GR1 - Task analysis

User analysis

The users will be students and young adults who buy food for themselves/their household and who are interested in staying within a budget and not wasting food they buy. May students in this age group live in dorms or apartments and share food storage space with others. Users we talked to all expressed frustration at the difficulty of remembering what was in the refrigerator when it is packed with other’s food. Most in this group do not cook or go through their fridge every day, making it even harder to keep track. For instance, a student recounting planning on cooking chicken after working three days straight to finish a project only to realize the chicken was past expiration and bad. These situations waste food and money for those who are likely to be on some sort of budget. 

Characteristics:

• age 17 - 35
• likely share kitchen facilities, and may loose track of food they have there.
• computer literate
• may be financially tight
• interested in limiting food waste
• unsure how to use up/freeze certain products purchased
• busy, doesn’t cook every night.

Needs:

• have access to list of food in refrigerator  and cabinets
• know who much money has been spent on food in a given period of time
• track how long food has been stored for to know when to eat or preserve
• easily access hint for preserving/cooking food to prevent waste

Task analysis

1. Task: Manage food budget
   1. Subtask: set monthly food budget
      1. Precondition: Log into account (register if new user)
      2. Identify amount
   2. Subtask: view food spending
      1. Precondition: Log into account
      2. Select viewing method (progress bar, graph, etc.)
   3. Subtask: add food purchases
      1. Precondition: Log into account
      2. Enter value spent on food
2. Task: Keep track of food supply
   1. Subtask: view food items and expiration status
      1. Precondition: Log into account
      2. Select viewing/sorting method
   2. Subtask: add food items to food supply
      1. Precondition: Log into account
      2. Specify food item
      3. Specify quantity
      4. Specify date added
   3. Subtask: remove food item(s) from food supply
      1. Precondition: Log into account
      2. Select food item(s)
      3. Delete selected items
3. Task: Find and save recipes
   1. Subtask: find recipes based on food supply
      1. Precondition: Log into account
      2. Precondition: Specify current food supply (so that recipes can be found using those foods)
      3. Enter desired recipe difficulty
      4. View found recipes
   2. Subtask: save recipes
      1. Precondition: Log into account
      2. Precondition: Perform recipe search and select recipe
      3. Click to save recipe
   3. Subtask: view saved recipes
      1. Precondition: Log into account
      2. Select sorting method (newest, difficulty, etc.)

Domain analysis