As you learned earlier in this chapter, R/Way is a small but rapidly growing trucking company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. R/Way’s information system currently consists of a file server and three workstations where freight clerks enter data, track shipments, and prepare freight bills. To perform their work, the clerks obtain data from a file server and use database and spreadsheet programs stored on stand-alone PCs to process the data. At your meeting yesterday, R/Way’s president approved your recommendation to create a relational database to handle R/Way operations and provide links for R/Way shippers and customers.

1. Review the concept of supply chain management. Although R/Way offers services rather than products, could that concept apply to the design of R/Way’s new system? If so, how?

2. What would be the advantages of selecting an Internet-based architecture for R/Way’s system?

3. Should R/Way’s new system be based on file-server or client/server architecture? Why?

4. What would be the pros and cons of selecting in-house development versus a packaged solution for the R/Way system?