Order Management System
One stop shop to see all of your customer orders.
Introduction
In today’s fast-paced business environment, the usability of the order management queue is crucial for operations. This project seeks to improve the experience of the current order queue by streamlining the UI and anticipating what user actions are important. By making the order management system more user-friendly, we can improve efficiency, reduce staff training, and user satisfaction.
Why are we doing this?
We're building this feature because we have received over 50 feature request tickets from our users, highlighting a strong demand for this functionality. Many users have indicated that the current flow is too cumbersome, which affects their overall experience and efficiency.
Problems
Our current system has separate screens for each order queue, requiring users to navigate between them to service their customers.
Decentralized Order Queue
Catering Queue
Online Ordering Queue
Curbside Pickup Queue
Delivery Queue
Flow is cumbersome
In order to close out an order, users have to travel between different screens to complete their task.
We interviewed 7 users, 2 managers and 5 cashiers, all with different verticals including Fast Casual, Quick Service, and Table Service. Here’s what we found out.
Cashiers have a hard time finding the right order due to how many orders they receive online and in-person.
Managers find it quite cumbersome to travel between the order screen and queue screen to apply certain override functions to the order.
Businesses who utilize different order queues get lost between which queue they are in since all of them look very similar.
Qualitative Research
“Why do we have to go through the ordering screen to get access to the payment screen? It feels unnecessary. ”
“We use different ordering queues and it’s annoying having to return to the dashboard just to select a different queue. Especially if there is a line of customers in front of us.”
“Our customers bring in discounts or loyalty redemption codes. It’s annoying to apply the codes since we have to go into the ordering or payment screen. ”
Solution
Consolidate all order queues into one new UI.
Within the UI, we display any necessary primary & secondary actions for users to complete their task.
New User Flow
From Concept to Development
UI Mapping & Lo-Fi Mockup
After a few iterations, here’s what we moved forward with.
High-Fidelity Mockup
To expedite servicing of customers, we adapted the payment screen into the sidebar so users do not have to travel to a different screen.
Sidebar Payment Adaptations
If there are multiple data points, users have the ability to sort and filter in this element.
Filter/Sorting Popup
This element is also used to switch between the different order queues.
User Feedback
The iterations of the design were based off of feedback from merchant and front of house employees. We had the opportunity to interview multiple businesses but here’s what stood out.
“Just wanted to share some feedback! Being able to pay right at the order queue screen makes the whole process smoother and faster. ”
Dave’s Hot Chicken
180 Site locations
“This is a good start! Being able to switch between different queues on the same screen is much faster.”
Another Broken Egg Cafe
80 Site locations
“Being able to configure what order actions based off of the order queue screen helps my cashier service the customer quicker.”
Fat Brands
Global Franchising Company
Outcome
Over 12,500 establishments adopted the new system, showcasing its significant positive impact and user acceptance. Additionally, we increased our NPS score by 10% for major key clients in Q3 and Q4 as a result of rolling out two major features, including this project.
Retrospect
The project is a good textbook example of why early user validation is so important. Early concepts of the UI didn’t include certain features that empowered users to be more efficient in their job. If we had never met with merchants and cashiers early on, we would’ve never found out about other actions that they need.
Next Steps
One of the most requested features after the release of the Order Management System was to create a mega order queue. This feature would essentially be an omni-channel queue that holds all orders regardless of channel, whether from the primary source or third-party entities.
Interested in more? Check out the other things I did!
Increasing Speed of Use when Servicing a Customer
Streamlining the ordering experience when a customer orders multiple products.
Revel System Design System
A list of components that I created for all of my major projects.
