Question

the marketing director at rock solid outfitters, a medium-sized supplier of outdoor climbing and camping gear, has asked the it manager to develop a special web-based promotion. rock solid will provide free shipping for any customer who either completes an online survey form or signs up for the rock solid online newsletter. additionally, if a customer completes the survey and signs up for the newsletter, rock solid will provide a $10 merchandise credit for orders of $100 or more. the it manager has asked you to develop a decision table that will reflect the promotional rules that a programmer will use. she wants you to show all possibilities, and then to simplify the results to eliminate any combinations that would be unrealistic or redundant. how will you proceed?

Answer 1

To develop a decision table for the promotional rules, we need to identify the conditions or criteria that determine which incentives the customer qualifies for. Based on the information provided, we can identify the following conditions:

1. Completing the online survey form
2. Signing up for the Rock Solid online newsletter
3. Total order amount is $100 or more

We can then identify the possible incentives that a customer can receive based on these conditions:

1. Free shipping
2. $10 merchandise credit
3. Free shipping and $10 merchandise credit

Using this information, we can construct a decision table that shows all possible combinations of conditions and incentives:

| Condition 1: Completes survey | Condition 2: Signs up for newsletter | Condition 3: Total order $100+ | Incentive 1: Free shipping | Incentive 2: $10 merchandise credit | Incentive 3: Free shipping and $10 merchandise credit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| No | No | No | No | No | No |

In this table, "Yes" represents the presence of a condition or incentive, and "No" represents the absence of a condition or incentive.

We can simplify this table by eliminating redundant or unrealistic combinations. For example, if a customer does not complete the survey or sign up for the newsletter, they cannot receive any incentive. Similarly, if the total order amount is less than $100, the $10 merchandise credit is not applicable.

The simplified decision table would be:

| Condition 1: Completes survey | Condition 2: Signs up for newsletter | Condition 3: Total order $100+ | Incentive 1: Free shipping | Incentive 2: $10 merchandise credit | Incentive 3: Free shipping and $10 merchandise credit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

This simplified table shows the three possible combinations of conditions and incentives that a customer can receive. The programmer can use this decision table to develop the web-based promotion and ensure that the incentives are applied correctly based on the customer's actions.