ORIGINAL KAYAK ADVENTURES:

A Case Study

Introduction

Original Kayak Adventures (OKA) provides guided kayaking tours and rentals in scenic
and remote locations of Hudson. Founded by John and Edie Caputo, an experienced kayaker
and outdoor enthusiast, the company is dedicated to providing a unique and adventurous
experience for its customers. John and Edie have prominent jobs as sales representative and
web designer, respectively. However, they soon decided to leave their job and establish OKA into
a profitable business. The said owners of Original Kayak Adventures lead a team of skilled and
knowledgeable tour guides who share their passion for kayaking and the outdoors. With years of
experience in the tourism industry, John and Edie — together with their team members — have
a thorough understanding of their client’s demands and are committed to delivering exceptional
service.

The rental fleet of OKA consists of sixteen (16) kayaks of various types, eight (8) car-top
carriers, and a wide range of safety gear and accessories. Edie is contemplating introducing a
collection of books and films about kayaking and ecotourism in response to client requests. The
plans of the Caputos indeed worked well and efficiently with their various activities holding.
Rentals, education, and escorted excursions are OKA's three primary commercial activities. The
majority of visitors plan appointments for scheduled tours and lessons, but there are occasionally
openings for walk-ins. Reservations and walk-in clients each receive an equal share of the rentals.

With the help of the tour guide teams, John and Edie are dedicated to providing customers
with an unforgettable kayaking experience and making a positive impact on the communities and
environments in which they operate. Their expertise, passion, and commitment to excellence
make Original Kayak Adventures a leader in the kayaking tour industry. However, the Caputos
have observed some shortcomings, even though the creation and utilization of the OKA database
manage the essential information of the operations. For instance, occasionally bookings for
lectures or training sessions coincide with John's or Edie's schedule. The Caputos also want to
learn more about client demographics, the efficiency of advertising, and potential future business
prospects. Although John and Edie have discussed upgrading the system they utilized, they have
been too busy to do so.
Discussions

1. Business Profile for Original Kayak Adventures

Business Activities
Original Kayak Adventures offers multipurpose activities — along the Hudson River —
that comprise three business activities: kayaking rentals, instruction, and an eco-tour guide. The
OKA business was founded two years ago and had a great deal of expertise in the instruction and
tour industries.

Organization
John Caputo, a sales representative within the original Kayak Adventures, organizes tours
and instructs groups. On the other hand, as the office manager, Edie Caputo operates a web
design business and manages rent. Occasionally, Janet Jacobs provides extra assistance by
handling reservations and phone conversations. More is needed to consider about the availability
between guided tours and instruction sessions.

Resources
Throughout his occupation as a freelance web designer, Edie Caputo promoted Original
Kayak Adventures in regional magazines and established a website. The creation of their
business website is attractive and informative according to their customer reviews, which helped
to improve the business to have a competitive advantage.

Customers
For scheduled adventures and instruction sessions, a huge percentage of Original Kayak
Adventures’ clients make reservations in advance. If there's enough room and no charge, last-
minute customers are welcome.

Potential Opportunity to Engage in E-Commerce

The original Kayak Adventure seems to have the potential to engage in E-Commerce by
making reservation information available online to last-minute customers and by offering special
discounts on renting. Enhancing the database system is necessary to easily handle, sort, and
filter customer information for future business opportunities.

2. OKA’s Main function and business processes

Original Kayak Adventures is a vacation and leisure rental company. They provide three
business segments, namely: kayak rentals, instruction, and guided tours of the Hudson River.
The majority of their customers make advance reservations for their adventurous experience
activities that also attract sports-loving customers.
 The illustration shown above is one of Original Kayak Adventures' business processes for
monitoring customer reservations and the status of the business if there is available space for
booking and a free instructor schedule.

3. Type of Information System

Original Kayak Adventures (OKA) may support its business operations by utilizing a
transaction processing system (TPS). TPS is a type of IS that involves collecting, storing,
modifying, and retrieving a business' data transactions, aiming to provide predictable response
times to requests such as reservations. In addition, to record the reservations, Edie created an
MS Access database, a DBMS, wherein he input the reservation date, reservation details and
kayak time, and the customer information into a table sorted by reservation date. Although the
OKA databases handle the basic information that the business operates, the Caputos' availability
sometimes conflicts with the reservations that's why they would like to improve their information
gathering about the rental patterns, customer profiles, the effectiveness of their advertisements,
and opportunities that the business may have in the future.
4. Properties of the Reservation Object

Based on the Object-Oriented Analysis, a class is a collection of similar objects, where

each object possesses characteristics called properties (Shelly & Rosenblatt, 2011). Since actual
people, things, transactions, and events can represent the software objects, reservation can also
be an object. For the reservation object, its properties might include

● reservation details, such as reservation date and number (this will uniquely
determine the reservation).
● customer information;
● kayak and type of activity (such as rental, instruction, and tour guided); and
● kayak number (to give them an identifier of whether the reservation is already
booked and reserved).

Conclusion

Original Kayak Adventures (OKA) is a leisure and vacation company located along the
Hudson River that offers leisure activities such as guided eco-tours, instruction, and kayak rentals.
Original Kayak Adventures (OKA) has been in business for over two years and has a wealth of
experience in the instruction and tour business. It was founded by John and Edie Caputo, who
are avid kayak enthusiasts and amateur naturalists.

In conclusion, John and Edie Caputo want to turn Original Kayak Adventures (OKA) into
a successful company. They firmly believe that the ecotourism industry has a significant potential
for growth, and they are eager to share their expertise and experiences with people who share
their love of kayaking and outdoor sports. The Original Kayak Adventures has so far gotten
positive reviews from clients. According to a client review, the Edie-designed website they used
to promote their business is appealing and educational. For scheduled excursions and instruction
sessions, the majority of Original Kayak Adventures' (OKA) clients make reservations in advance.
If there is a slot, last-minute customers are also welcome. Both clients who make reservations in
advance and walk-in consumers receive the same number of rentals from OKA. To keep track of
all the reservations, Edie developed a Microsoft Access database. Here, he inputs the information
of the reservation, which includes the date, the details, the type of kayak, and the customer
information. Every day, Edie prints a list of reservations to help the business keep track of the
status of each rental kayak's reservations and availability.

In addition, Original Kayak Adventures (OKA) built a database that manages all the
fundamental data the business needs, but they've identified specific issues. One of these issues
is that reservations for training or guided tour periods occasionally conflict with John and Edie's
schedules. They require more people to provide support because Edie manages her web design
company and also oversees the rentals, while John serves as the tour guide and is in charge of
teaching lessons.
 John and Edie have thought about improving their system to gather more data regarding
rental trends, consumer profiles, advertising efficacy, and potential future business opportunities.
That is a smart move on the part of the business to improve customer service. Additionally, this
will aid in managing and maximizing all reservations. To minimize scheduling conflicts, Original
Kayak Adventures (OKA) may also think about hiring more staff, making reservation information
online accessible to last-minute clients, and providing exclusive rental pricing.

Reference
Shelly, G. B., & Rosenblatt, H. J. (2011). Systems Analysis and Design. Cengage Learning.

Submitted by:
Bernardo, Hanna Eunice O.
Bordado, Arlene Rose F.
Domingo, Janine Kaye A.
Francisco, Fermina A.
Polo, Maria Florence A.
Soriano, Monico III B.

Submitted to:
Mr. Francesco Rafiel A. Mallari
Faculty