The club can maintain a web site that informs visitors of events. This web site could be updated automatically using ASP's. This would reduce the need for extra staff whose jobs might be just to manually update the web site in order to keep it current.

Although this is not a problem to be solved by the use of information systems, their use can actually be made to reduce the overall dependence on human receptionists.

A web site, for example, could be designed to answer most - if not all - questions that might be asked by customers. It would be doubly effective since when asking questions personally, most customers tend to feel embarrassed if they have a number of questions. Visitors to the site would be able to have all of their questions answered.

Using a database to keep detailed records of customers would help in communication of schedule changes to the customers who would be affected by them. The Club’s web site would automatically show the updated information due to the use of ASP’s (see 1). In addition to this, a Visual Basic program could be used to select and send updated event schedules to customers as soon as schedule modifications are made.

The Club’s web page could provide information about bands and DJs along with other more general information about the Club itself.

E-commerce can very effectively be used to prevent the current inconvenience of customers having to visit the seedy venue and face the local problems of car crime and poor parking. Customers could pay on-line using their credit cards and they could be given the option of either picking up the tickets themselves or having them delivered to their residences (perhaps at additional cost). Most customers might not mind having to pay a slightly higher amount for the convenience of having their tickets home delivered.

This problem once again cannot be directly solved using information systems, but providing access to an on-line taxi reservation site might help ease the burden for quite a few customers.

 If the Club has it’s seating system computerised using a customised Visual Basic program (see 8), the same program could also be enabled to assign entry times to customers on the basis of their ticket numbers. This would ensure a quick entry for all customers.

The Club could have a customised Visual Basic program developed that would graphically display all the seats in the venue and assign numbers to each seat. Besides solving the seating problem, this would also enable customers to choose their seats based on where exactly they are placed. Seats that are already booked would be displayed as such on the screen. This would also make the job of the receptionists easier as they would not have to manually keep track of the number of seats remaining.

The cloakroom could have a workstation installed that is linked to the main reception/ticket counter so that once customers leave their hats and coats the cloakroom staff could link the cloakroom storage number to the ticket number of the customer. When the customers come to pick up their belongings, the staff would just have to type in the ticket number to retrieve the cloakroom storage number.

The Club should seriously look into the possibility of installing touch-screen terminals at frequent intervals around the premises (or perhaps even at every table) so customers can browse through he menu and then enter their credit card number along with their choice of drinks. These terminals would be linked to the main computer in the bar via the local intranet where the credit card details could be verified before the drinks are sent out to the particular table.

The mistakes made by the bar staff in charging customers is due to overcrowding at the bar. This can be solved by implementing the system recommended as a solution for the previous problem (see 10).

The main computer system in the bar could use neural network technology to solve this particular problem. By feeding in the number of customers and the amount of drinks consumed, the computer would, over a period of time, learn to accurately predict the rate at which particular drinks are likely to run out as well as when the drinks should be restocked in order to maintain continuous availability to customers.

The food ordering process could be modified in line with the solution proposed for the drink ordering process (see 10). The same terminals placed around the premises for ordering drinks could also be used for ordering food. The menu could be browsed and orders placed using credit card and the food could be delivered to the tables after verification.

The solution to the first part of this problem lies along the same lines as the solution to the problem faced by the bar with their popular drinks running out (see 12). A neural network would be able to learn the patterns of consumer preferences in terms of food and - over time - be able to make accurate predictions as to which types of food are more likely to sell on any given night. It could even take into account which foods are preferred by particular customers based on the type of band playing. For example, rock fans could prefer fast food while opera fans prefer gourmet food.

The second part of the problem could be solved at the same time as the previous problem (see 13).

The Club could maintain a database of its customers. This would be even easier once the ticket purchasing process has been put online since the Club would not need to have staff manually input customer details into their system.

The merchandise stand is difficult to access on busy nights and customers cannot easily see the range of merchandise or the prices.

As with the food and drinks, the merchandise stand could also be made accessible via the customer terminals (see 10, 13 and 14).

Computerising the hall bookings would prevent the occurrence of double-bookings. Once a booking has been made the system would prevent another booking for the same hall being made for the same day and time. This could be ensured with a simple Visual Basic program.

Maintaining a database with detailed supplier records would enable the Club’s management to make well-informed decisions when placing orders for merchandise.

The Club’s web site as well as it’s in-house customer terminals should be equipped with an option for customers to make complaints or claim returns. In case the customers want only to orally give their complaints or claims to the Club’s staff, the management could rest assured of receiving all complaints and claims if the staff computers are also provided with the same facility. So whether the complaints are registered through a customer terminal, the main computer in the bar, food outlet or merchandise store, they are immediately sent to the management via the intranet.