User Analysis

Users will consist of launderers and administrators.

User 1: The Launderer

The Launderer is the most common user of our system and can be broken up into two personas: the standard launderer and the picky launderer.  We'll analyze the whole of the Launderer user through these two personas.

Sam: the Standard Launderer

Sam lives in an apartment complex with a communal laundry area and is frustrated with the current state of the facility.  As it is, Sam must walk down 5 flights of stairs to the small basement laundry facility to see if the washers/dryers are in use.  Because of his facility's size, the washers/dryers are often all in use, which means that Sam normally makes multiple trips up and down before he can actually start his laundry.  

If Sam's apartment complex were to start using the Laundry Quandary system, his problem would be solved.  To check whether all the laundry machines were in use, he would simply need to log into our system and view the status of the machines, saving him time and effort.

Pam: the Picky Launderer

Pam is very particular about her laundry, especially when other people, such as other students in her dorm, are handling it.  Because many students use the dorm laundry facility, Pam has often found her washed clothes moved to the dryer by another student looking to use her washer.  This is a problem for Pam - some of her clothes can't go through the dryer with normal settings.  Pam's only options are to be vigilant and move her clothes from the washer to the dryer immediately after they finish washing, or to leave a note on the washer asking the student who moves her clothes to use certain dryer settings.

If Pam had our system at her disposal, she would be much happier.  Since our system provides the option of receiving a notification when your laundry is done, Pam would no longer have to remember exactly when her machine was scheduled to finish washing.  Additionally, our system provides the ability to leave notes in the user interface, so that picky launderers such as Pam can leave notes to other users in the system detailing how they want their laundry handled.  

User 2: Administrator

The Administrator is the user responsible for initially setting up a laundry facility in our system.  The administrator will also be responsible for managing their facility in our system; includes receiving user feedback and updating the system as necessary (e.g. a washer breaks). We'll use Andy the Administrator as a persona to explore this user.

Andy: the Administrator

Andy is the superintendent of an 4-story apartment complex.  As superintendent, Andy often receives complaints about his structure's laundry facility.  Tenants complain that the provided area is too small for the number of users it services, which leads to multiple trips to the facility before a machine is available for use.

Switching over to our system would be a great way to help alleviate Andy's problem.  Andy doesn't want to spend money on new washers and dryers, so implementing our system would be a good compromise between him and his tenants.  After adding the appropriate hardware to his machines (much cheaper than buying new machines), Andy would need to set up his virtual laundry facility using our easy-to-follow interface.  Afterwards, his tenants could use the system to track their laundry, as well as see when machines were available without having to physically walk to the laundry facility.

Task Analysis

Administrative Tasks

1. Create Laundry Space:

• Enter name of laundry space (e.g. Apartment name or Dorm name)
• Enter address of location
  
• Enter administrator information (Precondition: Address recognized by system)
  • Enter name
  • Enter email address
  • Enter password
    
• Set up laundry layout
  • Re-size grid to desired shape
  • Drag and drop washers and dryers with a snap-to-grid interface.

2. Edit Laundry Space:

• Add or remove laundry machines (Precondition: Machine has been hooked up or disconnected to system)
  • Send email notification to users
• Mark machine as out of service
  • Send email notification to users

Laundering Tasks

1. Create User Account:

• Enter address
  • Confirm and choose laundry space by name (Precondition: Address recognized by system)
• Enter user name 
• Enter email address
• Enter password
• Enter preferred method of receiving laundry notifications (email or text)
  • If by text, enter phone number

2. Log In: (Precondition: Valid log-in)

• Enter user name
• Enter password

3. View laundry map and claim machine:

• Map displayed after log-in
• Claim machine (Precondition: Machine not in use)
  • Leave a note for other users about laundry care
    • Type note
      • Set note as default note
    • Pick from a list of previously-used notes
    • Edit note
  • View another user's note for this machine
• Notify administrator about broken machine

Return to Laundry Quandary homepage.