Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Days 24, 25,26
We've spent the last couple of days, reworking curriculum for their training of the product management department.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Day 23
Today we taught our first class. It went really well. We spent the afternoon finding incorrect mathematics in reports. We will be meeting with developers on Monday to try to iron these out.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Day 21
As we near our first class, we are spending less time creating and more time fine tuning our presentations. We spent today setting up for class.
We also had a discussion on some of the challenges of training adults. Training adults in a business setting is a different task than educating children. There are many similarities, but also a lot of differences. In the "real-world" employees can be motivated by compensation, while in the classroom students are often motivated by grades. Trainers don't have to worry as much about classroom management, there are no principals to send unruly students to. Classroom teachers usually have a captive audience. Trainers may need alternative ways to deliver their curriculum, like webinars for example.
I have taught inservices before, so I know what it's like to train adults. However, the "students" have always been teachers who are insulated from the real-world. It will be interesting how my experience with real people goes.
We also had a discussion on some of the challenges of training adults. Training adults in a business setting is a different task than educating children. There are many similarities, but also a lot of differences. In the "real-world" employees can be motivated by compensation, while in the classroom students are often motivated by grades. Trainers don't have to worry as much about classroom management, there are no principals to send unruly students to. Classroom teachers usually have a captive audience. Trainers may need alternative ways to deliver their curriculum, like webinars for example.
I have taught inservices before, so I know what it's like to train adults. However, the "students" have always been teachers who are insulated from the real-world. It will be interesting how my experience with real people goes.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Day 20
Today Tim and I spent time putting our presentations together so that it is one cohesive production.
We also went out and took some pictures at the stores.
We also went out and took some pictures at the stores.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Days 18-19
I've spent the last couple of days trying to determine how the suggested triggers are calculated. A trigger is the amount of inventory that is on hand before the ordering system generates an order automatically. There are three basic factors that go into this calculation. They are lead time, order cycle and safety stock.
The order cycle is the amount of time between orders. So if you order every two days the order cycle is 2. This is used together with the weekly forecast to estimate the amount of product you will need on hand while you are waiting to order again.
The lead time is the number of days between the time that you order and the product goes on the shelf. So, if you get a truck in 5 days after you order, the lead time is 6. This is because the inventory doesn't get stocked until the night crew has a chance to stock it. This is used together with the weekly forecast to determine how much product you need on hand before you get more product on the shelf.
Safety stock is determined by the variance in the movement of an item. The more variable the movement, the higher the safety stock amount. This idea can easily be referenced in a statistics class when talking about variance.
I think there are some more factors that I haven't located yet. I'm pretty sure that when you order helps determine these factors because every vendor has a profile that shows when they sell the most product during the week. These values are somehow incorporated into the calculations.
My idea for the classroom, is to use the simplest forecasting model and movement data to have students calculate triggers. A colleague had an idea of using this in conjunction with a fundraiser. The students could sell something and keep track of what they've sold. They can identify peaks in their data and see if they can determined any event that may have caused the spike, a pep rally for example.
The order cycle is the amount of time between orders. So if you order every two days the order cycle is 2. This is used together with the weekly forecast to estimate the amount of product you will need on hand while you are waiting to order again.
The lead time is the number of days between the time that you order and the product goes on the shelf. So, if you get a truck in 5 days after you order, the lead time is 6. This is because the inventory doesn't get stocked until the night crew has a chance to stock it. This is used together with the weekly forecast to determine how much product you need on hand before you get more product on the shelf.
Safety stock is determined by the variance in the movement of an item. The more variable the movement, the higher the safety stock amount. This idea can easily be referenced in a statistics class when talking about variance.
I think there are some more factors that I haven't located yet. I'm pretty sure that when you order helps determine these factors because every vendor has a profile that shows when they sell the most product during the week. These values are somehow incorporated into the calculations.
My idea for the classroom, is to use the simplest forecasting model and movement data to have students calculate triggers. A colleague had an idea of using this in conjunction with a fundraiser. The students could sell something and keep track of what they've sold. They can identify peaks in their data and see if they can determined any event that may have caused the spike, a pep rally for example.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Day 17
Today I spent a lot of time reflecting on my experience so far. One of the 21st century skills that I have observed the most is employability, in particular, the need to continue to learn. With the speed of technology today, it is imperative that employees show the willingness to learn new things. Hy-Vee is constantly looking for ways to improve the technology tools that they offer stores. Sometimes these changes are minor, but other times there are major overhauls. This is where the training department is invaluable. Employees need to be trained on the new tools. This can be difficult for some employees that are used to doing their job in a certain way. Change can be scary. But with the current economic climate, employees should be thankful that their companies are willing to adapt and change. Employees should be willing to do the same.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Day 16
21st Century Skills
Accept ownership for actions
The Iowa Core Curriculum has identified a set of skills as important in the 21st Century. These skills are seperated into five areas:
(1) civic literacy
(2) employability skills
(3) financial literacy
(4) health literacy
(5) technology literacy
One of the employability skills is accepting ownership for actions. Today I had an opportunity to practice this skill. We were building promotions that we were going to test in our "lab." Evidently the stores that you can send promotions to depends upon who you are. Different users are given different permissions. When I had seen this trained the step where you specifify the store was a largely moot step. The only store that it could be created for was the store we were in. However, today we were logged in as someone with much more permission.
The default for stores is all stores. One of the promotions we built rewarded the customer with 95% off of their total bill if they spent at least $5. Within four minutes of saving our promotion, the phones began ringing. A few things made this less serious than it could have been.
1) There are only currently three stores live on this application.
2) It was early in the morning and not a prime shopping time.
3) The discount, 95%, was easily detected. As I pointed out later, had we set the discount to be 5%, the problem may not have been detected for a long time. (That's the optimist in me, always looking on the bright side.)
4) The promotion can be suspended with a click of the mouse.
One store knew something was wrong when the register gave the customer a $67 discount. The bill had been for $70.53.
We, of course, took responsibility for our part in the fiasco. Our supervisor, also was very apologetic and forthright in accepting responsibility with the stores.
Accept ownership for actions
The Iowa Core Curriculum has identified a set of skills as important in the 21st Century. These skills are seperated into five areas:
(1) civic literacy
(2) employability skills
(3) financial literacy
(4) health literacy
(5) technology literacy
One of the employability skills is accepting ownership for actions. Today I had an opportunity to practice this skill. We were building promotions that we were going to test in our "lab." Evidently the stores that you can send promotions to depends upon who you are. Different users are given different permissions. When I had seen this trained the step where you specifify the store was a largely moot step. The only store that it could be created for was the store we were in. However, today we were logged in as someone with much more permission.
The default for stores is all stores. One of the promotions we built rewarded the customer with 95% off of their total bill if they spent at least $5. Within four minutes of saving our promotion, the phones began ringing. A few things made this less serious than it could have been.
1) There are only currently three stores live on this application.
2) It was early in the morning and not a prime shopping time.
3) The discount, 95%, was easily detected. As I pointed out later, had we set the discount to be 5%, the problem may not have been detected for a long time. (That's the optimist in me, always looking on the bright side.)
4) The promotion can be suspended with a click of the mouse.
One store knew something was wrong when the register gave the customer a $67 discount. The bill had been for $70.53.
We, of course, took responsibility for our part in the fiasco. Our supervisor, also was very apologetic and forthright in accepting responsibility with the stores.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Day 15
Logic
One concept in mathematics students often fail to see the relevance of is truth tables. "Who could possiblly need to know when conditional statements are true? What's with all these p's and q's anyway?" Today, I got a "real-world" example to use in class.
We were working on a program that lets you set up promotions. For example, I want to reward a customer who spends over $50 on meat with a 15% discount. The register system has to know when to trigger this reward.
It is possible to specify multiple conditions. The choice the user has to make as he/she adds a condition is whether to choose "and" or "or". Now "or" can be a little bit of a stickler. In the English language "or" usually means one or the other, but not both. In mathematics, however, we are much more inclusive.
Let's say that you have two conditions. $20 in meat or dairy. One interpretation of this is a total of $20 in meat and dairy, say $15 in meat and $5 in dairy. The other interpretation is a total of $20 in meat or a total of $20 in dairy. There was no way to test it without setting it up at a store and scanning items to determine which way it works. Or of course, you could go ask the developers, but where's the fun in that.
One concept in mathematics students often fail to see the relevance of is truth tables. "Who could possiblly need to know when conditional statements are true? What's with all these p's and q's anyway?" Today, I got a "real-world" example to use in class.
We were working on a program that lets you set up promotions. For example, I want to reward a customer who spends over $50 on meat with a 15% discount. The register system has to know when to trigger this reward.
It is possible to specify multiple conditions. The choice the user has to make as he/she adds a condition is whether to choose "and" or "or". Now "or" can be a little bit of a stickler. In the English language "or" usually means one or the other, but not both. In mathematics, however, we are much more inclusive.
Let's say that you have two conditions. $20 in meat or dairy. One interpretation of this is a total of $20 in meat and dairy, say $15 in meat and $5 in dairy. The other interpretation is a total of $20 in meat or a total of $20 in dairy. There was no way to test it without setting it up at a store and scanning items to determine which way it works. Or of course, you could go ask the developers, but where's the fun in that.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Day 14
The Road Less Travelled and Dead Ends
You cannot be afraid to fail. If I am working on a problem and I try a solution, then there is a possibility that it may not work. However, I can take the attempt at a solution and learn from it. Sometimes students get the idea that math is clean and easy. If you don't get the solution right away, then you must not be very good. In reality, very few problems worth solving have a straightforward solution. It may take several false starts and "failures." This is all part of the process. And the sooner that students understand that, the more likely they will be to persevere.
This is reinforced in the "real-world." I have noticed an anomaly with the data that I am studying. I keep coming back to the issue and I still haven't resolved it. I have to accept that I may not solve it before I leave, but perhaps someone else can resolve it after I leave. There of course are historical parallels in the world of mathematics, Fermat's Last Theorem probably being the most famous.
You cannot be afraid to fail. If I am working on a problem and I try a solution, then there is a possibility that it may not work. However, I can take the attempt at a solution and learn from it. Sometimes students get the idea that math is clean and easy. If you don't get the solution right away, then you must not be very good. In reality, very few problems worth solving have a straightforward solution. It may take several false starts and "failures." This is all part of the process. And the sooner that students understand that, the more likely they will be to persevere.
This is reinforced in the "real-world." I have noticed an anomaly with the data that I am studying. I keep coming back to the issue and I still haven't resolved it. I have to accept that I may not solve it before I leave, but perhaps someone else can resolve it after I leave. There of course are historical parallels in the world of mathematics, Fermat's Last Theorem probably being the most famous.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Day 13
Mathematical Habits of Mind
Pattern Sniffer
Mathematics is much more than the content that we cover as teachers of the subject. It is also the ways of thinking that mathematicians engage in. What happens if I do this, what if this variable is changed to that? Observing change and finding patterns is a good deal of what professional mathematicians do. The difficult part sometimes is describing these changes/patterns. The generalization or abstraction is often where younger students run into issues.
Everyday at this externship, I wade through numbers and try to make sense of the patterns or inconsistencies that I observe. I did not develop this skill by being told what to do or think. Often times, teachers let students of the hook and students have figured this out. A student works on a problem and gets an answer and immediately asks the teacher if he/she is correct. How does a teacher handle this situation? In the "real world", there is no one to tell you if you're correct until after the fact. I try to answer that question with another question. "Perhaps. How did you obtain your answer and how can you check that it's correct."
Pattern Sniffer
Mathematics is much more than the content that we cover as teachers of the subject. It is also the ways of thinking that mathematicians engage in. What happens if I do this, what if this variable is changed to that? Observing change and finding patterns is a good deal of what professional mathematicians do. The difficult part sometimes is describing these changes/patterns. The generalization or abstraction is often where younger students run into issues.
Everyday at this externship, I wade through numbers and try to make sense of the patterns or inconsistencies that I observe. I did not develop this skill by being told what to do or think. Often times, teachers let students of the hook and students have figured this out. A student works on a problem and gets an answer and immediately asks the teacher if he/she is correct. How does a teacher handle this situation? In the "real world", there is no one to tell you if you're correct until after the fact. I try to answer that question with another question. "Perhaps. How did you obtain your answer and how can you check that it's correct."
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Day 11
As I reflected today on what questions a person analyzing data should ask themselves, I spent a good deal of time thinking about context. I stress context to all of my students, whether they be in Algebra I or AP Statistics. However, one area where context is often woefully ignored is in statistics. A good example of this is the medical field, which for years didn't differentiate between statistical significance and practical significance.
This is a lesson that I keep finding myself pausing to consider as I work on the training materials that I am developing. The people that work for Hy-Vee on a full time basis can look at things in a completely different light, than I can because of the experience that they have in the grocery business. The extent of my retail knowledge comes from the 3 years I spent as a bagger/stocker at Hy-Vee while I was in high school. I didn't get to make a lot of decisions that affected the bottom line in that position.
A product may show up on a report as a slow mover, that means that it doesn't sell a lot. However, that product may be a local product that is carried exclusively by Hy-Vee. The store may also have a customer that comes to Hy-Vee specifically to purchase that product. This is all context that "people on the ground" have, that a "suit" sitting in a cubicle can't see by just looking at numbers.
This concept can be extended to education. As relevance becomes increasingly stressed, it's important to remember that in mathematics not everything can be relevant. Sometimes we study concepts for their sheer beauty. Context IS important.
This is a lesson that I keep finding myself pausing to consider as I work on the training materials that I am developing. The people that work for Hy-Vee on a full time basis can look at things in a completely different light, than I can because of the experience that they have in the grocery business. The extent of my retail knowledge comes from the 3 years I spent as a bagger/stocker at Hy-Vee while I was in high school. I didn't get to make a lot of decisions that affected the bottom line in that position.
A product may show up on a report as a slow mover, that means that it doesn't sell a lot. However, that product may be a local product that is carried exclusively by Hy-Vee. The store may also have a customer that comes to Hy-Vee specifically to purchase that product. This is all context that "people on the ground" have, that a "suit" sitting in a cubicle can't see by just looking at numbers.
This concept can be extended to education. As relevance becomes increasingly stressed, it's important to remember that in mathematics not everything can be relevant. Sometimes we study concepts for their sheer beauty. Context IS important.
Day 10
Today was a little slower, right before the holiday. Tim (my fellow extern) and I spent a few hours "playing with data." The product managers are ranked using four different measures. The four metrics are weighted somehow and a rank is determined. We tried to determine the weighting mechanism that is used. We had all of the numbers in a spreaedsheet and we tried several different techniques.
This reminds me of one of our curricular focuses, which is mathematical habits of mind. One of the habits of mind that we stress is to have students be experimenters. This is exactly what we did for a good portion of the afternoon. We also tried incorporating some other measures with our own weighting system to see how the rankings might change.
This reminds me of one of our curricular focuses, which is mathematical habits of mind. One of the habits of mind that we stress is to have students be experimenters. This is exactly what we did for a good portion of the afternoon. We also tried incorporating some other measures with our own weighting system to see how the rankings might change.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Day 9
Today was spent in Ames. We tagged along with some of the training group as they trained a few stores on a new software tool that they hope to roll out company wide at some point. As new tools are developed, they are tested in a select number of stores. The bugs are worked out, suggestions are submitted, and revisions are made. This process allows the developers to gain feedback not only on how well their code does what it purports to do, but also on any features or nuances they had not considered during the development phase. At this stage communication is extremely important. This also gives the training team valuable information on areas they need to focus while they train new stores who get the new tool when it's ready to go.
Day 8
Today was a totally uninterrupted day to work on curriculum development. If I had 8 hrs a day to plan my classes, I would really rock as a teacher. It's amazing what you can get done when you are given time to play with the material you'll be teaching and then develop exercises designed around that material. I've started to narrow the focus on my material to data analysis and decision making. In education we call it Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM). In the business world, they call it business intelligence.
The key idea I am trying to develop is what to look for in a mountain of information. What questions should I ask myself when I look at data?
The key idea I am trying to develop is what to look for in a mountain of information. What questions should I ask myself when I look at data?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Day 7
Today, we met with the developers and were able to ask questions. The software uses nine different forecasting models. At any given time, the computer is able to determine which of the forecasting models provides the greatest accuracy at that time. It does this by finding which model has the smallest mean squared error. This was an exciting time, because I was able to see some of the concepts that I teach in statistics in action.
They use a forecasting model that has 39 coefficients and they have over 40,000 inventory items.
They use a forecasting model that has 39 coefficients and they have over 40,000 inventory items.
Day 6
Today, I spent most of the day looking at data. One of the software packages that I'm responsible for training is called the Buy Planner. The data report that it produces, allows stores to analyze the deals that they get on merchandise. I was creating examples of buys that had either increased the profit margin or decreased the profit margin. The idea is to allow the people who use the software to make decisions based on examples from their own stores.
Days 3 - 5
I spent the last three days visiting the stores that I'm working with. On Wednesday, I visited Ankeny and spent the day with the product management team. They are responsible for maintaining inventory. This job includes ordering, counting, printing price tags, etc.
Thursday, I was ill.
Friday, I spent the morning in Indianola. I worked with their product manager and learned how to set a new item. When stores receive new items, they have to determine where it will go on the sales floor. If it's soup, it goes in the soup section, obviously. However, it's a little more involved than that. The product manager has to decide where in the section to put the new item. If it's a new flavor, similar to some already stocked, then the logical place is beside the other flavors. This can present a challenge, because often something must be replaced with the new item.
Product managers can look at data on what items are the slowest movers, lowest grossing items, out of season, etc. They use all of this information to inform their decision.
Thursday, I was ill.
Friday, I spent the morning in Indianola. I worked with their product manager and learned how to set a new item. When stores receive new items, they have to determine where it will go on the sales floor. If it's soup, it goes in the soup section, obviously. However, it's a little more involved than that. The product manager has to decide where in the section to put the new item. If it's a new flavor, similar to some already stocked, then the logical place is beside the other flavors. This can present a challenge, because often something must be replaced with the new item.
Product managers can look at data on what items are the slowest movers, lowest grossing items, out of season, etc. They use all of this information to inform their decision.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day 2
Today I visited the three stores I will be working with, Ankeny, Indianola, and West Des Moines #4.
The rest of the day was spent looking further into some of the software applications that I'll be working with. As we took a look at all of the forecasting and calculations that the software does, I was reminded of the debate over content versus process. Math teachers often focus on algorithms and specific math skills.
The movement has been to focus on the higher order thinking skills and the application of the mathematical thinking. These software automate many of the lower level skills, like calculating section blends, gross profit margins, etc. This means that students that are only able to substitute values into formulas or perform algorithms will be at a severe disadvantage. The student/worker who can analyze, create, synthesize will have an advantage, because these are the skills that businesses prize and are often in low supply.
The rest of the day was spent looking further into some of the software applications that I'll be working with. As we took a look at all of the forecasting and calculations that the software does, I was reminded of the debate over content versus process. Math teachers often focus on algorithms and specific math skills.
The movement has been to focus on the higher order thinking skills and the application of the mathematical thinking. These software automate many of the lower level skills, like calculating section blends, gross profit margins, etc. This means that students that are only able to substitute values into formulas or perform algorithms will be at a severe disadvantage. The student/worker who can analyze, create, synthesize will have an advantage, because these are the skills that businesses prize and are often in low supply.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Day 1
I received a finer appreciation of what my students endure on a daily basis today. I spent the day being trained on the software applications that the management teams at each store use. There is an application that helps with pricing, one for ordering, one for inventory management, and my first project is one that helps analyze gross profit. It was a lot of information to digest in a day, and I expect to see more tomorrow.
One thing that stood out to me as a statistics teacher, was how one particular application used means and variance to help forecast product movement. I stress the need to talk about the center and the spread of a distribution all of the time. Here is an example of where these concepts are put into practice.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
I will begin my externship on Monday, June 21st at Hy-Vee. I am very excited about this opportunity and I have Hy-Vee and the Iowa Math and Science Education Partnership to thank. I will be keeping this blog up to date with my thoughts over the next six weeks as I navigate my way through this experience.
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