Gorillasoft provided us with a well thought out and friendly prototype which unfortunately did not meet significant parts of our (Northam's) requirements. Only one, although it was larger of the 3 major specified components, had been implemented at the time of the demo.
The Deliveries component of Mammoth met all of our requirements and provided us with some new and more efficient ideas for doing business. This included the creation of zones and districts for dividing deliveries. We were especially impressed with the way Mammoth could accept community names via the choice box and convert them to zone numbers. Northam understands that for a project of this size, Gorillasoft has done an excellent job of completing the lion's share of the work on schedule. The delivery subsystem, as noted, is surely the largest and most complex of our requested functions. Our requirement that the system be intuitive and easy to use has unquestionably been met. It would have been nice if for example the 'customer info' screens could have been a bit less cluttered, but as those records contain many types of information we can't really suggest a better alternative.
It was disappointing to learn that none of the billing functions, which are very important to Northam, had been implemented. We understand, however the somewhat embryonic state of the system is a result of time constraints. It was good to see that the system at least keeps track of the cost of publications delivered to customers. It shouldn't be too hard, we imagine, to search the database picking out that price information to create billing records for each customer.
Similarly lacking were the requested Reporting functions, although we were informed those will be quickly and easily implemented/generated now that the data is stored in the system. We trust that these important features will soon be added to Mammoth.
In the final analysis, it is obvious that Gorillasoft has done its absolute best to provide a working prototype of the system for this demonstration. It may be that the company's proposed system has been slightly ambitious given the time available, or that Northam's demands have been less than realistic given those same constraints. We believe that this system will be a pleasure to use for our employees, and we are reasonably sure that it will help us meet our goal of staying competitive in the market. Despite the stated misgivings, we are still very pleased with the demonstrated product's overall capabilities. Gorillasoft has shown commitment to meeting our stated requirements and we can forsee that any shortcomings will be swiftly remedied.
The design process followed by Gorilla Soft and Northam provided us with valuable learning opportunities. As customers in the design process we gained valuable experience in several areas. We learned about the World Wide Web, group dynamics, and the customer perspective.
Throughout the design process, documentation had to be posted to the World Wide Web. This provided us with the opportunity to learn skills related to the Web. These skills included HTML, linking, and how to search the Web effectively. Using the Web was beneficial in that it made documentation easy to access for all members of the group.
Working in the customer group was a both informative and challenging. Due to the size of the group, it was very frustrating to try to make group decisions. Often we were forced to compromise our own ideas in order to arrive at an agreement about the product specifications. It was necessary to delegate responsibilities and use our time efficiently in order to meet deadlines. Unfortunately, not enough time was given for adequate discussion to come to some concensus on specific goals. Quite often arbitrary conclusions were drawn just to meet time constraints.
Finally, the project taught us about the customer perspective in industry. The need for specific design requirements and expectations understood and agreed upon by all members of Northam was a source of frustration. More time for discussion and more guidance from the TA's would have been beneficial in establishing these guidelines. We at Northam feel that there was a lot of misunderstanding between us and Gorilla Soft due to inconsistent information and communication. There were misunderstandings both between members of Northam itself and between Northam and Gorilla Soft.
Northam, Inc. would have liked several changes to the design process. These changes largely deal with the quantity and methods of interaction between Northam and Gorillasoft.
First, face-to-face interaction between Gorillasoft and Northam should have been increased. There were only three face-to-face meetings between the two companies to specify requirements.
Second, along with an increase in interaction, the two sides should have specified smaller working groups to deal with specific areas of the project, and delegate representatives or leaders to co-ordinate the individual sets of changes with each other. Placing 20 or more people in one room and expecting them to suddenly hammer out details of specifications in an efficient, effective manner is ridiculous. Such mass meetings should never have occurred, yet these formed the majority of our interactions with Gorillasoft.
There should have been an increase in the allowable responses to various proposals put forth by Gorillasoft. Due to insufficient space, Northam was unable to fully articulate all their concerns with respect to Gorillasoft's proposals.
In general, the design process seemed too formalized and too ritualized. It seemed like just a set of hoops to go through that bore little, if any relation, to the actual project that we wanted Gorillasoft to undertake.
The overall major point that needs to be made is that Northam should be consulted at every step, even as the software is going into and through coding. Northam can identify difficulties even at this late stage, which could perhaps have been eliminated with appropriate levels of consultation.
Basically, it comes down to communication. Increasing communication between Northam and Gorillasoft would have helped the design process immeasurably.