Essential Use Cases [RedBeacon]

Essential Use Cases [RedBeacon Design Challenge]

UX Guidelines

  • Submitting a request is not the sole goal of the app
  • In support of the vision to grow the RedBeacon service beyond a point solution, I suggest a re-imagining of the app and service to be a Home Improvement Project “notepad”, where users can take notes on home improvement projects that they want to do or have done, immediately or in the future, fully formed ideas/projects in their head or otherwise.
    • The idea here is that with a list of such projects maintained, it will lower users’ resistance or activation energy required to hit that “Submit Request” button.
    • Users can record partial projects or whole projects and review them at their leisure without the pressure to submit it.
    • This means essentially building an app that serves as a To Do list for home improvement projects with the built-in function of “sending it off to professionals” to get it done.
    • They can also collect pictures of solutions that they like along the way rather than needing to have them right then.
  • Allow users to do as much as possible before requiring them to commit. Also, sell the benefits at the point of commitment (i.e., how they benefit from creating an account or logging in or what happens when they submit a request):
    • Creating an account
    • Logging in
    • Submitting  a request

Essential Use Case Template

Name: “Essential Use Case Template (Quick)”

ID: EUC-

Preconditions:

  • Precondition 1

Postconditions:

  • Post-condition 1
User Intention System Responsibility
   
   
   
   
   
   

Essential Use Cases

Name: “First Use”

ID: EUC-001

Preconditions:

  • User has installed the app, and is opening it for the first time.
  • User has gone through the intro material
  • User is now on the “Home” screen of the application

Postconditions:

  • One Home Improvement Project has been entered, at least minimally (say, at least one name or one picture)
User Intention System Responsibility
Record a home improvement to do item

  • ID: EUC-Ext-001: Attach a photo or video
  • EUC-Ext-002: Enter home improvement to do parameters
    • Categorize the to do item into pre-existing categories
    • Indicate available input methods
    • Collect minimum required amount of data
    • Collect optional data
    • Indicate available next steps
In the course of task performance:

  • Finish the to do item entry
  • Interrupt item entry with another activity or distraction
    • Postpone this task–just leave it where it is.
    • Start a new task
    • Leave the app
    • Leave app in foreground and let screen go to sleep
    • Leave app in foreground and put screen to sleep
  • Explicitly decide to leave the task “for now”/Explicitly choose to finish it later
  • Decide the app is not for them and abandons the app entirely
 Maintain state of user data. Save for the resumption of activity later.

Name: “Attach a Photo or Video”

ID: EUC-Ext-001

Preconditions:

  • User is entering a home improvement project in the app

Postconditions:

  • User has attached a photo or video to the home improvement project and has the option to add more photos or videos or to continue with entry of the home improvement project
User Intention System Responsibility
User wants to attach a photo or video to a home improvement project Offer the choice of attaching an existing photo or video or attaching a new one.

  • ID: EUC-Ext-003: Take a new photo or video and attach it to the project
User wants to:

  • Add another photo or video –> Repeat last step
  • Enter other Home Improvement project data
  • Start a new project
  • Leave the app
  

Name: “Attach an Existing Photo or Video”

ID: EUC-Ext-002

Preconditions:

  • User is entering a home improvement project in the app
  • User has indicated that they would like to attach a photo or video to the project
  • ID: EUC-Ext-001: System has offered users the choice to attach an existing or new photo or video

Postconditions:

  • An existing photo or video is attached to the home improvement project
  • Users may add more photos or videos
  • Users may continue to with the entry of the home improvement project
User Intention System Responsibility
User wants to attach an existing photo or video Present users a list of all the existing photos or videos available on the device.
User selects photo(s) or video(s) to attach Attaches photo or video to a home improvement project
  Present users the choice :

  • Change their selection of photos and videos to attach
  • Attach these photos and videos

 

Name: “Take a new photo or video and attach it to the project”

ID: EUC-Ext-003

Preconditions:

  • User is entering a home improvement project in the app
  • User has indicated that they would like to attach a photo or video to the project
  • User has indicated that they would like to attach a new photo or video to the project

Postconditions:

  • A new project or video is attached to the home improvement project
  • Users may add more photos or videos
  • Users may continue with the entry of the home improvement project
User Intention System Responsibility
User wants to take a new photo or video for a home improvement project that may or may not exist Offer the camera interface
Users take the photo or video
    1. Let users review the photo or video.
    2. Let users confirm that they like it.
    3. Let users choose to take another photo or video or go on to another activity.
Confirm that they want that photo Offer users the chance to attach the photo to existing home improvement projects or a new one.

Name: “Enter Home Improvement Project (text, etc.)”

ID: EUC-Ext-004

Preconditions:

  • User has indicated the desire to enter information for a home improvement project. The information may not be complete.

Postconditions:

  • A home improvement project has been added to the app.
User Intention System Responsibility
User wants to record some information about a home improvement project.
      • System offers way to start, probably not indicating the full spectrum of what might be required.
      • System offers sample projects to inspire users and give them potential jumpstarts

 
User enters first information that comes to mind.
    1. Parse that information into a description or a name or both.
    1. Categorize into RedBeacon categories if possible
    2. Offer users the chance to confirm that categorization
    3. Offer users to continue adding more information for that project, showing users what other information the system will need and can optionally take
    4. Offer users the option to simply add another home improvement project, thus supporting a brainstorming mode –> Users repeating this step
Enter information needed by the system flexibly, i.e., in whatever order users think about it, in whatever subset they know, or in whatever order the app suggests. Show users at all times the state of their home improvement project entry. What information is required, what information is entered, what information is optional, what information is still missing, and how far they are from being “finished”.

  • “Submitting a request” is the not the sole result of a successfully recorded home project entry.

 

Name: “Resume Home Improvement Project Entry”

ID: EUC-002

Preconditions:

  • A partially completed project has been entered.  May or may not have been the last thing on the application screen when users disctontinued their task performance, whether by actually leaving the app,

Postconditions:

User Intention System Responsibility
Continue data entry for an incomplete home improvement project ID: EUC-Ext-008: Browse Existing Projects

 
Select a home improvement project to continue Present to users the information they’ve entered, the information they still need to enter, and any optional information that they my or may not have entered. ==> an Interaction context, “Project Detail Page”

Name: “Browse Existing Projects”

ID: EUC-Ext-008

Preconditions:

  • None

Postconditions:

User Intention System Responsibility
User shows the intention to  browse and/or select from existing projects Present users with a list of existing home improvement projects with ways to differentiate and identify them:

  • Name?
  • Date first entered/started?
  • Date last modified?
  • % complete?
  • Categories? Like room of the house?
  • Maybe indicate what information is missing yet?
  • Show whether any have been submitted to pros.
    • If so, show the status of the project.

==> May implicate an Existing Projects page, or at least a pane

Name: “Create an Account”

ID: EUC-003

Preconditions:

  • User has the app installed
  • User does not have a Redbeacon account

Postconditions:

  • User has a RedBeacon account
  • User is logged in?
User Intention System Responsibility
   
   
   
   
   
   

Name: “Login”

ID: EUC-004

Preconditions:

  • User has an existing RedBeacon web account
  • User has not tied their app to their RedBeacon web account

Postconditions:

  • User has tied their app to their RedBeacon web account
User Intention System Responsibility
User wants to associate their app with their RedBeacon account Challenge user for authentication information
User provides the information necessary Authenticate user:

  • Succeed –> Bring down their web account info and send up their app info
  • Fail –> EUC-Ext-xxxx: Offer users the chance to try again, try a different way, or a way to verify their identity and successfully authenticate to the system.
  Display users’ main app view

Name: “Submit Request”

ID: EUC-Ext-005

Preconditions:

  • User has a home improvement project that they want to submit to pros

Postconditions:

  • User has submitted a home improvement project as a request for bidding.
User Intention System Responsibility
User indicates that they want to submit their home improvement project for pro help/estimating System verifies that the information is complete enough.

  • If required or optional information is missing, communicate that to users and offer them the chance to provide the rest of the information –> Related to ID: EUC-002: Resume Home Improvement Project Entry
  • If the information is complete, let uses know that.
    • Provide a quick overview of the what the next steps will look like.
    • Give users the opportunity to affirm their choice or change their mind.
User confirms their intention System submits request

Name: “Attach a Photo or Video to a New Home Improvement Project”

ID: EUC-Ext-006

Preconditions:

  • Users have selected photo(s) or video(s) in the app
  • Users have selected to attach the selected items to a new home improvement project

Postconditions:

  • Attached selected photo(s) and video(s) to a new home improvement project
User Intention System Responsibility
  Ask users for minimum home improvement project info, offering the option for them to drill down into entering fuller information.

  • BR: At a guess, minimally a name.
User enters a name for the new home improvement project System records it and confirms
User may choose to enter in more complete information about the project.

  • ID: EUC-002: Resume Home Improvement Project Entry
  

Name: “Save New Video or Photo, but not to a project”

ID: EUC-Ext-007

Preconditions:

Postconditions:

  • Photo or video saved to Camera Roll of the device?

Notes:

  • May be scope creep. Consider this usage is essentially using the device’s camera, and may thus be considered outside the scope of this app…
User Intention System Responsibility
   
   
   
   
   
   

Name: “Add Home Depot Product to a Project”

ID: EUC-Ext-008

Preconditions:

Postconditions:

  • Product attached to a project

Notes:

  • Towards an integration with users’ presence in a Home Depot
User Intention System Responsibility
   
   
   
   
   
   

Name: “Add Product via Bar Code Scan”

ID: EUC-Ext-009

Preconditions:

Postconditions:

User Intention System Responsibility
   
   
   
   
   
   

Name: “Add Product via Home Depot catalog search”

ID: EUC-Ext-010

Preconditions:

Postconditions:

User Intention System Responsibility
   
   
   
   
   
   

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