from DSSResources.com

************************************************************

                         DSS News 
                    D. J. Power, Editor 
              August 1, 2004 -- Vol. 5, No. 16
         A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM 

************************************************************

      Check the article by Mark Demarest, "The Politics 
           of Data Warehousing" at DSSResources.COM

************************************************************ 

Featured: 

* Ask Dan! - What is the status of Pal Mickey?
* What's New at DSSResources.COM
* DSS News Releases

************************************************************ 

Ask Dan!
by Dan Power

What is the status of Pal Mickey?

For the past few days, I have been conducting field research with my 
family at Walt Disney World (WDW). Why Walt Disney World? Mickey Mouse 
is more than a cartoon animated character. WDW has been operating a 
large scale, customer-oriented, location aware, knowledge-driven 
decision support system (DSS) since mid-May 2003. The end user terminal 
of the DSS is called "Pal Mickey". My goal was to assess the system and 
to determine how typical "guests" would respond to the DSS. This 
research project was conducted prior to a University of Florida/National 
Science Foundation co-sponsored workshop on teaching DSS development 
that I'm lecturing at starting today, August 1, 2004, in Jacksonville, 
Florida. 

Two major pluses of studying a customer facing decision support system 
are that a researcher can gather data unobtrusively and one doesn't need 
the active cooperation of the focal organization that is providing the 
DSS. My family and I were guests at WDW for the past 3 days and we 
bought a Pal Mickey so we could "try" the DSS. I attempted to arrange 
some interviews with Disney IT staff through Media Relations, but I 
received no response to emails following my initial phone contact. I 
must admit to some bias in that I do own a few shares of Disney and I am 
a DSS evangelist as you all know. But for the past two days I have tried 
to keep an open mind about the Pal Mickey system.

From what I had read prior to the visit, Disney's Pal Mickey product and 
system seemed like an interesting combination of technologies to enhance 
"guest" decision making in the WDW theme parks and potentially as a way 
to provide enhanced data-driven decision support to Disney operations 
managers and strategists. That last decision support prospect has been 
especially controversial in some Internet bulletin board postings.

What is Pal Mickey?

According to the initial press release, Pal Mickey is an interactive toy 
that "keeps Walt Disney World guests entertained and informed in the 
theme parks." Supposedly "Pal Mickey helps guests get the most out of a 
Walt Disney World vacation by bringing each theme park to life as a 
helpful tour guide. The huggable plush toy offers reminders about 
parades and show times, shares stories and trivia, recommends 
attractions, plays games and tells guests where to locate Disney 
characters. Each 10 1/2-inch Pal Mickey responds in all of the Walt 
Disney World theme parks." Pal Mickey was developed "by Walt Disney 
Imagineering using advances in wireless communication." 

In January 2004, Debra D'Agostino's interview with Bruce Vaughn, vice 
president of research and development for Disney Imagineering, appeared 
in CIO INSIGHT. Vaughn noted "We didn't want to have it say the same 
thing over and over again, so there's a small computer in there that's 
making decisions. You can unlock things by the more experience you do, 
so the more you do, the more the toy has to tell you."

Pal Mickey has touch sensors in his hands and stomach. He has a speaker 
box inside his head. Pal Mickey has an infrared receptor in his hard 
plastic nose that detects and reads transmissions from more than 600 
fixed transmitters located in the four parks. He receives an update each 
time he passes through a park main gate turnstile. Pal Mickey has almost 
100 minutes of audio and has over 700 different messages.

If you switch Pal Mickey off, his memory resets so he "forgets" where he 
has been. According to MousePlanet, Pal Mickey "also resets after 
several hours in a park, when you visit a new park, or when he 
experiences certain attractions. Because his jokes are tied to a 
specific part of each park, he tends to tell the same ones over and over 
again until you move to a new section of the park." Also, MousePlanet 
reports "Some attractions use infrared technology that can disrupt Pal 
Mickey's operation." Two such rides that interfere with Pal Mickey are 
Test Track and Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

How was data gathered?

Thursday at about 1:00 pm I started my quest to determine the status of 
Pal Mickey. My 9 year old son and I purchased a Pal Mickey at the 
Settlement Trading Post at Disney's Fort Wilderness resort and 
campground for USD $60. The rental price was $8 per day. The store had 4 
units in stock and a cast member showed us how to turn it ON and OFF.

Most of the rest of Thursday I tried to establish a reliable Internet 
connection for my portable PC so I could check email and post news 
stories at DSSResources.COM. First I tried to find a high-speed wireless 
connection at the Contemporary Hotel. After some failed connections and 
a call to the help line it became clear I needed a different wireless 
card. Finally, I gave up on a high-speed hookup and I've been relying 
on a phone modem. WDW is not on the leading edge of Internet access for 
guests.

Friday morning my wife and children got up early to enjoy WDW and try 
Pal Mickey. They are "typical" guests and willing participants in my 
study. Tough duty, but someone had to do it. My wife Carol hooked 
Mickey to her belt and the group headed off to Animal Kingdom. I'll 
summarize their experiences and observations later in this Ask Dan!

My plan for Friday was to visit all four parks and observe and interview 
guests with Pal Mickeys and interview cast members in stores selling Pal 
Mickeys and cast members working at park entrance gates.

At about 9:30 am Friday I started observing guests entering the Magic 
Kingdom. After about 15 minutes and probably a thousand guests I had 
observed only one family with a Pal Mickey. The cast member I chatted 
with indicated that ratio was about average. After a ride on the 
monorail to EPCOT I observed guests there. I spoke with a security 
officer who had used a Pal Mickey once and his only complaint was that 
it was often hard to hear the dialog. I only observed 1 family entering 
with a Pal Mickey in a 15 minute period. Both children in the family 
had Pal Mickeys. A cast member at a Disney store said she rented about 2 
units per day and sells about one every 2-3 weeks. She had never had any 
complaints. Price was an issue with some guests. I asked a number of 
people if they had heard of Pal Mickey and the recognition level was 
generally high. The main objection I heard was the park maps are good 
... so why do we need one. A guest commented it seems like Pal Mickey is 
only one more thing to carry.

By noon I was at Animal Kingdom observing guests. During 15 minutes at 
the entrance gate I did not observe any units. While waiting at the bus 
stop to go to MGM I did speak with a woman who had a Pal Mickey she had 
purchased in May on an earlier visit. She was enthused about the 
product and explained how a cast member at a Disney store had updated 
the data and programming of her unit at the start of the current visit. 
I did not observe any Pal Mickeys during a 15 minute period at the gates 
to MGM. On my way back to Fort Wilderness, I stopped at the Wilderness 
Lodge and went to the Mercantile store. The cast member in the store 
showed me a Pal Mickey. We chatted about the product and she indicated 
that "sales had been pretty good initially especially to cast members 
but they have trailed off. People were standing in line to get one." 

Saturday morning the wife and kids took Pal Mickey and were off for a 
long day in the parks. I took a boat over to the Magic Kingdom for a 
final search for Pal Mickey. I spent about a half hour observing at the 
entrance gates and I struck out! No Pal Mickeys. I did chat with a 
security guard and he said many guests had Pal Mickey dolls. As I 
quizzed him about security and checking Pal Mickey dolls he retreated on 
the number of guests carrying the doll into the park and acknowledged 
that few guests brought in Pal Mickeys to the park. He acknowledged 
that Pal Mickey would probably set off the alarms on the new security 
screening system WDW is planning to install. He was uncertain about the 
effect of the security system on the Pal Mickey technology.

Saturday afternoon I chatted with a cast member about Pal Mickey and she 
said "Let me tell you a secret. You should buy one of the Pal Mickey's 
now because it will be replaced soon." She didn't know any details. She 
speculated the new Pal Mickey would look different, would have a 
wardrobe including a raincoat, and would have some new features and 
technologies. She thought the new Mickey would be released in 2005 as 
part of the 50 year anniversary celebration of DisneyLand.

Overall I discovered that Disney Pin trading was a good way to meet cast 
members and start a conversation about Pal Mickey. My pin collection 
will be a lasting memory of all of the nice people I met at Walt Disney 
World.

What were the findings of my "typical guest users"?

My oldest son Alex was a diligent counter of Pal Mickeys. At Epcot and 
Magic Kingdom on Friday he saw 4 guests with Pal Mickeys. He concluded 
"It is a good idea that wasn't executed as well as it should have been. 
It seemed as if there were more ads for Pal Mickeys in the parks and on 
the buses than there were Pal Mickeys."

My youngest son, Greg, grew most attached to Pal Mickey. He liked the 
talking toy aspect of the product. He noted "I liked playing the games 
while waiting for the buses."

My wife Carol was most often the one who carried and cared for Pal 
Mickey. Friday night she reported "it was hard to hear, it was at times 
irritating -- sometimes it didn't seem to be saying anything." Pal 
Mickey shut down for an hour in the middle of the afternoon. On Saturday 
at Epcot it did say some useful things. "After riding the Test Drive it 
shut down and we went to the camera store to have it checked. The only 
thing of use it told me was an hour before Fantasmic was to start. I 
couldn't hear anything from Pal Mickey in Magic Kingdom. Even when it 
started to shake and I held it to my ear there was too much background 
noise."

My sixteen year old son Ben was intrigued with Pal Mickey and was trying 
to come up with ideas to make the system more useful. He noted "I think 
it would work better if it came with a backpack that you could put over 
your shoulder. Also, I think that with more sensors and more information 
it would be more helpful and it needs to work throughout the park. It 
has potential."

Altogether my family encountered about 20 Pal Mickeys in approximately 
28 hours of park hopping. Their overall ratings of Pal Mickey were: 
Carol = D+, Alex = D+, Ben = C+, and Greg = C.

What is my evaluation of Pal Mickey as a decision support system?

The user interface is simple to use. It is designed for use by 9 year 
olds. The output from the speech system is hard to hear in the noisy 
confines of a theme park. Pal Mickey shuts down inexplicably at times. 
The advice is often too general.

The communications infrastructure seems inadequate and inflexible. 
Relying on fixed position infrared transmitters may be cost effective, 
but it is limiting. The concept of a location aware DSS is probably 
better linked to other wireless technologies and to a Global Positioning 
System (GPS) technology.

The actual processing software is a blackbox to me. One hopes that 
content/knowledge entry is decentralized, automated when possible and 
web-based for location specific cast member updates.

The knowledge base seems relatively large, but its domain is confined to 
the 4 parks. Ideally Pal Mickey should operate throughout the Walt 
Disney World Resort and the more knowledge the better. Targeted current 
status information on line lengths at rides and starting time reminders 
for events can be especially helpful.

Currently there is not a demonstrated, well understood need for the Pal 
Mickey DSS. A well-designed system may however improve the guest 
experience when the park is crowded. Pal Mickey DSS needs to provide 
much more decision support if it is to be really useful. The marketing 
of the product is limited and it has a low profile in the parks, 
although there is a large banner for Pal Mickey and a store on Main 
Street in the Magic Kingdom. Most cast members had limited information 
about the system, but in one store a helpful cast member found me a 
brochure in a drawer behind the counter. The glossy brochure was well 
done, but I only received one in all of my store visits. As far as the 
technology and its reliability, the system is unreliable and obsolete 
and a new infrastructure will need to be built. 

What can be done to improve the Pal Mickey DSS? It should probably only 
be available to guests at WDW resorts. Some exclusivity would probably 
positively alter perceptions of the system. Also, the system needs more 
knowledge about the "guest" user so that it can be a more personal 
guide. Also, the data from other guest information systems should be 
used by the Pal Mickey DSS. Pal Mickey needs to work throughout the WDW 
resort. Adding an ear bud might help users hear Pal Mickey. Making Pal 
Mickey more of a talking toy is not the answer for salvaging this DSS. 
Such an approach may sell more units in the short-run, but it won't save 
the system. Building large scale, customer facing DSS is a new adventure 
in systems design, product marketing and system maintenance for all of 
us interested in DSS. The challenge is exciting and the potential seems 
tremendous.

*********************

References

D'Agostino, D., "Pal Mickey: Mousing Around," CIO Insight, January 6, 
2004, http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1397,1437263,00.asp.

MousePlanet
http://www.mouseplanet.com/wdwupdate/wdw030617avp.htm

************************************************************

   Put your ad here! Reach specialists interested in DSS 
         Email power@dssresources.com for details

************************************************************

What's New at DSSResources.COM

07/23/2004 Posted article by Mark Demarest, "The Politics of Data 
Warehousing".

************************************************************

DSS News - July 17 to July 30, 2004
Read them at DSSResources.COM and search the DSS News Archive

07/30/2004 Sun Labs previews future of network computing.

07/30/2004 Verizon's new 411 system: Is it a live operator, or is it 
'Darby'?

07/29/2004 Java Community process approves data mining specification.

07/28/2004 KMXperts to bundle KnowledgeBroker's KnowledgeBases with 
their new product, Knowledge Management for Magic (KMM).

07/28/2004 ILOG chosen to help power Equifax Interconnect product.

07/27/2004 National Freight equips fleet with QUALCOMM's untethered 
trailer asset management solution.

07/27/2004 Alliance Gaming announces Bally Casino Management System goes 
live at Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino.

07/27/2004 Liz Claiborne Inc. embraces Microsoft's Smarter Retailing 
initiative, announces overhaul of in-store technologies.

07/26/2004 Geac-sponsored survey finds senior finance executives seek 
greater role in planning business strategy.

07/26/2004 Fortis invests in Geac Performance Management.

07/26/2004 Long Beach Information Management Conference offers 
real-world solutions for today's business challenges.

07/26/2004 Shell selects Invensys for smart fields initiative; 
partnership will help Shell optimize oilfield operations.

07/26/2004 Ascential Software helps Ryan Beck & Company expand IT 
systems to boost growth and profitability.

07/26/2004 EMC delivers World's first storage-aware content management 
platform.

07/24/2004 Online Harris Poll surveyed U.S. cross section of 2,242 
adults on reactions to 'Fahrenheit 911'.

07/23/2004 Coast Guard chooses SAS for massive modernization effort; 
software to provide automated "One-Stop-Shop" performance management 
solution.

07/23/2004 Informatica leads data warehouse integration market for 
fourth-consecutive year, says leading analyst firm.

07/22/2004 Pay By Touch helps the world go walletless with finger 
scanning payment systems.

07/22/2004 Market Basket completes rollout of Retalix Store Level 
forecasting and auto-replenishment solution.

07/21/2004 Ferrari executive to keynote Competitive Intelligence 
Conference.

07/21/2004 National Alliance for Advancement of Health Care IT says 21st 
Century technology needed to improve U.S. Health Care delivery system.

07/21/2004 Cyber Security Industry Alliance prescribes ten steps for 
building a secure national electronic health care system.

07/21/2004 BluePhoenix migrates mission critical application for 
DaimlerChrysler.

07/21/2004 Nationwide Financial develops Web-based system to streamline 
selling process.

07/20/2004 New research highlights the costly disconnect between data 
and decisions.

07/20/2004 Esselte standardizes on Cognos Enterprise Business 
Intelligence.

07/20/2004 TIBCO Software Inc. voted best middleware/web services 
provider.

07/20/2004 New Fair Isaac Enterprise Decision Manager provides powerful 
toolkit for building advanced, customized decision systems.

07/20/2004 Wal-Mart launches apparel online.

07/20/2004 Stealing laptops from vehicles on the rise!

07/19/2004 Park City Group CEO discusses technology adoption in recent 
airline magazine article. 

07/19/2004 Sears, Roebuck and Co. implements ProfitLogic's Merchandise 
Optimization Solution to improve performance of softline business. 

07/19/2004 DuPont Crop Protection Products Italy selects MicroStrategy 
as enterprise-wide business intelligence standard.

07/19/2004 London's historic Langham Hotel selects IDeaS Revenue 
Optimization.

07/19/2004 New database tool speeds the creation of web databases and 
significantly reduces IT development costs.

07/19/2004 University of Alberta increases timely access to information 
with Stellent Universal Content Management.

************************************************************

Subscribe to DSSResources.COM. One month $10, six months $25. 
Visit http://dssresources.com/subscriber/subscriber.html

************************************************************
DSS News is copyrighted (c) 2004 by D. J. Power. Please send your 
questions to daniel.power@dssresources.com.  

DSS Home |  About Us |  Contact Us |  Site Index |  Subscribe | What's New
Please Tell 
Your Friends about DSSResources.COM Copyright © 1995-2021 by D. J. Power (see his home page). DSSResources.COMsm was maintained by Daniel J. Power. See disclaimer and privacy statement.