Vision Statement:

Motivation / Opportunity: 

The Stony Brook Food Pantry’s goal is to serve those in the Stony Brook community who are at risk of food insecurity. In order for them to operate effectively, it is important that the organization is able to communicate with each other. We created this push notification system so that the administration at the food pantry can easily notify volunteers and guests of any important events, closures etc. The staff also needed to have a better communication system than the one that they have now, so we helped the members at the Food Pantry set up Slack server. To help the Food Pantry raise awareness, we also created a social media page on Instagram so that they have a way of promoting and informing people about events. Our products would be more useful than something that is already available because we are catering to the Food Pantry’s specific needs. Catering to their specific needs, we are providing a solution that is free and easy to use and will be utilized for a long time.

Problem Statement

The problem of…. having a bad communication system between staff and an inefficient way of spreading awareness about events, closures, etc. to the SBU community 
affects… the staff, volunteers and guests of the SBU Food Pantry
the impact of which is… creating problems when important events occur and the Food Pantry is not well-known about in the SBU community.
a successful solution would be… the combination of software to create a communication system, push notification email system, and a social media page to combat these problems.

 

Product Position Statement 

For The users are the volunteers and administrators of the food pantry.
Who They are the ones responsible for currently maintaining and operating the food pantry.
Our System It will all be through software. It will consist of social media such as Instagram for marketing, an internal communication platform such as Slack, and some UI interface such as a website for administration.
That If a marketing post needs to be sent out it will be done through instagram. If an internal message needs to be sent out regarding weather or operations, etc, it will be through Slack. Slack can also be used to automatically send notifications from the database system also being created for the pantry. The UI can be used to help automate other tasks such as sending emails, managing users, etc.
Unlike We are using a combination of platforms. This is not an expensive all inclusive software because such solutions can be created using distributed solutions such as these and integrated to work together, something Slack is known for.
Our Product It will be custom created for this food pantry. It will be catered to the users we are targeting. This includes the notifications from administration to volunteers, database to administration and volunteers, etc. We will also be establishing the foundation currently needed for a proper social media facing.

 

  • Users: The users of this application are the volunteers and administrators of the food pantry. Users should be able to use this application to notify members about closures, events etc. Many of the features we want to implement will not be difficult to understand and may only need a brief overview to administrators of the system so that they can explain to volunteers. Their current knowledge of computers should suffice.
  • Feature List: The products should provide a better internal communications platform, a better way to send out emails, a better way to post on social media, and a more concise monitoring of their database via notifications.  
  • Constraints: We are unable to send out email notifications to the whole campus on our own, therefore instead there will need to be the establishment of clear guidelines needed to create and request these emails. We are also limited by budget because it’s a food pantry but this can be solved as products like Slack have special pricing for nonprofits. 

Use Cases

  • Identification: Use Case 1 – Send an internal message regarding a closure, staffing change, etc.
  • Primary Actor: Administration / Volunteers
  • Stakeholders and Interests: The stakeholders internally are those who will use the products. This includes the administration and the volunteers who will be using the products on a daily basis and will rely on it. 
  • Preconditions: We will need to have a member list for the internal communication system to properly configure it and what permissions each type of user needs to have.
  • Postconditions: The internal users of this system are now able to effectively communicate and have their questions answered or alert sent out quickly and easily.
  • Main Success Scenario: The internal user should be able to quickly view their phone or computer and see if there are any notifications, or be alerted to one. Ideally this can be done with an easy to use messaging system such as Slack. Slack will allow direct or group communications, and alerts separate from regular notifications. This is an improvement over groupme as we can also allow custom alerts from the database as well to let certain people know about any inventory issues.
  • Extensions and Alternative Flows: If there is an issue with Slack, they can simply email each other via their stonybrook.edu emails. 
  • Open Issues: We need to ask Donna if she is ok with filling out the form to get the premium version of Slack for free.

 

  • Identification: Use Case 2 – Create flyers and posts to Instagram without allowing the public to comment on it
  • Primary Actor: Administration / Volunteers / Guests 
  • Stakeholders and Interests: The external interests are the users of the food pantry who will be given a better experience as a result of an effective food pantry. In addition, the email notifications will directly affect them.
  • Preconditions: Instagram account needs to be set up before we can provide insight. 
  • Postconditions: The internal user is able to easily create the post they need and the external user gets information in an elegant manner on their social media.
  • Main Success Scenario: The internal user should be able to easily follow some sort of template or planned method of creating the post and be able to upload it to Instagram. The template would be created using Photoshop and easily changed for each new post in a free program like Paint or Word. The external user will just be able to view it as normal like any other Instagram post.
  • Extensions and Alternative Flows:There could be some sort of record keeping of instagram posts in a Google Drive folder for example to backup posts and the administrators should also retain admin privileges for the account in case of lockout.
  • Open Issues: Will the volunteers keep the Instagram up to date?
  • Identification: Use Case 3 – View guidelines we will create on how to properly create and send an email campus-wide. 
  • Primary Actor: Administration / Guests 
  • Stakeholders and Interests: The external interests are the users of the food pantry who will be given a better experience as a result of an effective food pantry. In addition, the email notifications will directly affect them.
  • Preconditions: Email templates will need to be set up and current email practices need to be consulted to see how they currently send emails and how we can automate that process.
  • Postconditions: The internal user is able to successfully send out an email in a straightforward manner, the external user is able to be informed effectively.
  • Main Success Scenario: The administrative user of the email system, created using FileMaker, will be able to select preset templates to create an email, select the users and/or groups it is sent to and send it, all from one page. As well, the administrative user will have the ability to edit templates, add and remove contacts, and group users into groups that can be easily selected for sending the email to a specific set of users.
  • Extensions and Alternative Flows: There should be an email list retained in case you cannot send a campus-wide email at the time. This will allow you to at least contact the students on the list.
  • Open Issues: Exploring the feasibility of sending Stony Brook University wide emails to reach all students. The food pantry may currently know how since they already do it.