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Creative Business Solutions in Bude, Cornwall

Distance Learning Course Order Management System

This case study provides an overview of a development project undertaken by Monkeydevil to streamline some of the processes involved in the management of a distance learning business.

Problem Overview

Our Cornwall-based client sells distance learning courses to the general public via both their website and through a large number of agencies across the country. At the time of approaching Monkeydevil, the client was using email to receive orders from the agencies, using Excel spreadsheets to track the status of each order.

Requirements Identification

Some of the key problems identified within these processes were:

Tracking the status of each order was difficult, relying entirely upon email printouts to make sure that everybody on the management team was up to date.
The dispatch team also relied upon printed emails to determine which courses were to be printed out and delivered to clients, resulting in missed/duplicated printouts.
Invoicing at the end of each month was becoming increasingly laborious, taking 1-2 days per month to complete.

Solution Overview

We produced a web-based multi-user system using PHP & MySQL to solve this problem. The requirements identification stage of the project had identified three main processes where the majority of time & money was being wasted, and we'd identified more areas where time could be saved for the client and for the reseller.

System Design

Two user types were identified for the system:

Head Office user
Course Reseller

The following order statuses were identified for each course request:

Recieved
Dispatched
Cancellation Requested
Deleted
Cancelled
Invoiced

The system that we produced provides the following facilities for each user type:

Head Office User - Manage course details

Create, edit and delete information about the online courses available, covering prices, tutor details and descriptions.

Head Office User - Manage resellers

Create, edit and delete reseller users within the system. Select courses available for each other and the pricing method for invoicing individual resellers.

Head Office User - Manage online course requests

Review/Edit/Cancel and change the status of course requests made by resellers.

Head Office User - Invoice management

Produce & Issue invoices for specified date ranges for each or all resellers.

Head Office User - Dispatch management

Produce printable dispatch notes for selected course requests.

Reseller User - Create online course requests

Select a course from the list of courses available to the current reseller, provide student dispatch details. Add further notes to order if required.

Reseller User - Review/Edit/Cancel previous online course requests

All previous online course requests are shown in a sortable/filterable list view, for viewing and (depending upon order status) editing/cancelling.

Reseller User - Review course prices, and general information

Information about each course assigned to the reselling agent is available for general viewing so that when the reseller needs up to date information it's available.

Project Summary

The project was deemed a success; we kept in close contact with the client to ensure that all of the system requirements had been met to their satisfaction and to ensure that the system was reliable and easy enough for use by the client and their reselling agents.

Update (7th October 2010) The system has now been in constant use for approaching 12 months, and other than a couple of system upgrades (e.g.production of an XML exporting routine for integration with an accounting system), the software has proved to be a cost-effective investment for the client.