Assignment 2: e-Business Planning Report This assessment task relates to the following course objectives:  discuss the meaning of e-Commerce from a business and technical perspective  appreciate the business environments conducive to the use of successful e-business applications  compare and report on the types of e-Commerce and their application to business  review the technologies used to deploy an e-business solution  apply an understanding of the development needs of a basic e-business website  illustrate understanding of the design, maintenance, business principles and administration of an e-Commerce site  discuss ethical, social and political issues in e-business You have the task of developing an e-business plan for the client described in the case study below. Your planning document must meet the needs of the client and you may not choose to develop a plan for any other client (i.e. business or website). However, this case study is not intended to limit your creativity or the scope of your e-commerce business Your must submit a report (as an MSWord format document) for the client. You may/will need to research a number of different aspects of your proposal, but some of these aspects will not be covered in lectures until Week 10 of semester – however, do not wait until that time to begin this assignment as it will take considerable time, thought and work to be successfully completed. You may refer to any authentic source in conducting your research and all references must be included in your report. You may also employ any analysis or design tool in the preparation of your report – so long as the results are suitable for presentation in the required Word document and are your own work. Remember: this is a report intended to convince a company to adopt your proposal. Your report must therefore be complete, yet concise; be clear and convincing, and professionally presented. Above all, the report must be specific to the Case Study: Events Management Ballarat Trade Fair Consultancy (BTFC) is an SME company based in Ballarat, Victoria, with a web-based operation that assists Australian companies in being exhibitors or visitors at overseas trade fairs. BTFC arranges floor space at the trade fairs, as an agent for the trade fair managers, and also assists the companies in organising the construction of a stand for their space at the fair, if required. BTFC provides further value-added services, for fees, to the exhibiting companies by arranging their travel and accommodation for fairs, organises marketing material for the trade fair (or for distribution to current and potential clients before a fair), and can arrange hospitality (food, drinks and staff) for the exhibitors to offer visitors to the fair. BTFC also organise tickets for Australian-based visitors to the trade fairs and are paid a commission for each ticket sold. BTFC are a small owner-operator business with capitalisation of $A200K, annual sales of $A100K, increasing at 10 percent per annum, and net profits of 40 percent of total sales. The owner, Ms Holt is university educated and has 20 years of industry experienced. However, with ever-changing industry and global business environments, the future of BTFC business is uncertain. The main business activities of BTFC relate to marketing trade fairs to Australian businesses, organising details of contracts for exhibitors, selling visitor tickets for each trade fair and co-ordinating all these activities with the trade fair managers in Europe and South-East Asia. They have a broad network of government, industry and business-level contacts and engage in extensive marketing campaigns (mainly by letters, brochures/flyers and phone calls, which are all time-consuming and expensive activities). All contracts must be signed by the management of the exhibiting companies and BTFC is responsible for ensuring all details are complete and correct before being sent to the overseas trade fair managers before deadlines. BTFC knows that many of their contacts and many of the businesses they target for marketing purposes are already online. CRICOS Provider No. 00103D ITECH3301 Assignment 2 – Case Study e-Commerce Business Proposal Report Page 1 of 4 Assignment – Case Study e-Business Planning Report ITECH3301 – Electronic Commerce Systems and Technologies BTFC receive payment directly from the exhibitors: a deposit to exhibit at a Trade Fair is taken when a contract made, and payment for the balance of fees to exhibit and for other value-added services made before a trade fair begins. BTFC also receive direct payment of commissions from the trade fair managers for visitor ticket and exhibitor floor space sales. To promote the business, BTFC also have some of their own branded merchandise available for sale (e.g. mugs, mouse mats, key rings, etc.) and also sell merchandise relevant to each trade fair (caps, badges, pens, etc.), which are bought by BTFC from the trade fair managers for sale to the exhibitors. BTFC has very close working relations with graphic designers, printers and mail-out companies, and with merchandising companies, who each support the marketing activities of BTFC. Supplier relations are all by word-of- mouth (which has led to some confusion and delivery of incorrect designs, printing or products), while exhibitor contracts are managed using traditional post, email and facsimile transmission of documents. Ms Holt is keen to improve efficiency in marketing and communications, to expand ticket and merchandise sales, which are potentially very profitable for BTFC, and to improve relations with supply partners and exhibitors. To do this Ms Holt considering the company create new online channels for marketing, sales, and for improved communication and collaboration with exhibitors, trade fair managers and supply-chain partners. You have been called in as an Internet and management consultant. BTFC wants to know how e-business technologies could be used to improve the company's operations. The company is keen to leave as much open as possible – you have been told that it is a 'clean sheet' strategy but cannot consume more than half the profits of next year's business. The owner, Ms Holt, needs a report from you with a specific brief, and a mock-up of the general design and functionality of a proposed e-business system. Your e-business proposal should address: 1. clearly identified e-commerce business model(s) 2. how the e-commerce business will derive revenue (i.e. revenue models) 3. what network and communications infrastructure will be required 4. what applications (hardware and software) will be required to meet specific e-commerce business goals 5. how you will address security issues 6. how you will address e-marketing requirements 7. what choice of payment systems will be used 8. how you will address privacy and other relevant ethical concerns 9. how you will address legal issues connected with the e-commerce business 10. how you will address customer service issues 11. how you will measure the success of your proposal (metrics, tools) Please refer to the General guide for the presentation of academic work, available electronically on the universities website. URL: http://www.federation.edu.au Present your evaluation in a business or management style report, as Please submit an ELECTRONIC copy only via Moodle. Submit a single Microsoft Word document (i.e. .doc or .docx formats) that will include your report, and images of your mock-up proposal for an e-business system (as an appendix to the report). Name the submission file according to the following format: 'itech3301_yourSurname_yourStudentID_assign2.doc'. Please refer to the "Course Description" for information regarding late assignments, extensions, special consideration, and plagiarism. A reminder all academic regulations can be accessed via the university's website: URL: http://www.federation.edu.au CRICOS Provider No. 00103D ITECH3301 Assignment 2 – Case Study e-Commerce Business Proposal Report Page 2 of 4 Assignment – Case Study e-Business Planning Report ITECH3301 – Electronic Commerce Systems and Technologies Assessment Criteria Students work will be assessed upon:  evidence of completion of all proposal tasks comprising a solution based on theoretical concepts outlined in the literature, with practical supporting examples from industry, and your own ideas.  an accurate business report including elements, such as an executive summary, a table of contents, appropriate use of headings, captioning for all included figures/tables, etc. The report will evince quality written expression, including good grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence construction, etc. Reports should adhere to the university style guide including formatting, layout and structure, and should not exceed a word limit of 2500 words (not including the appendices of the mock-up of the proposed system).  evidence of formatted reference list and in-text citations that comply with the APA style guide. A quality piece of work will provide a range of references for example books, journals, reputable websites, podcasts, etc.. In-text citations should be used in such a way as to provide support for the work. CRICOS Provider No. 00103D ITECH3301 Assignment 2 – Case Study e-Commerce Business Proposal Report Page 3 of 4 Assignment – Case Study e-Business Planning Report ITECH3301 – Electronic Commerce Systems and Technologies Assessment Feedback e-Business Planning Report Tasks Marks Award Proposal – e-commerce business model 1 – revenue model 1 – applications 3 – security 2 – e-marketing requirements 3 – payment system 2 – privacy 1 – legal issues 1 – customer service issues 2 – analytics 2 Mock-up of the general design and functionality of proposed e-business system 5 Business report elements and academic writing 2 Total Mark 25