Sample business plan for information systems

INTRODUCTION
Our business, Johnnys Gym, is a single store venue. We are involved in personal training, as well as massage therapy and skin care services. In addition to services, we sell supplements, massage products, and skin care products (both in the gym and on-line). Setting up an information system for our business requires us to evaluate our current business needs, make estimates on future needs, determine
what our budget for the system is, and decide what our system will be comprised of.
Hardware Requirements.
Understanding the overall IT needs of the business (current and future). For a small, single store like ours, we feel our initial needs will be to manage client information and appointments, track product inventory, accounts payable, produce client invoices and record client payments, schedules for employees work hours, employee payroll processing, and digital photography and printing. However, if we do expand with a second store, it will be important to have the ability to share files and information between the two locations. It would be inefficient  to have two separate systems. Employees may work at both stores (because there arent enough appointments at one store to hire two employees). Clients may wish to use either store, especially for purchasing products.
Hardware might include a main computer that acts as a server with one or two other computers linked to the server via a router. These would be for general access by employees (one at the front desk). A second store would require one or two computers, linked (probably by phone line) to the network. Factors such as speed, memory, etc. should also be addressed in the planning.
Budget constraints. Based on the hardware requirements to accomplish the business goals, the budget will also be used to help decide what items we can afford and which may have to wait.
Reliability. Since this will be our primary means of managing all of our various records, it is extremely important to have a very reliable system. Included in our hardware needs will be backup capabilities, and possibly a UPS (uninterruptible power source) for potential power fluxes/failures.
Input/Output:  Input devices should be fairly simple. A mouse and keyboard are the most common and typically come with most standalone systems. A digital camera would be useful for inputting photos taken of clients (before/after photos). One or two printers (all-in-one type can act as input as well as output) would be needed for producing reports, invoices, photos, etc. A future second store would also require similar printers.
Overall, this small store (or stores) will require an investment of some computer hardware and software. None of the hardware required for our business include specialized configurations, so the costs should be relatively low.
Software.
Overview. Every business that has a computer has software to purchase, install, operate, and maintain. Our business has three workstations and one server. Therefore, we will need software for all of these computers. This software ranges from operating systems to utility software and everything in between.
Operating Systems. The first operating system we will use and explore is for the lone existing server in our network. This server will be the central depot for storing shared data and information between our workstations. We will store backups and work documents. In addition, this may be an application server in the future. If so, then it may also serve as an email server, a database server, a web server, and more. It will also be our print server to allow us to share our two printers.
We intend to use Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 for this server. This will provide us with the resources that we currently need in addition to being able to expand to future services in the future.
The second operating system that we need is for our workstations. We have chosen Microsoft Windows XP Professional to meet our needs. The ease of use of Windows, along with it being readily available and easy to support, will allow us to dedicate less resources to our overall Information Systems strategy.
Office and Business Software. We have chosen Microsoft Office Professional 2003 as our choice of office application software. The Microsoft Office line of software has become the de facto standard around the world. There are many versions available for different operating systems and almost any other office software products are compatible with Microsofts version. We could have alternatively chosen the free, and open-source, Open Office. However, since support on this is scarce at best we chose to go with a sure winner.
Microsoft Office Professional 2003 includes versions of Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, Access for small databases, PowerPoint for presentations and marketing, Outlook for our email client, and Publisher for creating websites.
In addition, we will need software for tracking our employees hours and timecards and printing paychecks, or paystubs if we are using direct deposit. We will need software to track our inventories as well. Software for managing our financial records will also be necessary. We have chosen Intuits QuickBooks Premiere Edition. It will allow us to accomplish all of the above in one, simple package and it integrates with Microsoft Office for ease of use. For managing our clients appointments and our employees schedules, we chose Schedule View Plus software. The benefit to Schedule View Plus is that it integrates into QuickBooks.
Back Office. Our business uses email and has a website as most businesses do. Our website provides information about our business, our products, and our services. Clients may log on to schedule appointments and buy products through e-commerce services. Employees may log on to check their schedules. Due to the inherent security risks when conducting e-commerce, as well as the necessity to maintain skilled experience with such systems, we have decided to outsource the website and email services to a professional e-commerce web hosting service. This company will design and maintain our website and provide our email services for a fraction of the cost that having a dedicated employee, additional hardware, software licenses, and/or security would cost.
Security Software. Although we do not have a website on-site, we must still be concerned about security. We must purchase, install and maintain software for anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall on each workstation. To secure our systems, we have chosen the Symantec Internet Security Suite for computers. This suite of tools will provide the security that each machine needs to protect it from viruses, unauthorized access, and spyware.
Database Requirements.
Managing the businesses financial data. We have chosen Intuits QuickBooks Premiere Edition. This software will enable us to:
Track income and expenses:
print checks, pay bills and track expenses;
invoice customers, track payments and sales taxes;
generate purchase orders from estimates or sales orders
accept credit card payments (if required)
Manage payroll, direct deposit and payroll taxes
Reporting, Analysis and Forms
comes with over 120 financial report, statement templates
saves reports, invoices and forms as PDFs
create a budget based on prior years data
project cash flow
create a forecast
Track inventory
Data integration, import and export
integrates with MS Word and Excel
Managing clientele data, appointments, and employees schedules. For these requirements weve chosen Schedule View software. It is specifically designed for managing clientele databases and schedules. Schedule View and QuickBooks are integrated to work together and with Microsoft Word and Excel.
Managing e-commerce. This entire area will be outsourced and our business will not have any further database requirements as a result.
Telecommunications.
Client contact. How many lines do we need to accommodate calls into our business from our clients?  Weve decided to go with three main lines to handle incoming calls. The cost of the third line outweighs the cost of loosing a customer or two because of a busy signal. The lines would include a roll-over mechanism so only one phone number would be published.
Facsimile and credit card verification. These needs are intermittent in nature and would be able to use one single telephone line.
Security/alarm system. Our business has a security alarm system which is monitored for breaches via a telephone line. Since this is also an intermittent need, sharing the telephone line used for faxes and credit card verifications is adequate at this time.
Internet service. There are several options for connectivity to the internet:  DSL (via telecom) or cable. Dial-up would not be adequate for our needs. We will address this decision in our next weekly report.
Electronic Commerce, Transaction Processing Requirements.
The most important considerations in deciding Electronic Commerce transaction processing are:
Shopping Cart
What is provided:  massage products, supplements, and skin care products
How is it shipped:  ships out via UPS next day air if product is available
Types of Payments:  All major credit cards
Www.godaddy.com provides a way to upload our on-line site using a shopping cart, accepts credit cards and also processes the payments. They also have an option to promote our web site throughout theirs.
This is to be a business-to-consumer website because we are selling our product and services to individuals. This will be a secure website so that our customers information will not get out into the wrong hands. With the help of godaddy.com, we will be able to provide all the necessary products and services to generate a successful on-line business.
Security/Privacy Requirements.
The most important considerations in deciding security/privacy requirements for our business are:
Security Requirements:
Secured Website
Continuous monitoring of the website to make sure it is in compliance
Employee accountability program
We will be going through www.godaddy.com and will make sure that the site is a secured website so that our consumers information is not released to the wrong people. The secured lock at the bottom of the screen will appear to assure these customers that they are entering a secured portion of the website. The secured portion is of the website contains the lock that is secure as the unsecured portion of the website is observed with the lock being open. We will also make sure that the website is meeting government standards to stay with in compliance. Also we will implement employee accountability and make sure that the customers information is not going to get into the wrong hands and background checks of all employees will be accessed prior to hire.
CONCLUSION.
There is a lot of thought and planning required to implement an information system. Steps must be taken to determine and evaluate the requirements for each portion of the system (hardware, software, etc.) to find the best solutions. These solutions need to be balanced against cost, reliability, and future needs.