Business Requirements & Design for Corporate Education App - HBDI (2013)
Overview:
Herrmann International is a medium-sized education / human resources business with an international presence and many Fortune 100/500 clients. I worked closely with stakeholders and prepared a comprehensive Business Requirements Document for developers to use to bid on the project - redesigning and architecting their aging system.
https://www.thinkherrmann.com/hbdi
(See: sample pages from BRD).
“Marcie produces quality work.
She quickly gained an understanding of a complex technical system at Herrmann...she created a streamlined document with graphics for efficient reviews by other staff and vendor candidates. She evaluated new ideas, submitted, researched issues and provided professional guidance that pushed the team forward.”
Challenges:
• The executive staff “didn’t know where to start” - they had a budget and their own domain expertise, but little technical knowledge or staff
• International presence with a lot of privacy and other regulatory considerations across borders
• A wide breadth of personas, which really could include anyone as an end-user of the system
• The previous system was patched together over a 10+ year period and was/is in dire need of updating on all fronts: technology stack, overall architecture and structure including database design, usability / accessibility, and optimization
Approach:
• After several weeks of discovery and interviews with employees, executives, and customers, I sketched out the solution that simplified the different reasons people use the system into four areas, and further defined the user types (based mostly, but not completely, on security levels) into four categories
• In order to address strict international privacy and security concerns and laws, location-based profiles were created (both “home base” and current location). All of these things were taken into consideration at a very early stage when this sketch was made
• After subsequent lengthy discussions regarding all of the complicated nuances and challenges with their business model, the original concept I proposed was approved by the executive team with very few changes (mostly adding more security levels)
Modernized branding that was developed to go along with the new system
Considerations for future mobile app development were also included in the documentation
Sketch of overall system architecture, created during interview and research phase
Outcome:
• The client used the 50 page requirements document that I authored to bid out and hire a development firm to further spec out the technology stack and implement the system based solely on my recommendations
• The vendor used my sample web pages with design/user interface guidelines, sample use cases and detailed descriptions of what functionalities would be needed — ranked from critical to future needs — to develop the desktop system and plan for the future mobile app ( https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hbdi/id953195592 and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.herrmann.HBDIapp )
• Additionally, I was engaged in the roadmap and project management plans for the associated applications (including mobile and video) that would be created in the future
“The technical vendors stated Marcie's document was very effective in helping them prepare their proposals on time”
