First Advisor

Conn, Sam

College

College for Professional Studies

Degree Name

MS Computer and Information Technology

School

School of Computer & Information Science

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

129 pages

Abstract

In business a key to being successful is being able to identify who your customers are and evaluating their needs. Most businesses are not only comprised of a single customer; therefore, there is a need to retain customer information and to track the customer from initial contact to the point of sale. While there are numerous off the shelf products that can store customer data, often times they do not easily allow for modifications and many of these products would require some sort of wide area network (WAN), which could incur extensive costs, in order for highly distributed sales people to access the application. As of this writing, Affordable Residential Communities (ARC) is currently the largest owner and operator of manufactured home communities in the United States, managing over 57,600 home sites in more than 278 properties across 24 states. Prior to the implementation of this application, ARC used Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to track customer inquiries and possible sales leads. However, using this method did not provide an easy way for ARC to assign leads to the sales staff nor did it provide a way for the sales staff to track and monitor the lead until the point of sale. The Excel spreadsheets were also used as traffic logs for ARC's communities which were sent to district level and regional level personnel for evaluation. ARC needed an efficient system in place which would eliminate the need for the Excel based system and one which would facilitate in the assigning, tracking and reporting on possible leads who want to move into one of their communities or who want to take part in one of the housing options ARC offers. The Excel spreadsheets were the only tool upper-level personnel had to report how much traffic was moving through a community and it was only by combining and manipulating these spreadsheets that they were able to see the traffic at a district or regional level. Currently, ARC uses Oracle Report Server to generate reports based on data stored in Oracle databases which the company relies on for its day to day operations, its financial reporting, and its property management data; it is in the reporting system that the lead management reports were to be integrated. Throughout this paper this author will touch on the lead tracking and assignment problems encountered by ARC and document the design, development and implementation of a customer relationship management (CRM) tool that can be used by numerous sales people via an Internet connection and a Web browser.

Date of Award

Spring 2006

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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