MVP Release of Cloud-based Inventory app for Restaurant sector

​​HotSchedules Cloud-based Inventory app provided Real-Time Data for On-Hand Inventory, Waste & Costs, Vendor Management, etc. Customers of this app were regional and large restaurant chains. End users primarily Restaurant Managers. App also included a component for Regional Managers.
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HotSchedules derived its name from their original Scheduling app for Restaurant Workers. Since then, HotSchedules has strategically grown with the acquisition of various startups that had other enterprise apps serving the Restaurant sector. Thus, HotSchedules strategic goal being to offer a seamless end-to-end suite of enterprise apps for the Restaurant sector, from scheduling workers to regional managers, etc.

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MVP Release was subsequently restricted Desktop/Tablet only, due to the complexity of the tables and features. Afterwards, certain features/tasks would be available on Mobile, that were conducive to a small mobile screen (i.e., Receiving Orders).

HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE

Condensed timeframe of just 4-months.

MAKE OF THE TEAM

Hands-on UX Design Manager, plus two UX Design consultants.

KEY GOAL

MVP Release of Inventory app for Restaurant sector.

MVP Release of Cloud-based Inventory app for Restaurant sector

​​HotSchedules Cloud-based Inventory app provided Real-Time Data for On-Hand Inventory, Waste & Costs, Vendor Management, etc. Customers of this app were regional and large restaurant chains. End users primarily Restaurant Managers. App also included a component for Regional Managers.
​
HotSchedules derived its name from their original Scheduling app for Restaurant Workers. Since then, HotSchedules has strategically grown with the acquisition of various startups that had other enterprise apps serving the Restaurant sector. Thus, HotSchedules strategic goal being to offer a seamless end-to-end suite of enterprise apps for the Restaurant sector, from scheduling workers to regional managers, etc.

​

MVP Release was subsequently restricted Desktop/Tablet only, due to the complexity of the tables and features. Afterwards, certain features/tasks would be available on Mobile, that were conducive to a small mobile screen (i.e., Receiving Orders).

HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE

Condensed timeframe of just 4-months.

MAKE OF THE TEAM

Hands-on UX Design Manager, plus two UX Design consultants.

KEY GOAL

MVP Release of Inventory app for Restaurant sector.

MVP Release of Cloud-based Inventory app for Restaurant sector

​​HotSchedules Cloud-based Inventory app provided Real-Time Data for On-Hand Inventory, Waste & Costs, Vendor Management, etc. Customers of this app were regional and large restaurant chains. End users primarily Restaurant Managers. App also included a component for Regional Managers.
​
HotSchedules derived its name from their original Scheduling app for Restaurant Workers. Since then, HotSchedules has strategically grown with the acquisition of various startups that had other enterprise apps serving the Restaurant sector. Thus, HotSchedules strategic goal being to offer a seamless end-to-end suite of enterprise apps for the Restaurant sector, from scheduling workers to regional managers, etc.

​

MVP (Minimum Viable Product) Release was subsequently restricted Desktop/Tablet only, due to the complexity of the tables and features. Afterwards, certain features/tasks would be available on Mobile, that were conducive to a small mobile screen (i.e., Receiving Orders).

HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE

Condensed timeframe of just 4-months.

MAKE OF THE TEAM

Hands-on UX Manager, plus two UX consultants.

KEY GOAL

MVP Release of Inventory app for Restaurant sector.

DASHBOARD DESIGN

Collaborative evolving effort by design team.

Today’s Tasks - progress meter icons: Complete, Incomplete, & Not Started

Weekly Tasks - progress meter icons)

Notifications - icons denoting type of message

Sales Projections - metrics + data visualization

Worker Shifts Schedule - data visualization timelines

Lead UX Design Consultant on 3-Person Team

I was a Lead UX Design Consultant on a 3-person team (Hands-On UX Manager plus two consultants) for a condensed timeframe of MVP Release Inventory responsive app for the Restaurant sector.

Our UX Team were in San Francisco, whereas Product Management were located in Atlanta, and the Style Guide Owner was located in Austin. Thus, we had plenty of phone & video conferences, plus the chance to meet our colleagues when they came into town.

​Whenever we encountered new, complex scenarios during the UX Design process that the UI Style Guide didn't yet have standards for, we would reach out to the Style Guide Owner to let him know, along with insights into possible solutions to address it. He would then get back to us with the new solution added.

RECIPES

Recipes integration with Inventory allowed for real-time on-hand ingredient inventory (ingredients depleted accordingly as menu items sold), as well as menu item Cost and Profit (gross profit).  Because at its core, Inventory is Accounting (whether it's costs, goods, etc.).

Recipes (left column) allowed for organization within a nested folder structure. Recipes could be Copied & modified (i.e., similar menu items with slight variations) vs. having to create every recipe from scratch.

Ingredients have a Search feature, displayed in the lower right table, and can be dragged & dropped into recipes (but not dragged out of; unwanted ingredients would be Deleted from a recipe).

Above display is the menu item Price, Cost, and (Gross) Profit.

I refer to "information gaps" as missing information that prevents users from making informed decisions.

Count unit categories: Case, Bundles & Each

For example, paper cups--there's a case of 1000, inside are 10 sleeves (bundles) of 100, and then there's individual cups (each).

Another example, cheddar cheese--a 5lb case, inside are 5 1lb blocks (bundles), and those blocks contain "x" slices (each).

​The other UX Designer had Actual OnHand column with a mix of Case, Bundles and Each denominations. Product said to make it Case only. However, what does 1.28 Case mean? Bundles? Each? Some combination? No way of knowing!

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Therefore, I suggested a module showing breakdown of Case, Bundles & Each that equal the Case sum.

A solution BOTH user friendly AND system compliant.

Product LOVED IT!!!

Keep in mind, this was an MVP release, so Product wasn't looking to add anything extra that wasn't absolutely necessary.

COUNT VARIANCE W/UNIT BREAKDOWN MODULE

Count Variance: Count Values that were System-flagged as being outside-the-norm, requiring recount.

Actual OnHand (column highlighted by yellow outline) is in Case unit values for System Compliance. But not very User Friendly, as what does 0.28 Case mean? Bundles? Each? Some combination thereof? No way of knowing!

Unit Breakdown Module (area highlighted by green outline) shows breakdown of Case, Bundles & Each, that go into the Total Case Sum in the Actual OnHand column.

A solution BOTH System Compliant AND User Friendly! Win-win!

The Design Process

​Collaborated with Product Management in Atlanta on MVP Business Requirements + insights about Restaurant sector. Both PMs had a wealth of experience within the Restaurant sector.

User Task Flows helped map out processes for the various components within Inventory.

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Visual Design (via UI Style Guide components) was baked-into the wireframes, as they were built. There were no separate visual design comps--the wireframes & visuals were one and the same.

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Screens were uploaded to InVision for interactive prototypes to share with Product and other team members.

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Initially there was to be a Mobile component (Adaptive) but that was eventually taken out of MVP and moved to a future release.

MVP was Desktop/Tablet only.

SYSTEM SUGGESTED ORDERING

System Suggested Ordering is where the Inventory system automatically detects what items a Restaurant Manager would need to order--and displays those items in a new Order to be placed.

Blue shaded Quantity fields denote System Orders.

Orange shaded Quantity field denotes User Override. Perhaps System Suggested "2" but user changed to "3".

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Also notice how this row has been expanded to show 10 additional columns specific to that item. One sub-column even contains a dropdown expansion. Housing sub-columns inside the expanded sub-rows below, provides convenient access to important information (while  avoiding the dilemma of a mile-wide table and infinite horizontal scrolling).

Green checkmark icon denotes manual revision after Order was placed.

This would be a scenario where Manager forgot to add an item after placing the order. In the scenario 1) user calls Vendor and asks them to make a change to the Order, 2) then user must manually update the Order, reflecting the recent change, so that the System is aware of the revision.

Wrap-up

​Despite the condensed timeframe, colleagues scattered across states and time zones, and new UI Style Guide updates required, we did complete the MVP project on-time.

Great group of people to work with! Remote Wednesdays & Fridays were a nice perk, as were end-of-Thursday in-office "Happy Hour" to kick-off remote Fridays + the weekend ahead. A nice way to get to know some of the other colleagues that you didn't have time for during the busy workdays.

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The nicest perk had to be the incredible nearly top floor view from our SoMa office, spanning from North Bay to the Bay Bridge to the Peninsula and beyond--plus watching the Salesforce Tower being built!

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