This exercise explores the operational and strategic challenges faced by Philanthropy Insight (PI), a Canadian non-profit organization founded by Emily Hayes, which aims to provide donors with information to make informed giving decisions. Despite significant growth in website traffic, PI struggles with chronic underfunding, leading Hayes to continually finance the deficit from her personal savings. The case delves into PI’s data management issues, including its use of disorganized and error-prone Excel spreadsheets, and looks at the potential value of structuring its data into a centralized database to better analyze donor behaviour and content effectiveness. Students are tasked with analyzing PI’s current data practices, understanding the implications of data structuring, and recommending strategies to improve operational efficiency and financial sustainability through better data management and analytics.
In late 2019, the Mississauga, Ontario–based NetDynamic Consulting Inc. (NetDynamic) faced intricate challenges related to aligning and standardizing enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes on a global scale in a large multinational enterprise while simultaneously safeguarding the distinctive operational nuances specific to each of the company’s local subsidiaries. <br><br>NetDynamic had undertaken the challenge of integrating the operations of its client, SodaStream Canada, into a unified ERP system. SodaStream Canada was a subsidiary of SodaStream International Ltd. (SodaStream), headquartered in Israel. While SodaStream was part of the food and beverage multinational PepsiCo Inc. (PepsiCo), it was also a multinational in its own right, with 10 global subsidiaries under its purview. NetDynamic’s leaders needed to make crucial decisions regarding how to roll out the new ERP system, how to efficiently address end-user concerns, and how to learn from the ongoing integration to serve future clients better.
Entity-Relationship (ER) data modelling is a critical technique used by data experts to help design new systems, utilize existing systems, and replace old systems. This note describes the different levels of data modelling, as well as its objectives and benefits, provides a brief history of graphical modelling approaches, and focuses on a particular graphical rule set for creating logical data models called Barker notation.
Andrew Chen, chief executive officer of Andrew’s Dental Chain (ADC), faces the challenge of managing and scaling his rapidly growing dental business, which operates 15 clinics across Guangdong Province, China. ADC plans to double its locations within three years, but the current system of manual oversight is proving inadequate. The clinics function as independent entities, raising concerns about the consistency of patient care, staff qualifications, and operational efficiency. To support this expansion, a comprehensive data model for a new standardized information system must be designed to integrate data across all locations and enable better decision-making.
Mastry Maltings, founded in 1990 in rural Saskatchewan, Canada, supplies malt to brewers, distillers, and food manufacturers. As the company expands, new regulatory traceability requirements challenge its reliance on Excel spreadsheets for data management. The malting process—from grain procurement to blending—requires detailed documentation for quality control and compliance purposes. This case focuses on designing a scalable data model to track grain lots, malt batches, machinery, operators, and customers while integrating quality control. Students will develop a database system to ensure compliance and efficiency and support business analytics.
In late 2019, the chief people officer at World Vision Canada was feeling overwhelmed. Eighteen months earlier, she had exited her intense and successful career in the private sector to join World Vision Canada, a leading international development charity. While she embraced the organization's mission-driven ethos of collaboration and collegiality, it had led to an excess of meetings. In just the past week, she had attended more than 100 meetings. Was it time to resurrect the organization's previous attempts to address its meeting culture? What roadblocks had prevented the success of those previous attempts? How could the chief people officer continue to be an advocate for a culture of collaboration and inclusivity while also ensuring a change to the meeting culture?
In late 2019, the chief people officer at World Vision Canada was feeling overwhelmed. Eighteen months earlier, she had exited her intense and successful career in the private sector to join World Vision Canada, a leading international development charity. While she embraced the organization’s mission-driven ethos of collaboration and collegiality, it had led to an excess of meetings. In just the past week, she had attended more than 100 meetings. Was it time to resurrect the organization’s previous attempts to address its meeting culture? What roadblocks had prevented the success of those previous attempts? How could the chief people officer continue to be an advocate for a culture of collaboration and inclusivity while also ensuring a change to the meeting culture?
In 2016, Toronto entrepreneur Andy Hoang was working to launch a new business, Aviron Interactive Inc., a developer and marketer of interactive rowing machines that would use gamification to allow users to work out with others through a virtual connection and an innovative, remotely-activated resistance adjustor. Hoang wanted to create the new business by wrapping an outsourced services model around a central core that included the key business insight, key differentiating product and technology features, and the leadership of a founding team. The other elements required of a startup-engineering, product design, product development, software coding, testing, quality assurance, marketing, sales, and so on-would be outsourced to various niche suppliers, and the central core would oversee the governance of the supplier portfolio. Hoang knew the company would be competing with similar video-based rowing machines as well as indoor rowing apps. He had a limited budget and wanted to design, develop, and launch the product quickly, to stay ahead of his competition. Would a traditional business model or a lean, agile model be best for this project?
In 2016, Toronto entrepreneur Andy Hoang was working to launch a new business, Aviron Interactive Inc., a developer and marketer of interactive rowing machines that would use gamification to allow users to work out with others through a virtual connection and an innovative, remotely-activated resistance adjustor. Hoang wanted to create the new business by wrapping an outsourced services model around a central core that included the key business insight, key differentiating product and technology features, and the leadership of a founding team. The other elements required of a startup—engineering, product design, product development, software coding, testing, quality assurance, marketing, sales, and so on—would be outsourced to various niche suppliers, and the central core would oversee the governance of the supplier portfolio. Hoang knew the company would be competing with similar video-based rowing machines as well as indoor rowing apps. He had a limited budget and wanted to design, develop, and launch the product quickly, to stay ahead of his competition. Would a traditional business model or a lean, agile model be best for this project?
On April 2, 2017, the two founders of Foxcore Retail were preparing for a third summer managing their small retail business in Ontario, Canada. They had spent the weekend reviewing budgeting, staffing schedules, and inventory planning for their biggest expansion to date. There was only one pressing concern that had not been solved. In the past, employees had tracked sales by hand, on paper, which led to headaches when it came to calculating sales representatives’ commissions. Additionally, the two partners knew that by not documenting key information about each sale, they were missing the opportunity to collect valuable data that could provide insight into the performance of employees, events, and products. As the business grew, they were starting to notice the impact of these inefficiencies on customer service, and it was clear that this was the right time to implement a more disciplined database system.
On April 2, 2017, the two founders of Foxcore Retail were preparing for a third summer managing their small retail business in Ontario, Canada. They had spent the weekend reviewing budgeting, staffing schedules, and inventory planning for their biggest expansion to date. There was only one pressing concern that had not been solved. In the past, employees had tracked sales by hand, on paper, which led to headaches when it came to calculating sales representatives' commissions. Additionally, the two partners knew that by not documenting key information about each sale, they were missing the opportunity to collect valuable data that could provide insight into the performance of employees, events, and products. As the business grew, they were starting to notice the impact of these inefficiencies on customer service, and it was clear that this was the right time to implement a more disciplined database system.
In the summer of 2017, after completing his third year of business school, a student was eager to apply his newly developed business and technology skill sets at his father’s company during his four-month summer position. His father’s business, Custom Closet Contractors, designed and manufactured custom home organization solutions for home builders and individual clients. In the past year, the successful company’s sales growth had slowed, while expenses as a percentage of sales had increased. The company had experienced operational problems leading to higher expenses, and the student had found that part of the problem was the lack of data organization, which led to miscommunication between the front office and the production staff. To solve the problem, he proposed to design a centralized database and set to work trying to understand the business processes in order to design a data model.