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INFOSYS.110 BUSINESS SYSTEMS:

DELIVERABLE 2: BUSINESS SECTION
2014

Name Cameron Russell
NetID Crus500
Group Number: 505
Website Link: http://infosys1102014group505.blogspot.co.nz
Tutorial Details
Tutor: Day: Time:
Johnnie Schubert Wednesday 12pm
Time Spent on
Assignment:
~30 hours Word Count: 1629

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CARPANION: TRAVEL FRIENDLY
INTRODUCTION
Carpanion is a website and mobile device application in which creates an online networking
influenced selection process to carpooling. The problem we identified is a reserved culture
towards carpooling. Carpanion is a solution through the use of modern day technology to
provide a safe networking environment which provides peace of mind to those in need of
carpooling services.
3. BUSINESS SECTION
3.1 Vision
Carpanion strives to inspire a positive view on shared transportation and work towards
improving the global issues of congestion and pollution through implementation of
innovative solutions.
3.2 Industry Analysis: Private Transportation Organisation Industry (PTO)
Industry: Private Transportation Organisation (PTO) Industry. Providing means of private
transportation, in which is not for use by general public without previous negotiation.
(Referred to as PTO throughout assignment)
Force: High/Low: Justification:
Buyer power: Low Buyer Power for the PTO industry is low as buyers
do not have many choices of whom to buy from.
There are not many competitors in this market,
thus buyers do not have as much pressure or
power. (Author, 2010)
Supplier power: Low Supplier power is low, as the PTO industry is
based around software, and the suppliers of this

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are software creators. (J.Wilkinson, 2013) There are
many competitors and freelancers capable of this,
therefore supplier power is low, as companies in
the PTO industry have more choice.. (Porter,
1985).
Threat of new entrants: High There are no barriers to entry into the PTO
industry, as anyone with the ability to make a
website or app of a similar fashion can enter.
Thus new entrants can enter into the market very
easily. (Porter, 1985).
Threat of substitutes: High High threat of substitutes, due to public
transportation being a substitute. People who do
not want to organise private transport can find
means to use public transportation or even drive
themselves. (Porter, 1985).
Rivalry among existing
competitors:
Low Rivalry amongst PTO competitors is rather low as
there is not too many competitors in the market,
and those that are have focused different
products in the market, providing a more
complacent market. (Porter, 1985).
Overall attractiveness of the industry: The Private Transport Organization industry seems a
somewhat mixed industry to enter. The factors of Buyer and Supplier power being low,
grants the competitors much more power in regards to price and quantity when creating a
product. There is a lot of flexibility due to this. The threat of new entrants is in fact high, but
a first mover advantage or establishing some market share could offset this. The threat of
substitutes being high is a glaring issue, however there is a growing market of customers
requiring shared private transportation due to congestion and parking issues. Finally Rivalry

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among competitors is low currently as there are a low quantity of competitors who seem
rather complacent. (Porter M,E 1998)
3.3 Customers and Thei r Needs
Customers for Carpanion have several identifiable traits. The first type of customer we
recognize is a work/routine centric lower-middle class citizen. These people either do not
own a car, or find it too expensive to maintain transportation costs on their own, yet prefer
the luxuries of private transport over public. The needs of this customer are relatively
cheap, comfortable and safe ways to commute.
Another customer we have identified is a more young, environmentally conscious, open
minded lower-middle class citizen. These customers value the use of ride-sharing in order to
reduce congestion as well as carbon emissions. They are more willing to try something new,
and assume to be more sociable and outgoing than the first customer described.
3.4 The Product and Service
Carpanion provides a safe means of private transport at a lower price than competitors such
as booking taxis or private coach, whilst also providing the flexibility of being able to choose
who you want to share the ride with. We believe that the lower cost of car pooling
combined with the accessibility, flexibility and safety features will fulfill the needs and
values of the customers described above.
3.5 Suppliers and Partners
Suppliers in this market consist of software developers for the implementation and
maintenance of the mobile application and website. Appburst (http://www.appburst.com/) is a
company that supplies application development for the mobile aspect of Carpanion.
TheWebCo (http://www.thewebco.co.nz/) is a website development specialist who can provide
the website and maintain it for Carpanion
Partners in which Carpanion can work alongside include application marketplaces such as
Apple Inc, (App Store) or Google Inc (Android Store). These partners will assist with the
distribution of Carpanion to mobile customers.

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Partnering with the Ministry of Justice in order to get more accessibility and quicker
turnover in regards to the security processes when creating members accounts. Partnering
with the Ministry of Justice will improve the speed and reliability of results on background
checks.

3.6 Strategy: Cost Leadership
The target market for Carpanion highly values cost as a main driving factor in their decisions
for transportation. I believe a Cost Leadership strategy would be appropriate for this due to
the fact that carpooling is generally used by a low-cost centric focused group, thus that will
be effective in attracting those customers.
The market for people requiring carpooling is rather broad. Anyone who values transport at
low cost with flexibility and safety can be considered a customer, and for that reason we can
take onn a broad market strategy approach as our customers will have a similar key value
system, but in general is quite a broad potential market to appeal to.
The overall strategy is therefore Cost Leadership.
3.7 Value Chain Activity: Operations
The most important value chain activity for this business is Operations. (J Manktelow, 2013)
Creation of a high quality product for Carpanion is the most important value chain activity.
There is a massive issue surrounding carpooling which is it being unsafe when dealing with
unfamiliar people. Also it is considered too much of a hassle to organise. Thus a high quality
product will help solve these problems, granting the user accessibility along with safety and
ease of use.
Providing a quality product as such will help improve the user experience and make sure
that there are no mishaps in which occur through the use of the Carpanion system. Any
injruies or incidents resulted in the use of our product would be worst case scenario for us,
thus an added stress of quality control for Carpanion is absolutely essential.

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3.8 Business Processes
3.8.1. MEMBERSHI P CREATI ON PROCESS A customer submits a membership creation form, after which
the software will recognize whether the information is completed properly. If not, request is declined and
customer is notified. If yes, a criminal record check will take place. The system will check for criminal charges
approving those without charges and declining those with. A driving charges check will then commence with a
similar process, except a flagging system will be used if there are any minor charges. If this is accepted, it will
be entered into membership database and the membership will be approved, notifying the customer.

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3.8.2. PRODUCT SEARCH PROCESS The Product Search Process is used to help customers search and
find the appropriate results for carpooling matches. The search details entered by the customer are then put
through the member database to find any matches. If matches are not found, the system will request a
broader search from the customer, if accepted new credentials will be filtered if not it will be a failed search.
When matches are found, the matches produced will then be filtered for relevance before being produced in a
search results article for the customer.

Member

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3.9 Functionalities
3.9.1. MEMBERSHI P CREATI ON PROCESS
Process Customer details into membership profiles.
Perfom safety analysis.
3.9.2. PRODUCT SEARCH PROCESS
Process search inputs of the customer.
Filter database matches.
3.10 Systems

3.10. 1. SAFETY ANALYSI S SYSTEM Used to analyse whether or not a member application is
considered safe enough to be accepted. This ensures that any members with outstanding
charges on either criminal or driving convictions will ne either flagged or declined from our
member database, keeping users safer.
3.10. 2. MEMBERSHIP PROCESSING SYSTEM Allows the customers details to be processed
into an active profile for use in the products system. This interprets the details entered into
relevant search fields to assist with finding nearby members.
3.10. 3. SEARCH PROCESSI NG SYSTEM Processes and filters the search criteria entered by
the customers when they are searching for a match. The search criteria are ran through the
database and filtered as well as processed into a match found document for customer use.

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3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems

Value Chain
Activity
Processes Functionalities Specific Information
System(s)
Broad Information
System(s)

Creating
the Product
1. MEMBERSHIP
CREATION
PROCESS
1. Process Customer details into
membership profiles.
2. Perfom safety analysis on new
members.



MEMBERSHIP PROCESSING
SYSTEM

SAFETY ANALYSI S SYSTEM
Collaboration Systems

Transaction Processing
Systems
2. PRODUCT
SEARCH PROCESS
1. Process the search inputs of the
customer.
2. Filter database matches into user-
friendly results.

SEARCH PROCESSING
SYSTEM

Relevance Processing
System
Customer Relationship
Management Systems

Transactional Processing
Systems

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CONCLUSION
Carpanion is a product that relies on its reliability, customer relations, marketing and much
more. The processes involved within the business are in place to ensure that the product is
not only at a high quality, but also includes high levels of customer satisfaction. The
information systems help improve the business model of Carpanion by smoothing out
transaction processes, allowing information to be shared by Carpanion and its partners
promptly as well as streamlining of the products interactiveness for customer satisfaction.
These systems grant us the ability to make a product quality, efficient product.
REFERENCES

J.WILKINSON.(2013).SUPPLIER POWER.RETRIEVED FROM
HTTP://STRATEGICCFO. COM/WIKICFO/SUPPLIER-POWER-ONE-OF-PORTERS-FIVE-FORCES/
J.Manktelow.(2013).Porters Value Chain. Retrieved from
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_66.htm
Porter M, E.(1985).Competitive Advantage.New York. The Free Press
Porter M, E.(1998).Competitive Strategy.New York. The Free Press
Infosys110 Business Systems Course Book Semester One.(2014). Auckland, New Zealand: University of Auckland
Business School
New Zealand Ministry of Justice. (2014). Information and your rights. Retrieved from
http://www.justice.govt.nz/services/criminal-records/information-and-your-rights
http://www.thewebco.co.nz/
http://www.appburst.com/