2. The Team
Jennie Lopez
Accessories
Production Intern
Natalie Vayda
Men's Wovens
Production Intern
Jennifer Castro
Women’s Factory
Wovens Production
Intern
Amanda Horan
Color Lab Intern
4. Issues & Outcomes
Miscommunication of important
information
Loss of information
Internal and external delays
No standard system in place
S drive to communicate
information between teams
Numerous emails
Our Current Protocol
6. Merchandising Meeting
Samples are constantly traveling
One workbook visible to necessary team members so that each have
their own tab to prevent the confusion of multiple emails
Notifications
Decrease emails
14. Product Lifecycle Management
Information management system
Track progress of the product
Easier access to information and address challenges swiftly
Cost savings and negotiations
Average unit cost for each department will be able to be compared season to
season and year to year.
24. Works Cited
Bose, Shubhomita. "10 Ways to Simplify Cloud Computing Adoption at Your Company." Small Business Trends. N.p., 28 June 2016. Web. 21 July
2016. http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/06/cloud-computing-adoption.html
"The Pros and Cons of Office 365 for Business." PTG RSS. N.p., 31 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 July 2016. http://www.palmettotg.com/blog/2016/03/31/the-
pros-and-cons-of-office-365-for-business/
"Select a Plan." Microsoft. Microsoft, n.d. Web. 23 July 2016. https://products.office.com/en-US/business/compare-more-office-365-for-business-
plans?legRedir=true&CorrelationId=cd322a5e-7b9c-467b-96d7-16b8074b9dda
Willcocks, Leslie, John Hindle, Will Venters, and Edgar Whitley. "Understanding the Business Impacts of Cloud Computing." The European Business
Review. N.p., 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 20 July 2016. http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/understanding-the-business-impacts-of-cloud-computing/
Withee, Ken, and Jennifer Reed. "Microsoft Office 365 Features and Benefits." Dummies. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2016.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/microsoft-office-365-features-and-benefits.html
"Why Move To The Cloud? 10 Benefits Of Cloud Computing." Salesforce UK. N.p., 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 21 July 2016.
https://www.salesforce.com/uk/blog/2015/11/why-move-to-the-cloud-10-benefits-of-cloud-computing.html
Wylie, Jonathan. "How to Set Document Alerts in OneDrive for Business." N.p., 15 Mar. 2015. Web. 25 July 2016.
https://jonathanwylie.com/2015/03/15/how-to-set-document-alerts-in-onedrive-for-business/
"Siemens PLM Software." PLM−Product Lifecycle Management:. N.p., 2016. Web. July 2016. https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/
Editor's Notes
Our project is focused on communication between departments here at 770 and how it can be improved so that J. Crew can work as efficiently as possible. When developing a product, effective communication between all involved teams is extremely important to guarantee that everyone has access to the most updated and relevant information.
Overview:
First we’ll look at our current protocol and identify the issue at hand- ineffective communication: how this arises during the process of developing a product and its effect on the overall process.
Then Natalie will discuss the “big picture” and what we hope to see the business achieve as a long term goal.
In order to paint a better picture of just how this interrupts the process, Jennie will share what she learned while speaking with associates from design, merch and technical design. She’ll expand on what they see as an obstacle in the process and what can be improved to best help each department.
Next Jennifer will introduce a timely solution to this problem that could ease J. Crew into working more efficiently without completely uprooting the entire process and disrupting the work that’s already being done.
We’ll then discuss exactly how we plan on implementing our solution and the steps that need to be taken to have the most seamless transition possible. We’ll expand on the protocols we hope to see put into place and what everything will look like after these protocols are followed.
And of course we’ll end with a quick conclusion and take any questions you may have.
(Jennie Part) While Natalie spoke to people from production I decided to speak to the other departments in order to get a well rounded view of what everyone was looking for in regards to the improvement of communication.
The first meeting I had was with merchandising. From this meeting I learned exactly what a merchandiser’s day entails and how one day is not like the next. Communication is extremely important for Merchandiser because of the samples constant travel through 770, whether it is at a fit meeting or is needed to be photographed. Some suggestions to improve communication were to have everyone view the same workbook. Being an intern a lot of times I will receive a copy of a spreadsheet from merch that I’m copy and pasting information from to the producttion spreadsheet. If there was one way for both departments to view eachothers sheet while the other is viewing it that would save an immense amout of time and would also help eliminate the human error that can occur from copying and pasting. Another point that was brought up was notifications once someone has contributed something to theworkbook this way everyone on the team was up to date on the information at hand and would save hundreds of emails back and fourth.
My meeting with Design was very helpful as well. A big this design said was having images that go with the information of the product because often times the name of a product will change and everyone in the team can get confused as to what sample everyone is talking about. Another point that was brought up was the sample date received as well as manufacturer callouts this way the designers can better prepared for the meetings.
I worked most closely with the Accessories Technical Design team for and came across important points when talking to my supervisor. Although the excel workbook will save emails and time we should still have in person meetings because the sample still needs to be seen hands on by everyone in the team. Talking about the product all together will make it easier to clarify the point everyone is trying to get across. At least 10 questions could be answered in one 5 meeting rather than in 100 emails. With that the should be a column in the tech tab to log what was talked about at the previous meeting in order to refresh everyone come the next fit meeting the following week. More times than not the team will decide to go back to the original specs of a sample without even realizing they were the original spec to begin with.
Efficiency:
Employees are able to access the cloud from any location, allowing them to work remotely
Removes the need for constant emails letting information travel more freely between users
Employees are able to have full access to their files while traveling abroad, and will be able to edit them if needed
Can use both online (any device) or on desktop for offline use---> don’t need to be connected 24/7
Members of a team can collaborate on a workbook (document) at real time (seeing each others updates) without having to exit out of the document, or entering read only mode
Ease of communication:
“Everyone sees the same version of the truth”
Users are able to share files through the cloud which stops different versions from floating around
Everyone on the team is able to edit files without spending time constantly updating the rest of the team
Share direct access to files rather than having to send attachments
Competitive advantage
According to Salesforce it’s estimated that 90% of companies in the UK are using some kind of cloud based system as of 2015
70% of fortune 500 companies are using office 365 as of June 2015
Automatic software updates allow the company to stay up to date on technology
Security:
Office 365 has data encryption for all emails, and automatically blocks untrusted users/sources/links
Can have “read only” versions of files, so only select members of a team are able to have full access
Mobile device management: if an employee loses their phone/tablet/laptop they can remotely wipe all information to prevent confidential company documents from getting into the wrong hands
Cost:
Monthly or yearly individual user subscriptions
Can edit the subscription if users are not using all services
Have different packages for each department
Ranges from $8-$34 a month for enterprise (>300 employees)
The best version for our needs is E3 which offers access to all microsoft office programs, unlimited cloud storage, data loss prevention, encryption, and email connection
Cost is a monthly rate of $20/person
Introducing cloud storage
J.Crew doesn’t have a standard for file sharing throughout the company
Every department relies on emails to share any work
Multiple departments have suggested the use of a dropbox/google drive/cloud to share documents with each other and vendors
Frees up internal storage
From creative to business:
The biggest request for cloud storage has come from brand creative
They have a magazine archive that takes up terabytes of storage, and they are not regularly accessed
Currently using hightail which is not fully efficient, and works as an additional email attachment
Can use the cloud from basic storage to a file sharing platform
Use Office 365 to collaborate on spreadsheets between design, merchants, tech design, and production
Allows creative teams to have the storage they need while business has the multi-departmental access they need
Testing and implementation:
IT has been working to introduce cloud based storage
They have meetings set for proof of concept test with both microsoft, and google
Office 365 is a more seamless transition because we have already been working with a microsoft product, and we can easily integrate our active directory (users)
Biggest difficulty will be getting all business partners to agree
How is Office 365 different from the current share drive?
Multiple teams have access to files:
The old system gives full access to anyone who can view the folder to edit
Can share files through invitation only- ensures that only certain team members have full access to documents
Can share “read only” versions with other members who would still benefit from information
Saved archives of older versions of the document in case of errors
Live editing:
Used to only know that another user edited the document when they went to save an a warning window popped up
Can simultaneously work on a file with a team member anywhere in the world
Have live access to the data they are , and know who is changing it
Doesn’t block the use of pivot tables, and other more “advanced” functions of the programs
Receive notifications on changes
It was hard to know if someone had gone in to change a document, and what they changed if you weren’t in the file trying to save at the same time
Office 365 offers a collaboration alert setting for files which you can customize to show specific changes, either email or text, and how often you’d like a notification
Able to immediately know when work is done rather than waiting for a team member to have time to draft an email, and notify you of changes
PLM is an “information management system that can integrate data, processes, business systems and, ultimately, people in an extended enterprise.”
This will help to track progress from the ideation and development stage to bulk development to eventually service in stores
Centric Software is one branch of the PLM system that focuses specifically on accessories, apparel,and footwear development.
incorporate the PLM database system to manage the communication between design, production, technical design, and merchandisers.
Every department uses a different format of information sharing. This causes a disconnect between the departments and can cause time delays while waiting for people to respond back to emails.
All departments can collaborate and agree on issues to correct quickly. Some issues it can cater to include customer needs and supply chain inefficiencies
the more visibility of data shown in a PLM system, such as breaking down each cost component such as FOB cost, duty rate, yarn yielege cost, etc, will help analyze the costs. The average unit cost for each department will be able to be compared season to season and year to year. Overall, implementing a PLM system will a more efficient process for the cycle of the product.
