Bloomington Books Inc. Part 1 – Ais Upgrade Case Study

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A337/S400 Accounting Information Systems – Final Project Part I

Bloomington Books Inc. Part 1 – AIS Upgrade Case Study

INTRODUCTION

To simulate a real-world IT consulting experience, you are being given limited information just as it would actually be. Not all the information you need to complete this assignment is fully given here. You are encouraged to research for additional information to assist you on the web and any other sources you deem appropriate. Part of your efforts will be eliciting and researching additional information via accessible resources.  There is no singular, correct solution to this case.  The quality (not quantity) of your questions, professionalism, and deliverables is what you will be evaluated by.  

BACKGROUND

You have landed a high-paying position with DFM Consulting, a niche firm with expertise in Financial Systems Implementation based in Chicago with offices in Mountain View, Stamford, and Hyderabad.

Compared to the big consulting firms, DFM Consulting is a smaller, more selective shop.  Therefore, you were not sent to several weeks of training as in the bigger firms. You are top quality, and you don’t need all that extra training anyway and are expected to hit the ground running^[1].  Your only orientation consisted of a meeting with Raymond in the accounting department who collected your new hire paperwork. They did give you a spiffy firm-branded briefcase, laptop and phone.  The laptop looks like it was previously used and is slightly charred in one corner. You have already spent your starting bonus as a down payment on a new car which will spend most of its time at the airport parking lot.  The Senior Partner who took you to dinner during recruiting was very interested in your theories on how you can charge time to multiple clients at once if you are developing a best practice solution which can be deployed to several clients simultaneously. You have an interest in doing well on your first client engagement.  You hope to impress so you can get onto the firm’s better clients in more exciting (and warm) locations.

Your first client engagement is with Bloomington Books Inc., an independent self-publishing company backed by a combination of Private Equity and Venture Capital and based in Bloomington, Minnesota.  BBI is growing rapidly and is poised for great things, including a potentially lucrative IPO or possibly as an acquisition target. BBI assists authors by publishing their own books “on-demand”.  This avoids the need for traditional publishers and printing thousands of copies at a time.  A book can be printed in a quantity of one when it is ordered at a retailer such as Amazon.  

BBI is lacking in human capital (understaffed) at all levels and currently has around 130 employees.  BBI has revenues of ~$25mm for the most recent fiscal year ended.  BBI is a dynamic company struggling to meet customer demand and maintain corporate culture in the face of its rapid growth.

Somewhat surprisingly, Bloomington Books Inc. is  using desktop QuickBooks Pro which is lacking in multiple ways and constraining the company in operations and reporting, not to mention accounting and finance.^[2]  BBI is looking for a mid-market software solution, such as NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Sage or an entry level SAP or Oracle product.