Contextual Inquiry and Task AnalysisProblem and Solution OverviewVia CentroPyramid Alehouse, Brewery & RestaurantAnalysis of New and Existing TasksInterface DesignStory Boards of Selected TasksGroup 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 AnalysisProblem and Solution OverviewAs 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 DescriptionsUltimately, 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 shadowZach 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, shediscovered 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’sAndrei 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 & RestaurantOur 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
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