Gate/Activity |
Description |

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Requestor:
Initiate
Report Request
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All report requests must be generated by one the following “internal” SDLC Departments:
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Sales
-
Finance
-
Engineering
If
an external source wishes to request a report, the request must first be
directed to one of the internal departments mentioned above. In order to
request a report, the requestor must fill out a Report Request Form (See
Appendix A) and forward it via e-mail to their designated group
representative.
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Group
Manager:
Select
Group Representative
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Each internal group defined
in step 4.1 is responsible for naming a designated group representative
to collect all requests within their respective group.
This designated group representative reviews the Report Request
Form for completeness, before forwarding it (via email) to the Marketing
Analyst.
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Requestor:
Fill-out
Report Request Form
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Regardless
of the requestor’s job title, a Report Request Form must be filled out
before any work begins. It is imperative that all SDLC staff, including upper management, follows this procedure and uses all required forms.
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Marketing
Analyst:
Review
and Prioritize Requests
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The
Marketing Analyst acts as the
central collection point or
funnel for all report
requests. The Marketing Analyst collects all the requests from the various internal SDLC departments, checks for completeness, analyses business justification, and prioritises all report requests prior to distributing them to the MIS team. The Marketing
Analyst is empowered to reject requests if the Report Request Form is
incomplete or there does not appear to be sufficient business
justification for the request. The Marketing Analyst has up to two
business days to approve or reject a Report Request Form.
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Marketing
Analyst:
Approve
Request
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If
the Report Request Form is approved, it is e-mailed to the MIS Team.
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Marketing
Analyst:
Reject
Request
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If
the Report Request Form is rejected, the Marketing Analyst will send the
form back to the designated group representative with an explanation of
why the request was rejected.
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Marketing
Analyst:
Log
and Document Report Requests
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Upon receipt of the Report
Request Form from the Marketing Analyst, a designated MIS Team Member
logs the requests into the Report Request Tracking Tool. The following
information needs to be captured in the tool:
-
Report
name
-
Description
-
Business
Need / Justification
-
Requestor
name
-
Requested
Due date
-
User
Defined Priority (Critical, High, Medium, Low)
-
Request
Status (Received, Rejected, Request Approved, Feasibility Approved,
Design Complete, Code/Test Complete,
Report delivered, Report Accepted
)
-
Rejection
Reason
Initially,
the request status is logged as "received" by the designated
MIS Team Member. If the Report Request Form is incomplete, the form will
be e-mailed back to the Marketing Analyst with a reason for the
rejection. The request status will be set to “rejected” and the
rejection reason should be entered into the Report Request Tracking
Tool.
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MIS
Manager:
Approve
Request for Research
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All “received “Report
Request Forms need to be evaluated within two business days by the MIS
Manager upon receipt. If
the MIS Manager knows that the report cannot be satisfied because the
data requested is unavailable, the MIS Manager rejects the report
request.
If the request is approved,
the MIS Team Member updates the Report Request Tracking Tool by changing
the request status to “request approved”. It should be noted here
that the report request might still be rejected later in this procedure
based on the outcome of further detailed analysis.
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MIS
Manager:
Reject
Request for Research
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All
“received “Report Request Forms need to be evaluated within two
business days by the MIS Manager upon receipt.
If the MIS Manager knows that the report cannot be satisfied
because the data requested is unavailable, the MIS Manager rejects the
report request. If the request is rejected:
-
The
assigned MIS Team Member or MIS Manager updates the Report Request
Tracking Tool by changing the request status to “rejected” and
entering the rejection reason (i.e. – Data not available).
-
The
MIS Manager notifies the Marketing Analyst and requestor immediately
of the request status. The
reason the request was rejected needs to be clearly stated in the
communication back to the Marketing Analyst and requestor.
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Requestor
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If
a request is rejected, the requestor may follow up by requesting the
data be added as part of a future system release, so it is available for
future reporting. A Service Request Form should be completed and
forwarded to the appropriate group as defined in the Release Planning
Procedure (SOP 1005)
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MIS
Manager:
Produce
List of Approved Requests
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On
a weekly basis, the MIS Manager should produce a list of all the
“approved” requests ranked by priority and distribute it to the
Marketing Analyst. It is
the shared responsibility of the MIS Manager and Marketing Analyst to
review all approved requests in the queue and re-evaluate priorities.
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MIS
Manager:
Assign
Development Resources
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The
MIS Manager is responsible for assigning work to an MIS Developer.
All work is assigned based on the agreed upon priorities.
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MIS
Developer:
Report
Research Feasibility Research
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The
assigned MIS Developer analyses the report request. In some cases, this
analysis may take a couple of days to determine whether or not the
request can be satisfied. The
MIS Developer reviews the request to determine whether or not the data
requested is in the MIS database and is available to satisfy the report
request.
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Request
can be approved
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The
MIS Developer updates the Report Request Tracking Tool by changing the
request status to “feasibility approved” and an estimated completion
date.
The
MIS Developer notifies the Marketing Analyst and the requestor of the
estimated completion date. If
applicable, the MIS Developer communicates to the requestor if the
request will be added to the automated reporting process.
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Request
cannot be approved
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The
assigned MIS Team Member or MIS Manager updates the Report Request
Tracking Tool by changing the request status to “rejected” and
entering the rejection reason (i.e. – Data not available).
The MIS Manager notifies the Marketing Analyst and the requestor
immediately of the request status. The reason the request was rejected
needs to be clearly stated in the communication back to the Marketing
Analyst and the requestor.
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Requestor
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The
requestor may follow up by requesting the data be added as part of a
future system release, so it is available for future reporting. A
Service Request Form should be completed and forwarded to the
appropriate group as defined in the Release Planning Procedure (SOP
1005)
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MIS
Manager
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If
the report needs to be added to the automated report process, the MIS
Manager reviews the request with the MIS DBA.
The MIS Manager must approve all changes to the automated
reporting process.
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MIS
Developer and Requestor:
Design
Report
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The
assigned MIS Developer is responsible for designing the report.
Before coding is started, the MIS Developer must confirm the
design with the requestor. This
can be done formally by producing specifications or informally by a
quick e-mail. The important thing is attaining sign-off from the
requestor (by either
signing the specifications or via e-mail) for the work to be performed
and the criteria by which the requestor will accept the report.
Upon
receiving confirmation of the design by the requestor,
The
MIS Developer updates the Report Request Tracking Tool by changing the
request status to “design complete”.
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MIS
Developer:
Develop
and Test Report
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The
assigned MIS Developer codes the report as per the design.
The MIS Developer tests the report by verifying the information
on the report agrees with the data in the MIS database.
The MIS Developer prior to distribution must test all reports.
The MIS Team is responsible for the accuracy of the report and the data
in the databases.
The
MIS Developer updates the Report Request Tracking Tool by changing the
request status to “code/test complete”.
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MIS
Manager:
Add
Report to Automated Process (Optional)
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This
step is optional and should only be performed for report requests that
were approved to be added to the automated process by the MIS Manager.
If
the report needs to be added to the automated reporting process, the
assigned MIS Developer is responsible for ensuring the report is added
and that it is tested and accepted before moving the report to
production.
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MIS
Developer:
Deliver
Report
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The
MIS Developer delivers the report to the requestor and updates the
Report Request Tracking Tool by changing the request status to “report
delivered” and the actual completion date for the report. The time the
report took to run and to develop will also be captured. This
information will be used to develop metrics for estimating the time it
will take to complete similar requests.
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Requestor:
Accept
Report
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The requestor reviews the
report and either approves or rejects it.
The requestor verifies that the final report deliverable agrees
with the “confirmed design”. If the report does not match the design
it is rejected and sent back to the assigned MIS Developer to fix any
problems or inconsistencies. The
requestor needs to accept or reject the report within two business days
of receipt.
If
the report is accepted, the Report Request Tracking Tool is updated by
the MIS Developer to reflect that the request status is “report
accepted”.
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MIS
Manager:
Update
and Track Status of Reports
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It
is the responsibility of the MIS Manager to ensure that all report
requests are entered, updated, and tracked through each activity.
It is also the MIS Manager’s responsibility to communicate the
status of each requested report to the Marketing Analyst and the
requestor in a timely fashion.
Every Friday, the Marketing Analyst will communicate all delivered report requests for the week to the internal SDLC groups. An
e-mail distribution list will be used to facilitate this communication.
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