Martial Arts Academy Information System Project
Project Team: Team Rocket
Team Members: Mohammed Almohsen, Josh Blanton, Kathryn Bourroughs, Jordan Hessler
Project Description
Martial Arts Academy currently runs its business through a paper based system. This system is
simple to use but has allowed various problems to persist. Tracking students’ progress is essential
for the Academy to provide quality customer service, and through the paper based system errors
have occurred causing discrepancies. The new owners of the Academy have concluded that an
information system could improve their performance in running the business but are only willing
to change if there is a decent return on investment.
The goal of the project team is to develop several different types of information system solutions
to the Academy’s problems, all of which having a reasonable return on investment, and present
the options to the owners for evaluation. Upon an agreement with the owners the project team will
implement a new system that will assist in maintaining the business’s assets, giving the opportunity
for increased profit and expansion of the academy.
Measurable Organizational Value (MOV)
A. Desired Area(s) of Impact
The main areas of impact for this information system will be improved customer
satisfaction and increasing the Martial Arts Academy’s social awareness. Both owners of
the academy see improving customer relations as their priority. The new system will allow
for greatly improved accuracy in tracking student progress as well as improved studentteacher interaction. The business is not currently on any social media, by creating an online
presence they will be able to have more interactions with customers and potential
customers.
B. Desired Value
The value that the new system will add to the company will be handling customers better
as well as improving their experience and offering more services to customers. Martial
Arts Academy makes a profit through the service it offers to its customers, therefore to
expand the business more customers are required. By focusing on improving customer
satisfaction and offering improved and new services to customers, the academy will be able
to attract new clients and hopefully retain more of their current customers.
C. Target Metric
The metric for the Martial Arts Academy will be additional customers per year with the
return on investment per year. These two metrics are the most important because they are
highly valued by the owners. (Shown in table below)
D. Time Frame for Achieving MOV
Years
1
2
3
4
MOV Goal
35 new customers ; ROI: 43%
70 new customers ; ROI: 86%
105 new customers ; ROI: 129%
130 new customers ; ROI: 172%
E. Summary of MOV
This project will be successful if there is at least a 100% gain in customers to the academy
and a ROI of 43% in the first year of using the new system.
Comparison of Alternatives
Initial Recommendations
With all three options listed below, there are two universal recommendations for the business.
The academy should do away with the store they have and instead use it for additional class space.
Uniforms and belts should be kept on site, but since they take up minimal room a store is excessive
for them and for the martial arts equipment (such as staffs and the like) the academy should
recommend students to a trusted local retailer. If possible the owners should communicate with
local retailers and see if one would be willing to offer a discount to the academy’s students in
return for the owners recommending the retailer.
With the removal of the store, we estimate that this will add 40% more room for additional class
space. The owners will have to train or hire additional instructors to facilitate the additional
classes.
The owners already have knowledge of how to use social media. The academy should create pages
on popular social media applications, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This will increase
their presence to potential customers.
All costs and benefits shown in the tables below refer to just the first year of operation.
1. Maintain the Status Quo
To maintain the status quo, the academy would operate as it has been primarily. The initial
recommendations listed above would be the only changes to their operations.
A. Advantages & Disadvantages
The advantages to this method are that the costs are already known in full, and the
owners do not have to learn anything new. If the owners decide to follow through on
the recommendation to remove the store to add more class space, there is possibility
for growth in the size of the classes. With online presence the business can attract
additional customers to maximize the use of the additional space.
The disadvantages of this method is the limited possibilities without the addition of a
new system. Increased profit will take a considerable amount of, customers will have
to discover the academy on their own still. The new online presence will help with this
but without direct management it will be slow growing.
B. Estimated Cost
The only cost would be the additional instructors, used along with the recommendation
that the academy reuse the store space and use free social media applications. These
methods will require more time from the owner’s schedule, but the requirement is
minimal. The national average yearly pay for martial arts instructor is $35,000 and we
assume at least two would be needed to handle the increase in classes.
Development Costs
Operational Costs
$0.00
$70,000
C. Expected Benefits
The benefits to this are extremely limited, increased space to perform classes will
benefit the profit the business can make. Social media applications will allow the
owners to address customer issues on a larger scale, also allowing them to gain new
customers. Assuming there is an almost even split in the number of students taking
three month and six month classes, and using the average cost of each the gross income
of the academy is $31,696. With the addition of social media we could expect around
a 20% increase in customers per year, which comes to approximately seven new
students.
Total Benefits
$4,000
2. Utilize a Pre-Bought System
The software package we would use would be provided by Openblackbelt.com. We chose
this package due to its reasonable price and features provided. This new system used with
the initial recommendations will allow great room for growth.
A. Advantages & Disadvantages
The advantages include student, finance and inventory tracking allowing for greater
control by the owners. Students check into classes buy using a barcode the system will
print out for them, combined with a barcode scanner keeping track of student progress
will become much easier. This system is stored in the “cloud” and the owners can
access the system from anywhere they have an internet connection. Alongside the
student tracking capabilities the system allows emails to be sent to the students/parents
so updates can be sent directly to them at any time. For providing a new system to the
academy this option takes the least amount of time and therefore has the lowest cost of
setup compared to the fully-built option.
By using this pre-bought system the academy doesn’t need to hire someone to manage
it, by paying the subscription fee they receive support from Openblackbelt. Payment
processing and online security are also provided by the service provider.
The disadvantages with the system directly is their limited time frame for a refund if
the owners are dissatisfied with the system at any point. The time frame provided is
only seven days to return the service and obtain a full refund, if it takes longer to find
out the owners do not like the system the membership fees will be lost. Another
drawback to using the pre-bought system is that the owners will not have full control
over how the system operates. As well as this system does not provide a website that
the students can access on their own, limiting the social impact of the academy.
B. Estimated Cost
The cost of having this system on a yearly basis is $120, averaging ten dollars per
month. Openblackbelt recommends a handheld barcode scanner to use with their
system which costs $25.99 before taxes. The owners will need a dedicated computer
to ensure access to the system; a desktop computer will cost anywhere from $175 to
$250 and averages out to be $213. Since this system is primarily provided by
Openblackbelt, it would require a minimum amount of time to be setup by the team.
An early estimate would put the required work at one month. Basing the cost of
employing the project team off of a $60,000 yearly income, the total cost would be
$40,000 per month. The national average yearly pay for martial arts instructor is
$35,000.
Development Costs
Operational Costs
$40,240
$70,120
C. Expected Benefits
The benefits to the academy with this option will be in greatly improved student
tracking and communication. This will improve customer satisfaction and bring in new
students. Through automating some of the daily procedures, the owners will have more
time for instruction, allowing for more classes to be taught and increased profit.
Assuming there is an almost even split in the number of students taking three month
and six month classes, and using the average cost of each the gross income of the
academy is $31,700. With this method we would expect to bring in 50% more
customers.
Total Benefits
$47,500
3. Utilize a Fully-built System
For building a complete system the services of DigitalOcean would be used to obtain hard
drive space. A database to track students and financials would be built and the necessary
equipment to allow the owners to utilize the database would be purchased. Using the
database connected to a terminal that students can access, the paper based system would
be transformed to digital increasing the accuracy of tracking student progress.
Alongside the database a website would be created an installed, allowing students to log in
to purchase class subscriptions and interact with the instructors. The website would be
connected to the database to allow for control of the users and updating the
owners/instructors. In conjunction with the database and website an email account will be
created to collect student emails efficiently. This method used with the initial
recommendations will allow for full control of how the owners want their system to operate
A. Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages to this method are similar to that of using a pre-bought system. By using
database the owners will have a better handle on student progress, and the errors that
occurred using the paper based system will be solved. With the implementation of the
website the academy can promote itself and better reinforce is social media presence.
Disadvantages include longer development time and the hiring of and IT professional
who can manage the website and database. These two factors will significantly
increase the costs of this method.
B. Estimated Cost
The subscription fee to use DigitalOcean is ten dollars per month, totaling $120 per
year. The estimated time to fully develop the system would be seven months. Basing
the pay rate off of a $60,000 yearly income it would costs $40,000 per month for the
employ the whole team. The cost of maintaining a website domain is $2.99 per month.
Additionally, one new employee would have to be hired to maintain the new system
and an estimate of two more instructors minimally would have to be hired to handle
the increased classes. The national average yearly pay for martial arts instructor is
$35,000 and the average pay for a website administrator is $41,000 as of 2014.
Estimating the costs of equipment to access the database and allow for students to
electronically check into class to be $500. A new desktop computer would have an
average cost of $213, and an additional monitor, keypad and cable would cost
approximately $280.
Development Costs
Operational Costs
$280,500
$111,156
C. Expected Benefits
The benefits to this method include increased social presence and attracting new
customers. Through the use of database and website there will be a significant increase
in customer satisfaction, which will help to retain their current student base. There is
an expected 100% gain in customers with the first year.
Total Benefits
$63,400
Recommendation
The recommendation to the Martial Arts Academy is to combine using a pre-bought system and a
fully-built system. By utilizing Openblackbelt for student tracking, financials and operations
alongside building a website through DigitalOcean the academy can get the best fitting option.
The academy wants the best return on investment possible and using this method the costs can stay
very low while getting the most potential out of the system.
The development costs of fully building a system are extremely high, and by using Openblackbelt
those costs can be avoided. An estimate of the work required for the project team would be two
months to setup the new system. Also, since the pre-bought system provides support and security
so another employee doesn’t have to be hired. There would be two subscription fees, for
DigitalOcean and Openblackbelt, totaling $240 per year and the website domain subscription for
$36 per year.
This will allow for the owners to have full control and boost their social awareness to its maximum
by utilizing the website. Customer satisfaction will also be greatly improved by the new prebought management system and the ability for students to log in from home and manage their
progress and subscription. We would expect a 100% growth in customers in the first year using
this method, and this will only increase in the years to come.
Total Benefits
Development Costs
Operational Costs
$63,400
$80,000
$70,276