Date of Submission
4-30-2018
Project Type
Senior Design
Department
Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Adeel Khalid, Ph.D.
Secondary Advisor
Automotive Dealership Management in Metro Atlanta
Abstract
This report explores a cloud network solution for the automotive industry. The project scope was defined with a problem statement. Robust connectivity solutions offered by the OEM manufacturers provide data communication between the customer and the connected car, but lack data communication from the customer to the private franchise dealers. This antiquated business model creates variation in operation from one dealer to the other and creates a challenge to apply a standardized solution. One fundamental requirement is to provide a network solution that can seamlessly integrate into existing hardware, software and process infrastructure.
The project group conducted interviews with two Atlanta dealerships, RBM Mercedes-Benz and Krause Family Ford, considered to be the most progressive and successful private franchise dealers. They provided the system requirements, while the technical requirements were gathered by interviewing a KSU alumni Information Technology professional.
The project strategy was developed by assigning duties for the group members and a master schedule was drafted to estimate the effort required. The project manager would assign research material for the group by interpreting requirements from interviewing the advisors. The design would undergo iterations until a final verification was completed by the project advisors.
The functionality of Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides the data streaming and real-time processing required to deploy this solution and is robust enough for this enterprise application. A test case was created to narrow the scope so that the group could verify the solution. The Systems Engineering V-model provides the methods of verification for the report. For the particular test case, AWS services are charged per data processed, accruing a monthly charge of roughly $11. Increasing the scale of the test case to more instances would not linearly increase this cost.
The System’s V-Model dictates the designs progression. The proposed solution is verified by a last-mile delivery network model for expedited lead times. Quality metrics are defined to measure the proposed solution when it is deployed. Ultimately, the final design was verified by the key players that were interviewed throughout the project. Their feedback throughout the project dictated the final solution which meets the fundamental requirements.