Question

SCENARIO

Textbooks R Us is a small business that was set up 20 years ago to facilitate the physical sale of second-hand textbooks for University students. They would now like to change their business model to an e-business model where they only sell their books online. Its business will run entirely on the Internet and students will be able to sell and purchase books via their website. This will allow the business to increase their market as they will not be restricted to selling books at the one University campus. Textbooks R Us has tasked your team to come up with the requirements for their new system.

Sellers must have an account with Textbooks R Us to sell any books via their website. To create an account, sellers must register and provide various details when setting up their account. These details include their physical address, postal address, name, telephone number, a current email address and banking details for the receipt of money after their books have been sold.

Buyers must also open an account if they wish to purchase a textbook, however they can search for books on the website without having an account. To create an account, buyers must register and provide various details when setting up their account. These details include their physical address, postal address, name, telephone number, a current email address and credit card details. Buyers can purchase as many books as desired in the same transaction or through separate transactions. Books can be purchased via credit card or PayPal.

A seller can list books on the system through completing an online form. The details which must be provided on the form include information on the book to be sold such as: its category, title, author, year of publication, condition and the asking price. An option to upload a photo of the books is also available for buyers to see the condition of the book. A seller may list as many books as desired. A seller may also remove books for sale if they wish or amend the sale price.

The system will maintain a list of all books for buyers to use a search engine to search for books of interest by title, author, category, and keyword.

The system will provide secure access for all users and information is to be maintained on secure servers. Sensitive financial information and private user details are not to be disclosed to other users of the system.

When a purchase is made, Textbooks R Us will send an e-mail notice and/or a text message to the seller of the book that was chosen as well as payment information. The seller will have the option of choosing which method of notification they prefer when setting up their account, i.e. via email and/or via text message to their mobile phone. The system will also mark the book as sold and maintain an open order status until it receives notice that the book has been shipped by the seller.

Once the seller has received the notification that the book has been sold, they must notify the buyer via their chosen notification method (email and/or text message) within 48 hours that the purchase has been accepted and they must ship the order within 48 hours of sending the notification to the buyer. The seller will then send a notification to the buyer (again via their preferred method) and to Textbooks R Us when the shipment is made.

Upon receiving notice that the shipment has been made, Textbooks R Us will change the status of the book order to a shipped status. Buyers will have a 30-day period to receive a refund from Textbooks R Us if the book does not arrive, or to return the book if it does not meet the advertised criteria. Once this 30-day period has lapsed, i.e. the book has been in a shipped status for 30 days, the money received for the book will be transferred to the seller’s nominated account by Textbooks R Us and the book’s order status will be changed to sold.

After receiving an ordered book, buyers will have the option of entering a rating for the seller to indicate a measure on several factors regarding their transaction with the seller. Some sellers have been very active using the current business model and this feature will provide them with an important indicator to other potential buyers.

Question

1.) To collect information on the functional requirements you are asked to develop 15 sample questions to discover the requirements, you are going to interview buyers and sellers. Provide the a sample of 15 questions you ask for both stakeholders (i.e 15 questions for buyers and 15 questions for sellers).

Answer 1

Buyers:

Did we meet your expectations?

How would you rate your interaction with our employees?

Was it easy to find what you were looking for?

Was it easy to purchase your item or service?

How likely are you to repeat your business with us?

What would have made your experience with us better?

Were we able to satisfy your need?

Did we have the selection you were looking for?

Did you feel comfortable shopping with us?

What was the most memorable thing from your experience with us?

What is the reason you shop/dine/purchase from us?

What products or services do you wish we carried?

How could we have exceeded your expectations?

What do you like most about [company name]?

Is there anything else you would like us to know about your experience?

Sellers:

What are your short-term goals? Long-term goals?"

"What does this purchase mean to you? What does it mean to your company?"

"What is your boss hoping to accomplish in the next year?"

"How do your team objectives play into your department's strategy?"

"What do you perceive as your greatest strength? Weakness?"

"How does your company evaluate the potential of new products or services?"

"Who has your business now? Why did you choose that vendor?"

"What are your buying criteria and success criteria?"

"Where would you put the emphasis regarding price, quality, and service?"

"What level of service are you looking for?"

"What are your short-term goals? Long-term goals?"

"What does this purchase mean to you? What does it mean to your company?"

"What is your boss hoping to accomplish in the next year?"

"What are your desired outcomes?"

"How do your team objectives play into your department's strategy?"

"What do you perceive as your greatest strength? Weakness?"

"How does your company evaluate the potential of new products or services?"

"Who has your business now? Why did you choose that vendor?"

"What are your buying criteria and success criteria?"

"Where would you put the emphasis regarding price, quality, and service?"

"What level of service are you looking for?"

"What do you like best about your present supplier? What don't you like?"

"What do you look for in the companies you do business with?"

"What might cause you to change suppliers?"

"What do you like best about your current system? What would you like to see changed?"

"What do you perceive your needs to be? How important are they?"

"If you were me, how would you proceed?"

"Which trade associations do you belong to?"

"What will it take for us to do business?"

"How soon can we begin?"

"What is my best shot for getting back the account?"

"What did we do in the last sale that impressed you most?"

"What do you look for in your relationship with a supplier?"

"Who was the best salesperson who ever called on you?"

"If you could change one thing about your organization, what would it be?"

"Do you struggle with [common pain point]?"

"What deadlines are you currently up against?"

"Which resource could you use more of?"

"Would you rather cut costs, save money, or increase productivity?"