An intern in the Supplier Development department at XS Inc. is participating in a two-day Value Stream Mapping (VSM) event at SysInteg. As this is XS's first time sponsoring an improvement initiative led by a third party, it is under tight scrutiny by XS corporate-level senior management. XS considered this an opportunity to deploy external lean experts to convince some members of senior management who were skeptical about the lack of oversight on milestones, performance management, or (supplier) resource allocation. The intern is worried that a poor performance at SysInteg would affect his chances for future employment at XS. After today's event, he is expected to establish a communication plan and identify stakeholders for future VSM events. A teaching note (OM-1355TN) is available.