Topic 3, Margie’s Travel

Topic 3, Margie’s Travel

Case Study

Background

Margie’s Travel company (http://www.margiestravel.com/) provides travel services to consumers. These services include package offers, special deals, and excursion add-ons such as jet ski and horseback rides in Jamaica. Margie’s Travel negotiates rates with multiple vendors and secures bundled pricing for consumers, serving as a travel broker. Margie’s Travel only sells services and does not have any tangible products or merchandise.

Margie’s Travel began in 1994 when Margie, CEO, and president, planned group trips for her friends in the United States (US). As this grew organically. Margie’s created a second company based in Jamaica, followed by the acquisition of a third company in the United Kingdom (UK). The company has grown fast challenging the current systems that support the business model. Margie has determined it is time to implement Dynamics 36S Finance.

Applications and environment

The current system has the following structure:

• In the US. employees use Software
A . accounting software, which is a desktop installation package for small businesses and single users.
• In the UK. employees use Softwares, ERP (enterprise resource planning) software installed on local servers. The cost of maintaining Software B licensing is high, and Margie’s Travel has decided against the software and associated overhead costs.
• In Jamaica, employees use Software
C. a homegrown application based on spreadsheets, local sales representatives use pen and paper in the field.
• Margie’s Travel employees use personal email addresses and chat tools and text each other directly due to the lack of corporate tools.
• IT department resources are located in the US and are responsible for management of all software support.
• Margie’s Travel company does not have standardized processes across the organization.
• The manager in each country/region is responsible for system downtime. This has proven to be a challenge due to the multiple time zones across the organization and the centralized IT department.

Vendors and purchasing
As customers purchase packages. Margie’s Travel can claim rebates with the providing vendor for every package sold. The rebates are claimed quarterly, and internal workflows have been established for approval prior to vendor submission. The workflows for package offerings eligible for rebates can be complex. User2 has created Visio diagrams for the associated approval processes.

Customer relations
• Customers exist in all three current countries/regions where Margie’s Travel operates.
• Margie’s Travel offers consumers a loyalty program. Consumers can earn points per dollar spent across all in countries/regions in which Margie’s operates. The loyalty program is currently managed by using a spreadsheet.

Application and environment
• All three countries/regions must use Dynamics 365 Finance.
• The system must allow for updates to be applied at the same time as they are periodically released.
• Margie’s Travel requires that the new business processes be standardized and follow industry best practices.
• Margie’s Travel requires implementation of Office 365 and Microsoft Teams to streamline operations. The IT department will be responsible for troubleshooting these applications, along with Dynamics 365 Finance.
• The infrastructure team must ensure that separate environments are created for development and build, prior to moving to test and eventually gold environments.
• The infrastructure team must move the code for the loyalty program to a test environment.
• The CTO has directed the infrastructure team to guarantee they are on the most current version available at the time of go-live.
• The go-live activities must be coordinated across all countries/regions, with data validation planned for each time zone.
• Once user acceptance testing (UAT) has been completed, the project manager must report the number of tenants for production to Microsoft.
• A report must show seasonality and weather patterns so that Margie’s Travel does not offer excursions during timeframes where severe weather is predicted.
• Sales representatives in the field will only be licensed for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Power Platform.

Customer relations
• Customers must be identified with the same customer ID across all companies and systems, and automatically update cross-references as new records are created.
• Margie’s Travel wants to enable customer self-service in the future for customers based in the US and UK. This feature is not planned for the initial system rollout: however, the CIO has asked that the roadmap be created for Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Commerce applications in the future. In addition, the CIO wants to ensure that the old customer numbers can be matched to a new standardized format.
• New customers in Jamaica must be reviewed and approved due to frequent customer
data discrepancies. The sales representatives in the field will enter information that must be routed to validate against existing data.

Vendor negotiations
• The rebates cannot be claimed because disparate systems today do not allow for consolidation to ensure that thresholds are met to claim rebates.
• The accounts receivable and accounts payable departments are unclear about the workflows associated with the rebate process. User2 must ensure that representatives from each department validate that they have tested their respective steps in the overall process. Testing feedback must be communicated to User2.

Customer relation
• Customers must be identified with the same customer ID across all companies and systems, and automatically update cross-references as new records are created.
• Margie’s Travel wants to enable customer self-service in the future for customers based in the US and UK. This feature is not planned for the initial system rollout: however, the CIO has asked that the roadmap be created for Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Commerce applications in the future. In addition, the CIO wants to ensure that the old customer numbers can be matched to a new standardized format.
• New customers in Jamaica must be reviewed and approved due to frequent customer data discrepancies. The sales representatives in the field will enter information that must be routed to validate against existing data.

HOTSPOT
You need to determine a solution for the customers in Jamaica.
What should you recommend? To answer, select the appropriate options in the answer area. NOTE: Each correct selection is worth one point.

View Answer

Answer:

Explanation:

Box 1: Power Apps app

Customers who sign up for add-on Jamaica excursions bring friends who have not signed up ahead of time. The sales representatives record the customer information on paper, take payment, and then enter the information into the system later. The information is frequently inaccurate and creates discrepancies.

Box 2: Common Data Model

Dynamics 365 common data model (CDM) is designed to simplify the data integration and management across business processes and applications. Microsoft introduced CDM as an integral part PowerApps offering.

The good news is that Dynamics 365 CDM enables apps to easily integrate and share data even without custom and extensive integration.

Note: In Jamaica, employees use SoftwareC, a homegrown application based on spreadsheets. Local sales representatives use pen and paper in the field.

New customers in Jamaica must be reviewed and approved due to frequent customer data discrepancies. The sales representatives in the field will enter information that must be routed to validate against existing data.