Downtown! is a rapidly growing Web-based retailer with about 100 management and technical
support employees at its headquarters office in Florida. Mary Estrada, the firm’s IT manager, is
planning a new information system that will give users better access to sales and marketing
data and trends. She has a concern, however. She knows that users often request reports but
use only a small portion of the data. In many offices she sees inboxes filled with printed reports
gathering dust. Mary asked for your opinion: What if new system users could design most of
their own reports without assistance from the IT staff, by using a powerful, user-friendly report
writer program? Do you think they would request as many reports or the same types of
reports? What are the pros and cons of giving users total control over output?