Introduction to Data Science Assignment -

Background

Cookies Limited is famous for its wide range of delicious cookie products. Currently, it has only one store in the city, with a local transaction management system in its desktop computer. That is, all transaction histories are recorded during the sales.

Inspired by the boom of e-business, the company decided to expand its business online to boost the sale and accessibility. Therefore, it plans to build an online shopping system. One strategic goal of the company is to convert its business to be customer-centric and datadriven. The company owners are especially interested in the idea of recommendation systems. They has two key requirements for the system:

1. Customers are included into the process of new cookie/flavour design.

2. The system can find and recommend different types of cookies to customers based on their profiles and shopping history.

To achieve these requirements, a membership system, which allows users to rate and review cookie products, has to be introduced. It also helps to track the shopping history of each registered member.

You are a new data manager hired by Cookies Limited to help them achieve their strategic goals of customer-centric and data-driven business model. You are required to plan a future proofing data-driven information system to better facilitate the business and improve sales.

The design should address the future demands for the growth of data volume and computing capacity.

You have been requested to prepare a report. Your target audience is executive business people, who have extensive business experience but limited ICT knowledge. They would like to be informed as to how new technologies may be beneficial to their business. Please note that standard report structure, including an executive summary, must be adhered to.

The main body of the report should include the following topics.

1. Data Collection and Storage

• Data collection system (what kind of data should be collected and how)
• Storage system (what are the requirements to the storage and how to achieve them)

2. Data in Action

• Consumer-centric product design (what is it and how to do it)
• Recommendation system (what is it and how to do it)

3. Business continuity

• How online business can survive in case of power outage or other disasters?

Note that you are requested to focus on the use of technologies into the proposed plan, but not the discussion of actual system design. The following two tips help prepare a better report:

• Try to explain the technologies in your own words, making them easy to be understood by general audiences.
• Write the technologies in the context of Cookies Limited, making them practical and appealing to the company executives.

Report Format

Your report should be no less than 1,500 words and it would be best to be no longer than 3,000 words long.

The report MUST be formatted using the following guidelines:

• Paragraph text - 12 point Calibri single line spacing
• Headings - Arial in an appropriate type size
• Margins - 2.5cm on all margins
• Header - Report title
• Footer - page number (including the word "Page")
• Page numbering - roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv) up to and including the Table of
• Contents, restart numbering using conventional numerals (1, 2, 3, 4) from the first page after the Table of Contents.
• Title Page - Must not contain headers or footers. Include your name as the report's author but DO NOT include any reference to your student ID, course code or course name.
• The report is to be created as a single Microsoft Word document (version 2007, 2010, 2013 or Office 365). No other format is acceptable and doing so will result in the deduction of marks.

The report is to be structured as a formal business report. Refer to the following references for details on report structures: Summers, J. & Smith, B., 2014, Communication Skills Handbook, 4th Ed, Wiley, Australia.