Transcript of interview with Ray Pairman, Field Service Manager, OfceFix

Inc
S!"#ect$ Initial requirements for the Mobile Service Knowledge Base project
Analyst: Thank you for meeting with me to talk about the new Mobile Service
Knowledge Base project
Ray: It!s my pleasure I!m e"cited about what this new system will be able to do for
our department# so I!m happy to help
Analyst: $ow# e"actly# do you e"pect this new system to help you%
Ray& 's you know# we send service technicians to customers! locations to repair
o(ce equipment like copiers# fa" machines# and computers )e work on many kinds
of equipment and there are di*erent repair procedures for every make and model
+ight now# our techs have to haul around a whole stack of service manuals# and
then waste time ,nding the right manual and -ipping through it to ,nd the steps for
the service procedure they need to perform )ith the Mobile Service Knowledge
Base# they!ll have the most common service procedures stored on a handheld
device and will be able to call up the instructions they need right on the screen It
should save our folks a lot of time
Analyst& )hat do you think this handheld device should look like%
Ray& )ell# the most important thing is a nice big screen so the tech will be able to
see the instructions# and any illustrations or videos that go with them ' mobile
phone or ./' would be too small0we!d probably want at least a seven1inch screen
It should be light enough to carry easily2 no more than a couple of pounds 'nd
battery life is important0the tech would need to get through a full 31hour day on
one battery charge
Analyst& )ould you need a color screen%
Ray& 4h yes# a lot of the service procedures have color illustrations
Analyst& So take me through how you see this being used Say a service tech walks
into the customer!s o(ce on a call
Ray& The customer would point out the piece of equipment to be ,"ed The tech
would read the make and model number from a label# and enter that into the
handheld device It would bring up a list of the most common service procedures
that might be needed on that piece of equipment The tech would choose one from
the list# and the device would display the instructions for performing that procedure
The tech would then refer to the instructions as he or she works does the work
Analyst& 5ntering the make and model0would they be typing that in on a keyboard
of some sort%
Ray& 4ur people are great service techs but they are not necessarily great typists
or computer users )e!d want to minimi6e the amount of typing necessary# and in
general make this whole thing as simple to use as possible
Analyst& )e could do something like give them lists to choose from# rather than type
things in They might start with a list of all the equipment manufacturers 4nce they
pick a manufacturer# then a list of all the models from that manufacturer would
appear for them to pick from $ow does that sound%
Ray& That sounds great They wouldn!t need to type at all7
Analyst& Is a service procedure mostly te"t0a set of instructions like step 8# do this#
step 9# do that# and so on% :ou also mentioned illustrations and photos# and I think I
heard you say something about video%
Ray& :es# all the procedures have step by step written procedures# and most of them
also have graphics of some kind# like a diagram or a schematic Some of them have
photos# and a few of them have short video clips showing how to perform the
procedure )e hope to add more video clips as we go along2 the techs ,nd them
really helpful
Analyst& $ow many di*erent service procedures will need to be stored on this
device%
Ray& )ell# we currently service equipment from ;< di*erent manufacturers# and
about 9< models from each manufacturer 'nd we want to store the 8< most
common procedures for each model
Analyst& That!s today /o you think those numbers will increase over# say# the ne"t
,ve years%
Ray& :es# the number of models we service is always increasing )e might need
procedures for twice as many models ,ve years from now
Analyst& That!s a fairly large amount of data I!m interested in the videos because
they can take up a lot of storage space $ow long are these video clips%
Ray& =ot too long0about ; minutes each
Analyst& )hat digital ,le formats are used for all this%
Ray& The procedures are supplied to us by the manufacturers as ./> ,les The
videos are in either '?I or M4? format So the system will need to support storing
and displaying data in ./># '?I and M4?
Analyst& :ou said your main goal with this system is to save time# so let!s talk about
speed $ow quickly will this system need to work%
Ray& ' service tech should be able to enter the make and model# and select the
needed procedure# in no more than @< seconds The procedure should be pulled up
on the screen within ; seconds after the tech makes that selection
Analyst& )hat will happen if the system fails to work% )ill the service tech still be
carrying around the printed manuals to fall back on%
Ray& =o# we want to eliminate their having to carry around any printed manuals So
if the system doesn!t work# it will be a big problem The tech will probably have to
reschedule the service call for the following day# which will make the customer very
unhappy
Analyst& It sounds like the system will need to pretty reliable# then 4bviously you
want it to be as dependable as possible# but no system is perfect )hat would you
consider an acceptable rate of failure# where the service tech is unable to get the
correct procedure from the system%
Ray& =o more than one out of every one hundred service calls 'ny more than that
would de,nitely be unacceptable
Analyst& 're the service procedures sensitive or con,dential in any way% %no
o!tso!rce&
Ray& 4h# yes )e license that information from the equipment manufacturers# and
they!re very touchy about it )e need to make sure that only our authori6ed service
personnel can access it
Analyst& So# each service tech should log in to the system with a username and
password before using it%
Ray& :es# that would work 'lso# if the device is unused for# say# ,fteen minutes# the
screen should blank and they should have to log in again That way# if they leave
the device lying around in the customer!s o(ce# no one else will be able to access
it
Analyst& )hat if a device were lost or stolen' %Secondary password li(e th!m"&
Ray& That could be a problem It would be great if we could somehow disable a
device remotely from here if it!s reported missing
Analyst& Is there anything else I should know%
Ray& =o# I think we!ve covered everything# at least for now
Analyst& )ell# this should give us enough to get started on the requirements
speci,cation for the project If I have any questions later# would it be 4K to call or
email you%
Ray& /e,nitely
Analyst& I!ll type up my notes and send them to you for review early ne"t week# just
to make sure I didn!t miss anything Thanks again for your time This sounds like a
fun project and I look forward to working with you on it