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F U T U R E I D E A L S TAT E

The following is recorded elicitation, transcribed into text, documenting a conversation

held between:

$$ Interviewer: Research & Development Analyst Billy Bob

$$ Interviewee $1$: Michelle Rocht, Processing Manager

$$ Interviewee $2$: Miles Davis, Facilities Manager

Billy Bob:

Hello, I wanted to thank both of you, Michelle Rocht and Miles Davis, for making time in

your schedule to meet with me today. I$$ll try to keep this meeting as brief as possible, but

will inform you that I will be recording this meeting for later review and analysis.

Michelle Rocht:

It$$s not a problem at all, I$$m always happy to help.

Miles Davis:

K$.$

Billy Bob:

So$,$ to get us started. Uhmm. $*$pause$*$

I asked you both here today as we$$ve been collecting feedback from the $[$processing$]$

department and our vendors. After taking some time and reviewing the feedback there

appears to be a number of concer... we have identified some areas that could, uhh, could

benefit from some revisions and optimization.

Miles Davis:

Hey, if this is a performance evaluation then HR needs to be here. I$$m not talking

anymore until I have a representation from HR$.$

Billy Bob:

Procurement

Evaluation

$3\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}1.2.$ No$,$ this isn$$t a performance evaluation of your work, we are looking to streamline

some internal processes to reduce workload and make things a little easier for

everyone. You$$re not in trouble.

Miles Davis:

$...$k$...$but if it is you have to tell me upfront.

Michelle Rocht:

Can we please continue?

Billy Bob:

Yes, we may continue, and to clarify, this has nothing to do with your performances

or the performance of your department. We are only looking at how we can better

support operations and simplify processes in every department. Every department is

going through this process.

Miles Davis:

Fine then. Continue.

Bill Bob:

I wanted to know, from your perspective, what you see as the least value$-$add part of

your position or roles.

Miles Davis:

Everything I do is valuable.

Billy Bob:

What I mean by the question is I$$m trying to identify what we refer to as $$pain points.$$

In your positions you have a lot of responsibilities and tasks, we want to identify if

there any tasks in particular that you are required to do that aren$$t really leveraging

your skills or are not properly making use of your time.

Michelle Rocht:

The PTLS data entry. I lose at least two or three hours every week dealing with it and

there are always issues.

Billy Bob:

I$$m not familiar with the PTLS data entry process, can you take me through it$?$

Michelle Rocht:

Of course, effectively whenever we have one of our process specialists remove

stock from inventory they have to update a PTLS$,$ process tracking ledger sheet. It$$s

a handwritten document that lists out what has been pulled from inventory, product

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type, quantity, etc,. It also states if any products were damaged so that they can be

removed from inventory as well. Then they have to give it to me so I can update an excel

document with our inventory on it$,$ and I have to type in everything manually.

Billy Bob:

So$,$ on a personal time$-$management level you$$re losing a lot of time to data entry.

Miles Davis:

Ha$,$ that$$s what $[$is$]$ suppose to happen when the $*$geniuses$*$ remember to even drop$-$off

the doc $[$PTLS$].$ Half the time they don$$t even submit the carbon copy to us until end of

day when they already finished processing all the raw beans, or we have to go physically

find them during the day and grab the stupid sheet ourselves so we can do our job. Do

they not realize that we$$re their bosses? We shouldn$$t have to run down these guys, it$$s

ridiculous. OHh! And at that point it$$s often too late to contact the vendors that day which

puts us behind schedule.

Billy Bob:

Okay, I can definitely see why that would be frustrating, so often times employees don$$t

bring your the PTLS when they are suppose to which causes unnecessary work for you.

Michelle Rocht:

Acutally, the issues get worse from there, if I can$$t read their writing, or they forget to

give me the sheet directly, or just drop it on my desk somewhere not obvious when I$$m

not there, then the inventory excel sheet doesn$$t get updated. Which means the ERP

system doesn$$t update RAS and our vendors don$$t get notified about our stock needs.

We$$ve ended up short on materials three times in the past month because of this. Then

we have all $5$ process specialists standing around with no work to do for a day $[8$ hour

shift$],$ each time this happens.

Billy Bob:

Okay, so there is definitely a lot of wasted time and effort, even when the PTLS is

delivered; often it is delayed$/$at the wrong time, or gets misplaced, or goes unnoticed and

causes delays in procuring vendor bids.

Michelle Rocht:

Yes, exactly.

Billy Bob:

Okay, so$...$as a follow$-$up$,$ can I ask why specifically it falls to you to update the inventory

excel spreadsheet?

Michelle Rocht:

Because that$$s how we$$ve always done