Course Project

  
Adventure Works Cycles, the fictitious company on which the AdventureWorks sample databases are based, is a large, multinational manufacturing company. The company manufactures and sells metal and composite bicycles to North American, European and Asian commercial markets. While its base operation is located in Bothell, Washington with 290 employees, several regional sales teams are located throughout their market base.

In 2000, Adventure Works Cycles bought a small manufacturing plant, Importadores Neptuno, located in Mexico. Importadores Neptuno manufactures several critical subcomponents for the Adventure Works Cycles product line. These subcomponents are shipped to the Bothell location for final product assembly. In 2001, Importadores Neptuno, became the sole manufacturer and distributor of the touring bicycle product group.

Coming off a successful fiscal year, Adventure Works Cycles is looking to broaden its market share by targeting their sales to their best customers, extending their product availability through an external Web site, and reducing their cost of sales through lower production costs. (Microsoft Adventure Works Cycles Business Scenarios, 2015) 

This week you will be preparing for your Module 2 Adventure Works Business Case by researching and citing a similar real-world case study in a 1-5 page white paper. For this project, be sure to select an organization that has one or more similarities to Adventure Works, i.e. multinational, business-to-business, manufacturing and sales.

If you are not familiar with the format of a white paper, here are some links to help guide you:

8 Basic Tips for Writing an Amazing White Paper
How to Write White Papers
Eight Rules for Creating Great White Papers

The goal of this paper is to convince management that a business intelligence-based IT solution will help the company reach one or more of its strategic goals.
Now is a good time to review the Adventure Works Case Study Summary and recall the strategic goals stated in the last paragraph:

Broaden market share by targeting sales to the company’s best customers
Reduce cost of sales through lower production costs
Extend product availability through online sales

For your paper, you will show how a BI/BA solution has achieved one or more strategic goals for a similar company. Your White Paper should address the following:

What was the selected company?
How is the company similar to Adventure Works?
What goal(s) were they trying to achieve?
What business intelligence solution was implemented?
Was the desired outcome(s) achieved?

Be sure to apply the following to your white paper:

Utilize an extensive variety of sources relevant to the strategic goals of the company and the BI/BA solution.
Exhibit appropriate, audience-specific tone and vocabulary tied to the purpose of your paper. (Remember, you are speaking  to non-technical business managers).
Use a consistent tone in your white paper and organize it carefully around the main topic with relevant supporting details as  needed.

Your business case should include the following:

Executive Summary: Your Executive Summary should  consist of a few sentences and express the main ideas clearly and concisely. Briefly outline the problem, your analysis, options, solution implementation, cost-benefit analysis and your recommendations for how to roll out the solution. In other words, “Tell them what you’re going to tell them.”
Problem Statement: What is the problem you are trying to solve?
Analysis of the Situation: Give more detail on the problem and explain how it came about.
Solution Options: Identify potential solutions and  explain them in some detail, listing pros and cons.
Project Description: Describe the resources needed to create a solution, including time, cost and goals
Cost-Benefit Analysis: Go over the options you listed previously and evaluate the costs and benefits for each one. Feel free to do some research on this one. You may want to include a chart or two.
Recommendation: You have provided several options for a solution. Now you need to draw on your analysis to recommend a specific solution and lay out the reasons why and how these methods solve the problem.

Be sure to apply the following in your case:

Utilize an extensive variety of sources relevant to your analysis of the company’s problem and the BI/BA solution.
Exhibit appropriate, audience-specific tone and vocabulary (Remember, you are speaking to non-technical business      managers).
Use a consistent tone in your business case and organize it carefully around the main topic with relevant supporting      details as needed.