Project Overview
This system is designed to help streamline the day to day running of various small businesses by reducing the time taken to do basic tasks, helping to maintain efficiency and autonomizing user processes.
After conducting interviews with various small businesses I indentified a key issue. Most cannot afford a bespoke system, so use many separate "off the shelf" solutions to run their day to day tasks. While this can work, it hurts efficiency in performing simple day to day tasks.
For example:
Windows for calendar.
Invoicing system for in store sales.
Website backend invoicing system for web sales.
Quickbooks for accounting purposes.
Courier website for order tracking.
Email client for messaging.
The aim of this system will be to bring these processes together into one dashboard, improving efficiency and productivity. The CMS will be sold to businesses as a modular system. There will be a “base” model containing all necessary functions and bespoke add-ons or modules can be added to the system as required.
User Interviews
Once a plan was in place, I visited various small businesses and carried out user interviews with stakeholders, their employees and other potential users to really gain an insight into how this system will be used contextually.
I gave users a list of several key factors which they would consider:
Most important on the BCMS system.
Most helpful to be on the dashboard of the BCMS system.
Content Audit
A content audit is a great tool to show stake holders and potential users (Employees) a full listing of all the systems potential functionality. This information was useful throughout the project as at various stages when faced with development limitations we were able to quickly modify and change direction without causing issues to other areas of the software.
Red Route Analysis
I performed a red route analysis to confirm and prioritise key features of the system. This analysis will help create a consistent and efficient designs for the users.
Wireframes & high fidelity prototypes
Wireframes are a great way to lay down a new design for testing purposes before committing time and resources to a hi-fidelity mockup. I based these wireframes on both the created persona’s and red route analysis to create an improved user focused design layout.
Problems And Solutions
The following problems were encountered early on in the process and thanks to the valuable insight we received during iterative usability testing, we were able to overcome.
Problem: Too much on desktop dashboard to adequately fit on mobile app version.
Solution: Minimise content to "key functions only" on mobile dashboard. Additional functions can be added via settings.
Problem: Viewing daily tasks cannot be sorted.
Solution: Create a sort feature to allow all users to sort by time, date, name, job type and user.
Final Prototype
The Masterpiece.
