Contextual Inquiry And Task Analysis

Group 1: WAITer (Waiter Assistant Information Technology)

http://ratbert.bmrc.berkeley.edu/courseware/cs160/fall01/Projects/Group1/

Andrei Boutyline (role: PDA Programming)

Neetin Gulati (role: Testing)

Ha Nguyen (role: Documentation)

Randy Shoopman (role: Web Programming)

Contextual Inquiry and Task Analysis

Problem and Solution Overview

As restaurants become increasingly busy, waiters and waitresses are finding themselves with having to reduce the level of customer service in order to balance their higher volume of customers. We believe it is time to replace the archaic use of paper and pencil with the digital technologies that are currently available. Information technology has revolutionized how we work and applying that trend to the restaurant industry is a logical next step. Appropriate use of technology would lead to more efficient waiters and waitresses. Our solution is to design a PDA application that will help the server complete many of their tasks, as well as provide real time information. Some of the tasks would include order taking, wireless order submission, communication via messaging, credit card transactions, and receipt printing. The system would also provide real time and static data to enhance the server’s awareness. Order status, food item availability, customer statistics, and nutritional information would be some of the information accessible from the server’s PDA. Our design philosophy will be easy use and fast access to program functions.

Contextual Inquiry Interview Descriptions

Ultimately, the main purpose of our system is to increase the efficiency of restaurant servers by taking advantage of technologies available today. Therefore, choosing waiters and waitresses as the system’s target users was an obvious choice. Although restaurant managers, kitchen staff, as well as restaurant patrons will be affected either directly or indirectly by our system, servers will be the primary users of our interface. Having identified the target users, our group was able to find subjects for the contextual inquiry interviews at Via Centro, Fat Apple’s, and Pyramid Alehouse. Although these restaurants have differing environments, we found common tasks and themes in the servers’ work practices. The most evident commonality was that all servers had to quickly take orders from the customers and communicate them clearly to the kitchen staff. Two of the servers used electronic systems while the other used slips of paper. Other common tasks included the delivery of food and drinks and the processing of bills. The most notable theme that was shared among servers was the goal of serving customers as quickly as possible, while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. Specific details about each contextual inquiry interview are provided below.

Via Centro

Via Centro, a small Italian restaurant on Center St., was where Ha Nguyen was able to find a waiter kind enough to be the subject of my contextual inquiry. The setting of the restaurant was slightly formal and intimate. Ha’s subject Zach was 26 years old with approximately 4 years of experience as a waiter; however, his employment at Via Centro only began a couple of months ago. Having missed the usual lunch patrons, she was unable to shadow Zach waiting on customers as I had hoped to do. However, he provided simulations of various tasks, during which Ha asked questions and encouraged comments. For example, when he demonstrated how orders are processed, she discovered that Via Centro has its own electronic order-submission system. This system includes two stationary consols that servers use to send their orders to the kitchen and process bills. The interface of these consols comprises of a small screen surrounded by ATM-like buttons that Zach detests. He complained that the buttons are hard to push and that the system never gives an acknowledgment when certain buttons were pushed.

Fat Apple’s

Andrei interviewed waitress Jackie Bendzinski from Fat Apple’s, a small café-like restaurant. She is 20 years old, and this is her second job as a waitress. Andrei shadowed Jackie, asking her questions when relevant. Being a good waiter, in her opinion, involves being aware of the state and mood of all of the tables she is serving. Orders for entrées need to be timed in such a way that they are ready exactly when the guests are finished with the appetizers. Checks need to be brought when the guests are ready leave. She clearly indicated that any timing control or timing reminders in the PDA device we are designing would be unwanted, indicating that it would be annoying and slightly insulting. She likes the idea of a PDA ordering tool; however, she says that if writing down orders with such a tool would involve going through menus it would be too slow. She suggests that the menus should be there, but there should be an extra option of entering an acronym or a code for the order via pen. The features that Jackie listed as being most useful in a PDA ordering tool would be the ability to split checks easily and to transfer a table to a different waiter if the original waiter needs to leave.

Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery & Restaurant

Our last interview was at Pyramid Alehouse and was conducted by Neetin Gulati and Ha Nguyen. This restaurant is quite large, consisting of two floors, and has a casual environment. Here, we had the experience of following around Tempe Minaga, a 23-year old Berkeley alum who had a couple years experience as a waitress. We were able to shadow Tempe as she served one table from start to finish, as well as wait on other tables at the same time. We were able to see how she took down orders on her notepad and then entered them into onto the Squirrel Consol System. The Squirrel system uses a touch screen to enter items, with the entire menu accessible and customizable with just a few clicks. We were able to see how orders go to the bar and the kitchen, as well as how billing issues are resolved. Tempe was generally happy with the way the current software worked because it could handle tasks like bill splitting very easily. It also gave her the option of separating orders into courses and selecting when courses would be sent to the kitchen for preparation. Tempe encouraged our questions, allowed us to look over her shoulder as she interacted with the customers, and walk all around the restaurant with her.

Task Analysis Questions

1. Who is going to use the system? The users of the system will be waiters and waitresses working in restaurants where they take orders at the customers’ tables.

2. What tasks do they now perform? The servers typically take orders from the customers, process the orders, deliver the food to the table, periodically check on the customers, and process the bills. Presently, most servers will take orders using paper and pencil. Some restaurants, such as Via Centro, have computerized consoles on which they are able to electronically send orders to the kitchen. At cheaper restaurants, servers will typically walk orders to the kitchen.

3. What tasks are desired? Overall, servers seem to want an ordering system that will increase the efficiency of their work while not increasing its complexity. Zach, from Via Centro, desired the ability to wirelessly submit orders to the kitchen. Jackie from Fat Apples, desired simple menus that can be instantaneously accessed, the ability to split customer bills, and an electronic way to communicate with other employees.

4. How are tasks learned? Users may require a quick introduction to the system, but the details of performing specific tasks will be learned through actually using the system themselves. We expect experienced servers to adapt to the system quicker as it will be more intuitive to them than to new servers.

5. Where are tasks performed? All tasks are performed in the restaurant. Some tasks, such as taking orders, will take place before a table. Other tasks, like messaging an employee, may take place elsewhere in the restaurant.

6. What is the relationship between the user and the data? The data encapsulates all of the necessary information that the server needs to know in order to fulfill the needs of his/her customers.

7. What other tools does the user have? In addition to the PDA that will run our program, servers will have paper and pencils to process orders in the unlikely event that our system should be unavailable.

8. How do users communicate with each other? In addition to the usual verbal communication, servers using our system will have access to an instant messaging utility.

9. How often are tasks performed? The basic tasks, such as inputting orders and processing bills, will correlate directly with the influx of customers.

10. What are the time constraints on the tasks? Our system should allow servers to perform their tasks at a rate no slower than the traditional methods. With experienced users, servers will be able to carry out their tasks even quicker using our system.

11. What happens when things go wrong? Our system will be built with easy data-entry correction capabilities, which will handle most situations. In extreme situations, such as PDA failure, servers will have to revert back to taking orders with paper and pencil until problem can be solved.

Analysis of New and Existing Tasks

1. (easy): A customer at table 5 has a complaint and wishes to speak with a manager. Contact a manager and send him/her to table 5.

2. (easy): Table 2 ordered buffalo wings as an appetizer and two orders of meatloaf.

The customers are almost finished with their appetizer so you need to send notify the kitchen staff to begin preparing the meatloaf.

3. (moderate): Your shift just ended, but your current tables (2, 4, & 6) still require service. Find one or more servers that will be able to add these tables to their workload.

4. (moderate): Bob, a customer at table 1, complains that his steak was overcooked. He doesn't want another steak so you need to subtract it from his bill. In addition, in order to comply with the restaurant policies, the customer is entitled to a free dessert. Bob wishes to have the apple pie so place the order, but do not add the charges to his bill.

5. (hard): The 4 customers at table 7 have completed their meals and are ready for the check. They have requested that you provide them with four separate bills reflecting the following breakdown:

Customer 1: hamburger, coke (cash payment)

Customer 2: hamburger, ice tea (credit payment)

Customer 3: Cesar salad, clam chowder, flan, coke (credit payment)

Customer 4: spaghetti (credit payment)

6. (hard): The 3 customers at table 6 are ready for you to take their orders. Their orders are as follows:

Customer 1: potato salad (with the addition of cheddar cheese on top),

BLT sandwich

Customer 2: mixed green salad (with ranch dressing on the side),

water with lemon and no ice,

garden burger (with Swiss cheese, no onions, no mayonnaise)

Customer 3: coke, spaghetti

Interface Design

The goals of our user-interface are simplicity and quick access. Our product will have the ability to view the restaurant layout, record statistics about a table, take orders, send orders to the kitchen at the server’s discretion, modify charges, process credit cards, split checks, message other employees, write notes for a particular table, and view a server’s personal information (e.g. total daily tips and work schedule).

Every screen will have a vertical toolbar (Figure 1) on the left side and a horizontal toolbar along the bottom. The vertical toolbar will include the time, a button going to the restaurant homepage, and numbered links going to individual table homepages. The horizontal toolbar will include back and forward navigational buttons and icons linking the user to the servers’ homepage, the messenger tool, and the logout screen.

After logging in (see website for log-in screen), the server is taken to the restaurant homepage (Figure 2). From there, he/she sees a map of the tables. The user can zoom in and out among three views – Table View, Room View, and Restaurant View.

The numbered links found on the vertical toolbar take the server to the individual table home pages (Figure 3). On the table homepage, you can see the current status of a table (open, waiting to order, waiting for food, etc.), the time the party came in, the number of people in the party, and any messages relating to the table. There will also be links to the table notepad (Figure 4), order description (Figure 5), and billing information (Figure 6) for the table. The table notepad will enable the waiter to quickly take notes. There will be no handwriting recognition; rather, the image would be saved so the waiter could use his or her own shorthand.

The messaging feature (Figure 7) will look similar to AOL Instant Messenger. There will be a list of active users. Along the bottom, there will be buttons to write a message and to read a message (if applicable). The server will see all the users currently logged into the system, and therefore would not be able to add or remove users. Once again, there will be no handwriting recognition so that users could quickly scribble a note and send the image to another user.

Story Boards of Selected Tasks

Task 1 (easy):

User selects the messenger feature by clicking the mail icon. Manager is chosen as the recipient. This leads to a screen that the user can use to compose and send a short message.

Task 4 (moderate):

User starts by adding the free apple pie. This is achieved by first selecting table 1. The home page for table 1 is displayed and the ‘Order’ option is clicked. Table 1’s order is shown. Since we wish to add a pie, the ‘Add Item’ command is picked.
The user now navigates through the menu and chooses ‘Apple Pie’. The system returns the user to the order summary. The apple pie order is sent to the kitchen by clicking ‘Send’. To adjust the bill for table 1, the user now clicks the ‘Bill’ option.
With the bill displayed for table 1, the user clicks on the steak item. The price is then set to zero and a reason is provided. This same process is then completed for the apple pie.

Task 6 (hard):