Project

Stock Sync

During my management trainee tenure at BAT, I visited a distribution point to understand warehouse operations where we identified opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce manual labor, addressing key pain points for the godown keeper and territory manager.

Disclaimer: This content is designed solely for educational and knowledge-sharing purposes. All sensitive and confidential information related to the company has been excluded. The focus is on the methodology of solution development as practiced in product management and the benefits of the solution.

Context

How does a godown work?

The godown keeper manages the godown operations and performs the following tasks under the supervision of the Territory Manager, who oversees the entire distribution house.

  • Allocating stock to salesmen in the morning
  • Receiving return stock from salesmen at the end of the day
  • Requesting stock from another distribution point
  • Receiving deliveries of ordered products from the company and storing them in the warehouse
  • Checking the quality of stock and monitoring expiration dates

All information from these activities is recorded manually, which increases the risk of human error and consumes significant time for information communication.

Roles & Approaches

Teams & Tool

  • My Role - Product Manager
  • Project Team Members
    1. Saim Sifat (Lead, Project Team)
    2. Abir Rahman (Lead, Tech Partner)
  • Time Duration
    ‍    July 2023- Dec 2023 (6 Months)
  • Skill / Methodologies
    ‍    Agile, Stakeholder Management, User Research, Prioritization Framework (MoSCoW), Wireframing & Prototyping
  • Tools Used
    ‍    Microsoft Office, Mockflow, Figma, Figjam

Existing Process

How does a day of a godown keeper looks like?

Existing process by Imaad Hossain

Objective

Deploy an integrated inventory management solution to enhance real-time tracking and visibility

Success Metrics

How to measure wins?

  • User Adoption Rate: Percentage of godown keeper and territory managers actively using the system.
  • Real-Time Sync: Time taken for inventory updates to reflect across both mobile and web platforms.
  • Data Accuracy: Percentage of accurate inventory records compared to physical counts.
  • Operational Efficiency: Reduction in time spent on inventory management tasks compared to the previous system.

Ideation

Information Capture & Awareness

Our primary focus was on enhancing the process of information collection and ensuring its accessibility for all users, thereby improving awareness of the warehouse status.

Solution design by Imaad Hossain

Solution Selection

Approach to reduce painpoints

To improve the information recording process, we planned to introduce a mobile app for the Godown Keeper. For information awareness, we aimed to integrate relevant features into the mobile app for the Godown Keeper while developing a separate web app for the Territory Manager.

To determine the optimal approach for information capture, we considered two options for testing:

Approach selection by Imaad Hossain

Feature Prioritization

What to build in the MVP?

Feature Analysis by Imaad Hossain

Wireframe

Low-fidelity Concept Wireframe

Wireframe by Imaad HossainWireframe by Imaad Hossain
Wireframe by Imaad HossainWireframe by Imaad Hossain

Solution Deployment

What did we learn?

Launch Version 01

In-App Scanner

Duration: 3 Months

Scope: 5 Warehouse

Observation

  • Time consuming data input and scan process
  • Push back from godown keeper to learn a new process, using digital medium
  • Unable to get a clear picture for Territory Manager there were existing stock that cannot be included in the database

Learning

  • Mobile device camera are not feasible for large quantity scanning
  • Warehouse environment was playing a vital factor for scanning thus increasing time in scanning
  • Manual to digital adaption was taking a bit time

Launch Version 02

Handheld Scanner

Duration: 3 Months

Scope: 5 Warehouse

Observation

  • Difficult to manage mobile on one hand and scanner in another, thus increased the scan time
  • Scanning time got decreased due to high efficiency of handheld scanner
  • Stock issue feature use lower compared to scan in and scan out

Learning

  • High quantity stock management requires faster scanning but lower stock quantity can be done with mobile app
  • Stock issue happens in a rush hour so users feel hesitate to use the feature as it increases their time but stock receive and transfer happened with less rush so it is more accepted by the user

Design

High Fidelity Figma Screen

Figma design of a project done by Imaad HossainFigma design of a project done by Imaad Hossain
Figma design of a project done by Imaad HossainFigma design of a project done by Imaad Hossain

Post Launch Observation

User Adoption Rate

  • During the initial phase, we discovered the need for change management and a learning curve for the godown keeper, who had never used a digital application in over two decades of work.
  • Accurate information ultimately increases efficiency in daily operational activities and enhances decision-making.
Project result by Imaad Hossain
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