Details – The little things that can save big headaches

It is not uncommon to receive enhancement requests that sound simple such as "we want to use a customer loyalty program’. While this sounds very simple and clear, it leaves a lot of things to assumptions.

 

Do you want to just track customers and ‘a’ purchase? Or actual items purchased? What about clearance items?

Do you want to accumulate ‘points’ for purchases? Can they be redeemed as ‘cash’ toward a purchase? Discounts? For ‘free’ items? Can they be shared with spouses or other family members? Are they available at the local store only or any stores owned by the company? Do they expire?

What reporting is needed? Do you want an audit trail? A ledger?

Will you need to edit available points?

 

Without details the end result will most likely not be what is expected. The same principle applies when evaluation business procedures. The more details used to outline the change, the more closely it will be what is desired. It is also important to account for the things that don’t "Ëœnormally’ happen as they always seem to come up if they are not thought about before hand.

Details you can deal with them now or deal with them later. The later you deal with them the larger the headache.