Dressman’s Chocolates of St Louis makes an assortment of chocolate candy and candy novelties. They have six in-city stores, five stores in major metropolitan airports, and a small mail-order branch. Dressman’s has a small, computerizes information system that tracks inventory in their plant, help schedule production, and so on, but is not tied directly into their retail outlet. Their mail-order system is handled manually.
Recently, several Dressman’s stores experienced a rash of complaints from mail-order customers that their candy was spoiled upon arrival, that it did not come when promised, or that it never arrived, they also received several letters complaining that candy in various airports tasted stale.
Finally, a few sales clerks in company stores reported being asked whether the firm would be willing to market a new, dietetic form of chocolate made with aspartame.
You had been working for two weeks with Dressman’s on some minor modifications for their inventory information system when you overhead two managers discussing these occurrence