Cheryl Berryman
Usability in Restaurant Point-of-Sale
Introduction
2016
Overview
This project fulfilled my masters degree graduation requirement at Arizona State University.
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Inspiration to work on restaurant point-of-sale (POS) interfaces came from my own serving experience. Among pressures in the workplace, new servers frequently reported frustrations with these programs.
The goal of this work was to develop a user friendly interface that could also help new servers learn efficient order taking strategies.
Why do this?
Decreasing the amount of time servers spend on these interfaces allow more focus on the customer. Something that is intuitive or requires little training can reduce user error and frustration, while also increasing restaurant profits.
Process
Persona
After talking to several servers, a persona was created to answer "why" this problem was important.
Design
Knowing the user, I decided to organize the interface based on a server's workflow (drinks > appetizers > entrees > desserts). Categories and items were also laid out accordingly in proximity. I wanted to place related items together that would lead the user to the next step.
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Two interface prototypes were created in Axure for A/B testing:
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- One interface followed NCR's default Aloha Table Service program.
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- The other interface was designed with usability.
Wireframes
Initial concept
Much of the interface featured tabs in the early planning phase.
Eventually the tabs were removed.
Testing
I wanted to see if the experimental interface was more efficient for users. So I randomly assigned 32 users to both interfaces.
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Industry interface: http://6isrc5.axshare.com/Start-1
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Experimental interface: http://6fsz4i.axshare.com/Part-1-start
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Results
Users spent less time and made more efficient choices when given a usable interface. The amount of errors made were the same across the board, but asking users to enter categorized orders caused them to work significantly faster. In a way, new servers can also be taught to work efficiently.
Additional Details
If interested, you can see a more detailed description of the research here. Full write-up here.