2. Needs Assessment for Coastal Tool Rental

Kathleen Marsh is a recent community college graduate who plansto open an equipment and tool rental store in the next few months.The store will target do-it-yourselfers who need gardening and homeimprovement implements that may be too expensive to purchase for alimited project.

Although this is her first real venture as an entrepreneur,Kathleen worked in a tool rental shop during high school andcollege. Kathleen’s store, Coastal Tool Rental, will be in a newshopping center. Kathleen chose the location because a sizablecommunity of family homes is nearby and because no majorcompetition is located in the area, which is about 15 miles fromthe nearest large town. She has arranged to rent 2500 square feetof space in the shopping center. She has located a wholesaler whocan provide her with a start-up inventory of common garden and homeimprovement implements. The wholesaler can also serve as a supplierfor new and replacement tools, equipment, and consumables.

Kathleen majored in small business management, but she also tooka number of computer- related courses as electives—including someclasses on programming and on using word processing, spreadsheet,and database applications. Kathleen plans to purchase a desktopcomputer for use in her small business venture, but her start-upmoney and time are limited.

Kathleen is considering the following four options to keep trackof equipment rentals:

1. A manual system of file cards for each piece of equipment andeach customer

2. A computer-based system she would build using a spreadsheetor database application

3. A computer-based option she would program herself

4. An off-the-shelf software package designed for equipmentrenta

She has asked for your help to determine the feasibility of eachof these options. Complete the following:

# First, prepare a list of interview questions for Kathleen thatwould help you make a recommendation to her.

# After you have a list of potential questions to ask in aninterview, compare your questions with those of three classmates orcoworkers. Work with your group to create one merged list ofquestions for Kathleen. Organize the questions under several maincategories.

# When you have completed the list of interview questions, yourinstructor will provide you with Kathleen’s responses to severalquestions from an interview with her. Based on her responses,complete the following:

Briefly describe the pros and cons of the four options Kathleenis considering.

Based on what you know of Kathleen’s situation, which of thefour options would you recommend to her? Explain yourreasoning.

In order to implement one of these options, Coastal Tools Rentalwould need data on each rental item and each customer. List thefields you think Coastal would need to include in either a recordfor each rental tool or a record for each customer.