🌟 North Star Retail Co. — Support Deflection MVP

Group 84 | Power Learn Project — The Northstar Sprint
A 1-Week Industry Working Simulation

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📌 Project Problem & Objective

Northstar Retail Co. is a mid-size e-commerce company experiencing high support ticket volumes. Their support team is drowning in repetitive customer inquiries across three main categories:

1. Order status ("Where is my order?" / "Has this shipped yet?")
2. Returns & refunds ("How do I return this?" / "When will I get my refund?")[cite: 1]
3. Stock availability ("Is this back in stock?")[cite: 1]

🎯 What Was Asked For

Our pod was hired for 1 week to build a functional Support Deflection MVP that automates/deflects at least 2 of these 3 ticket categories to relieve manual support handling[cite: 1].

Alongside the prototype, we are delivering:

• A working, demoable end-to-end prototype[cite: 1].
• A 1-page Go-Live Readiness Note detailing what works, known edge cases, and handover instructions[cite: 1].
• A traceable Commit/Edit Audit Trail proving genuine team collaboration[cite: 1].

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💡 Why We Chose This Solution (Customer Self-Service Dashboard)

After analyzing the brief, Group 84 decided to build a Customer Self-Service Dashboard[cite: 2].

• Practical Scope: Fits comfortably within the tight 1-week sprint timeline without introducing unnecessary backend complexity[cite: 2].
• Skill Alignment: Allows group members with web development skills to directly contribute while creating clear, parallel tasks for everyone[cite: 2].
• User-Centric Deflection: By placing order tracking and return options directly in front of the customer upon login, we deflect the majority of repetitive inquiries before a support ticket is ever opened[cite: 2].

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🛠️ Tech Stack Selection

To keep the application fast, lightweight, and maintainable, we selected standard web technologies[cite: 2]:

• HTML5: Semantic page structures and dynamic form layouts[cite: 2].
• CSS3: Custom responsive styling utilizing a dark-mode theme (#0B0F17 canvas, #161C27 cards) optimized for both desktop and mobile screens[cite: 2].
• Native JavaScript (ES6+): Light interactions, multi-page link handling, and client-side logic[cite: 2].

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🧩 Parts of the MVP

Our application consists of a modular multi-page flow[cite: 2]:

1. 🔑 Login Page (login.html): The customer entry point designed for fast authentication[cite: 2].
2. 🏠 Customer Dashboard (dashboard.html): The central overview providing high-level order statuses, quick-action navigation cards, and recent order history[cite: 2].
3. 📦 Order Status Page (orders.html): Resolves "Where is my order?" with interactive delivery progress trackers, ETAs, and carrier details[cite: 2].
4. 🔄 Returns & Refunds Page (returns.html): Resolves "How do I return this?" by displaying item return eligibility, return status, and refund trackers[cite: 2].
5. 🎫 File a Ticket Page (ticket.html): A fallback support form for complex issues that cannot be self-resolved[cite: 2].

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👥 Group 84 Team Contributions & Module Breakdown

To ensure full transparency and auditability, here is the breakdown of components assigned across Group 84 members[cite: 1, 2]:

Team Member Name	Role / Assigned Page	GitHub Username	Key Contributions
Ezra Ssempogo	Customer Dashboard (dashboard.html)	pogoezra@gmail.com	Built dashboard shell, quick action grid, recent orders list, and responsive layouts.
[Anab]	Login Page (login.html)	@	[Briefly describe task e.g., Login UI form structure and styling]
[Sharon]	Order Status Page (orders.html)	@	[Briefly describe task e.g., Progress tracker and shipping details view]
[John]	Returns & Refunds Page (returns.html)	@	[Briefly describe task e.g., Return eligibility cards and refund state]
[Jackline]	File a Ticket Page (ticket.html)	@	[Briefly describe task e.g., Ticket submission form and category selection]

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📜 Commit & Collaboration Guidelines

All commits follow the required project convention[cite: 1]:

<type>: <what changed> - <why it matters>