Dragonfly Depot, eCommerce Fulfillment Service and Inventory Management Assessment
Project Summary:
Our client, Zen Creek, LLC, also known as Dragonfly Depot, is a high-functioning organization that provides a unique set of services for specialty toy and gift stores nationwide. Much of Dragonfly Depot’s daily operations rely heavily on an internally-developed warehouse and inventory management system, which was launched approximately four months ago at the time of the project. This is a semester-long project that examined how information influences actions in the process within an organizational setting. The project aims to analyze current communication and information flows and to offer specific suggestions to our client to make these processes more effective and efficient.
Final swimming lane diagram that maps out internal work flows of all stakeholders
Performing analysis on initial stakeholder interviews
Affinity diagrams from stakeholder interviews
- Project Objectives:
The introduction of the new inventory management system has presented our team with the opportunity to examine areas for potential optimization in Dragonfly Depot’s inventory work flow processes by conducting an external analysis through the method of contextual inquiry. Over the course of the semester, the team interviewed six individuals critical to Dragonfly Depot’s inventory work flows, from receiving to binning, picking, packing, and shipping. The team then held six interpretation sessions to effectively analyze the data we collected. During these sessions, we drew models and captured affinity notes. We examined important findings, insights, quotes, questions, breakdowns, and design ideas, which was used to construct an affinity wall to highlight common themes and patterns. These processes, along with active participation from our client, revealed major findings, which we delivered to our client.
Learning Objectives:
I learned project management skills in this project – we mapped out communication covenants, project schedules, and structured meetings effectively. At the end of the semester, we prepared an oral presentations and written reports for our client, which is structured around these findings. Each finding is followed by short- and long-term recommendations that can be implemented by Dragonfly Depot.
