Software Development
Work Scheduler
Enhancing usability for employees
Overview
The goal of this project as to develop a new work scheduler application to replace the sponsor's existing system which as difficult to use. The team created a cross-platform application using React Native which communicates with a back-end service built with Node.js and PostgreSQL.
Team Members
Yi Qing Khoo, Kai Burkholder, Serena Villanueva, Gordon Mai
Skills showcased
User flow, User persona, Front-end development
The Problem
Existing work scheduling system which was on a web-platform did not translate well to a mobile version which was hard for users to use on their phones.
How might we design and develop a system that is easy to use for users?
Features
Having gathered pain points from our sponsor such as hard-to-use mobile version as well as limited messaging feature along with a competitive audit of existing work scheduling application, the team decided on the following features to be developed for the duration of our project.
- Cross-platform system that can be used on mobile and laptop
- Messaging system where staff can message each other as well as create group chats
- Sign up system through invitation only
- User profiles for each staff member
- Clock-in/Clock-out system
- Staff have the ability to check and swap shifts while managers have the added ability to add and edit shifts
- Monetization feature linked to stripe for use of application
- Staff ability to block time off
Process
Whilst programming the front and back end code, the team had created user flows to for the two main user types of Manager and Employee to understand they steps that are required to use the system. This had allowed us to better understand the screens that the front-end team had to create.
Manager User Flow
Employee User Flow
Final screens
I was in-charge of the clock-in/clock-out system, shift swaping system as well as the monetization system of the final application.
With more time...
It would be nice to do some usability testing with the users as the only people that had interacted with the app were the student development team. The potential users may have a different opinions on the userflow which could help us to improve the application. It would also be nice to have the users involved in the design, understanding their needs rather than simplying going off the requirements given by our sponsor.
Developing this app, we were more focused on functionality. I would like to improve the interface especially for the ‘requests/open shifts’ tab and ‘manage subscription’ page. The designs were very basic and similar as well as to also match the company colors instead of looking generic.