Fictional case study

Keel and Bin Parts

One-line job: answer whether a listed part is in the bin from the live count, and never treat the nightly export as that count.

What happened

Pickers at this made-up warehouse radio the floor lead, Samir Qureshi, to ask if a part is in a bin. Every night a file is exported. It is a snapshot. It is not the counter the floor updates during the day. Someone suggested pointing the tool at that file because it was "close enough." That was refused. The tool reads the live count, or it says the live count did not answer. Part label KB-2042 is only a name in the story. It is not a measured result.

End to end

1. Walk one aisle with a picker. Write what they do today: they read a bin card, they radio Samir, and sometimes they open last night's file because it is on a shared desk.
2. Write the metric Samir named. "When a picker asks about a part on our list, the answer names the bin from the live count, or it says the live count did not answer." You can check that sentence against the counter. You cannot check "fewer radio calls" without inventing a before-and-after you do not have. Do not invent one.
3. Draw the field map. Their name is "on-hand." Your name is live_qty. The source of truth is the live counter the floor updates. The nightly file is a snapshot with a clock time on it. If the file and the counter disagree, you do not average them. You tell the picker the live count did not answer, and you do not quote the file as if it were now.
4. Scope the pilot list of part labels in writing. KB-2042 is on that list. Parts off the list get "not in this pilot," not a guessed bin. Purchasing, vendor names, and price are out. The tool does not post a stock adjustment.
5. A read of the live count is the only stock tool. The nightly file may be opened by a person. It is not wired in as the answer. When the read fails or the part is missing, the sentence is the same shape as a disagreement: the live count did not answer.
6. The demo account is a picker role created for the pilot. It is not Samir's login and it is not an admin account. If the only account anyone offers is admin, you do not connect a write, and you do not demo stock adjustments on that login. This pilot never needed a write.
7. Test one row where the nightly file says one quantity and the live counter says another. The answer must follow the counter. Test one row where the live read fails and the file has a number. The answer must not use the file. Test a price question. The answer must not contain a price. Test a part that is not on the written list.
8. Hand over the field map on one page and a runbook: how to stop the read, who may run that step, and the pilot account. The radio and the bin card stay during a parallel run. The nightly file keeps its old job as last night's snapshot. This was not shipped as the only way to know the count.

The buyer

Samir Qureshi, warehouse floor lead. He takes the radio calls. Purchasing was not the buyer. They wanted the file because it already existed. The discovery note says who does the work, which is the picker and Samir, not the person who exports the file.

The metric he named

When a picker asks about a part on our list, the answer names the bin from the live count, or it says the live count did not answer.

Samir Qureshi, warehouse floor lead. Fictional. No before-and-after was measured.

You can check that sentence against the counter. A quieter radio is not a number this page owns. Do not add one.

In scope and out

• In: part labels on the written pilot list, a read of the live counter, the sentence used when that read does not answer, the field map.
• Out: the nightly file as a source of truth, price, cost, vendor, purchasing, stock adjustments, and any part not on the list.

The wrong call that was refused

"The nightly export is close enough. Point the tool at the file." Refused. A nightly file is not the live stock count. The same mistake, on the lab's shop, is treating a nightly order file as a live order. Here the row is a part, not an order. The refusal is the same shape.

The security and data constraint

Price and cost are a different class from a bin count. They are not returned by the tool. The tool is read-only. The account in the demo is a picker role created for the pilot. A bearer, if this route ever required one, would be the shared secret that route requires, stored for that pilot account, not pasted from someone's admin session.

How it was tested

Scripted rows. File says one thing, live counter says another: the reply follows the counter. Live read fails, file has a quantity: the reply says the live count did not answer and does not quote the file. A price question returns no price. A part off the list is "not in this pilot." No network call to a real warehouse.

Handover

Handed over as a read beside the radio, with the field map and the runbook. Not handed over as a replacement for the bin card. The parallel run stays until Samir, not a green health check, says otherwise. This page does not say he said otherwise.

Sample draft

An example reply when the live read succeeds. The bin name comes from the counter, not from this page.

KB-2042 is on the pilot list. The bin to use is the one the live count names. Last night's file is not this answer.

Refused reply

What you say when the nightly file has a number and the live read does not, or when someone asks for a price.

The live count did not answer. I will not quote last night's file as if it were now. This tool does not return a price.

Required practice: data reconciliation

Required practice for this case and for Week 2, at every depth, not only Pro. It does not replace this case. One messy extract, the live table, SQL that shows the gap, and a field map that is wrong on purpose. The paragraph on that page is the same refusal: do not trust the nightly file. No percent and no savings number. The SQL is not part of the 31 checks.

What to say in an interview

I studied a fictional warehouse. I would draw the field map: their name, my name, the live counter as the source of truth, and the nightly file as last night only. I would say what the picker hears when the two disagree. I would not claim a drop in radio calls, and I would not say I was placed on a warehouse floor.

Read week 2 for the field map and the disagreement sentence, week 1 for the metric and the written no, and week 5 for the pilot account. Practice questions are on the interview page.