Design Space updates
Our group is targeted at the design space to improve restaurant waiting time and offer better dining experiences. Designing such an application or system will require us to focus on exploring how restaurant guests value their waiting time. It also requires us to learn important physical interactions and constraints when restaurant guests waiting for restaurant tables. We want to come up with meaningful ways for restaurant customer to use their time according to their interests. In addition, our design looks for efficient way of communication between restaurant hosts and guests.
Design Space Update:
Design Space Update:
- Focus on exploring how user value their waiting time
- Learn important physical interactions and constraints
- Design meaningful way for restaurant customer to spend their waiting time
- Provide restaurant customer capability to plan their time ahead
- Enhance the interactions between restaurant host and customers
Success Criteria Updates
Design Alternative I
Our initial observations and research of users discovered that they were waiting excessively long times to be seated and that they’re reservations weren't being honored. Furthermore, users noticed that there was a disconnect between the reported times that are quoted by the restaurant and the actual times that they are waiting in order to be seated. We wanted to be able to provide real time updates to the users that would capture any changes in their wait times by providing them with real time updates.
The primary intentions of this design is to assist restaurant managers and personnel with managing wait times for guests and to emphasize to their customers that their time is valuable. We wanted this design to help improve the relationship between the restaurant management and the customers and that was the number one factor in our design. This design would also improve customer satisfaction and could possibly lead to repeat business for restaurant. We’re looking for a design that is mutually beneficial to both publics that will be utilizing our system.
The primary intentions of this design is to assist restaurant managers and personnel with managing wait times for guests and to emphasize to their customers that their time is valuable. We wanted this design to help improve the relationship between the restaurant management and the customers and that was the number one factor in our design. This design would also improve customer satisfaction and could possibly lead to repeat business for restaurant. We’re looking for a design that is mutually beneficial to both publics that will be utilizing our system.
User Scenarios
1. Log into Application
2. Select Restaurant
3. Select Number of Individuals in Party, Seat Section (Smoking, Non Smoking, Bar), and if they want a table or a booth (booth is only available on 2 or more individuals in the party as this isn't available for individual guests.
4. Select date and time for reservation.
5. Submit Information to Restaurant. Application will automatically generate a text message that informs the user their place is in line and with their approximate wait time.
6. Restaurant will generate text messages every 5-10 minutes, which will provide the user with updated information about their wait time.
7. The user will have option of either cancelling their reservation during this time or they could keep their reservation.
1. Log into Application
2. Select Restaurant
3. Select Number of Individuals in Party, Seat Section (Smoking, Non Smoking, Bar), and if they want a table or a booth (booth is only available on 2 or more individuals in the party as this isn't available for individual guests.
4. Select date and time for reservation.
5. Submit Information to Restaurant. Application will automatically generate a text message that informs the user their place is in line and with their approximate wait time.
6. Restaurant will generate text messages every 5-10 minutes, which will provide the user with updated information about their wait time.
7. The user will have option of either cancelling their reservation during this time or they could keep their reservation.
Evaluation of Design Alternative I
Design Constraints
1) Wait Time Accuracy
It might be difficult to display the accuracy in which tables are being cleaned. This would be a difficult task to undertake because there isn’t a standardized way to incorporate this into every message. One option is that it's usually inferred or interwoven into the existing wait time. Another option is to provide them with a message when it’s less than 5 minutes prior to your reservation that their table is currently being cleaned and restocked.
2) Message Delivery Guarantee
The system might be able to delivery the wait time notification message with efficiency and effectiveness but there is a way to ensure that the users receives the message. This can become problematic if the user isn’t in the restaurant to be called and seated by the greeter. Two solutions can resolve this confirm issue:
The application might have trouble detecting the location of the user. For instance a user may be making a reservation from the inside of the restaurant which should be given precedence to a user making a reference from away from the restaurant. Additionally the message notification must take in account that users may want to reserve a table at a restaurant at a later time than the time the reservation was made. Therefore it should be able to send notifications close to the desired time frame of the reservation or notify the users in advance that they should arrive at the restaurant at a certain time in order to meet their reservation.
4) Cancellation Request
Once the customer gets to and enter the restaurant but still needs to wait a few minute before seated the application used stop sending prompts to cancel reservation. At this point it’s safe to say the presence of the user at the restaurant is confirmation to keep reservation. However, the application should allow the user to cancel the reservation at any point on their own without any prompts.
5) Change Reservation Time
In the event a customer receives a notification and doesn't to cancel the reservation but wants to change the reservation to a later time, the application limits the user in doing so.
Heuristic Evaluation
Design Constraints
1) Wait Time Accuracy
It might be difficult to display the accuracy in which tables are being cleaned. This would be a difficult task to undertake because there isn’t a standardized way to incorporate this into every message. One option is that it's usually inferred or interwoven into the existing wait time. Another option is to provide them with a message when it’s less than 5 minutes prior to your reservation that their table is currently being cleaned and restocked.
2) Message Delivery Guarantee
The system might be able to delivery the wait time notification message with efficiency and effectiveness but there is a way to ensure that the users receives the message. This can become problematic if the user isn’t in the restaurant to be called and seated by the greeter. Two solutions can resolve this confirm issue:
- During the update notification the user need to reply and confirm reservation. If they don’t reply within a 2 - 5 minute. Resend the notification update again. If the results are the same then proceed to the next mitigation
- Have the user provide a secondary back-up number for the notification to be sent to in the event or case the primary phone is unable to receive the message.
The application might have trouble detecting the location of the user. For instance a user may be making a reservation from the inside of the restaurant which should be given precedence to a user making a reference from away from the restaurant. Additionally the message notification must take in account that users may want to reserve a table at a restaurant at a later time than the time the reservation was made. Therefore it should be able to send notifications close to the desired time frame of the reservation or notify the users in advance that they should arrive at the restaurant at a certain time in order to meet their reservation.
4) Cancellation Request
Once the customer gets to and enter the restaurant but still needs to wait a few minute before seated the application used stop sending prompts to cancel reservation. At this point it’s safe to say the presence of the user at the restaurant is confirmation to keep reservation. However, the application should allow the user to cancel the reservation at any point on their own without any prompts.
5) Change Reservation Time
In the event a customer receives a notification and doesn't to cancel the reservation but wants to change the reservation to a later time, the application limits the user in doing so.
Heuristic Evaluation
Strengths and Weakness
The message notification is a great way to decrease customer’s wait time at the restaurant. With a real time notifier it gives customers the liberty to do other things while they wait until a table becomes available. Ultimately this will increase their overall satisfaction and services with the restaurant which helps achieve the design space requirement and goal defined in the success criteria. However, this design doesn’t come without constraints which are pointed out in the section above. Most of the constraints seem to be resolvable with actionable steps which take away from the weakness of the design recommendation.
The message notification is a great way to decrease customer’s wait time at the restaurant. With a real time notifier it gives customers the liberty to do other things while they wait until a table becomes available. Ultimately this will increase their overall satisfaction and services with the restaurant which helps achieve the design space requirement and goal defined in the success criteria. However, this design doesn’t come without constraints which are pointed out in the section above. Most of the constraints seem to be resolvable with actionable steps which take away from the weakness of the design recommendation.
Design Alternative II
Often times when customers visit restaurants they like to order appetizers before they enjoy their main course or entree. The wait-time for ordering and receiving appetizers is not always customer friendly and is increased in two cases when i) the restaurant is crowded and ii) a large party places an order(or is being served). In order to increase customer satisfaction with NoWait+ while making reservations at a restaurant it would be an added value if customers could also order their appetizers. This will allow their pre-ordered appetizers and initial drink requests to be ready and brought out to them as their being seated or shortly after. Maybe there could be a function for the users to select the time period in which they would like their appetizers brought out to them once they're seated. Giving customers a voice and honoring their preferences is a sure fire way to increase their loyalty and satisfaction.
User Scenarios
1. Log into Application
2. Select Restaurant
3. Select Number of Individuals in Party, Seat Section (Smoking, Non Smoking, Bar), and if they want a table or a booth (booth is only available on 2 or more individuals in the party as this isn't available for individual guests.
4. Select date and time for reservation.
5. Submit Information to Restaurant.
6. Application will process information and show user wait time. Then ask user if he and/or party would like to pre-order appetizers.
7. If users select yes, the application will go to the appetizers menu.
8. The user will place the appetizers order.
9. Then the application will ask the user the time frame for the delivery of the appetizers.
10. The user enters he desired delivery time for appetizers.
11. The application prompts user to confirm order.
12. After the confirmation the application will process the order.[Note: Once an order is processed a hold will placed on the user’s account balance or credit card. It assumed that this information is entered during the creation of the user profile and before a reservation can be made.] Then the application will automatically generate a text me that informs the user their place is in line and with their approximate wait time.
13. The user will have a 5 minute window to cancel their reservation and pre-ordered appetizers without being penalized and charged.
14. The application will generate text message every 5 - 10 minutes, which will provide the user with update information about their wait time.
1. Log into Application
2. Select Restaurant
3. Select Number of Individuals in Party, Seat Section (Smoking, Non Smoking, Bar), and if they want a table or a booth (booth is only available on 2 or more individuals in the party as this isn't available for individual guests.
4. Select date and time for reservation.
5. Submit Information to Restaurant.
6. Application will process information and show user wait time. Then ask user if he and/or party would like to pre-order appetizers.
7. If users select yes, the application will go to the appetizers menu.
8. The user will place the appetizers order.
9. Then the application will ask the user the time frame for the delivery of the appetizers.
10. The user enters he desired delivery time for appetizers.
11. The application prompts user to confirm order.
12. After the confirmation the application will process the order.[Note: Once an order is processed a hold will placed on the user’s account balance or credit card. It assumed that this information is entered during the creation of the user profile and before a reservation can be made.] Then the application will automatically generate a text me that informs the user their place is in line and with their approximate wait time.
13. The user will have a 5 minute window to cancel their reservation and pre-ordered appetizers without being penalized and charged.
14. The application will generate text message every 5 - 10 minutes, which will provide the user with update information about their wait time.
Evaluation of Design Alternative II
Design Constraints
1) User’s credit card information must be encrypted so user can use the pre-order function free from risks.
2) Pre-order menu should mimic the real menu and be displayed appropriately on mobile devices. It should have enough details to support user in making decisions. Show reviews of the menu selections since they won't be able interact with the waiter to get an idea of how the food taste. Give a chef recommendation of the day, when placing order for appetizers to map between the real world and the application.
3) Pre-order function relies on restaurants to fulfill the obligations in preparing pre-order food before the party come. It is necessary to help restaurants to track the waiting time and adjust their operating time.
4) After placing order for appetizers, a hold needs to be place on the user card. A potential solution is that a user can add money to his profile so the bill can be charge against his profile/account balance.
5) The system would need to be able to handle pre-orders for large parties.
6) Adding guest for a large party over 6. This will require a lot of work for the reserver to add his guest and place their orders. The system will need to look into ways to make this easier for a party of 20.
Heuristic Evaluation
Design Constraints
1) User’s credit card information must be encrypted so user can use the pre-order function free from risks.
2) Pre-order menu should mimic the real menu and be displayed appropriately on mobile devices. It should have enough details to support user in making decisions. Show reviews of the menu selections since they won't be able interact with the waiter to get an idea of how the food taste. Give a chef recommendation of the day, when placing order for appetizers to map between the real world and the application.
3) Pre-order function relies on restaurants to fulfill the obligations in preparing pre-order food before the party come. It is necessary to help restaurants to track the waiting time and adjust their operating time.
4) After placing order for appetizers, a hold needs to be place on the user card. A potential solution is that a user can add money to his profile so the bill can be charge against his profile/account balance.
5) The system would need to be able to handle pre-orders for large parties.
6) Adding guest for a large party over 6. This will require a lot of work for the reserver to add his guest and place their orders. The system will need to look into ways to make this easier for a party of 20.
Heuristic Evaluation
Strength and Weakness
One of the problem behind waiting for restaurant's table is that the dinner services become slow as well. People may wait rather long time until their food get served. The strength of this design alternative is that it enhances user dining experiences by offering customers options to pre-order appetizers so they would not feel too hungry before enjoying their dinner. Meanwhile, pre-order food would help restaurant to plan ahead on preparing food, which relieves the stress of restaurant in operating peak time. The weakness of the design alternative is that pre-order is a self service that restaurant guests do not have a waiter or waitress to help them in making decisions. In addition, this design would not support to order something other than appetizer.
One of the problem behind waiting for restaurant's table is that the dinner services become slow as well. People may wait rather long time until their food get served. The strength of this design alternative is that it enhances user dining experiences by offering customers options to pre-order appetizers so they would not feel too hungry before enjoying their dinner. Meanwhile, pre-order food would help restaurant to plan ahead on preparing food, which relieves the stress of restaurant in operating peak time. The weakness of the design alternative is that pre-order is a self service that restaurant guests do not have a waiter or waitress to help them in making decisions. In addition, this design would not support to order something other than appetizer.
Design Alternative III
The design alternative is trying to offer restaurant guests opportunities to find a comfortable physical place for their wait time. When customer guests are dining with their family or friends, they enjoy chatting with their family or friends during the wait time. Bar would be one physical place for people to do so. The desired functions of bar locator is to inform restaurant guests about bar service availability either in restaurant or out. Bar locator is also supposed to send messages to bar and prepare service once the waiting group confirmed they are interested.
User Scenarios :
1. Log into Application
2. Select Restaurant
3. Select Number of Individuals in Party, Seat Section (Smoking, Non Smoking, Bar), and if they want a table or a booth (booth is only available on 2 or more individuals in the party as this isn't available for individual guests).
4. Select date and time for reservation.
5. Submit Information to Restaurant.
6. Application will process information and show user wait time and asks user if they are interested in waiting in a bar.
a. If the restaurant has bar service available
1. Select yes if they want to wait in the restaurant's bar
1a. The application sends confirmation to restaurant about bar services wanted for this waiting group.
1b. The application returns wait code and shows user their bar service is ready
2.Select no if they do not want to wait in a bar
2a. The application returns waiting code along with wait time.
b. If the restaurant does not have a bar service available and user waiting time is more than 45 minutes.
1. Select yes if they want to search a bar to be seated and wait
1a. The application brings the user to the wait plus screen and show a list of bars nearby the restaurant by default. User is able to search a bar nearby their preferred location.
1b. User selects to see the detail of a bar
1c. User confirms to wait in the bar and the application returns wait code and shows user their bar service is ready
2. Select no or quit from bar locator screen
2a. The application returns wait code along with wait time.
1. Log into Application
2. Select Restaurant
3. Select Number of Individuals in Party, Seat Section (Smoking, Non Smoking, Bar), and if they want a table or a booth (booth is only available on 2 or more individuals in the party as this isn't available for individual guests).
4. Select date and time for reservation.
5. Submit Information to Restaurant.
6. Application will process information and show user wait time and asks user if they are interested in waiting in a bar.
a. If the restaurant has bar service available
1. Select yes if they want to wait in the restaurant's bar
1a. The application sends confirmation to restaurant about bar services wanted for this waiting group.
1b. The application returns wait code and shows user their bar service is ready
2.Select no if they do not want to wait in a bar
2a. The application returns waiting code along with wait time.
b. If the restaurant does not have a bar service available and user waiting time is more than 45 minutes.
1. Select yes if they want to search a bar to be seated and wait
1a. The application brings the user to the wait plus screen and show a list of bars nearby the restaurant by default. User is able to search a bar nearby their preferred location.
1b. User selects to see the detail of a bar
1c. User confirms to wait in the bar and the application returns wait code and shows user their bar service is ready
2. Select no or quit from bar locator screen
2a. The application returns wait code along with wait time.
Evaluation of Design Alternative III
Design Constraints
1) Restricted User Groups
User groups may be restricted as young adults are the primary audiences of bar. User groups with children and elderly people may not interested in waiting in a bar.
2) Information Retrieval and Filter.
The application will need to return lounges and places that won’t become competition for the reserved restaurant. This mean it will need to be able retrieve information about nearby restaurants and bars. Additionally it will need to know if the reserved restaurant has a bar, as to make that the number one recommendation.
3) Location detection
The application will need to be able detect the location of the reserved restaurant as well as nearby bars in order to provide recommendations.
4) Party Size
The purpose of this design is for friends and family to socialize while they wait to be seated at table. In order to be in a comfortable space, the application needs to know if the recommended bar locations can accommodate the party size. This will require updates from the bar locations to the application about the status of their crowdedness.
Heuristic Evaluation
Design Constraints
1) Restricted User Groups
User groups may be restricted as young adults are the primary audiences of bar. User groups with children and elderly people may not interested in waiting in a bar.
2) Information Retrieval and Filter.
The application will need to return lounges and places that won’t become competition for the reserved restaurant. This mean it will need to be able retrieve information about nearby restaurants and bars. Additionally it will need to know if the reserved restaurant has a bar, as to make that the number one recommendation.
3) Location detection
The application will need to be able detect the location of the reserved restaurant as well as nearby bars in order to provide recommendations.
4) Party Size
The purpose of this design is for friends and family to socialize while they wait to be seated at table. In order to be in a comfortable space, the application needs to know if the recommended bar locations can accommodate the party size. This will require updates from the bar locations to the application about the status of their crowdedness.
Heuristic Evaluation
Strength and Weakness
The strengths of this design alternative is that it tries to find a meaningful way to integrate physical world and digital world by providing restaurant guests a computational application to search for appropriate physical place to spend their wait time. The weakness of the design alternative is that bar is only one place for people to enjoy themselves before their dinner. On the other hand, bar will restrict the use group such as people under 21 or elderly people. Similarly, the design doesn’t take into account party size and bar location crowdedness status. This is important because users are going to want to go to a place that’s not too packed with people. Alternative potential location recommendations to improve these issues is to show more options to user for spending their wait time based on the restaurant’s location (e.g. near mall, point of interest)
The strengths of this design alternative is that it tries to find a meaningful way to integrate physical world and digital world by providing restaurant guests a computational application to search for appropriate physical place to spend their wait time. The weakness of the design alternative is that bar is only one place for people to enjoy themselves before their dinner. On the other hand, bar will restrict the use group such as people under 21 or elderly people. Similarly, the design doesn’t take into account party size and bar location crowdedness status. This is important because users are going to want to go to a place that’s not too packed with people. Alternative potential location recommendations to improve these issues is to show more options to user for spending their wait time based on the restaurant’s location (e.g. near mall, point of interest)
Heuristic evaluation Criteria
Nielsen's ten usability heuristics were applied. Each criteria was given a number as follows:
The set of heuristics provided a checklist and baseline for identifying, categorizing usability issues for evaluation. When issues were identified, their severity was ranked along Nielsen’s rating scale for usability problems
The set of heuristics provided a checklist and baseline for identifying, categorizing usability issues for evaluation. When issues were identified, their severity was ranked along Nielsen’s rating scale for usability problems