Review the following informations and answer the following questions:
Monday, July 1st
Larry, a technical contact at Hesworld Inc., was finishing his work for the day when the telephone rang. When he answered the phone, he learned that the call was coming from Frank, a Hesworld business representative from the country of Diapolis. “I’m glad to get you,” said Frank. “I was afraid that you would be gone for the day and I have an emergency situation to deal with. ”“What’s the problem?” asked Larry. “I just got a call from an important customer who requests that we change our bill format. For one thing, they want us to add a new routing code for the account, so that they can easily identify the department to which the billing information should go. Also, in addition to the usual information contained in the bill, they want two changes made. First, they want more information added to the account service charge. Specifically, they want to know the number of checks processed per month for each customer. Second, they want additional information on overdraft charges. Specifically, they need a schedule of charges we make for different levels of overdrafts. ”“The requests seem reasonable,” Larry says. “Send me our standard request-for-changes form and then we can work on them. ”“This is an important customer, Larry, so I hope you can meet the request promptly. I promised the business user that we would accommodate the requests by Monday, July 15.”“That’s really tight,” responds Larry. “However, if we move quickly, I suppose we can come near to meeting your promise date. ”“That would be great.”
Thursday, July 11th
Frank’s standard format change request form arrives at Hesworld ten days after Larry’s phone conversation with Frank. In the section of the change request form where the change is supposed to be described in detail, Frank states: “Implement the change requests per my telephone conversation with Larry Stewart on 1 July.”
Unfortunately, at the time the change request arrives at Hesworld, Larry is out sick with hepatitis. The doctor suggests that the earliest he can return to work is in one month.
In Larry’s absence, the change request is forwarded to Nina, a back-up technical contact. When she reads the vague description of the needed changes, she does not know what to do, so she takes the change request to Larry’s supervisor. “I don’t have any idea of what this change request is about,” the supervisor tells her. “I think you should call Frank in Diapolis to find out what he wants.”
Monday, July 15th
Nina does not have an opportunity to call Frank until Monday, July 15. When she calls him, Frank is delighted to hear from her. “When I didn’t hear from you folks I got a little panicked,” he said. “I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to meet the user deadline for the changes to the bill. Thank goodness you have done your job. ”“We haven’t done anything, Frank,” Nina states with some trepidation. “I just got your change request last Thursday and haven’t had a chance to review it until today. ”“You mean the work is not done?” asks Frank incredulously. “To be frank, we haven’t even begun work,” Nina responds.
“This is ridiculous,” shouts Frank. “I’ve promised my business user a deliverable by July 15, and now I will look ridiculous. ”“Calm down, Frank,” Nina implores. “How could we make the fix you wanted if you didn’t send us your change request until last Thursday?”
“So when can you make the changes? You people are really going to make me look foolish.”
“I know this is going to upset you Frank, but we don’t even know what changes you want. Your description of required changes simply references a conversation you had with Larry. But Larry is out sick, so we don’t know what you guys talked about.”
Frank begins repeating what he told Larry when Nina interrupts him.
“Frank, you’ve got to put your request in writing. And this time you must be precise in describing what is required. Also, we need to have your business user sign-off on the request. ”“Let me tell you Nina, you sound just like a government bureaucrat!”
Thursday, July 18th
A detailed change request from Frank finally arrives at Hesworld. Given the change request information, Nina is able to conduct a proper functional and technical analysis of the implications of the change request. She writes up her conclusions but discovers two disconcerting facts:(1) The outside consultants who are to do the required work are tied up and will not be able to begin work on the change request until Monday, August 1.(2) The outside consultants estimate that accommodating the change request will take two people ten calendar workdays to do the job. This means that the earliest time at which the work can be completed is August 15.
Nina relays this information to Frank. When he first hears it, he remains silent. The silence lasts so long that Maria believes that the line with Frank has been disconnected.
“Are you still there, Frank?” she asks. “Hello, are you there? ”After another moment’s silence, Frank finally responds: “Yes, I’m here. I must tell you, I am very upset with Hesworld’ lack of responsiveness. I’m trying to do my job working with users and making them happy, but it’s hard to do a good job when you people don’t support me. ”Nina is hurt by Frank’s accusation, and she is tempted to remind him that the delays were the result of the way he handled the user’s change request. But she decides that the wisest thing to do is to keep her mouth shut.
Tuesday, August 13th
Frank receives the revised product, two days earlier than promised by Nina. He delivers it to the user, who spends two days testing it.
Thursday, August 15th
The user signs-off on the product, indicating acceptance of the changes. Following required procedures, the user notifies the Data Center Librarian to move the changes into production. Because “move change into production” is scheduled to occur once every two weeks, and the user’s notification occurred out of the cycle, the actual change is not moved into production until Friday, August 23.
Required to answer:
Only brief answers needed!
Question 1. What steps should Frank, the business representative, have taken at the outset of the change request process to assure that the change request would have been handled effectively?
Question 2. How should the requirements associated with the change request have been described more clearly?
Question 3. What steps should Larry, the technical contact, have taken at the outset of the change request process to assure that the change request would be handled effectively?
Question 4. What does this case tell us about the link between change requests and availability of resources to do the job? (Only cite two examples from the case to make a point.)
Question 5. In the change request described in this case, what types of analyses and tests should be carried out in order to assure that the request has merit and will not have undesired side-effects; and that requirements have been properly captured?