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Dorm management staff have difficulty conducting smooth operation of dorm resident inflow/outflow, as well as physical maintenance of the dorm; the necessitated use of paperwork and decentralized tools make these tasks inconvenient.
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This desk worker is hired to help house management by aiding the house manager in his tasks, as well as . He is in his late twenties and is comfortable using computers. As a desk worker, he has various small tasks between which he must switch between often. His highest priority task is to watch the door and ensure that non-residents check in with him first. If non-residents are on a guest list, they are allowed to pass through after signing in. Otherwise, non-residents must wait until a resident picks them up. Another important daily task is to mediate package delivery to students. Desk workers receive packages on behalf of the student, and then alert the student so that may pick it up at their convenience. One task which the desk worker thought was particularly confusing and inefficient was facilitating moving in and out of rooms. Organizing information about the state of the rooms such as current occupant and necessary repairs is desired. Currently, this task is done using paper, excel spreadsheets, and communicating through email. Other tasks include sorting mail, giving spare keys, renting out various items, and locking up the dorm piano every night.
Requirements
- Needs a visual tool for looking over room occupancy information.
- Needs an organized, electronic tool for keeping track of which students are moving where.
- Needs a way to notify management and be notified by management of student move process.
- Example Key exchange
- Needs to be able to file reports on maintenance in absence of manager.
- As a desk worker, he has various small tasks between which he must switch between often.
- Highest priority task is to watch the door and stop non-residents.
- The most confusing task is keeping track of who moves in and out of which rooms when. Requires effective communication between multiple desk workers, dorm manager, and relevant student.
- The front desk has various items for rent. However, the current system is extremely poor in logging which student has rented what mostly due to it being prone to mistakes and therefore being unreliable.
- One of the most common tasks is delivering packages. This involves receiving the package on behalf of the student, alerting the student to the package’s arrival, and then student pick up.
- Other tasks: mail sorting, giving spare keys, locking piano at 11pm.
From these interviews, we conclude that dorm management staff typically want to have a centralized location to view and update information about the living condition of residents of the dorm, as well as view and update information about the physical maintenance of the dorm.
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