As a preliminary engagement to the design and development of the Tool Control and Tracking System, Rare Medium completed extensive user research and process development activities.
The Tool Control and Tracking System was tasked to standardize the practices of three different tool depots. While it was known that the depots had vastly different processes, the specific deltas were never documented, and therefore could not be merged. First, each target user population was identified. Then, field research was conducted to understand each population’s physical, technical, and organizational environment, across the three depots. Rare Medium conducted ethnographic research at each depot, shadowing users as they went about their daily activities, and documenting each depot’s ordering, shipping, inventorying, billing, conditioning, and tool catalog maintenance processes through the eyes of the users. We also conducted on-site and remote interviews, to better understand each population’s inefficiencies and non-standardized and undocumented practices.
Rare Medium then conducted a series of focus groups with key members of each population, to review the findings of the user/ethnographic research and develop conceptual models for a revised set of standard workflow processes. Because of the wide number of user populations and their disparate locations, each focus group member served as an “ambassador” of the project, sharing the focus group findings with their colleagues, soliciting feedback, and reporting back to the group any concerns or suggestions uncovered. Through an iterative process, Rare Medium produced a detailed set of revised workflows, which were vetted and approved by the focus group participants, as the representatives of the target user populations. These workflows then formed the basis of the resulting requirements, design, and ultimately, development work for the Tool Control and Tracking System.
