PPI Website Case Study

Plush Packet Inc. (PPI) was formed in 1993 when CEO and founder, Grant Strickler, had a vision of promoting pre-school and elementary-level technology learning by using fun cartoon characters. Grant had been a career educator in early childhood education with a passion for technology in the classroom. He retired from his teaching position after thirty years of service to start PPI. PPI currently sells technology themed books, games, DVDs, multimedia, and plush toys.

PPI already has a public website and private, employee-only intranet, but neither site has been updated for a number of years and they no longer serve PPI’s needs or reflect the image PPI wishes to portray as cutting-edge and fun. Tanya Holcomb, the Chief Technology Officer, has authorized the development of a new, fun website for PPI as well as an updated PPI intranet. Fred Hatch, the Director of Software Development will be in charge of the project. He and his team are not sure of everything that the website will offer, but they have a list of features they think this website should support. Ultimately, the team thinks the public website should include:

• A products page that includes information on all the products PPI currently offers
• An online ordering system where customers can order products
• A facility to update company news and press releases
• A registration facility to join the company’s mailing list

The private website for company employees only should provide administrative support for:

• Printing recent company announcements
• Entering new types of products that PPI is considering developing
• Updating company documents, such as the organizational chart
• Viewing Web site statistics, such as the most viewed pages
• Sending a monthly customer mailing list

Fred also feels that additional features may need to be added in the future as the company grows. In fact, because information technology is a rapidly changing area, Fred expects the requirements will probably change before the Web site is complete.