Category: Jump stocktake

Get ready for Jump stocktake day – tomorrow 30 June

This is just a reminder about our planned modem stocktake tomorrow. Why tomorrow and not today you might be asking?

Simply because we want to make sure our records are fully up to date, so that you are comparing “apples with apples”, so to speak. We will be updating your Jump Gsheets this evening to include all the Profile Forms received today.

Now is a good time to check that you have access to your Jump GSheet so that you can check if the number of modems that you have in stock matches the number in cell E2 (Actual stock on hand). If there is a match, all you need to do is send a brief email to jump@diaa.nz, confirming the match.

If there isn’t a match, you will need to send us an email with the IMEI numbers of the modems you are holding.

I was impressed with one of our Auckland partners who did their stocktake last week, as they were planning to be on leave this week! And I’ve also been impressed with partners who have suddenly realised they don’t have access to their GSheet, often because the person who did have access no longer works there. This is easily fixed too – just drop a line to jump@diaa.nz requesting access. If this request comes from a personal email, as opposed to your work email, I may have to confirm your identity. This is just a precaution to make sure I don’t provide access to unauthorised people.

We are also using the stocktake to make other updates to our records – in particular if someone new is now the main point of contact for Jump. You can check who we have in our records – their name (or names) are in Cell A2 of your GSheet.

We would also like to recover any of the first generation of Jump modems (B315) – our records indicate there are 11 of these still being help in partner stocks – you can check this in Columns Y2:AC3 of your Gsheet (see example below). Please note the IMEI numbers of any B315 modems you are holding in your email to us and we’ll get recovery bags on their way.

Skinny Jump modem stocktake: it’s time for a mid-year sync

With talk of a modem stocktake, you are probably wondering why Christmas has come early this year. But with temperatures the way they are these days, that is certainly not the case.

What is the case is that our records are increasingly slipping out of sync with your on-the-ground realities.

And how do we know this, you might ask. We have the best and fastest delivery of modems that I can ever remember, but I still get requests from partners that they have run out. When I check their GSheets, I see that they have stock levels above their re-order triggers, so this means a new order has not been generated.

This generally means that some modems are slipping out the door without Profile Forms being completed. I might sound like a cracked record (I have been accused of that in the past), but please make sure all staff issuing modems are completing Profile Forms – this is the only way that we (DIAA) can tell a modem has been issued. That said, I did discover a new issue in a partner’s GSheet this week – some IMEI numbers had been entered more than once, so this of course inflated their apparent stock. Just another good reason for a mid-year sync!

So, back to the point of this post. We are planning a 30 June stocktake.

So, on 30 June there are two ways this can happen: (please don’t do this before then as we will be doing a final update of all partner GSheets on Monday 29th to make sure we have all the Profile Forms entered)

(1) Partners check the number in cell E2 (Actual stock on hand) and if that matches your actual stock, please send an email to jump@diaa.nz confirming the match, or if there is a mismatch, please send us an email with the IMEI numbers of the modems that you are actually holding.

(2) Partners who don’t respond by 6 July will receive a call from the delightful Georgia and Tori, asking you to do a live stocktake. This will also be an opportunity to let us know if there have been any staff changes and who the primary point of contact for Skinny Jump is.

Yes, it’s Jump stocktake time again

Each year we ask all our Jump partners to do a stocktake of their Jump modems to help us start the new year with a clean slate. If your Jump stock matches the number in cell E2 of your Jump GSheet, please send us a short email confirming this (jump@diaa.nz). If you don’t know how to access your GSheet, send us an email and we’ll remind you.

Check the top few lines of your GSheet – it should look something like this:

If there is a mismatch with your ‘actual stock on hand’, please email us the IMEI numbers (the numbers beginning with 8668, 8670, 8629, 8605 or 8664) for the ones you are holding and we’ll get your Gsheet back in order.

You will recall that we use the stock data in the GSheet to generate and prioritise new orders, so it is really important to keep these aligned.

Please also check that we have the correct contact name in cell A2 – this is the person we send new modem supplies to. If this is not correct please email us with the new contact person – name, email and contact phone number.

We would like you to confirm these details before Christmas; to help you with this, you might get a call from Georgia or Tori, our two Jump helpers (like Santa’s Christmas Elves).

And one other thing – we know some partners just never seem to be able to find the time to complete Modem Returns forms when a faulty modem is returned. So when you are doing your stocktake, please take a note of any old modems cluttering your cupboards and unsuitable for re-issue, we’ll send you a courier label to recover them. Just tell us the size of the box you will be using so we can get the courier charges right. Or if it is just one or two pesky modems, we can send you a return courier bag.

Has Christmas really come early?

I had two calls from partners yesterday about their modem shipments – they had received two shipments of modems and were wondering if there had been a mistake. That was a nice surprise – the calls I normally get are asking about when more modems are coming.

So if you are one of the lucky partners who received two shipments, accept this as an early Christmas present. As it happens there was a system problem that resulted in duplicate orders being sent.

The really good news is that CEVA has caught up with the huge backlog of modem shipments that have persisted for all of this year. There are a few more shipments to go out this week, but then everyone should be well stocked for Christmas and the New Year.

As always if you find that you have no stock, or you are down to your last 2 modems please send an email to jump@diaa.nz.

Why do I need to complete a Jump Profile Form?

I received an email from a partner yesterday who had just completed a mini stock-take and discovered 3 modems listed on their GSheet that they no longer had. He thought this was probably because Profile Forms had not been completed by some staff members when the modems were issued.

So this led him to ask was: “what is the impact of us not completing the profile form?” He wanted a compelling reason to explain to staff issuing modems why this is important. Fair enough, I thought.

Sure, we ask for a lot of demographic information – this is used in our annual report to programme funders, providing evidence that the modems are reaching the target groups. But that is not the most important thing.

We ask for the address where the modem is going to be used, so that we can avoid issuing more than one modem to the same household. But that is not the most important thing either.

We also use the address information to provide summary reports by town and region to provide evidence that Jump is reaching the most digitally disadvantaged communities. But that is not the most important thing either.

We ask customers to tell us who is helping them set up their Jump modems. We think the support provided by libraries and local community partners is absolutely critical to the ongoing success of Jump, and this helps provide the evidence. But this is not the most important thing either.

We ask customers if they have school-aged children and therefore qualify for free internet connections with programmes like Ciena. But that is not the most important thing either.

We ask for the phone contact details of the customer and their explicit approval for any follow up calls to get feedback on how Jump is helping them. But that is not the most important thing either.

OK, enough, I hear you cry! What then is the most compelling reason for completing a Skinny Jump Profile Modem??

Quite simply, so that we know when to send you more modems!

We (DIAA) manage the modem supply process for Jump, and for probably rather obvious reasons, we do not have access to Skinny’s customer database. So we rely on the Profile Form to update us on the modems being issued. We closely monitor all partners’ stock levels and each week, prioritise deliveries to those with low stock. So if partners issue a modem without completing a Profile Form, we think you still have this modem, and you move down the re-order priorities.

We strongly recommend that all partners periodically do a stock check and confirm that the number of modems they actually have aligns with the number in cell E2 (Actual Stock on hand) of your Jump GSheet.

If there is a mismatch please send a schedule of the IMEI numbers of the modems you are holding to jump@diaa.nz and we will update your GSheet accordingly.

The good news for the partner who raised this issue was that when his Gsheet was corrected, it immediately flagged the need for a new order, which we have actioned.

Christmas is coming and so is our annual Jump modem stocktake!

🎶 Time to stocktake, let’s get it right,
2024 Jump modems in sight,
Partners, count what you’ve got, check it with care,
Look at cell W2, compare what’s there! 🎶

🎶 If the numbers don’t match, don’t you delay,
List those IMEIs and send them our way,
We’re updating records, let’s make them shine,
Jump modem stocktake – it’s audit time!* 🎶

Last year it took over 3 months to hear back from all our partners; this year our goal is 2 months, ie. by 30 November 2024. This helps us to start the new year with a clean slate. If your Jump stock matches the number in cell W2, please send us a short email confirming this (jump@diaa.nz). If you don’t know how to access your GSheet, send us an email and we’ll remind you.

Our most frequent request from partners is about modem supply “we’ve run out of modems”. We do our best to try and avoid this but if your Jump GSheet is showing unallocated modems, we give priority to those who have run out. The most common problem is that someone has simply overlooked completing a Profile Form when issuing a modem. So the stocktake is really important in keeping the Jump wheels turning.

Of course, you don’t have to wait until this becomes a problem. At any time during the year, you can check that your stock in hand matches the number in cell W2 in your Jump register. If not, just send us an email (jump@diaa.nz) with the IMEIs of the modems on hand and we’ll update your records.

Annual modem stock-take: who is Georgia?

Over the last few days many Jump partners have received a polite (I hope) call from Georgia to remind you about completing your modem stocktake before 31 January.

Georgia is a 14-year old secondary student, who has had more impact in getting responses from partners than I ever get from my blog posts! 

So thank you to everyone who responded so positively to her request – to those who did an on-the-spot check and relayed the modem IMEIs to her immediately, to those who promised to follow up with an email to jump@diaa.nz with the IMEI numbers of their stock and have already done this, to those who promised to do this over the next couple of days and to those who have cleared their voicemails and will be responding with the IMEI numbers of their stock by 31 January 2024.

Partners who had stock levels that matched our Google doc records were a very small minority – congratulations to you for an impeccable record in ensuring a Profile Form is completed for every modem issued.

Remember it is the Profile Form that manages stock levels and determines when we send you more modems, so if a profile form is missed, then you are inadvertently delaying your next shipment of modems. As a result of Georgia’s calls we have so far discovered 16 partners with zero or very low stocks – one had been patiently waiting since August 2023; another had zero stock, yet our records indicated 17 modems available for issue. We have immediately lodged re-supply orders for these partners.

The good news is that Spark has totally caught up with the lengthy backlogs in the supply of modems; during January, many of our re-supply orders are being processed the same day and shipped the next. So there is no reason why any partner should run out of modems.

I can understand why partners have learnt to be patient when we were experiencing a 2-month lag in modem supply, but hopefully that is behind us, so if for any reason you run out of modems or you find your stock getting precariously low, check your Google sheet to see if more are on order, in which case you can relax as these modems should arrive within 7 days. 

However if you are out of stock and you discover that no more have been ordered, this will mean that some of your team are issuing modems without completing Profile Forms, so do encourage them to engage with Tawera’s fantastic Partner Pathways online modules and get a refresher on the correct procedures. But you can also let us know by emailing jump@diaa.nz and we’ll take urgent action to get some more on their way.

Our objective is that you should never run out of modems; we would like to abandon our waiting list process – this is still reporting 225 waiters across the country and this is not now because of a modem shortage, we understand it is mainly because of the reluctance of many customers to answer their phones or texts and visit a Jump partner when you notify them. 

Our suggestion is that people who do not respond to your notification that you have stock available are removed from the waiting list after 7 days.

Jump Modem Summer Stocktake – make sure you are on the Christmas ‘nice’ list!

Once every year, we ask all Jump partners to check that their modem stocks match our GSheet records. A match means that you should never run out of modems. Our modem supply process relies on a customer Profile Form being completed for every modem issued; we then use this information to update your Jump GSheet, which then alerts us when your modem supplies are dropping and we order some more for you.

Easy as! What could possibly go wrong? Many things it seems, but a stocktake can quickly put things right.

We are asking all Jump partners to carry out a simple stocktake over the summer holiday period, so that we start the new year with a clean slate. All you need to do is count the number of modems you have available for issue and check cell W2 (Actual Stock on hand) in your Jump GSheet. If these two numbers are the same – Bingo! You are definitely on Jump’s ‘nice’ Christmas list.

If the numbers differ, just send us an email (jump@diaa.nz) listing the IMEI numbers of the modems you are holding, so that we can mark the others as ‘allocated’ and you are automatically added to the ‘nice’ list.

If you are scratching your head, wondering how to access your Jump Sheet to find cell W2, we have created a mirror copy here that you can check – note columns B, C and D in particular.

We are worried that some partners appear to be still holding the older B315 and B618 modems (columns E and F in the mirror copy) and that might prevent them getting on the ‘nice’ list. Our records indicate there are nearly 200 of these older modems still in partners’ stocks. We know some of these will be reset modems and provided they are suitable for re-issue, that is fine, but we ask you to issue these ahead of any of the newer Smart modems. However, we suspect that in some cases, this could just be a matter of modems being issued without Profile Forms being completed. Your stocktake will solve this problem and you automatically join the ‘nice’ list.

So, just to make sure you make it to the 2023 ‘nice’ list, please send an email to jump@diaa.nz confirming your Jump modem stock matches our records or advising us where there a differences – either way you join the ‘nice’ list for the Jump Summer Stocktake.

And we all know what happens for people on ‘nice’ lists at Christmas!