INDUSTRY:
Hospitality
TIMELINE:
2019 - 2020
UX / UI Designer
USE CASES:
Dispatcher Web App
Worker iOS App
WHAT I DID:
Research
User Testing

Prototyping
Design System
MY ROLE:
CONTRIBUTION
Univers - This is a new startup for the hotel business a features design which I was leading, being responsible for interviewing stakeholders, designing experiences, running user tests, polishing QA builds with eng until they were good to be shipped and iterating based on metrics afterwards, being responsible for building, prototypes, webapp and mobile app.
PROBLEM SPACE
Labor Management in the hotel industry has become a very big issue nowadays because responses need to be faster and more accurate than always to keep the customer satisfaction.

UX in the tools that the industry is using now are very old and lacking of deep understanding of the user.

Systems in use now do not properly work together, so accounting and labor management very confusing.

Very expensive to maintain all of this softwares individually and probably the main issue is when one of the platforms decide that they are getting out of the market, because the alternative solutions are usually more expensive, require training again and is not guaranteed that it will work with the existing software.
OUTCOME
The idea of Univers app is to combine the main functionality of all of this tools in one unique system that tracks tickets and people.

My team and I developed an application that included a Desktop (webapp) version for administrators and a mobile application for hotel employees. It helped to optimize the work of staff by 30% and get rid of expensive old non-flexible software, saving up to $ 3,5 million a year in an average hotel.
PROCESS
I used design process is Triple Loop Product lifecycle. Maybe one day I can meet Eric Ries in person. He is the author of Lean Startup Methodology.cts.
The goal of this part is to validate problems, analyze insights and formulate hypotheses to test. Initiate activities like user interviews and user testing.
When we have a clear understanding of why, how and what exactly we are going to build we can focus on the build phase.
Running surveys, user feedback reviews, tagging, segmentation, feature retention and bounce rates can give a lot of information on how we improved or worsened the main business metrics specified in the beginning.
LEARN
INTERVIEWS
I went to the hotels and talked to the users. I had a set of specific questions for each category of users (handymen, cleaning lady, front desk etc) and I spent a few days following each step that they were doing and collecting data for the future and how it all can affect the product.

(An example would be a cleaning lady cleans a room in 30 minutes and has an hour lunch break, so she can have roughly 6 rooms cleaned a day).
By optimizing this process, the cleaner can clean one more room and the administrator will take care of which rooms are already in and which are not yet.
Now, to find out which rooms you need to clean and tediously request a list from the administrator at the beginning of the working day, it takes 30 minutes
Also, a video & photo recording of all interviews and work processes of the hotel employees was made in order not to miss the slightest moments in the work of the staff.
RESEARCH
I went through Asana, Monday.com and also the actual hospitality services and programs used in the Hotel to be able to identify what works now and what features are actually used and what I can implement from other project management systems. An example would be - tracking time on each given task. None of the current Hospitality solutions have this functionality.
ANALYZING
Have elements were assembled to create an information architecture. This helped to provide a clear direction for the most important functions.

Next, we have compiled a user journey map that displays the entire path of the worker to reach the completion of the ticket and fully describes his interaction with the product.
PROTOTYPE
I started by creating custom threads and all the actions the user can take. Creation of a paper sketch first, and then a more detailed prototype. And finally, an interactive prototype.
TOOLS
EXPEREMENT & TEST
I shared interactive prototypes with key stakeholders such as the team itself, as well as some of the users I spoke to initially, and walked them through the journey from ticket creation to work and ticket completion. I also collected their feedback.
Problem:
As a result of the tests, problems with the unobvious ticket management were identified, since in order to change the status of the ticket, it was necessary to open the ticket itself, this is extra clicks and the time of interaction with the product.

Challenges:
Modify the ticket card so that it does not take up much space on the screen.

Solution:
It was decided to duplicate ticket status management and basic metrics on the ticket card, as well as increase the size of ticket status controls.
UX CHALLENGES
After prototyping and testing the main user paths, I made a complete description of the functionality. This document was handed over to the team of developers in order to get another return. Based on the results of which we can collect certain metrics such as Development speed and Implementation complexity of a particular feature
Description a prototype for developers
BUILD
INTERFACE FOR DISPATCHER
Changes were made and began to create the graphical part of the interface on the main product page, an atomic design system was also delightfully created.
TOOLS
Changes were made and began to create the graphical part of the interface on the main product page, an atomic design system was also delightfully created.
Problem:
Administrator spent a lot of time when assigning tickets, as it was realized by lists.

Challenges:
Need to figure out how to speed up this process and link new tickets and free workers

Solution:
An additional feature has been developed, a board screen with the ability to drag and drop. Each administrator can customize it and display their boards. For example, the assignment of tickets has been accelerated by 4x
Problem:
Need to filter this information it has almost endless possibilities.

Challenges:
Decide the limits of the filters and what kind of sorting features we would like to have in the mains screens.

Solution:
Identifying what was the information shared between the main data points , this allow us to create the categories of the filters. For this exercise we used color code and letters to visualize the different categories. We ended up with 4 categories, status of the tickets, departments (they will be customizable) , work type and the location of the ticket.
CHALLENGES
Problem:
As a result of the presentation and testing of the first version of the product, we received feedback on the need to implement a blocked ticket

Challenges:
The task was to introduce this functionality into an already working system and receive instant notification for the administratorn.

Solution:
I updated the user path in such a way that if the ticket was in the pause status, there was a choice to make the ticket blocked, as well as to call or send a private message to the administrator with a standard notification.
Problem:
Administrators who had old mobile phones complained that it was inconvenient to use the menu as it was too small.

Challenges:
Re-try and fix the product under all permissions using the Fat Finger Friendly rule.

Solution:
Redesigned all screens and controls for full screen mode
UI CHALLENGES
The application is intended
for hotel workers
Tickets with the same status
are grouped into stacks
Large interface elements for comfortable work of employees
The application is intended
for hotel workers
Tickets with the same status
are grouped into stacks
Large interface elements for comfortable work of employees
iOS APPLICATION FOR WORKER
Special Thanks!
Here's a small fraction of people who I want to thank for being my partners in crime and supporting me during this unique experience of building Univers

David Pando, Nicolas Botero
© 2003 - 2021, Art Osetrov
IF CRAFTING A BEAUTIFUL UX & UI RESONATES WITH YOU, CONTACT ME.
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