5.2 Self Reflection

[After completing the assignment, reflect on your approach by considering the statements below:

Evaluate how you felt you met the assignment objectives

How effective was your approach to the completing the assignment

Did you identify any lessons learned for the future

Evaluate the benefits of the requirements document to an organization]

Sunshine Candy Shop (SCS) Case Study

SCS has been serving candy lovers, both wholesale and retail, from its Burnaby, British Columbia location since 1977. Originally, Bill Bellows specialized in providing hard candies and mints to restaurants, but recently, Bill and his daughter Miranda (recently graduated from school) expanded SCS to carry many confection types, specifically piece-candy, bar-candy, chocolates, jellies and fancies. Although not as large as competing shops in the B.C. lower mainland, they have developed a growing customer base due to their confections' freshness and appeal and their expertise in marketing to senior citizens and holiday gift-givers.

Over the past few years, SCS has expanded from its three Vancouver-area sales outlets to include one new retail store in each of Victoria B.C., Whistler B.C., Banff, Alberta and Jasper, Alberta. Over the years, SCS has seen a steady increase in the costs required to manage its candy-making operations.This increase includes inventory and retail, but also includes the entire candy-making process (i.e. manufacturing - heating, rolling, shaping, cooling - packaging, transporting, marketing, etc) SCS is known for. Miranda is championing a digital transformation of the business that will cover everything from their branding and marketing to their facilities, people, assets, and technologies.She hopes that this refresh will give SCS the boost they need to remain competitive and increase sales. SCS hopes to stay one of the leading independent candy-maker and supplier in Western Canada by providing sustainable manufacturing operations while using technology to streamline their customer's experience.

Miranda's plan to move to a customized computer sales system built, to serve her base of 2900 current customers. is a first step in her vision for the digital transformation, but there are many more to take. Miranda is also planning to overhaul the infrastructure of the candy-making operations to ensure that it meets the highest environmental standards. She also wants to update the online store to ensure that SCS can reach and serve potential customers that not are locally located near the candy facility. These plans are intended to create a frictionless candy-making experience and promote the highest spending on SCS products at retail. Finally, Miranda is also planning an overhaul of SCS's inventory management technologies. Together, with these initiatives, Miranda hopes that the digital transformation will position SCS as an innovative but far-reaching, candy-maker that is ready to serve customers across Canada and the US.

Miranda sees data driven decisions in all areas of the SCS and has made it a priority in her strategic plan to establish a culture of data driven decision-making in its employees at all levels of the business. Today, the data the growing system provides will be the foundation of this new culture and will be implemented through a business analytics technology refresh project.

Miranda has asked you to lead the Business Analytics Technology Refresh for SCS. "As you are aware, SCS has a number of on-going strategic initiatives. I want you to focus on the design of a business analytics technology solution based on the data provided by the proposed sales system."