
applications and wants to deploy those applications over the cloud. In this situation for
us, a PaaS provider like Salesforce and Google Docs is important and beneficial. This
will help achieve these outcomes:
Reducing your setup costs, maintaining control over architecture, and generating
productivity and innovation.
All software developments require a combination of a programming language,
design and system administration abilities. If your business project requires an
integrated environment, someone will have to buy, build, design, manage and maintain
the components for your application. Neither the work nor the components not provide
for any distinguishing features of your softwarethey are simply required. You can
avoid those setup and ongoing maintenance costs with PaaS.
Even while your architecture is provided by a cloud vendor, you still retain control
over configuration and management. This is a big advantage when developing and
deploying your own application.
PaaS will promise to free up operations from the routine management and
maintenance while freeing up your team or employees from the maintenance work so
that they can focus on innovative software development and improvements which are
likely the heart of the business.
Choosing PaaS as opposed to all the other options available to you to use for
your company will have great advantages. Your lack of a technical background will not

Barron Fuentes, Sharvari Gangal, Sharon Lee

Stephen Abraham, Ann Matthew, Christiian Ratliff

be a problem if you choose to go with PaaS for your company, as many providers are
able to build a platform for you that is easy to customize. In addition, many of the
charges associated with implementing PaaS is a one time charge, and the rest of costs
would depend on usage.
Since you have had the chance to see an onsite trial and realize that the
technique in using a PaaS is not difficult, it is only logical that you choose this option.
The easy to use platform also means that other employees can be trained to use and
customize the software if need be by you yourself without the need of an extra IT
personnel. The PaaS, therefore, shines as a highly customizable, simple, and efficient
tool for your growing business.
Moreover, data migration and implementation can be done in three days. Plus,
since it is cheaper than ERP systems designed for smaller businesses, you would get
to have a great deal of control on how much money you spent on the software and for
what. The ability to pay per use and the lack of a long term contract, also makes the
PaaS the most appealing choice for a company like JUNK VAN to choose.
To implement a PaaS system, the company would need to consolidate their
customer/pay/ordering data, and transfer all of that to the new system. Depending on
the system, this may be a rather involved process. Nevertheless, once implemented
they can rest assured that they will have remote access to their data, and can rest easy
knowing that should something go wrong, Kingo would not have to be the one to fix it.
Furthermore, implementation may require reworking or tweaking of systems
already in place. The software may be incompatible with one another, and if so, that
would need to be addressed first and foremost. Once data consolidation has been
completed, Kingo could start training employees on the new system. It shouldnt take
long for the process to smooth out.
Kingo should allow a few weeks for the transition and training to be completed,
and continue to use the old system until all employees have been trained on the new
system and all data has been successfully transferred. That way the transition can be
as smooth as possible, which results in minimal downtime during the transition. It should
not be a major interruption to business flow.

Barron Fuentes, Sharvari Gangal, Sharon Lee

Stephen Abraham, Ann Matthew, Christiian Ratliff

Appendix
Barron Fuentes
Wrote introduction and did final revisions.
Sharvari Gangal
Created decision matrix for evaluating options.
Sharon Lee
Identified which solution would be best for Junk Van and provided examples of possible
PaaS provider.
Stephen Abraham
Wrote about why PaaS is Important.
Ann Mathew
Worked with Stephen to write why PaaS should be chosen.
Christiian Ratliff
Wrote plan for implementation of PaaS.

Barron Fuentes, Sharvari Gangal, Sharon Lee

Stephen Abraham, Ann Matthew, Christiian Ratliff

Reference
"Salesforce.com: The Customer Success Platform To Grow Your Business." Salesforce.com.
Salesforce.com Inc, 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.