ISM3113_AssignmentNarrative3.pdf

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Acme Electric LLC
5/3/2020

The company
Acme Electric, LLC (Acme) is a local electrical company that does all phases of electrical
work including residential, commercial, outdoors, new and remodel as well as service work.
They service Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Baker counties, in Florida and are available
six days a week from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, and Sundays by appointment. They are always
available for free estimates and emergency calls.

The people
Tom is the owner and has three crews of two people each. Each crew is assigned their own
van. On each crew, one person is designated as the crew team leader/electrician and the
other an electrician. Tom himself sometimes acts as a crew of one electrician using his truck.
There is one supply/maintenance person (Supply) who is responsible for ing and
maintaining electrical supplies as well as maintaining the company’s vehicles.

The Jobs
The company has several categories of Jobs – commercial vs. residential and planned vs. ad
hoc. Normally all the commercial Jobs are planned, while the residential Jobs are a mix of
planned and ad hoc. The customers are categorized as “new” or “existing”.

The work day
Supply maintains a stock of electrical parts and supplies so that the crews can stock their van
at the beginning of the work day with what they are told they will need for the day’s
scheduled work or they anticipate they will need. If stock is not available, Supply may direct
the crew to drive to a 3rd party electrical supply store on their way to the first Job or between
Jobs. There, they obtain the anticipated, necessary stock for the scheduled work. During the
work day, if the crew determines they need stock not on the van, they will either obtain it
from the company’s stock area, any 3rd party electrical supply store close to the Job site, or
call Supply requesting the item(s). The 3rd party electrical supply store, Supply, or Tom may
deliver the additional supplies directly to the Job site. At the end of the work day, the crew
leaders provide Supply with receipts of stock obtained from 3rd party electrical supply
store(s). They also provide Tom with a list of the material used that were not on the Bill of
Materials (BOM), items that were on the BOM but not used, and their crews’ labor hours
separated by Job.
Supply knows what and how many items to keep in his stock. Each week Supply physically
inventories the stock, creates a list of items to purchase, and purchases the items on the list.

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Each crew’s van has a stock of commonly used items as well. At the conclusion of the work
day, each crew restocks their van from Supply’s stock room and notifies Supply of any items
they are unable to restock.
Each electrician provides their own personal tools for use on a job. These are items like
screwdrivers, hammers, tool belt, etc. – Acme provides no personal tools.
Tom maintains contact throughout the day with crew’s team leader via a smartphone. They
use text as well as voice to communicate. The team leader uses a map application on the
smartphone for mapping to locate Job sites.
The company contracts with a 3rd party vehicle maintenance company to maintain their fleet
of vehicles. Currently the company has three Ford E250 vans and one Ford F250 truck. At
the end of each workday, each assigned driver reports the vehicles mileage to Supply.
Assigned drivers report immediately to Supply when they detect any possible vehicle issues
that might require immediate or emergency repairs. Supply calls the 3rd party vehicle
maintenance company to schedule both normal maintenance or immediate/emergency
repairs.
When vehicle drivers fuel the vehicles, they note the vehicle mileage, date, and time on the
receipt. They then pass on those fuel receipts to Supply at the end of the day. At the same
time, they also provide Supply with any other vehicle-related receipts acquired during the day.
Each work day morning the crews arrive at Tom’s shop to prepare for the day. Tom gives
each crew:

1. A list of Jobs by crew that the crew is to work on that day, and the that Tom
wants them completed.

2. A list of material for each Job, aka a Bill of Materials (BOM). The crew then
either pulls the BOM from the stock room or Tom tells them what, when,
and where to pick up the BOM or partial BOM from a 3rd party electrical
supply store. A 3rd party electrical supply store may deliver additional BOM
directly to the Job site.

3. Any special instructions about each Job.
4. Any special instructions about their day’s itinerary.

At the end of the work day, the crews return to Tom’s shop. They:
1. Report verbally to Tom about their work day.
2. Provide receipts to Supply for any items purchased, including but not limited

to, fuel, oil, materials, supplies, special equipment, etc.
3. The crew leader reports the van’s ending mileage to Supply.

Definition of a Job
Tom may receive a verbal or written Request for Proposal (RFP) from an existing or
potential Customer. An RFP is a document written and sent by an existing or potential
customer detailing the requested service. Generically, it is a method through which a
business sends requests to a number of contractors so that these potential contractors can
create and send proposals back to the Customer in response to the RFP. When Tom receives

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an RFP, he prepares and sends a Proposal back to the requesting Customer. Tom’s proposals
are in the form of a Job with a status of proposed. The Customer can accept one of
contractor’s proposals. If the Customer accepts Acme’s proposal, the Customer signs and
returns the proposal to Acme. Upon receipt of the signed proposal, Tom changes the Job’s
status from proposed to accepted.
Each Job exists in exactly one status at any point in time. It may start out as a Proposed Job,
then move to Accepted, Scheduled, In-process, Completed, Invoiced, and Paid in that .

1. Proposed – any type of customer may request electrical work (new vs.
existing and residential vs. commercial).
⁃ If the customer provides Tom with a written RFP and Tom chooses

to, Tom provides a written Proposal in response. The Proposal
consists of the customer information, scheduled dates, labor, BOM,
special equipment, and notes.

⁃ If the customer provides a verbal work description and Tom chooses
to, Tom provides a verbal Proposal.

2. Accepted – When the customer accepts the Proposal, the Job is moved
to the Accepted status. In the case of a:
⁃ written proposal, the proposal must be signed and returned.
⁃ verbal proposal, a verbal acceptance is required.

3. Scheduled – After a Crew is assigned, Tom schedules the work and the Job is
moved to the Scheduled status.

4. In-process – When a Team Leader reports the crew has started the Job, the
Job is moved to the In-process status..

5. Completed – When both the Team Leader reports that the Job is
complete and the customer approves, the Job is moved to the
Completed status.

6. Invoiced – When an Invoice is created and sent by the Billing system, the
Job status is moved to Invoiced.

7. Paid – When the Billing system reports that the Invoice has been paid in full,
the Job is moved to the Paid status.

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Figure 1: Job Status State Diagram

The proposed systems
Tom wants an information system to assist with running the company and to keep
information updated in real-time. He envisions possibly an office computer as the central
repository for all information with his team leaders having mobile devices connecting in real-
time to update field data as work is completed throughout the day.

A Job Management System:
1. Tom wants to:

⁃ Record a Windows Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) for local files related to
a Job and stored on the computer. Each URI will be a link to a local file. The
file could be:
⁃ an incoming, written RFP
⁃ an invoice
⁃ written correspondence with the Customer
⁃ etc.

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⁃ Create a Job
⁃ Maintain a Job.
⁃ Assign a crew to a Job.
⁃ Assign a BOM to a Job. This use case is different than maintaining the BOM.
⁃ Assign a special equipment list to a Job. This use case is different than

maintaining the special equipment list.
⁃ Assign a rental equipment list to a Job. This use case is different than

maintaining the rental equipment list.
⁃ Schedule a Job’s start and end date.
⁃ Maintain a crew composition list. A crew consists of 1 – 2

employees and a vehicle and each crew is identified by its own
unique ID.

⁃ Maintain a special equipment availability list (owned by Acme
illustrating availability but broken, scheduled maintenance,
available etc.)

⁃ Maintain a generic Bill of Materials (BOM) template. Tom uses
this template when creating a Job.

2. Team leaders will input all variable costs associated with a Job at the
conclusion of the work day or Job, prior to leaving the Job site. These
may include, but are not limited to:
⁃ Identify employees and their hours worked on that Job.
⁃ Manage Acme-owned special equipment used and the time used in hours
⁃ Modify the Job’s BOM, adding additional materials used and their quantity and

deleting items not used.
⁃ Manage equipment rented – name and cost
⁃ Identify vehicle(s) used and their mileage consumed

A Vehicle Management System:
• Team leaders will be able to input all costs (both variable and fixed)

associated with vehicles and equipment during the work day at the moment
these costs are incurred. These may include, but are not limited to:
⁃ Fuel and lubrication (if required)
⁃ Supplies
⁃ Repairs
⁃ Purchase cost
⁃ Insurance (for the vehicle or equipment only)

• Automatic notification when any equipment or vehicle is due normal maintenance

An Inventory Management System:

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• Maintain material inventory
⁃ Decrement items when pulled by crew(s).
⁃ Increment items when restocked by Supply or a 3rd party electrical supply

store.
⁃ Automatic notification when any item falls below a pre-set level.

Note:
The following are outside the scope of this project, however they are Acme business
functions:

• Finance:
⁃ Accounts Receivable (Billing)
⁃ Accounts Payable

• Customer Service
• Human Resources