Scenario (The Case)
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has impacted many industries across the globe and Australia’sMarketing Research and Data Analysis fruit
picking industry is no exception. Fruit export contributes significantly to Australia’s trade. Most fruits
are generally perishable and therefore fruit picking is something that needs to be done at the right time
and with care. Although Australia’s fruit picking industry faces several issues, one of them is lack of
sufficient manpower. This problem, among many, has aggravated recently due to COVID 19.
In order to help the farmers and the fruit picking industry, Zaf Soft, an Australian Information System
provider organisation has come up with a web-based solution that would help fruit farmers pick fruit
well in time. The CEO of Zaf Soft, Rabee James has decided to launch a website donesloching.com.
The idea is simple, creative and most importantly it adds socio-economic value.
donesloching.com would allow Australian farmers and fruit pickers to register on this website. While
farmers can register individually, the website also allows group registration for fruit pickers. Fruit
pickers are ordinary people residing in Australia who wish to contribute to fruit picking. These people
often wish to work/earn wages or at times just be part of the fruit picking process for leisure only.
The registration process for the farmers is simple. Farmers provide their contact details, farm address
and most importantly; their business tax details. This is accompanied with a photo ID that is also
provided as part of the registration process. The fruit pickers provide much similar details if they wish
to do fruit picking for earning a daily, monthly or an hourly wage. In this case they also provide bank
details while registering. Contrary to this, if the fruit picker wishes to register for leisure only then
bank details and tax details are not required by the system. Fruit picker’s group registrations is only
possible if the registration is for leisure only.
The website allows the fruit pickers to select and schedule their visits for fruit picking for a particular
farm; a week in advance. Each requested schedule is approved by the farmer and then the fruit pickers
receive approval notification via email and/or as mobile text message (as request by the fruit picker).
Visits to the farm without farmer’s approval are not allowed and not supported by the system and the
requested schedule is auto declined within one week from the requested date if otherwise not
approved by the farmer. While requesting for a schedule, the fruit pickers provide details of the
fruit(s) that they want to pick. This is to ensure management of wages, time, tool and resources
needed to perform the work activity. Wages vary with time, weight of fruit picked and the type of
fruit. The wage is decided as per the farmer’s discretion and is provided by the farmer at the time of
registration. In case of fruit pickers who are picking for leisure only, details of fruit or fruits that they
wish to pick is also important because this ensures general and time management at the farmer’s end.
The system also allows ‘gifting’ as well. With this functionality, the farmers decide how much fruit
they would gift (in terms of weight, as a percentage or ratio) to the fruit picker(s) who wish to pick
fruit for leisure only. This information is also provided by the farmer at the time of registration and
equivalent amount of fruit is given as gift by the farmer, on the farm, to the fruit pickers, based on
how much fruit has been picked. The gifting process also allows farmers to create a role of gift
manager. The role of the gift manager is just to support the farmer. The gift manager is only
responsible for allocating gifts (fruit) as per the information provided by the farmer at the time of
Case Study for Assessment 1, 2 and 3, MIS 605 Page 1 of 2
registration. The system therefore keeps track of how much fruit was gifted and how much was
picked. For the fruit pickers who are picking to earn wages, the information i.e. ‘how much fruit is
picked?’, is important for wage management purpose.
donesloching.com allows fruit pickers to cancel their visits. It also allows, cancellation of registration
for both farmers and fruit pickers. Similarly, the website allows both the parties to make changes to
their registration as and when required. The website supports a complete portal for the farmers and the
fruit picker. The fruit picker’s portal allows them to see their past and upcoming
activities/calendars. They can also see details of their account. For every visit to the farm, they can
add comments, experiences and memory photographs. Farmer’s portal also allows them to see their
past, current and upcoming farm reservations. The farmers can see how much fruit was collected by
each fruit pickers and what was gifted or paid to them. They can see detailed comments and
experiences of every fruit picker for every reservation. The farmer’s portal also allows them to select
photographs of the fruit picking activity for the website’s photo gallery. Only the photographs that the
fruits pickers allow to share can be shared by the farmers. Finally, the website also allows the farmers
to generate daily, weekly and monthly reports to get quantitative insight into whole fruit picking
activity and the fruit(s) picked.
Rabee James, the CEO of Zaf Soft, is confident that this website would be a huge success. Zaf Soft
plans to earn from farmers. Very minimal subscription charges are charged from the farmers at the
time of registration. donesloching.com allows monthly and yearly subscriptions. The subscription
charges are decided by the management of Zaf Soft and can be added to the system via the admin
portal. The administrator is responsible of managing the overall website’s smooth functioning, data
backup, recovery and upgradation.
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Notes for students:
a) This is a hypothetical case study that has been developed to facilitate Assessment 1, 2 and 3
of MIS 605.
b) Students are requested to make assumptions where necessary.
c) Students must read the case multiple times to understand it completely.
d) The case study is not straightforward. Some information is provided in a sequential manner
and some is given randomly. Similarly, some parts of the case provide more details than the
other. This is purposely done to facilitate student’s learning and thought process.
Case Study Page 2 of 2