CASE : Forondo Artist Management Excellence Inc.

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PART $1$

FAME $($Forondo Artist Management Excellence$)$ Inc. is an artist management company that represents

classical music artists $($only soloists$)$ both nationally and internationally. FAME has more than $500$ artists

under its management, and wants to replace its spreadsheet$-$based system with a new state$-$of$-$the$-$art

computerized information system.

Their core business idea is simple: FAME finds paid performance opportunities for the artists whom it

represents and receives a $1030$ percent royalty for all the fees the artists earn $($the royalties vary by

artist and are based on a contract between FAME and each artist$).$ To accomplish this objective, FAME

needs technology support for several tasks. For example, it needs to keep track of prospective artists.

FAME receives information regarding possible new artists both from promising young artists themselves

and as recommendations from current artists and a network of music critics. FAME employees collect

information regarding promising prospects and maintain that information in the system. When FAME

management decides to propose a contract to a prospect, it first sends the artist a tentative contract, and

if the response is positive, a final contract is mailed to the prospect. New contracts are issued annually to

all artists.

FAME markets its artists to opera houses and concert halls $($customers$)$; in this process, a customer

normally requests a specific artist for a specific date. FAME maintains the artists$$ calendars and responds

back based on the requested artist$$s availability. After the performance, FAME sends an invoice to the

customer, who sends a payment to FAME $($please note that FAME requires a security deposit, but you do

not need to capture that aspect in your system$).$ Finally, FAME pays the artist after deducting its own fee.

Currently, FAME has no IT staff. Its technology infrastructure consists of a variety of desktops, printers,

laptops, tablets, and smartphones all connected with a simple wired and wire$-$ less network. A local

company manages this infrastructure and provides the required support.

E$-$mail from Martin Forondo, Owner Martin

Forondo, the owner of FAME, has commissioned your team to design and develop a database

application. In his e$-$mail soliciting your help he provides the following information:

$$My name is Martin Forondo, and I am the owner and founder of FAME. I have built this business over the

past thirty years together with my wonderful staff and I am very proud of my company. We are in the

business of creating bridges between the finest classical musicians and the best concert venues and opera

houses of the world and finding the best possible opportunities for the musicians we represent. It is very

important for us to provide the best possible service to the artists we represent.

It used to be possible to run our business without any technology, particularly when the number of the

artists we rep$-$ resented was much smaller than it currently is$.$ The situation is$,$ however, changing, and

we seem to have a need to get some technical help for us$.$ At this moment we have about $500$ different

artists and every one of them is very special for us$.$ We have about $20$ artist managers who are

responsible for different numbers of artists; some of them have only $10,$ but some manage as many as $30$

artists. The artist managers really keep this business going, and each of them has the ultimate

responsibility for the artists for whom they work. Every manager has an administrative assistant to help

him or her with daily routine work$$the managers are focusing on relationship building and finding new

talent for our company. The managers report to me but they are very independent in their work, and I am

very pleased that I only very seldom have to deal with

operational issues related to the managers$$ work. By the way, I also have my own artists $($only a few but,

of course, the very best within the company, if I may say so$).$

As I said, we find performance opportunities for the artists and, in practice, we organize their entire

professional lives$$of course, in agreement with them. Our main source of revenue consists of the

royalties we get when we are successful in finding a performance opportunity for an artist: We get up to

$30$ percent of the fee paid to an artist $($this is agreed separately with every artist and is a central part of

our contract with the artist$).$ Of course, we get the money only after the artist has successfully completed

the performance; thus, if an artist has to cancel the performance, for example, because of illness, we will

not get anything. Within the company the policy is very clear: A man$-$ ager gets $50$ percent of the royalties

we earn based on the work of the artists he or she manages, and the remaining $50$ percent will be used to

cover adminis