Expandable Advertisements (Mar. 2009):
- Expandable ad is a new type of ad that can appear on the pages.
- Expandable ads are rich media ads that can expand beyond the original size of the ad unit, following a user-initiated action. This creates more real estate for the ad, allowing for more interaction from interested users. For instance, expandable ads may stream a movie trailer, show video game clips, or display various views of an item for sale.
- Expandable ads will be served as third-party ads and will be created by Google-certified rich media vendors for the top display advertisers in our network. And like other Google ads, you’ll earn based on whether the expandable ads on your site are priced on a cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) basis. Keep in mind that you’ll generate earnings from CPC expandable ads when a user visits the advertiser’s landing page, and not when a user simply clicks to expand the ad.

AdSense For Domains (Dec. 2008):
- AdSense for domains allows publishers with unused domains to help users reach relevant information by presenting content on the domains.
- Only available for domain name registrars and domain name holders before.
- AdSense for domains program is available for all users now (from Dec. 2008).
- Users often type domains into their address bar or follow expired links leading to sites with no content. Instead of an “under construction” page or 404 error, AdSense for domains provides links, search results, advertisements and other content. To do this, we use semantic technology targeted to the domain name. You earn revenue when users interact with the ads on your site.
- If you have a site that has content on it (e.g., articles, reviews, forums, blog postings or other text), then your site should be used with AdSense for content. If you have a page with no content on it, then AdSense for domains can help your users. To get started with AdSense for domains, check out our set-up instructions, or search or browse our AdSense Help Forum for more information.

AdSense For Feeds (Oct. 2008):
What is a feed?
A feed is a format that allows your content to be delivered (and subscribed to) on the web, often as headlines, summaries or articles. Users subscribe to feeds, often through a feed aggregator such as Bloglines or FeedDemon, which gives them access to all desired feeds in one location. This allows users to preview your content wherever they go, making it easier for them to find out what’s new on your site and reminding them to come back.
- AdSense for feeds allows web publishers to earn by placing targeted Google ads in their feeds.
- AdSense for feeds works the way the rest of the AdSense program works: by delivering ads that are relevant to your content and your readers.

What Is Coming Soon? – AdSense For Games
- Google began offering a limited number of online game publishers the opportunity to earn ad revenue by participating in a beta test of its AdSense advertising program for games on October 2008.
- Why games? The Yankee Group last year said that global advertising in video games reached $77.7 million in 2006. It predicted that figure will reach $971.3 million by the end of 2011. Such numbers, however, seem optimistic in light of the current global financial crisis. 

Reference:

http://adsense.blogspot.com/search/label/AdSense%20features

http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210800514&cid=yahoo_search

“We have this amazing product called AdSense for content, where we’re monetizing the Web.” by Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

What Is Google AdSense?
- AdSense is an online advertising application developed by Google.
- Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image, and more recently, video advertisements on their websites.
- These advertisements are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-impression basis.
- Services: AdSense for Content, AdSense for feeds, AdSense for search, AdSense for mobile content, AdSense for domains, etc.

Business Plan?
AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the advertisements are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the advertisements is often relevant to the website.
- For Google: Google uses the Internet search technology to serve advertisements based on website content, the user’s geographical location, and other factors.
- For advertisers: Those wanting to advertise with Google’s targeted advertisement system may enroll through AdWords.
- For webmasters: They use a wide range of traffic-generating techniques such as online advertising, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), etc, and they build valuable content on their websites that attracts AdSense advertisements, which pay out the most when they are clicked.

Google AdSense Growth?
Network growth indicates the revenue from Google AdSense. Blue color shows the revenue from the network. Base on the statistic, 80% of the network revenue is from Google AdSense. Even the Internet specialists predict that AdSense will be saturated in 2010 or 2011, we still can see around 6%-10% of the growth in the past two years.

How Does Google AdSense Work?
- The webmaster inserts the AdSense JavaScript code into a webpage.
- Each time this page is visited, the JavaScript code creates an IFrame with a src attribute set to the page’s URL.
- For contextual advertisements, Google’s servers use a cache of the page to determine a set of high-value keywords. If keywords have been cached already, advertisements are served for those keywords based on the AdWords bidding system.
- For site-targeted advertisements, the advertiser chooses the page(s) on which to display advertisements, and pays based on cost-per-mille (CPM), or the price advertisers choose to pay for every thousand advertisements displayed.
- Because the JavaScript is sent to the Web browser when the page is requested, it is possible for other website owners to copy the JavaScript code into their own webpages. To protect against this type of fraud, AdSense customers can specify the pages on which advertisements should be shown. AdSense then ignores clicks from pages other than those specified.

The Impact On E-Business?
- Google AdSense is a key element in Web2.0 service.
- Anyone can be the “broadcast” of AdSense.
- AdSense is the winner of network effect: 91.9% of search engine advertising market by Google and Yahoo!, and 75.6% by Google.
- AdSense’s partners brought 16.5 hundred million US dollars for Google in the first quarter of 2008 (37% of total revenue and 28% is from AdSense).
- Support new platforms with wireless service such as AdSense for mobile.
- Support multimedia content such as AdSense for YouTube

Conclusion
- Google AdSense brings the new fashion of life.
- Google AdSense generates extra income for SOHO.
- Keyword advertising (Google AdWords) and search engine marketing significantly change the old business model.
- They are Google, anything can happen.

Reference:

http://www.wikipedia.com/

http://www.nhu.edu.tw/~society/e-j/73/73-2.htm

Three Steps of A Successful Marketing In Electronic Commerce

Nowadays, electronic commerce is more and more necessary for a modern enterprise. These businesses have millions of colorful homepages which may be found in search engines. Still, only 30% of these enterprises have good results because of their marketing strategies. To increase their success, such companies should be aware of the market environment and the characteristics of electronic commerce. Next, enterprises should build special and distinctive web pages on the Internet. Afterwards, a well-planned strategy on products is also necessary. These three steps are the keys to a successful marketing in electronic commerce.

Understanding of the market environment and the characteristics of electronic commerce is the first step to a successful marketing in electronic commerce. In this step, a web pages builder should be aware of four different kinds of environments and four characteristics of electronic commerce. The first kind of environment is for business transactions. For example, Virtual Vineyards (www.wine.com) is a virtual community for purchasing wines. Consumers can get information and shop here. The second one is for people’s interest. For example, the New York Times (www.nytimes.com) provides readers and reporters a place to discuss public polices or events. The third one is for fantasy. For example, ESPNet Sportszone (games.espn.go.com) provides games and entertainment to consumers. Consumers can make a dream team and play with other people. The last one is for relationships. For example, Match.com (www.match.com) provides single males or females a field to make friend. In addition, the four characteristics are also important for a web pages builder. The first characteristic is anonymous effects. Consumers can use their anonymous ID to login discussion board, document management system, or Intranet signboard. Because anonymous effects can inspire people to browse web pages, allowing anonymity is an important minority of Internet development. The second characteristic is hyper-links. Hyper-links is non-linear conjunction. Because of this characteristic, the Internet becomes a sophisticated net, and people can browse between different web pages. Then, the next characteristic is nonsynchronicity. Because of this characteristic, the communication on the Internet can be happened in different time or different space. Especially e-mail plays an important role in nonsynchronicity. Moreover, customized interaction is another characteristic of electronic commerce. This characteristic influences marketing strategy very well. The conversation between customers, such as machine interaction or person interaction, always happens in a small group. These four characteristics are important on the marketing of electronic commerce.

After being aware of the market environment and the characteristics of electronic commerce, the next step is starting to build a web page which is out of ordinary. An unusual web page is also a key of a successful marketing in electronic commerce. Such unusual web page should have follow four characteristics. The first characteristic is to give the web page an unusual domain name. Not only does a web page have an IP address, but it also has a domain name. A domain name is the extension of the brand. Famous websites always have simple and special domain names. Secondly, a personal style is another important characteristic to a successful web page. An individual website should have a personal CIS (Corporate Identity System), such as the butterfly mark of MSN. In addition, the orientation of the website also has to be clear. It could be technological, artistic, classical, delightful, or storyful. Then, the third characteristic is Vassos’s underwear theory. According to this theory, 60-70% customers use the Internet at home, and wear underwear. Therefore, the contents of the website must keep easy. The interaction between enterprises and customers must keep easy. The product service on the website also must keep easy. The last characteristic for a successful website is to satisfy customers’ needs. Web pages builders have to see clearly what customers need, and then provide what they want. After that, the web pages can attract customers to consume. These four characteristics are matters needing attention when web pages are constructing.

When the web pages finished, a good strategy becomes another important key of a successful marketing in electronic commerce. There are four general ideas of a successful strategy. First of all, enterprises must know the strategy of primacy effect. Because of primacy effect, the products which enter the market first usually take advantage of others. In other words, everyone has his or her own habitual domain. For example, OS2 is a very good operation system, but only few people know how to use it. That is because most customers have already accepted DOS. Then, the strategy of price is equally important. Generally speaking, there are two categories of the strategy of price. They are market-skimming pricing and market-penetration pricing. Market-skimming pricing uses high quality and service to skim the largest profit. Market-penetration pricing uses low price and presents to attract customers. Using which category of the strategy of price depends on the products. Afterwards, another important strategy is advertising plan. When enterprises are doing their advertising plan, they should be aware of AIDA. AIDA is Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action, four ideas of customers’ behavior. Basing on AIDA, enterprises must make different plans. These plans include directing marketing, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling. Moreover, everlasting management is the fourth strategy of a successful website. The most important concept of everlasting management is change. No customer likes an unalterable website. Enterprises must always keep the website innovative, creative, and changeable. If an enterprise has a colorful web page but without any strategy, the website can not succeed.

To achieve successful marketing in electronic commerce, being aware of the market environment and the characteristics of electronic commerce, building a special and distinctive web page on the Internet, and planning a well-planned strategy on products are four important steps. The purpose to learn this is because the behavior of customers on the Internet is totally different from other consuming behavior. Today’s enterprises should not only build a colorful website.The contents and the marketing strategies are their real goal.

CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION

7.1 Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

Document Analysis for Starbucks:
The purpose of Green Tea’s project is to satisfy Starbucks needs in reaching a wider audience through changing the ways Starbucks put their product on the market. These gives customers a better Starbucks experience which in return raises their customer’s level of satisfaction – a desirable goal for any organization seeking to succeed. Through the Internet support, customers will be able to buy coffee of their choice at the comfort of their home or office or simply by getting their coffee without waiting in line, especially during rushing hours. To make that happen, we are doing our document gathering by focusing on the documentation analysis technique. This step allowed us to have an overview of the Starbucks page layout and recommend changes where necessary.

Some of the recommended changes that will help us in reaching our goal which is to broaden our customer base go as follows:
1. Search for the coffee menu
2. Placing an order of coffee desired
3. Kind of order: ( pickup/delivery)
Search for the coffee menu: Starbucks page layout does not have an option that allows their customers to search for coffee for pick up or delivery. Leaving out this option defeats the whole purpose; it should be corrected and streamed lined to suit the customer’s needs.
Placing an order of coffee desired: The current layout allows customers to order unprocessed coffee only. This is going to cause lots of confusion if not changed. Giving the customers the ability to order some coffee to be prepared and also allowing them choose their preferred ingredients will leave a lasting impression. Nothing gets a concerned customer more delighted as getting them involved when it comes to what they consume.
Kind of order: (pickup/delivery): When a customer places an order, they should be prompted to choose either to pick their order or have it delivered. Going with the current design, customers will not be able to do so. It should be made clear to customers how long it will take for their coffee to be ready. This allows them weigh their options and go with what’s best for them.
Giving what’s at stake and not knowing how well this project will be accepted by the customers, separating the business from the individual consumer account should be considered. Unlike the present design which lumped all in one account, the idea of separating the two will help Starbucks in structuring their business at the back end should the need to offer any kind of sales discounts emerges.
Finally, having a way to store customer’s information to avoid repetition will benefit both Starbucks and their customers. Time is of essence and will be saved if previous orders by customers are retained in their record. Those who prefer same kind of coffee will find this handy since they will be saved the trouble of picking and choosing what will be in their coffee.

7.2 Conclusion

Starbucks’ sales have been dropping since 2006. The Green tea project team is trying to increase the profit for the Starbucks. We are doing the System Analysis for the whole project to see if this online order system works or not. After research and data analysis, this project is worth to do because of the increase of sales. It can improve the service inside the stores and the reputation of Starbucks. This online order system also has the potential for the future development for the Starbucks.

CHAPTER 6: PROJECT AND STRUCTURAL MODELING

6.1 Activity Diagram

Since the primary process for Starbucks online service is the online order system, it is important to demonstrate the relationships between the objects in the system. The flow starts with getting order information. If the order comes from new customers, the system creates new customer accounts. There are two ways to make order payment. Customers could choose either pay online with credit cards or pay cash. The final procedure is to choose delivery methods. Two delivery methods, delivery and pickup are available for customers.

Activity diagram for Starbucks online order system:

6.2 Use Case Diagram

Use Case Deseription
Use Case Name: Place order ID: 2 Importance Level: High

Primary Actor: Customer Use Case Type: Detail, essential

Stakeholders and Interests:
Customer- wants to place, change, or cancel an order
Store- wants to ensure that the customers’ needs are met by accepting responsibility to prepare coffee for pickup or delivery

Brief Description: This use case describes how orders are placed as well as cancelling an order

Trigger: Customer calls and asked to place an order or even cancel an already pplaced order

Type: External
Relationships:
Associations: Customer
Include: Make arrangement ton how to receive order
Extend: Create New Customer Account
Generalization:

Normal Flow of Events:
1. The customer contacts the office via online regarding placing an order.
2. The customer enters her name, address and phone number.
3. The account database system validates the Customer exists in the customer database.
4. The order system accepts and executes the make arrangement (delivery/pickup) use case.
5. The customer is prompted to place a new order, cancel an existing order or change an existing order.
If the customer wants to place a new order,
the S-1: new order sub flow is performed.
If the patient wants to cancel an existing order,
the S-2: cancel order sub flow is performed.
If the customer wants to change an existing order,
the S-3: change order sub flow is performed.
6. The order system provides the results of the transaction to the customer.

Sub Flows:
S-1: New Order
1. The order system prompts the customer for the kind of coffee for their order.
2. The order system matches the customer’s type of order with customer’s info and then place the new order.
S-2: Cancel Order
1. The order system ask the customer for the order number.
2. The order system finds the order number in the system and then cancels it.
S-3: Change Order
1. The order system performs the S-2: Cancel Order sub flow.
2. The order system performs the S-1: New Order sub flow.

Extend and include relationships:

The class diagram contains the actions or the functions that class can perform the relationships between each object. The object diagrams are pulled out from the class diagram. The object diagrams are essentially an instantiation of all or part of a class diagram. For example, customer will place the order on the web application, then, the application will send the order to the store.

6.5 Class-Responsibility-Collaboration Cards

The set of CRC cards contains all the information necessary to build a logical structural model of the problem under investigation. This CRC card is the example for the customer. Inside the card, we have all the information of the customer. The front of the card allows the recording of the class’s name (customer), ID, type, description, list of associated use cases, responsibilities, and collaborators. The back of the CRC card contain the attributes and relationships of the class, such as the name of the customer, address, email.

CHAPTER 5
PROJECT ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT

5.1 Business Process Improvement

Green Tea’s strategic goals and purposes:
The purpose of Green Tea’s project is to satisfy Starbucks needs by reaching a wider audience, innovating Starbuck way to put their product on the market and giving customers a better Starbuck experience as well as improving their satisfaction and increase the Starbuck sales by 5% through the Internet support.

Duration Analysis:
After spending a day observing the StarBucks staff in one of the store in Atlanta area, we have seen the following observations. Usually it take no more than 5 minutes to pay and serve the coffee to the clients, but during rush hours the staff is constantly under pressure. They have to deal with unsatisfied clients. Clients complaint if they have to wait on line more than 10 minutes and some of them leave the store if it takes more than 10 minutes to take their order or if the line is too big. It implies that the store is losing money, customers and not fulfill the Starbucks experience to their clients due to the time the staff take to serve their clients.

Activity-Based Costing:
Each coffee cost at least 5$. During rush hours, impatient clients tend to leave the coffee shop because it takes too much time to serve. Green Tea staff has observed that during rush hours at an average of 60 people leave the store without buying anything which implies that the store have lost at least 300$ in that hour. This means that in a week Starbucks lose at least $2,100.

Informal Benchmarking:
Green Tea is expecting to increase sales and also speed the time at which Starbucks’s employees serve their customers and satisfy Starbucks experience goal by including an Internet support.
First of all, Starbucks is going to be the first in the coffee industry to make an online order for individuals. Therefore its competitors may follow the concept as soon as they will see that they idea bring a considerable amount of profits. Each store that will be willing to implement this program will increase their sales of 5%.
It is also going to improve the Starbucks experience of each customers and it will reach a bigger audience. Customers that are impatient will be tending to use this kind of service. Starbucks staff will receive less complaint from the customers and the level of tension for the staff during rush hours will considerably go down, which implies that the staff will continue to give a better job without the stress of the rush hours.
Finally, this concept will raise the image of Starbucks service, because Starbucks will show that they still be able to improve their service no matter what and it will show an image on a healthy and wealthy company where invest on is not a lost of money.

5.2 Data gathering techniques

For our project team we are going to use Document Analysis and Observation for the data gathering.

Depth of information for Document Analysis:
When we compare document analysis to other data gathering technique, document analysis is just a pile of data. The information about the data is not rich, but it is enough for the project team to analysis the information about how many cups of coffee does the Starbucks sell, and what kind of coffee does they sell. This is the reason why we chose the Document analysis for the data gathering technique. We can direct get the information from the Starbucks stores, and combine the data.

Depth of information for Observation:
Observation data gathering technique also does not give us lots of information when you compare to other techniques. The reason why we are using it is because it has the information that we need. For example, through observation, we can know information about what kind of coffee people are ordering today, or what reaction when they waiting in line for 5 minutes when need have to go to work during the rush hour. All the information that we get from the observation, we can extend it. From the emotional expression, we can know that what the customer wants. The information that we get is more helpful than the other techniques.

Breadth of Information for Document Analysis:
The breadth of information for Document Analysis is high. We can get all documents from all Starbucks stores, and it is easy and fast.

Breadth of Information for Observation:
The range of information and information sources for the observation is low. Therefore, we chose 5 stores from east, west, north, south, and center of Atlanta to be our observation targets.

Integration of Information for Document Analysis and Observation:
Document analysis has low integration of information. Simply, we just collect the information and combine it for the analysis. For the observation, it also has low integration of information. During the observation, we collect all the information and reactions for the analysis.

User Involvement for Document Analysis and Observation:
Document analysis and observation both have low user involvement because both of techniques are collecting the information. The Observation may involve more observation because it will contain customers’ reaction.

Cost for the Document Analysis and Observation:
Cost is an important element for us to choose these two techniques for the data gathering. Both techniques are low cost. Only the observation has the time consuming. We have only 5 stores to be observed, so the time consuming will not take too long.

Conclusion
After compare all techniques, our project team have chose Document analysis and observation to be our data gathering techniques. We base on what information that we need and the cost of the techniques to decided these two ways to gathering our information. We chose these two do not mean others are not good. For example, the interview is good for data gathering, but it contains too much information that we don’t need, and the cost is higher than those two we are chosen.

CHAPTER 3: PROJECT PLAN

3.1 Milestones

1. Project begins on Mar 10, 2008.
2. Receive the registered delivery vehicles with equipments installed on Jul 31, 2008.
3. Complete order system and database system installation on Oct 1, 2008.
4. Submit final delivery procedure and route on Dec 4, 2008.

3.2 Work Breakdown Structure

3.3 Project Charter

Project objective: The Online Order System project team will create an online ordering web-base system to sell Starbucks’ coffee to help customers save their time.

The Online Order System team members will:
1. Attend a staff meeting each Friday at 10 am to report on the status of assigned tasks.
2. Update the workplan with actual data each Friday by 2 pm.
3. Discuss all problems with manager as soon as they discover the problem.
4. Put all changes on the board in order to remind the team members that we have change something.
5. Helping each other when they needed in order to keep project on the schedule.

CHAPTER 4: ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS: AND RECOMMENDATIONS

They are always other sorts of ways to get into the company’s profit increasing, but Green Tea Company believe that our project is the one that you need. Not only the price is affordable and the timeline is relatively short and also we believe on its results.
There is the possibility to implement our new system to all the Starbucks stores, but we believe that only 20 stores will be necessary to prove on the efficacy of our system. By implementing the system in only 20 stores, you will be able to see its result in a small scale without expend an astronomic amount of money. This project can be seeing as a prototype and if Starbucks CEOs are satisfied; they can later on beneficiate on adding more store to this new project.

If the idea of buying new cars for the delivery service doesn’t please Starbucks managers; there is always the possibility to use the employee’s car, but seeing Starbuck as a growing and powerful company, we believe that the option of buying new delivery cars is necessary to promote an image of a wealthy company which it interest is giving the best service to their costumers. Therefore not only this project will increase sales, but it will raise the image of Starbuck service and also it will be one of the first coffee company to make this type of service.

CHAPTER 2: FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS

Green tea group have created the following feasibility analysis aimed at modifying the existing internet order system of Starbucks. The details of the feasibility analysis go as following sections.

2.1 Technical Feasibility

The system will be as is, but with some minor adjustment which may involve risk.
Starbucks risk in regards to the familiarity with an internet order based application is high:
• With the exception of business consumers , the IT department will be restructuring the already existing website to service individual consumers; this requires hiring more programmers and extensive training to make it happen
• Being the first one of chain coffee businesses, the marketing department has little experience in using a web-based medium to reach individual consumers.
• The competition if any that exist in this type of retail business is unknown

Starbucks risk in regards to the familiarity with an internet order application is medium:
• The acceptability and impact this project will have on consumers is yet unknown
• Restructuring of the system to include consumers may require increase in the man hours ; this can also mean hiring more people in the IT department
• Experience from managing and administering the existing website would help in maintaining the system once it comes on live.

Overall, the risk involved in this project is medium
• With an already existing team, only few will be hired in the IT department
• Through feed back , users would be involved in the final phase of the developmental process
• Length of project would be restricted to two months, to allow implementation before end of semester

The compatibility with Starbucks existing technical infrastructure should be good:
• The existing client-server which is based on open standard based solves the interoperability issues.
• A system ordering and maintaining of orders electronically will be installed

2.2 Economic Feasibility

The cost and benefit analysis is presented in the following figures. The return on investment (ROI) over two years (2009, 2010) will be 173%. Total benefit after two years is $8.2 million, and break-even occurs after 1.12 quarters. Also, intangible costs and benefits include improvement of customer satisfaction, reduction of intra-company costs, reduction of advertising costs, and enhancement of brand recognition.

Assign values to costs and benefits:
Cost and benefit analysis (13 weeks):

Assign values:

Benefits:
Increase sales 810,000 (Increase customer base)
Improve customer satisfaction 50,000 (reduce service time)
Reduce intra-company costs 20,000 (online surveys)
Reduce advertising costs 40,000 (online marketing)
Total benefits 920,000

Cost:
Development costs:
Development labor 80,000
Total development costs 80,000

Operational cost:
Operational labor 250,000
Delivery vehicles 200,000
Gas, mileage 70,000
Maintenance 15,000
Delivery phones 200
Monthly charge 3,200
Other hardware 20,000
Total operational costs 558,400

Total costs 638,400

Break-even graph:

2.3 Organizational Feasibility

From an organizational perspective, this project is low risk. The objective of the system is to increase the sales for the company. The company already has the online order system. The team can use the system and implement the new software. Creating the Internet Order System also aligns with Marketing’s goal to become more savvy in internet marketing and sales.
The project has a project champion, project manager, Vice President of Marketing. Project manager is an important role in this project. Their job is to make sure everything is on the schedule and educate others to help this project to be successful.
The users of the system, Internet consumers, are expected to appreciate the benefits of Starbucks’ online order system. Also, the store manager should be willing accept this system, given the possibility of increased sales at the store level.

Starbucks Online Order Feasibility Analysis Executive Summary

Green tea group have created the following feasibility analysis aimed at modifying the existing internet order system of starbucks. The details of the feasibility analysis go as follows:

Technical Feasibility
The system will be as is, but with some minor adjustment which may involve risk.
Starbucks risk in regards to the familiarity with an internet order based application is high
• With the exception of business consumers , the IT department will be restructuring the already existing website to service individual consumers; these requires hiring of more programmers and extensive training to make it happen
• Been first of its kind in the coffee business, the marketing department has little experience in using a web-based medium to reach individual consumers.
• The competition if any that exist in this type of retail business is unknown
Starbucks risk in regards to the familiarity with an internet order application is medium
• The acceptability and impact this project will have on consumers is yet unknown
• Restructuring of the system to include consumers may require increase in the man hours ; this can also mean hiring more people in the IT department
• Experience from managing and administering the existing website would help in maintaining the system once it comes on live.
Overall, the risk involved in this project is medium
• With an already existing team, only few will be hired in the IT department
• Through feed back , users would be involved in the final phase of the developmental process
• Length of project would be restricted to two months, to allow implementation before end of semester
The compatibility with Starbucks existing technical infrastructure should be good
• The existing client-server which is based on open standard based solves the interoperability issues.
• A system ordering and maintaining of orders electronically will be installed
Economic Feasibility
The cost benefit analysis has been done, see attached for details. The break down of the economics reveals the business value this project will be bringing to Starbucks.
ROI over two years (2009, 2010): 173%
Total benefit after two years: $8.2 million
Break-even occurs: after 1.12 quarter
Intangible costs and benefits:
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Reduce intra-company costs
• Reduce advertising costs
• Enhance brand recognition

Organizational Feasibility
In terms of organizational feasibility, this project has low risk. At heart of this project lies the common purpose of increasing sales. We are also hoping to improve our service time by increasing the speed the time at which we serve our customers.
The project will be over seared by the project champion, John Doe, Regional manager. John will be devoting his time and effort in educating and meeting with the top management when necessary till the anticipated end. We expect our customers would find the system very beneficial.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Starbucks Coffee Company was founded in 1971 and their mission statement was to be “the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world.” Nowadays, they are considered as the world’s leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee with millions of customer visits per week at stores in North America, and around the world.

1.1 Starbucks Background and Current Situation

Their secret, as Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and chief executive officer stated, is The Starbucks Experience. Which consist on providing the finest coffee in a comfortable and upbeat meeting place and by building a personal relationship with each of their customers and the entrepreneurial risk-taking, innovation and creativity of the company? At the beginning, their products was consisting mainly on selling handcrafted beverages, fresh food and coffee, they have more than 30 blends and single-origin coffees. Then, they start to expand outside the United States and meanwhile new products start to appear on the U.S stores like the “Global Consumer Products”, which consist on providing drinks unknown to the American population. After, being establish internationally, they decided not only to deal with individual but also to open their market to business companies. They have started to sell assorted home espresso machines, coffee brewers and grinders, a line of premium chocolate, coffee mugs and coffee accessories, and a variety of gift items on the official website.

Nowadays, Starbucks have more than 7,087 Company-operated stores and 4,081 Licensed stores in the United States. Since 1992, the Company went public and enjoyed U.S. and international growth.

1.2 Description of Starbucks Problems

Lately, Starbucks have announced that they were closing a number of underperforming U.S stores locations in order to renew focus on its store-level units economics. According to the CEOs, they want to improve the current state of the U.S business by finding strategic ways to increase shareholders values, renewing focus on the customer experience in stores, and make a few new innovations on their products and store designs elements.

1.3 Project Scope

The purpose of Green Tea’s project is to satisfy Starbucks needs by reaching a wider audience, innovating Starbuck way to put their product on the market and giving customers a better Starbuck experience as well as improving their satisfaction. Through the Internet support, customers will be able to buy coffee of their choice at their comfort of their home or office or simply by getting their coffee without waiting online, especially on the rushing hours.

Overall Project Objective:
• To improve the current state of the U.S business
Strategic Objective:
• To reaching a wider audience and to give customers a better Starbuck experience by using a new way to order coffee through Internet

Target:
Increasing the Starbuck sales by 5%.
Description Of Project’s MOV And How It Is Ties To Goal And Strategy
One of the company approaches to remediate to their problems is to close U.S stores that are under performing. After analyzing this strategy will temporary approve the company’s action value. Meanwhile they are still trying to find a way to improve and reinvented their customers’ Starbucks experience.

Green Tea Company has found a way to improve and reinvented it at a little expend. Such project consists on:
• Modifying Starbucks actual system and database. We believe that a few people will be hired to work with IT department.
• A networking technician is needed to link the systems between the 20 stores in Atlanta. These 20 stores are individual licensed stores, not company contracted stores.
• Jim Donald, regional Starbuck manager, will be also there to guides the project process and fulfill the stores needs and motivate its personnel to become more open at the idea of this new project.
• The system and personnel are supposed to be operational in 10 months, relatively a short period of time.
• The first 6 months is to modify the system, create database and install the network, and three months to train Starbuck’s personnel.
• The project should start on Mar 10, 2008 and be ending on Jan 14, 2009.
• Every two weeks, a report will be sent to the CEO in order to inform them of the progress of the project.
• The project will cost $638,400, but it is expected to increase 5% of each store profit.

We are expecting to increase sales and also speed the time at which Starbuck’s employees serve their customers. We understand time to be of the essence to their customers and giving them that opportunity to utilize it, as they want instead of spending it waiting makes a paying customer happier fulfilling Starbuck’s mission.

1.4 Elements of the System Request Form

System Request — Online order system for Starbucks Coffee project

Program Sponsor: Glory Ikonne, Raquel Mendoza, Yuan-Chen Chin, Yen-Hsien Hwang

Business Needs: The purpose of this project is to reach a wider audience as well as improve on the expectation of our customers through internet support.

Business Requirements:
The internet allows our customers whether business or consumers to order for coffee of their choice at the comfort of their home or office. These cuts down hold times in ordering and paying for the coffee.
Since the focus is on 20 stores within the metro Atlanta, below are some of the functionalities that will be included:
• Search for the coffee menu
• Place an order of coffee desired
• Receive confirmation of order placed
• Kind of order: ( pickup/delivery)

Business Value: We are hoping to increase sales and also speed the time at which we serve our customers. We understand time to be of essence to our customers and giving them that opportunity to utilize it as they want instead of spending it waiting makes a paying customer happier fulfilling why we are in business. We expect the improved customer satisfaction will help spread the word and as such double our customer base.

Special Issues or Constraints:
• The marketing department finds this move very strategic. With so many people embracing the idea of e-business, we will not be left out its use to market our products.
• The System is expected to be operational by at the end of ten months

Element/Description/Examples
Project Sponsor/Primary Contacts on the business Side/Me
Business Need/The related reason for initiating the business/To reach a wider audience as well as improve on the expectation of our customers through internet support
Business Requirements/The capabilities the business will require/Allows our customers whether business or consumers to order for coffee of their choice at the comfort of their home or office; Search for the coffee menu; Place an order of coffee desired; Receive confirmation of order placed
Business Value/The benefits that the system will bring/5% increase in sales; 50,000 savings in improving customers satisfaction; 40,000 reduction in advertising
Special Issues or Constraints/Issues that are most vital to the implementation of the system/System needed to ready for installation within six months time

I. Introduction
Nowadays, electronic commerce has grown flourishingly on the Internet. At the same time, business behavior on the Internet also increases dramatically. Therefore, how to handle such large amount of information becomes an important task for a website manager. Especially like the big enterprise which has to receive many customer orders everyday, such as Amazon.com, or the website which is full of interaction, such as e-Bay.com, all need a functional system to manage the information. The system to collect the information and organize it into databases is called database management system (DBMS). Database management system also responses to transfer information between Business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), consumer-to-government (C2G), business-to-government (B2G), and government-to-government (G2G). To achieve a successful electronic commerce business, it is important to be aware of the functions of a database management system, software techniques which applied on the construction of an electronic commerce business, and future prospects.

II. Functions of a database management system
Awareness of the functions of a database management system is indispensable for constructing a successful electronic commerce business. Even thought there are many kinds of database management systems, most of them have the same functions. First of all, the front work in a database management system is called the customer order system. Next, the database management system must provide a functional system for a stock management. Another important function which connects a database management system and the business provider is the provider system. These three are the main functions which organize and integrate the whole database management system.
The customer order system which connects the customers and the electronic business is one function of a database management system that can lead to a successful electronic commerce business. To connect the customers and the electronic business tightly, this system must provide three sub-functions. The first main sub-function for the customer order system is to collect orders from customers. After receiving orders, the website must send them to a database management system in real time. The real-time system can help the database management system by continually receiving changing data from customers and processing the data rapidly. Another sub-function of a customer order system is to provide space for customers to exchange opinions with the electronic business. Then, the third sub-function of a customer order system is the after-sale service management system. This system helps the database management system collect maintenance records of products and customers’ information. Not only do these three sub-functions of customer order system organize the database management system, but they also help enterprises manage information from customers more easily.
The second function of the database management system of a successful electronic commerce business is stock management system. This system receives customer data from the customer order system and connects the electronic business and the provider business. There are also three sub-functions deeply influencing a successful electronic commerce business. The first sub-function of the stock management system is to make arrangements for customers’ orders. The arrangements must include an information-input system and detailed delivery lists after receiving customer data. Like the customer order system, the process of the arrangements should be also in real time. The second sub-function of a stock management system is to provide a system for electronic business to inquire about product stock. This system is concerned with whether the electronic business can deliver its products to customers on term or not. The third sub-function of a stock management system is the supply chain management system. Good supply chain management will help the provider business to get the best statistics, regularly check stocks, and forecast. A stock management system is indispensable to an electronic commerce business. However, a successful electronic commerce business should not just “have” a stock management system. The stock management system must be organized.
A provider system is another important part of a database management system. This system determines if the electronic business and the provider business will communicate well or not. There are three sub-functions for a provider system of a successful electronic commerce business. The first is to provide the provider business a database system to monitor their product stocks. Unlike the stock management system, an electronic commerce website must arrange ID-accounts and passwords to provider businesses. The second sub-function of a provider system is to make order lists for provider businesses. Depending on the customers’ orders and the supply chain management system of the stock management system, the electronic commerce enterprises must make order lists periodically. After that, the electronic commerce enterprises may use e-mail or other safe electronic data interchange (EDI) to transfer orders. The third sub-function of a provider system is to provide space for providers to exchange opinions. The providers’ opinions are same important as the customers’. After gathering the information from providers and customers in the database management system, the electronic commerce business also can provide a board of common Q&A. A provider system is a pivot for a successful electronic commerce business. It supports the supply chain of the whole electronic commerce business.
The customer order system, the stock management system, and the provider system are three facts of a database management system which a successful electronic commerce website constructor should be aware of. According to Deloitte Research and Forrester Research in 2003, business-to business (B2B) electronic commerce marketplace volume will reach U.S.$1.4 trillion (Slyke, 2003). Therefore, the competition between enterprises will become more and more violent. How to increase profit is becoming very important. Not only must enterprises put these functions into their database management system, but they must also make it organized.

III. Software of a database management system
Selecting functional and suitable software functions for a database management system is a matter needing attention for a successful electronic commerce business. Suitable web server software provides a database management system an environment to communicate with both internal computer resources and the Internet. Database management software is a key element of a database management system to process both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions. Then, security software prevents unauthorized access to computing resources. These three primary kinds of software are required to achieve a successful electronic commerce business.
For a high-quality web business, it is important to select proper web server software. There are six key elements in selecting proper web server software for a successful electronic commerce business. First of all, web server software must have a preemptive multitasking function. Simply speaking, preemptive multitasking lets a computer execute different application programs at the same time. The second element is high-memory management. For example, WinNT is a 32-bit operation system, and this memory allows people to save more than 4GB in the DOS system of WinNT. This is much more than the 640K memory of traditional DOS system. The third software element is portability. Not only should the web server software install on Intel hosts, but it should also install on the other kinds of hosts, which support RISC the same as Intel hosts, such as DEC Alpha AXP, Power PC, and MIPS R4400 (Trepper, 2000). The fourth quality of software is scalability, meaning that web server software must have the ability to manage large amounts of data on multiple CPU hosts. The fifth software element is security. Web server software must be secure enough to keep the information in database management system secure. The last software element is fault-tolerance. Web server software must support fault-tolerant protection, like disk mirroring, disk stripping with parity, and UPS.
Database software is another type of software to support a successful electronic commerce business. The database software that enterprises choose must have four qualities. The first quality is that the database management software must have an integrated and optimum file structure, which means one file contains all the functions of the program relating to database software. The second quality is to allow a complicated information list name. Database software must allow people to use at least 64-bit names, spaces, periods, exclamation marks, or other characters on topics and titles. The third quality is standardization. Database software must have standard and identical computer wording and key words. The last quality is the integration of the Internet and the Intranet. Database software must easily process information between both business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions.
The security system is another primary concern of the database management system of both business-to-business and business-to-consumer electronic commerce. There are several types of security systems available for a successful electronic commerce business to choose. The secure sockets layer (SSL) is the leading security protocol for electronic commerce (Trepper, 2000). SSL is a fairly secure data transmission method which is applied both on the Internet and the Intranet. With SSL, the browser sends its public key to the server in order to send a secret key to the browser securely. A firewall is a security concept that can be implemented in several ways (Trepper, 2000). Firewalls are used to separate a company’s public web server from the Intranet. They are also used to keep the Internet network segments secure. SET is another security system which is provided by VISA and MasterCard, two biggest credit card organizations in the world. This system ensures the security of business on the Internet. These security systems are so important for database management system to keep the concealment of personal and finance information on both the Internet and the Intranet that a successful electronic commerce business should not ignore.
Selecting suitable web server software, database management software, and security software is the key of a successful electronic commerce business. Nowadays, most website constructors only care about the price of software and their own using habits. However, selecting software which has generality, a user friendly environment, and easy maintenance is their focal point.

IV. Conclusion
A successful electronic commerce business must pay much attention to three aspects of a database management system. Also, continually studying in future knowledge about database management system is also important. The overall management, the real-time system, and object-oriented database management system (OODBMS) are three future prospects which play essential roles in a database management system development.
However, the future of information technology is difficult to pin down. Although today’s database management systems are usually narrowed in the field of service industry or manufacturing industry, maybe another kind of industry will appear tomorrow because of the progress of electronic commerce. How to sustain an organizational and functional database management system becomes a successful electronic commerce business’s challenge.

Annotated Bibliography

Slyke, C. V., Bélanger F. (2003). E-business technologies: Supporting the net-enhanced organization. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This book introduces the technologies which are applied on electronic commerce system. I want to use Chapter 8: Integrating Back-Office Communications to the functions and the techniques of database management system (Section I and II).

Trepper, C. H. (2000). E-commerce strategies. Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Press
This book introduces the management of electronic commerce and Microsoft techniques. I want to use Chapter 5: E-Commerce Building Blocks to the techniques and the future prospects of database management system (Section II and III).

DeFazio, S., Krishnan, R., Srinivasan, J., Zeldin S. (2001). The importance of extensible database system for e-commerce.
This article is about how database extensibility technology make e-commerce system more effective. I use this article in the functions and the future prospects of database management system (Section I and III).