Below is a paper for a Health Club called Biceps Concepts, to submit a CONTEXT DFD for this company, make sure you read the entire write up before creating your DFD.

Biceps Concepts

Mr. Fields informed me the other day that we would be seeing a few new faces around here. At first, I thought he was going to make some much needed staff changes, but it turns out that he has contracted with you to do a study of the operations here at Biceps Concepts. He asked me to be your “User Representative”, whatever that means. Mr. Fields told me my first assignment was to give you an overall feel for the business. Since I’m not very good at talking off the top of my head, I tried to put it all down on paper. Now I’m sure some little things may have slipped through the cracks but I hope this allows you to get off on the right foot.

Mr. Fields owns and operates Biceps Concepts. A full range of workout equipment is available. Aerobic dance and jazzercise classes are offered. The facility also includes an Olympic-sized swimming pool and three racquetball courts.

This club also sells to its members a very healthy malt powder beverage additive which contains many good ingredients. This product is sold for off-site consumption only.

Only members in good standing are admitted to the club. Membership applications must be made at least a week prior to intended use and all applications must be made to Mr. Fields directly. After reviewing the application, Mr. Fields makes up a membership form and inserts the form in the notebook that resides at the front desk. The forms are organized in alphabetical fashion based on the member’s last name. At this time, Mr. Fields also issues a member ID card to the new member and explains that the member must show their ID card each time they desire admittance to the facilities.

Mr. Fields also owns the plant that produces a wonderful beverage additive. Its brand name is Smelt. The plant is managed by Mr. Fields’ twin brother, Oswald S. Davis (their last names are different because they were separated at birth through a cruel twist of fate and only recently reunited). Each Tuesday, Oswald receives a stock order from me (I run the dispensary at the Biceps Concepts). I know the product only comes in 50-pound bags and orders must be made in increments of 50-pounds. Oswald gathers the required number of 50-pound bags and delivers them to the back door of the health club each Wednesday. I always receive the delivery from Oswald and then verify the right number of bags are delivered. I then proceed to break down the 50-pound bags into 1-pound packets and attractively display them on the counter at the dispensary.

Mr. Fields is a firm believer in this product and encourages his members to use it. Some years ago, I conceived of a plan to promote the sale of smalt powder. I suggested the club give each member a token each time they used the facility. They could use these tokens as credits when purchasing smalt powder. Mr. Fields thought this was a great idea and decided to call these tokens “muscle-money.” In order to keep Oswald busy, Mr. Fields has him hand carve all of the “muscle-money” tokens. Each Wednesday, Oswald delivers a supply of newly carved “muscle-money” tokens with the bags of smalt powder. These tokens are stored in a desk drawer at the front desk and each time a member enters the facility, they are issued one “muscle-money” token.

Members may purchase smalt powder anytime they are in the club with one exception which is discussed later. I sell each 1-pound bag for $10. My only other duty is to determine how many more 50-pound bags of small powder I need to maintain the attractive display and phone Oswald with the order. I always do this on Monday morning.

The exception to purchasing smalt powder came about like this. One day, Mr. Fields realized much to his dismay that many members were buying smalt powder not only for their own use, but for their friends and neighbors. Knowing this, he decided to allow sales to only those members that came to the club frequently. He now produces a list every month of those members who frequented the club less than four times the previous month. The list would then be given to me to reference when making smalt powder sales. My instructions are to refuse sales to members whose name appears on this “low-activity” list regardless of the amount of “muscle-money” they may possess.

Throughout the day, as time permits, Mr. Fields opens the mail and posts the payments received to the appropriate membership record, bringing down the current balance. Tessie Tinfoil brings Mr. Fields any payments that have been left with her at the check-in desk. Actually, I think she just likes to talk with Mr. Fields. He puts the money in a strong box in his bottom desk drawer. At the close of the business day, he takes the money from the strong box and from the dispensary cash drawer and makes up a bank deposit. Mr. Fields always goes by the bank on his way home.

Mr. Fields doesn’t recycle all the “muscle-money: tokens from the cash drawer back to the “muscle-money” drawer at the front desk. I suspect he destroys a certain number of them just to keep Oswald busy.

Once a month, Mr. Fields takes the member file and prepares statements for any balance due. He calculates new charges by multiplying the member’s number of visits against a set per visit fee of $20). These statements are stuffed in window envelopes, stamped and mailed out the next day. At this time, he also destroys the existing low-activity list and begins a new one. He examines each member record as he is preparing statements and records the name of each member who has used the facilities less than four times the previous month onto the new low-activity list.

This covers everything I can think of with the exception of Tessie’s activities at the check-in counter. She and Mr. Fields have been friends for a long time and she doesn’t think I’m competent to explain what she does (or doesn’t do, whichever is the case!). I hope you get better cooperation out of her than I do.

Good luck!.

The activities of the front desk are the key and crucial activities of the whole club.

When a member comes in to use the facilities, I always use their membership card and the member file to confirm the member is an active member. If I don’t recognize the person, I also ask for an additional photo type ID. If I don’t find them in the member file or they’re not a Rangoon member, they don’t get in.

Sidney allows members of the Rangoon Racquet Club to use our club if they are a member in good standing over there. I always call Myrtle at the Rangoon front desk just to make sure the person is still a member in good standing.

When I let in a club member, I always check the date box on the ledger card. Rangoonies don’t have a ledger card, nor do they get chips.

You haven’t heard about the chips? Oh yeah, that was a great idea I had a couple of years back. You see, I decided to give members a couple of chips each time they came in to use the facilities. Then I would allow them credit for the chips when they wanted to buy supplies. It’s working out real well.

Well that about sums it up. As you can see it is very important what kind of impression we make on members when they come in the door. That’s why I enjoy working here. I almost hate to go on vacation and Hillary fill in for me.

Be sure to stop by for a chat when you come by the club. Maybe I’ll slip you a few chips!!

I really hate to do this to you but I have uncovered a problem that my people missed. I require that a copy of all office correspondence cross my desk and when I was reviewing the memos sent to you by Hillary and Tessie, I realized that they had forgotten to tell you about a critical aspect of club operations.

You need to include the scheduling of racquetball courts in your study. Can you imagine what a mess we would have if that had been left out. It’s really a very simple process. When a member calls in, they give their membership number, date they wish to play, and how long they plan to play. The call usually comes to Hillary. She checks the court schedule (it really is just a blackboard with a few lines on it) and if there is a court available, she marks down the reservation. We do just the opposite when someone decides to cancel a reservation. The only time we have problems filling reservations is when someone has booked a tournament or company night.

When a member comes in, Hillary checks the blackboard to see what court was reserved for the member. If there is any mix-up, we will still try to assign a court to the member.

Sorry about the confusion. Hope it doesn’t cause any delays.