What is the tutor’s opinion of the following company projects? Tutor’s opinion A It would be very rewarding for the student.

T: Hello Grover, come in and sit down…
G: Thanks.
T: You’re here to discuss your company-based IT project, aren’t you?
G: Yes… I’ve been to see the Manager and he’s given me a lot of ideas about projects that the company would find useful. But I wanted to ask your opinion about them before I choose one.
T: Yes, that’s fine. Now this company’s called Turners, isn’t it?
G: That’s right. It’s a small engineering company — they make machine components for trade use. They’re well-established — they started in nineteen seventy-six — but they’re a bit old-fashioned.
T: OK… And what kind of projects did Turners suggest you could do for the company?
G: Well, they want some improvements made to their customer database. The one that they’ve got at the moment isn’t very useful in some ways. I had a quick look at it…
T: That would be a very straightforward project, and it’d be simple enough to evaluate, but I don’t think you’d get enough out of a project like that. You wouldn’t learn anything new.
G: Well another project they suggested is to do with their online sales catalogue. At the moment customers can look at their products but they can’t actually order them online, which must affect their competitiveness. But I said I thought it would take too long, it’s quite a big task.
T: You’re right. It’s too much for the time you’ve got. It’s a pity though.
G: Then they want some help with their payroll system. At the moment the way they calculate pay involves a lot of manual accounting. I suggested they could have a system where employees register electronically when they arrive and leave work, so the hours they do could be transferred automatically.
T: I think you’d get a lot out of a project like that — it would extend your skills but it wouldn’t be too much to take on. A student did something similar a couple of years ago, but this is slightly different.
G: Well, then they need help with their stock inventory. They do everything manually…
T: Really?
G: Yes! And it takes so much time.
T: It’s probably very inaccurate too… An electronic inventory would probably be the biggest single benefit for the company. I’m surprised they haven’t had it done before.
G: I know! Then they wanted to improve their internal security. The Manager had visited other companies where the staff use swipe cards to access various areas of the building… It sounded useful, but the trouble is, I’m not really sure how to do it.
T: Well, I think you’re right in that assessment. At the moment it’s probably a bit beyond your level of knowledge. Is that all?
G: Just one more… Customer Service. They want to be able to collect feedback from their customers in a more systematic way. At the moment it’s a bit of a mess, and they probably lose business as a result.
T: Would that involve you going to see customers at their own premises? Because in that case you might have to do a fair amount of travelling, and that would incur expenses that haven’t been agreed with these companies.
G: I never thought of that…