QUESTION $2(65$ Marks$)$

MAC$4866/$A$02$

BACKGROUND

Meals $4$ U $($Pty$)$ Ltd $($M$4$U$)$ was incorporated in $2017$ by two brothers, Robert, and Keegan Peters. M$4$U started off as a small business delivering frozen homemade meals. After the national lockdown regulations were implemented in March $2020,$ the demand for frozen meals grew significantly. M$4$U subsequently expanded its range of frozen meals and now has distribution centres nationwide. All operations of M$4$U take place from their facilities in Bloemfontein. Meals are distributed from the central kitchen to the distribution centres and from the distribution centres to customers via a third$-$party courier company.

The main facility and the distribution centres are connected via a cloud$-$based operating system, FoodDistro. FoodDistro was specifically tailored to the needs of the business to provide seamless and direct access to the distribution centres and the main facility via a wide area network $($WAN$).$ Seamless and direct access to information is one of the overall objectives important to the organisation. The system is periodically backed up offsite to an independent $3$rd party cloud provider. M$4$U also uses an off$-$the$-$shelf accounting package, AccDr. FoodDistro and AccDr are compatible, and information is updated in real$-$time.

M$4$U uses firewalls to prevent unauthorised access to the FoodDistro system, the WAN connection, and its server. The firewalls are updated regularly by M$4$U$$s IT department, which is centralised in Bloemfontein. Customers can place orders via the M$4$U website and its mobile app.

Registering a profile

M$4$U utilises a website for all its retail customer sales. A customer must register a profile to purchase M$4$U products online. After completing a set of required fields, a customer must accept the M$4$U terms and conditions by selecting the $$I agree$$ option. All the required fields, including accepting the M$4$U terms and conditions, are mandatory for successfully registering a customer$$s profile. Once a customer has successfully registered a profile, the FoodDistro system automatically sends a registration confirmation email and a notification to the customer$$s cell phone number.

$7$

Shopping

Once a customer$$s profile has been registered, the customer can start to shop online. All categories of products are displayed on the M$4$U website. Customers can also search for specific products. Customers can filter categories of products by price and popularity. Each product has a short description, price, and reviews by other customers who have already purchased it$.$

Once a customer has identified a product he$/$she would like to purchase, the customer selects the $$add to cart$$ option, which adds the product to a virtual shopping cart. The customer can add more than one product to the virtual shopping cart.

Human Resources

M$4$U utilises a recruitment agency to select their employees. The recruitment agency hires suitable individuals with appropriate personal qualities, experience, and qualifications in consultation with line management. All employees undergo induction and training on the company$$s policies and procedures. They also receive training on the company's computer systems, should they require it$.$ All new employees have a $3-$month probation period during which their line manager or another employee supervises them.

REQUIRED: $($You need to refer to the above scenario in your answers$)$

$1.$ Recommend and discuss Key Performance Indicators $($KPIs$)$ for M$4$U to measure their

website's digital engagement, scale, and active usage. $10$ Marks

$2.$ Recommend how M$4$U can utilise data from the website to improve the KPIs you have identified above. $5$ Marks

$3.$ Review the advantages of M$4$U centralising their IT department in Bloemfontein? $5$ Marks

$4.$ Discuss the process that M$4$U management undertook when selecting their information

system architecture for M$4$U$?10$ Marks

$5.$ IdentifyanddiscusstheITpersonnelcontrolsaroundthehumanresourcesfunction

$10$ Marks

$6.$ Discuss how the recruitment agency can come up with a strategy to attract millennials to work for M$4$U$?5$ Marks

$8$

$7.$ ArtificialIntelligenceandProcessAutomation

$7\mathrm{.}1.$ Discuss the differences between artificial intelligence and process automation.

$10$ Marks

$7\mathrm{.}2.$ Evaluate the benefits associated with process automation for M$4$U$?5$ Marks

$7\mathrm{.}3.$ Recommend how Artificial Intelligence can assist the finance department at M$4$U$?$