Original Kayak Adventures (OKA) offers guided eco-tours and kayak rentals along the Huds...

Original Kayak Adventures (OKA) offers guided eco-tours and kayak rentals along the Hudson River.

Background

John and Edie Caputo, who are avid kayakers and amateur naturalists, founded OKA two years ago. The Caputos spent many weekends and vacations exploring the Hudson’s numerous creeks and tributaries. John was a sales representative and Edie worked for a Web design firm. Two years ago, John’s division was purchased by a rival company, which announced plans to move operations to another state. Rather than relocate, the Caputos decided to launch OKA. They reasoned that Edie could leave her job and work as a freelance Web designer, which would provide some income while John tried to build OKA into a profitable business. John and Edie are convinced that the ecotourism market will expand greatly, and they look forward to sharing their experience and knowledge with others who enjoy nature and kayaking. O

riginal Kayak Adventures advertises in regional magazines and maintains a Web site, which Edie designed. Customers say that the site is attractive and informative, but the Caputos are not sure of its effectiveness in attracting new business. At this time, no other kayak rental firms operate within 20 miles of OKA’s location.

So far, the Caputos’ plan is working out well. OKA rents space at a nearby marina, where Edie runs the office and operates her Web design business. She also handles rentals when John is giving lessons or busy with a tour group. On summer weekends and holidays, Janet Jacobs, a local college student, handles telephone inquiries and reservations.

OKA’s inventory includes 16 rental kayaks of various types, eight car-top carriers, and a large assortment of accessories and safety equipment. Based on customer requests, Edie is considering adding a selection of books and videos about kayaking and ecotourism.

OKA has three main business segments: rentals, instruction, and guided tours. Most customers make advance reservations for scheduled tours and instruction sessions, but sometimes space is available for last-minute customers. Rentals are split evenly between reservations and walk-in customers.

Reservations are entered in a loose-leaf binder, with separate tabs for each business activity. Edie also created a Microsoft Access database to record reservations. When she has time, she enters the reservation date, the reservation details and kayak type, and the customer information into a table, which is sorted by reservation date. Each day, she prints a reservation list. For quick reference, Edie also displays kayak availability on a wall-mounted board with colorcoded magnets that show the available or reserved status of each rental kayak. In addition to the database, Edie uses an inexpensive accounting package to keep OKA’s books.

Although the OKA database handles the basic information, the Caputos have noticed some drawbacks. For example, reservations for guided tours or instruction sessions sometimes conflict with John’s or Edie’s availability. The Caputos also would like to get more information about rental patterns, customer profiles, advertising effectiveness, and future business opportunities. John and Edie have talked about updating the system, but they have been too busy to do so.

Assignments

1. Develop a business profile for Original Kayak Adventures. The profile should include information about OKA’s business activities, organization, resources, customers, and potential opportunity to engage in e-commerce.

2. List OKA’s main functions and business processes. Draw a model of an OKA business process, including possible events, processes, and results.

3. What types of information systems does OKA use? Do these systems support its current and future business objectives? Why or why not?

4. From an object-oriented viewpoint, OKA treats reservations as a class. Based on the background information provided, what are some properties of reservation objects? Copyright