SRLW DELIVERY SYSTEM

A new delivery method specifically tailored for Short Range Light Weight delivery operations.

by Dhara Modi & Yassine Rayad

http://www.cnet.com/news/drones-in-china-deliver-packages-even-a-birthday-cake/

PROJECT BACKGROUND INFORMATION Online book vendors such as Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million to only name a few offer a small variety of delivery options that are basically conventional in nature. The use of delivery trucks, while very efficient for a certain type of items and distance range, may perhaps be regarded as outdated and not optimal for other items and shorter ranges. Additionally, it seems as though consumerism drives the general public’s expectations in terms of delivery times. People want same day delivery and even within the hour delivery. Delivery times grow exponentially when mistakes are made such as the delivery of a wrong item; sometimes the delivery time of the correct item is doubled or even tripled due to the inherently slow and conventional delivery method.

CONCEPT AND SCOPE OF WORK This project essentially consists in the requirement elicitation for creating a specific delivery process tailored for short distance range of light weight items.

The idea for this project stems from the growing interest in the commercial use of drones specifically for delivery services (e.g. Amazon Prime Air, Domino’s Pizza Domicopter).

In an effort to assess the feasibility of this feature, we have decided to develop a delivery process that is integrated within the existing shipping department of Barnes & Noble.

The following slides present our identification of the stakeholders, project goals and constraints as well as an overview of the context, business use case examples and requirement examples.

CURRENT CONTEXT DIAGRAM

Current B&N Delivery System

CustomerCustomer

places order

System transmits order confirmation + tracking details

Third-Party Delivery Company (TPDC)

Delivery system triggers TPDC package pick

up

TPDC delivers package

TPDC transmits tracking details

PROPOSED ADDITION-CONTEXT DIAGRAM

SRLW Delivery System

Customer

Customer places order eligible for

SRLW delivery

SRLW delivery system

transmits order confirmation

SRLW Delivery DeviceSRLW delivery system sets up

and assigns SRLW delivery device to order

SRLW device delivers package

SRLW delivery device communicates continuously with SRLW delivery system

PROJECT GOAL

Purpose: Identify & integrate a new delivery process, SRLW Delivery System, to the existing shipping department of Barnes & Noble bookstore, Florida.

Advantage: Faster and cleaner delivery option for online purchase of books within short range of distance and for light weight products. Potential profits and time/money savings.

Measurement: Amount of time saved per delivery. On-time performance measurement. Amount of profit generated.

Reasonable: YES.

Feasible: YES.

Achievable: YES.

SOLUTION CONSTRAINTS

Solution constraints are some specifications, ideas or personal preferences mandatory to build/execute your product/service. Being Project Leaders, it is our idea to introduce a UAV-based Delivery System as the SRLW Delivery System. Hence, this makes using UAVs and setting up the system to run UAV-based deliveries a Solution Constraint in this project.

PROJECT CONSTRAINTS

Financial Constraint: Along with executing the project within the given budget it will be also a must that operational costs are manageable and are covered by revenue generated and makes the entire system more profitable.

Time Limitations: There will be a fixed time range in order to execute this project successfully which makes it not only financially beneficial but also first of its kind in the market of logistics business.

Distance Range: As the project name SRLW Delivery System, the range of distance covered by this system will be the major constraint. A very precise and short range distanced destinations will be served by this system initially.

Payload Limitation: Again as the project name SRLW Delivery System, there will be a strict restriction on the payload capacity of the system. This means only those items will be qualified for this delivery option which complies with the payload limitations. There are fair chances that even if a destination is within  the range of this system we still cannot deliver the item as it does not comply with the weight restrictions.

Weather Compatibility: This constraint is considered here due to introduction of the solution constraint. If the UAV-based delivery system is implemented then it has to be compatible enough in order to operate under certain types of weather. Especially as we are executing this project in Florida, USA main concerns will be windy conditions and unpredictable rainy weather.

NAMING CONVENTIONS & ABBREVIATIONS SRLW: Short Range Light Weight sched.: Schedule del.: Delivery; Deliver cust.: Customer dept.: Department sys.: System lim.: Limit; Limitation prep.: Prepare; Preparation B&N: Barnes & Noble subsys.: Subsystem BUC: Business Use Case

LIST OF BUSINESS USE CASESBUC 1: Completing an order in the current context.

BUC 2: Completing an order in the SRLW context.

BUC 3: Delivering the order in the current context.

BUC 4: Launching the SRLW device to deliver the order.

BUC 5: Normal flight of the SRLW device.

BUC 6: SRLW device malfunction during normal flight.

BUC 7: SRLW device package release and return to base location.

BUC 8: SRLW device pre-flight check.

BUC 9: SRLW device post-flight check.

BUC 10: Preventive maintenance protocol for entire SRLW delivery system.

REQUIREMENT EXAMPLES (CUSTOMER)

Requirement # 1 BUC # 1, 2

Type: Functional Source: Customer

Description: Customer Shall possess valid e-mail id and/or phone number.

Rationale: In order to accomplish online purchase, send customer the order confirmation as well as shipping details it is required that customer acquires a valid e-mail ID and/or phone number.

Fit Criterion: Customer verifies account via activation email sent on the provided e-mail ID.Department: Online Sales Individual Involved: Customer

REQUIREMENT EXAMPLES (SRLW DEVICE)

Requirement # 6 BUC # 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Type: FunctionalSource: SRLW Device / Solution Constraint

Description: Device shall be Unmanned Aerial Vehicle / Fully autonomous. Rationale: New delivery process, Short Range Light Weight, shall be executed by fully autonomous device, expected to be a drone.Fit Criterion: Device shall be capable of executing Short Range Light Weight delivery for given load and range specifications.Department: B&N SRLW Shipping Department

Individual Involved: SRLW Device Operator

REQUIREMENT EXAMPLES (SYSTEM)

Requirement # 18 BUC # 2Type: Functional Source: System

Description: System shall show/distinguish eligible and available items for SRLW delivery prior to purchase on B&N website.

Rationale: All items eligible and readily available for SRLW delivery shall be shown online on B&N website prior to purchase.

Fit Criterion: Website shall indicate instantly for each item whether it is eligible and available for SRLW delivery option or not.

Department: B&N Online Sales Department

Individual Involved: Online sales inventory staff