Case Study 05: ScreenVault Studios — Scenario Paper

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Practice Information

Difficulty: Intermediate Domain weights: D1 System Arch: HEAVY | D2 Security: MEDIUM | D3 Data: HEAVY | D4 Solution: MEDIUM | D5 Integration: HEAVY | D6 Dev Lifecycle: LIGHT | D7 Communication: LIGHT Designed for 180-minute prep window

Before You Start

Print this scenario. Read it twice using the Two-Pass Reading Method — once for understanding, once to extract implicit requirements. Build all 9 artifacts within the 180-minute window.

Project Overview

ScreenVault Studios (SVS) is a mid-size media company that produces original content — documentaries, scripted series, and limited-run specials — and licenses that content to streaming platforms and broadcasters worldwide. Founded in 2012 in Los Angeles, SVS has grown from a documentary-focused production house into a vertically integrated content company that both creates and distributes entertainment.

Company profile:

Attribute	Detail
Industry	Media / Entertainment / Streaming
Employees	1,200 across Los Angeles, London, and Mumbai
B2B licensing partners	500 (streaming platforms, broadcasters, distributors)
Direct subscribers (D2C app)	2M active subscribers
Annual revenue	$350M (60% B2B licensing, 25% D2C subscriptions, 15% ad revenue)
Content library	1,800 titles (series, documentaries, specials)
Annual new productions	40-50 titles
Field production crews	200 crew members across 15-25 active productions at any time

SVS operates three distinct business lines that share content but have very different sales motions, customer relationships, and operational needs. The CEO has authorized a 14-month, $4.2M program to transform the underutilized Salesforce platform into the operational backbone for all three lines of business.

CEO (Priya Sharma): “We have a Salesforce license we barely use. Our licensing team runs deals through spreadsheets and email, our subscriber data lives in a different universe from our sales data, and production crews cannot access anything in the field. I need one place where everyone sees the full picture.”

VP Content Licensing (Marcus Reeves): “Our deals are complex. A single title might be licensed to Netflix for the US, BBC for the UK, and Hotstar for India — each with different windows, pricing, and exclusivity terms. We track all of this in a custom rights management database and a wall of spreadsheets.”

VP Consumer (Aisha Patel): “We have 2 million subscribers, but we cannot tell which ones are about to churn until they are already gone. Our streaming analytics sit in Snowflake and our marketing sits in Mailchimp. Nothing is connected.”

CTO (David Chen): “I inherited a Salesforce org with 15 users in basic Sales Cloud. It has almost no customization. We need to expand it dramatically, but I do not want to build another system we outgrow in three years.”

Head of Production (Tomoko Watanabe): “My crews are on location in remote areas. They need production schedules, talent contacts, and location permits on their phones — and half the time they have no cell signal.”

Current State

Salesforce (Basic Sales Cloud)

• 15 users (licensing sales team only)
• Standard Account, Contact, Opportunity objects with minimal customization
• No integrations with any other system
• Used only for tracking initial licensing inquiries — deal details move to spreadsheets once negotiations begin
• No automation, no reports, no dashboards of value

Rights Management Database (Custom)

• PostgreSQL database built in-house 6 years ago
• Tracks content titles, licensing rights, territory restrictions, window dates, and exclusivity terms
• REST API exists but is poorly documented and fragile
• 12,000 active licensing contracts across 500 partners
• Single developer maintains it part-time; considered a retention risk

Content Management System (Custom)

• Node.js application managing the content catalog — metadata, artwork, trailers, technical specs
• Stores information about all 1,800 titles: genres, cast, crew, ratings, production status
• Used by production, marketing, and licensing teams
• REST API for metadata retrieval
• Asset files stored in AWS S3

SAP ERP

• Finance, accounting, and revenue recognition
• Handles complex revenue schedules for multi-territory, multi-window licensing deals
• SOAP and OData APIs available
• 200 daily financial transactions related to content licensing

Streaming Analytics (Snowflake)

• Stores all viewing data from the D2C streaming app
• 50M streaming events per day (play, pause, complete, skip, search)
• Viewer profiles, content performance metrics, engagement scores
• SQL-accessible; 90-day detailed data, 2-year aggregated data
• No current connection to any sales or marketing system

Marketing (Mailchimp)

• B2C subscriber campaigns (acquisition, retention, winback)
• B2B partner communications (content availability, licensing promotions)
• 2.2M contacts (2M subscribers + 200K prospects)
• No segmentation based on viewing behavior
• Open rates declining; churn campaigns are generic “please come back” emails

Production Management

• Combination of Google Sheets and a shared Google Drive
• Production schedules, talent contact lists, location permits, equipment tracking
• No mobile-optimized access; crews print documents before going on location
• No connection to licensing (cannot see which productions have pre-sold rights)

Business Requirements

B2B Content Licensing (Req 1-7)

1. Manage the full licensing deal lifecycle: prospecting, negotiation, contract execution, rights delivery, and renewal
2. Track content rights per title: territory, language, platform type, exclusivity level, window start/end dates, and pricing
3. Prevent conflicting rights — the system must flag when a proposed deal overlaps with an existing exclusive license for the same territory and window
4. Surface upcoming rights expirations (90, 60, 30 days) with automated partner notifications
5. Enable licensing reps to search available content by territory and window when pitching to partners
6. Generate quarterly revenue forecasts by partner, territory, and content genre
7. Support contract amendments — extensions, territory additions, early terminations — with full audit trail

D2C Subscriber Management (Req 8-13)

8. Unified subscriber profile combining account data, subscription tier, and viewing behavior
9. Churn prediction: identify at-risk subscribers based on declining engagement, payment failures, and support interactions
10. Targeted marketing campaigns segmented by viewing behavior (genre preferences, binge patterns, content completion rates)
11. Subscriber lifecycle management — trial conversion, upsell, winback, and loyalty programs
12. Support case management for subscriber issues (billing, technical, content requests)
13. Self-service subscriber portal for account management, billing inquiries, and content feedback

Content & Production Operations (Req 14-18)

14. Content catalog accessible within the platform — title metadata, production status, licensing availability
15. Production tracking: schedules, milestones, budgets, and crew assignments linked to content titles
16. Mobile access for field production crews: schedules, contacts, location details, and permit documents
17. Offline capability for crews in areas without reliable connectivity
18. Connect production pipeline to licensing — show which upcoming titles have pre-sold rights and which need sales attention

Analytics & Reporting (Req 19-22)

19. Executive dashboard: revenue by business line (licensing, subscription, ad), content performance across platforms, subscriber growth/churn
20. Content ROI: production cost vs. licensing revenue + streaming performance per title
21. Partner analytics: licensing revenue by partner with trend analysis and renewal probability
22. Subscriber health: cohort analysis, engagement scores, churn rate by segment

Marketing Automation (Req 23-26)

23. Replace Mailchimp with a platform-integrated solution supporting both B2B and B2C journeys
24. B2C journeys triggered by viewing behavior: welcome series, re-engagement for dormant viewers, genre recommendations
25. B2B journeys: new content announcements to partners based on their territory and genre interests
26. Unified consent management across B2B and B2C communications

Security & Compliance (Req 27-31)

27. B2B licensing data visible only to the licensing team; subscriber PII visible only to consumer team and support
28. Partner portal: licensing partners can view their active contracts, available content catalog, and submit deal inquiries
29. GDPR compliance for UK/EU subscribers and partner contacts (London office)
30. Content metadata is broadly visible; financial terms and deal pricing are restricted
31. Audit trail on all contract modifications and rights changes

Field Operations (Req 32-34)

32. Mobile app for 200 production crew members across active productions
33. Offline sync for production schedules, contact lists, and location permits
34. Location-based features: nearest crew members, equipment check-in/out

External Systems and Integration Volumes

System	Function	Protocol	Volume
Rights Management DB	Content rights, territories, windows	REST API	500 rights queries/day; 50 contract updates/day
Content Management System	Title catalog, metadata, artwork	REST API	2,000 metadata reads/day; 20 title updates/day
SAP ERP	Finance, revenue recognition	OData + SOAP	200 financial transactions/day
Snowflake	Streaming analytics, viewer behavior	SQL / REST API	50M events/day (aggregated extracts)
Streaming Platform	Subscriber events (signup, cancel, payment)	Webhooks	5,000 subscriber events/day
AWS S3	Content assets (artwork, trailers, documents)	S3 API	Read-only references
Ad Sales Platform	Ad inventory, campaign performance	REST API	500 ad metrics updates/day
Payment Processor	Subscription billing, refunds	Webhooks	8,000 payment events/day

Total integration volume is moderate (~60K events/day excluding Snowflake raw streaming data, which remains in Snowflake with only aggregated extracts flowing to Salesforce).

Constraints

1. Rights Management DB must remain operational during transition — it is the system of record for active contracts until the replacement is fully validated
2. Snowflake raw streaming data (50M events/day) cannot be replicated into Salesforce — only aggregated metrics and subscriber-level scores are viable
3. Production crews use personal iOS and Android devices (BYOD)
4. London office handles all UK/EU business — GDPR applies to subscriber and partner data processed through that office
5. The single developer maintaining the Rights Management DB is exploring other opportunities — knowledge transfer is urgent
6. Budget: $4.2M over 14 months (no contingency beyond 10%)
7. Mailchimp contract expires in 5 months — replacement must be operational by then

Stakeholders

Role	Name	Key Concern
CEO	Priya Sharma	Unified view across all three business lines
VP Content Licensing	Marcus Reeves	Rights conflict prevention; deal lifecycle management
VP Consumer	Aisha Patel	Churn reduction; behavior-driven marketing
CTO	David Chen	Scalable architecture that does not become technical debt
Head of Production	Tomoko Watanabe	Mobile and offline access for field crews
CFO	Robert Kim	Content ROI visibility; revenue recognition accuracy
Head of Ad Sales	Javier Cruz	Ad performance data connected to content metrics
GDPR Data Protection Officer	Emma Collins	UK/EU data compliance

Budget and Timeline

Item	Budget	Timeline
Phase 1: Licensing + Core Platform	$1.8M	Months 1-6
Phase 2: Subscriber + Marketing	$1.4M	Months 4-10
Phase 3: Production Mobile + Analytics	$0.7M	Months 8-14
Contingency (10%)	$0.3M	As needed
Total	$4.2M	14 months

IT staff: 12 internal (3 Salesforce admins/devs, 5 integration/infrastructure, 4 management). SI partner: boutique firm with 10-person delivery team. Rights DB developer: retained for 6-month knowledge transfer window.

Known Risks

• Rights DB developer attrition: Single point of failure for the most critical legacy system
• Snowflake data volume: 50M events/day must be aggregated before any Salesforce touchpoint
• Mailchimp deadline: 5-month hard cutoff requires early marketing automation delivery
• Content rights complexity: Multi-territory, multi-window, overlapping exclusivity rules are difficult to model
• BYOD field crews: Security and device management for 200 personal devices
• Dual B2B/B2C marketing: Very different audience segments sharing a marketing platform

Deliverables

Present all 9 CTA solution artifacts in 30 minutes + 30-minute Q&A:

1. System Landscape
2. Data Model / ERD
3. Role Hierarchy & Sharing Model
4. Integration Architecture
5. Identity & SSO
6. Data Migration Strategy
7. Governance Framework
8. Environment Strategy
9. Phased Delivery Roadmap

Board Strategy

This scenario has moderate technical complexity but broad functional scope spanning three distinct business lines. Identify the 2-3 highest-risk architectural decisions and demonstrate trade-off awareness. Show how the platform serves licensing, subscriber, and production needs without over-engineering.

Key Implicit Requirements

Content rights conflict detection (multi-territory, multi-window overlapping logic), Snowflake integration strategy (50M events/day reduced to actionable subscriber scores), Mailchimp replacement timeline pressure (5-month constraint forcing Phase 2 overlap), and the dual B2B/B2C nature of the business (very different data models, journeys, and security needs on one platform) drive your most critical decisions.