Seventh Morning
Gathering Requirements
Scenario Notes
Lecture 11: Interview with Solomon Alffson (3C)
Sees beverage sales reporting process as broken
o Compilation of data takes too long
o Compilation of data takes too much of Product Analyst’s time (about 1 week, per
Solomon)
o Product Manager (Theo Barton) has complained about the process of creating
spreadsheets
o Product Manager (Delia Clemens) is sometimes late with sending her spreadsheet to the
Product Analyst
Process
1. Product Managers prepare spreadsheets
2. Product Managers send them to Product Analyst at end of each month
3. Product Analyst compiles them into report
4. Product Analyst sends report to Product Line Manager
Priorities: (1) timeliness and (2) efficiency
ID Requirement Rationale Source
BR-1 Solution will ensure that final Key project driver. Solomon Alffson,
reports are available to Product Important to have at Product Line
Line Manager at beginning of first beginning of month to Manager
day of each month. accelerate decision-making.
BR-2 Solution will significantly reduce Free up analyst’s time to Solomon Alffson,
level of manual work performed handle other work. Product Line
by Product Analyst. Manager
Stakeholders
o Solomon Alffson, Product Line Manager (Sponsor)
o Martha Warren, Product Analyst
o Theo Barton, Product Manager
o Delia Clemens, Product Manager
o [Other Product Managers]
Lecture 12: Interview with Martha Warren (3D)
Agrees with Solomon’s stated problems. Thinks that biggest problem is report generation taking
up lots of her time, different from Solomon
Seventh Morning
Process
Issues
o Some people are a day or two late sending their reports
o She has to chase some people regularly for their reports
o Product Manager errors:
Forgetting to enter the Transaction Currencies
Forgetting to enter the Ship Dates
o The actual data in the report:
[Table of data] from PSR
Product, from PSR
Product Code, from PSR
Product Manager Name, from PSR
Product Manager Employee ID, from her cheat-sheet
She prepares lots of custom reports for Solomon, and those take a lot of time. Examples:
o How each product is doing from month to month
o All transactions for a PM
o All transactions for a single customer for a given time range
Stakeholders
o Vanessa Reyes
o Darius Huber
Lecture 14: Observing Martha Warren (3F)
Additional problem with process: sometimes PMs enter bad data into reports (example: Carley’s
numbers seemed wrong to her)
Stakeholders
o Glen Mathieu, Controller
o Other PMs (names in report)
o Tonya Kevinson, Legal
Seventh Morning
Observations
o Martha received three out of five reports on first day of month. Only one was error-free.
o Currency codes are important!
o “Date Prepared” is actually date sent to Solomon
o “Quantity” field is sometimes filled in in error
Lecture 16: Group Interview with Product Managers (3H)
Report Preparation / Current State Process
Theo
1. Customers call in with orders during the month
2. Theo notes them down in a notebook, as each one comes in
3. Theo places the order with Fulfillment
4. Fulfillment sends the product to the Customer
5. At the end of the month, Theo copies the orders onto his Product Sales Report spreadsheet
6. Theo sends it to Martha
7. Sometimes Martha calls Theo with questions (example: Theo forgets to fill out a space on the
form)
Vanessa
Same as Theo, except:
o Step 2: Vanessa adds orders directly to PSR instead of notebook
o Between steps 5 and 6: Checking to see if each order has shipped by calling Fulfillment
every day and writing the shipment date on the form when it does ship. [Theo
mentioned that they all have to do this].
Why does Theo keep a notebook? Writing things down helps him to remember them. Also, in case of
computer crash/something.
Carley – same as Vanessa
Good/Bad Aspects of Current Process
Vanessa
Gets a lot of reports back from Martha due to issues
Currency issue…?
Theo: Can transaction currency just be pre-filled in dollars? [Vanessa: No, she has clients paying in other
currencies.]
Vanessa re: currency issue:
Seventh Morning
PMs have to enter currency for every order
Currencies can vary
She has to remember what currency is used by each customer… fine now (20 customers), but
will be problem later (50-100 customers)
[Doug: Would automatic assignment of default currency to a customer help?] Vanessa: Yes,
definitely
[Doug: Do customers always pay in same currency?] Vanessa: Yes
Ideal Process
Carley
Her old company had automated system for this process
o Clients entered orders online
o She got notification, reviewed order and then approved it.
o She didn’t have to get involved at all
[Doug: Any problems with that process?]
o Carley: Yes, sometimes customers had to have her cancel or correct orders
o Vanessa: Likes having discussion with customer prior to taking order; it’s a good sales
touch-point; customers sometimes not sure what they want; she knows them and their
needs
o Theo: Same as Vanessa; customers aren’t familiar with quantities and prices, usually
have a lot of questions before placing order
Vanessa – Less administrative work is better; they’ll spend that time servicing customers, finding new
customers, getting product feedback.
