Fitch & Mather (F & M) has accumulated a number of books, subscriptions, videotapes, and employee-authored documents that have become critical business resources. Before the Corporate Media Library application was implemented, F & M employees mostly obtained materials by physically visiting the library. They could submit requests for material by e-mail. If the materials were available, the library staff could reply either by sending the material or by replying by e-mail that the material would be sent or be available for pickup.
In any business, there are a number of services that, while necessary, do not directly participate in generating revenue. A corporate library falls into this category, providing employees with the information resources they need to advance a company's competitiveness. Not only does the library maintain a collection of books and journals relating to F & M's business, it also keeps proprietary resources such as employee white papers, internal studies, company history, and videotapes of presentations. When the company expanded to sites hundreds of miles away, access to these materials ceased for many employees.
F & M's executives decided that all their employees needed access to these resources. In addition, even employees in the same building as the library could benefit from not having to walk from their offices to the library in order to search the catalog.
F & M's volume of business has increased rapidly, necessitating expansion of its home office as well as expansion across a multistate region. Management has responded to this expansion by formally mandating that all its departments place as many functions as possible on the company's intranet.
The next topic evaluates the computer resources available to solve this problem.
The Proposed Solution topic lists the features F & M required to solve this business problem.