Trusty Carpets Case Study Report

This comprehensive report addresses the business challenges faced by Trusty Carpets, a small carpet firm looking to integrate its operations with newly acquired Metro Carpets and a carpet installation business. The report conducts an environmental analysis, identifying opportunities and threats. The core problem is the lack of an integrated system to manage sales, customer service, and inventory across all three entities. The primary proposed solution is the implementation of SalesforceIQ CRM software, a cloud-based system to unify business operations, improve communication, and enhance customer service. A detailed feasibility analysis, including economic, organizational, and technical aspects, supports the recommendation. Alternative solutions, including improving business processes without IT solutions, are also explored and compared. The report includes a requirements checklist, project management plan, acquisition strategy, risk management assessment, and security considerations. The conclusion emphasizes the feasibility and benefits of the SalesforceIQ CRM solution for Trusty Carpets' growth and profitability.

Executive Summary
The report is based on the case study on Trusty Carpets, which is a small firm selling carpets
from past two decades. Different technologies used in the firm are router, printer, internet but no
information system is being utilized. Trusty carpets have Metro Carpets, and aims to make
optimum use of the space of the showroom and warehouse. In order to provide a better outlook,
environmental analysis have been done, which have highlighted the opportunities and threats for
the Trusty Carpets.
Trusty Carpets wants to efficiently merge all consumer and sales components into uniform
business operations. The aim of the report is to recommend appropriate technologies for
enhancing the profit margin, so that the organization can expand and grow. It have been
identified after analyzing the business operations of the organization that problem lies in the
networks of communication, infrastructure related to IT is weak, there is more requirement of
personnel for maintenance, suppliers relations need to be enhanced and the overall business
strategy should be in line with the business operations.
Solutions have been suggested for the problems of Trusty carpets in the report. The organization
needs to implement customer relationship software named SalesfroceIQ, which will help the
organization to combine all the business operations under one. The implementation of the CRM
software will enhance sales and customer service and will enhance overall business outcomes.
Besides this the software will also be helpful in the unification of the business, increased
employee motivation and smooth functioning of the business. It have been analyzed that the
implementation of the CRM software is feasible and will also utilize the various resources
optimally. Annual cost of implementation of the CRM software in the Trusty Carpets will come
to $900.

The report also suggests alternative solution to the organization for the improvement of the
business processes without any IT solution. Proposed alternative solution for Trusty Carpets is
that it needs to improve its vision statement and all the significant parts of the business needed to
be defined well and appropriate time should be given to effectively merge the newly acquired
Metro Carpets. It have been analyzed the alternative solution for the organization is feasible but
is not as optimal as CRM software.
For making the implementation of the software successful the organization needs to provide
training to the staff. Besides this all the technical requirements such as internet, device
configurations, operating system, control on access, security in terms of network and transactions
should be ensured for making the implementation successful. All the stakeholders like such as
employees, managers and clients should be made aware and included in the development of the
project. At the end of the report, it have been suggested to the organization that it should manage
change efficiently, should integrate the business process requirements with effective training.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................0
I. Background and Environmental Analysis..................................................................................................6
Background:.............................................................................................................................................6
Environmental Analysis:.......................................................................................................................7
Opportunities:......................................................................................................................................7
Factors:................................................................................................................................................8
Threats:................................................................................................................................................8
II. Business Problem....................................................................................................................................9
III. Proposed Solution:...............................................................................................................................11
IV. Expected Improvements......................................................................................................................12
V. Alternatives Analysis.............................................................................................................................14
Analysis: Status Quo..............................................................................................................................14
Analysis: Proposed System....................................................................................................................15
Solution Description..........................................................................................................................15
Major Benefits...................................................................................................................................16
Cost Elements....................................................................................................................................17
Feasibility...........................................................................................................................................17
Risks...................................................................................................................................................18
Major Issues.......................................................................................................................................18
Analysis: Alternative Solution................................................................................................................19
Solution Description..........................................................................................................................19
Major Benefits...................................................................................................................................19
Cost Elements....................................................................................................................................20
Feasibility...........................................................................................................................................20
Risks...................................................................................................................................................20
Major Issues.......................................................................................................................................21
Analysis: Improve Business Processes without an IT Solution...............................................................22
Solution Description..........................................................................................................................22
Major Benefits...................................................................................................................................22

Cost Elements....................................................................................................................................23
Feasibility...........................................................................................................................................24
Risks...................................................................................................................................................24
Major Issues.......................................................................................................................................24
Solutions Comparison Chart..................................................................................................................25
Justification of Proposed System...........................................................................................................26
VI. Feasibility Analysis................................................................................................................................27
Economic/Financial Feasibility...............................................................................................................27
Organizational/Operational Feasibility..................................................................................................27
Advantage of the proposed system in solving problems...................................................................27
Easy integration of the proposed strategy.........................................................................................28
Necessity for additional staffing........................................................................................................28
Necessity for reducing staff...............................................................................................................28
Requirement of Staff reorganization.................................................................................................29
Feasibility of retraining......................................................................................................................29
Technical Feasibility...............................................................................................................................29
Assurance of Expected Functions......................................................................................................29
Solution Integration...........................................................................................................................30
Implementation.................................................................................................................................30
Training..............................................................................................................................................31
Management.....................................................................................................................................31
VII. Requirements Checklist.......................................................................................................................31
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................32
Data Requirements................................................................................................................................32
Functional Requirements.......................................................................................................................33
Technical Requirements........................................................................................................................33
Internet Connection...........................................................................................................................33
Browsers............................................................................................................................................34
Outlook..............................................................................................................................................34
Operating System..............................................................................................................................35
Device Configurations.......................................................................................................................35
Security Requirements...........................................................................................................................35

Authentication and Access Control....................................................................................................35
Network Security...............................................................................................................................35
Secure Communications & Reporting...............................................................................................36
Transactional Security.......................................................................................................................36
Information Security..........................................................................................................................36
VIII. Context Diagram.................................................................................................................................37
Section IX: Project Management...............................................................................................................37
Project Scope.........................................................................................................................................37
Time/Schedule.......................................................................................................................................38
Cost........................................................................................................................................................38
Quality...................................................................................................................................................39
Communications....................................................................................................................................39
Stakeholders..........................................................................................................................................40
Project manger.......................................................................................................................................40
Project board..........................................................................................................................................40
Project team members...........................................................................................................................41
Other......................................................................................................................................................41
Major tasks and timeframe...................................................................................................................41
Section X. Acquisition Strategy..................................................................................................................42
Scope of what to buy:............................................................................................................................42
Product Hardware and Service Software...........................................................................................42
Commercial-off-the-shelf products....................................................................................................43
Support for Custom Development.....................................................................................................43
Required Infrastructure..........................................................................................................................44
How will system hosting services be needed?...................................................................................44
How will connectivity be made available?........................................................................................45
What security considerations should be included in the contracts? Will any specific hardware or
software need to be acquired to provide security?.............................................................................45
Will business Continuity requirements need to be included in the contract(s)? Will separate Business
Continuity solutions or components need to be acquired?.................................................................46
Are there any data management considerations to be included in the acquisition(s)?........................47
What type of contract(s) should be used?..........................................................................................47

Section XI: Risk Management...................................................................................................................48
Section XII. Security.................................................................................................................................48
Data.......................................................................................................................................................48
Application Software.............................................................................................................................49
Systems.................................................................................................................................................49
Networks...............................................................................................................................................50
Physical facilities related to IT..............................................................................................................50
Mechanisms (Policy, Procedure, Technology Solutions, etc.) to protect against each of the issues......50
Section XIII: Additional Implementation Issues.........................................................................................52
Culture Change......................................................................................................................................52
Salesforce Application Development.....................................................................................................52
Insufficient Training...............................................................................................................................53
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................53
Appendix...................................................................................................................................................55
References.................................................................................................................................................63

I. Background and Environmental Analysis
Background:
Trusty Carpets (TC) has been a successful small-business organization in selling carpets for 20
years with a potential to become a bigger corporation in the future. TC has small number of
employees including the owner, Jerry Montgomery and his daughter who would like to take over
the business once Jerry retires. Currently, TC has a healthy profit of $100,000 by selling
250,000 square feet of carpet in a year. TC’s monetary transactions such as paying bills, sending
invoices, collecting payment and payroll are handled by an accountant.
Technologies used at TC are basics such as printer, router, internet, tablet computers and so on.
There is no commercial software or information system where all the employees are connected.
All the employees have Gmail account from which they carry the business processes such as
checking the availability of the selected carpet and the current price. Currently, there is no
designated IT employee, however, one of the salesperson, Ben handles the IT-related queries at
TC.
Recently, Mr. Montgomery has acquired Metro Carpets (MT) which is on the other side of the
town. Bigger than TC, Mr. Montgomery plans to utilize the large space of Metro Carpets in the
best feasible way. The MT’s annual revenue of $3 million is very lucrative for Mr. Montgomery
as he aims to expand his carpet business. In addition, he has also decided to partner with Mike’s
carpet installation business. Mr. Montgomery wants to contribute to the environment by
emphasizing on recycling carpets when he merges with the installation business. To gain
competitive edge, Mr. Montgomery needs a good planning and implementation to run all three
businesses successfully.

Environmental Analysis:
Mr. Montgomery has two facilities; Trusty Carpets and Metro Carpets. His well-established
primary facility, Trusty Carpets, is located within a busy strip mall and it generates $1.2 million
in annual revenue. This facility is small in both space and employees, as only Mr. Montgomery
and 2 sales people work there at any given time. He also employs a single accountant to monitor
his finances, pay bills, send invoices, collect payment, and do payroll. Trust Carpets has a very
basic IT system used for essential business tasks. The system is comprised of a multi-purpose
printer connected to a router which provides a private wireless network. Furthermore, the 2 sales
people each have tablet computers which utilize the Google cloud to create and check customer
orders.
The second facility is Metro Carpets and is a recent acquisition. This facility is significantly
large than Trusty Carpets as it is a standalone store with an adjoining 20,000 square foot
warehouse and large showroom. The warehouse is currently at half-full capacity. Metro has 3
sales and 2 warehouse staff. Metro currently generates about $3 million in annual revenue.
Mr. Montgomery also intends to merge his business with his brother-in-law’s carpet installation
business. He plans to do this after they have reviewed the EPA’s WARM program. Mike’s (Mr.
Montgomery’s brother-in-law) wife Carol does the bookkeeping for his company and she is very
organized.
Opportunities:
With the large warehouse acquired through the purchase of Metro Carpets, products can be
stored on site allowing for much faster transactions.

The merger of Mr. Montgomery’s carpet business and Mike’s carpet installation business
provides new business services and marketing opportunities. Some of these services may
include custom carpet interior decorating and installations.
With 2 separate facilities being in 2 opposite sides of the town, there is a greater possible
customer base.
The Metro Carpets facility would be an ideal location for the carpet installation team to be
stationed as they can receive an order and pick out the product from the warehouse within short
time and make the delivery from there.
With the installation of an IT network that connects the two facilities together; sales staff will be
able to check the inventory of both facilities in real time. This would also help for general
management applications.
Factors:
 Mr. Montgomery has a solid foothold in the local carpet market as he has been in
business for 20 years.
 Very small staff. Only 3 (including Mr. Montgomery) at Trusty Carpets location and 5 at
Metro Carpets.
 No IT experts included in the staff.
 The town in which the business is located is seeing a sharp rise in population.
 The two facilities are on opposite sides of town and this distance will affect the method of
communication being considered for the new network.
Threats:
 Competitor carpet retail stores.
 Local carpet installers.

II. Business Problem
The core business problem facing Trusty Carpets is how to effectively merge all sales and
customer components of the business into one united operation with aligned strategies and goals.
There are three primary components of the business: the Trusty Carpets store, the Metro Carpets
store, and Mike’s carpet installation business. All components have separate sales, customer
services, and customers.
Reasons as to why this problem exists include the following:
 There is no core communication or an IT system connecting these components together.
 Metro Carpets is a new acquisition and, as such, is still undergoing renovation.
 Mike’s carpet installation business is still a completely separate business with a different
business model.
 There is no defined vision on how to unite these separate components.
The business strategy greatly depends on how these components work together in unison to
generate the most revenue. In order to create a successful business strategy, all critical
components of the business must be known; otherwise, the new business strategy will have no
real direction for implementation.
The elements of this problem include the following:
 IT infrastructure
 Communication networks
 The CEO – Jerry Montgomery: his decisions on budgetary allowance and business
strategy

 The bottom line of the business
 The distance between the Trusty Carpets store and the Metro Carpets store
 Mike’s business strategy vs. Jerry’s business strategy
 The needs of the customer base
 The carpet supplier
 IT maintenance personnel
The problem of having the three identified business components not working as a single unit has
a significant impact on the business’s bottom line, culture, and overall operational efficiency.
With no core system in place, the 3 components may be using incompatible hardware or
software. This would have serious operational problems, for it could interfere with overall
communication efforts and data analysis. Culturally, the effect of no core system impacts the
employees’ awareness of their role in the overall business chain. The most consequential impact
of having no core system regards the bottom line, so with no such system in operation, the
business lacks the ability to track its total growth, process sales across the two stores, and
manage its operations efficiently.
The timeframe in which this problem can be solved depends on the amount of commitment from
Mr. Montgomery and the time it takes to complete a business operations review, analysis, and
installation of the system. If full buy-in is obtained from Mr. Montgomery, the timeframe for
solving the problem would likely range from 60 days to 120 days.
The reason why this problem was selected is because it is the most critical problem facing the
business right now. It is also the one that, if solved, will result in the biggest gain in productivity
which translates into more revenue. Unifying the different business components with a CRM

solution will resolve several other issues simultaneously, such as, the company’s inventory
management, sales processing, and profit margins.
III. Proposed Solution:
The proposed solution for Mr. Montgomery’s business is the customer relationship management
(CRM) software known as SalesforceIQ CRM. This software is cloud based solution, and it
should be applied to all three businesses uniformly in order to unify them under one solution.
Using this solution will help Mr. Montgomery and his team to gain control of sales and
profitability of all the newly acquired businesses simultaneously. The solution affords Mr.
Montgomery’s staff a massive collaborative tool, but it is recommended to apply this solution to
all three businesses as early as possible to increase collaboration between the separate business
components. One of the major advantages of the salesforce application is the ability for it to be
accessed from any device which simplifies the salespeople’s process to record order information
instantaneously on cellphones/tablets. Since Trusty Carpets is a growing business, SalesforceIQ
CRM is perfect because of its ability to handle unlimited workflows and integrations.
SalesforceIQ focuses on building good customer relationships by allowing business to use
thousands of applications quickly and efficiently via the AppExchange. Lastly, the leverage to
use the proposed solution without the need of additional IT staff is best for Trust Carpet’s
scenario (Salesforce.com, inc., 2017). Trusty Carpet can solely focus on achieving sales and
business goals leaving the IT issues behind to 3rd party, Salesforce.
IV. Expected Improvements
Business opportunities offered by Jerry has helped him start his own business of carpet making
and selling, but usually at a lower cost and with fewer restrictions than a franchise.