Introduction to Data Science Task
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 data driven. 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.
Assignment Guidelines
This assignment will take a number of weeks to complete and will require a good understanding of data science and management for successful completion. It is imperative that students take heed of the following points in relation to doing this assignment:
1. Ensure that you clearly understand the requirements for the assignment - what has to be done and what are the deliverables.
2. If you do not understand any of the assignment requirements - Please ASK the course coordinator or your tutor.
3. Each time you work on any aspect of the assignment reread the assignment requirements to ensure that what is required is clearly understood.
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.