EZ Party Booking
EZ Party Booking is a web based booking application designed for roller skating rinks and similar party centers. The application allows users to book a private party event and/or a general admission ticket purchase.
Version 1.0
Version 2.0
The EZ Party Booking Project
Overview
Due to the increasing demand of online purchasing in 2020, our team wanted to revisit one of our outdated applications, EZ Party Booking. The application was originally developed in 2019 prior to when I was hired. The original application had success at launch, and I was brought onto the project to manage a new rebuild of the application.
During our discovery phase of the project we were able to remotely connect with a variety of roller skating rinks across America. We wanted to discover feedback on the original booking application. We also researched the industry by using competitor applications, this allowed us to see what other users like/dislike about other party booking applications.
My Roles
Project Manager
Lead UX/UI Designer
My Team
Technical Support Specialist
Front End Developer
Back End Developer
DevOp
Website Developer
Development
6 Months
The Process
Our initial User Research discovered that their are two different types of users on the application. The first user type is the Back End User, this user is usually the business owner and they manage their bookings and admissions from the back end web application. The second user type is the Front End User, this user is usually the user that it purchasing a private party booking on the front end web application. Understanding the two different user types created two separate projects, The Back End, and the Front End.
Back End View
Front End View
After we gathered our requirements from research and our user base, we started the wireframing process of developing this application.
When wireframing is complete, we start to create the high fidelity prototypes. During this phase we work through various UI iterations of the look and feel of the application, page by page until we complete the wireframe requirements.
After a High Fidelity Prototype is complete, we review the prototype with the Development Team. The review is a great time for both teams to collaborate and be transparent. During this phase, the development team is understanding the intricacies of our prototype to ensure development capability and feasibility.
Through the development phase I will assist the development team with any feedback and confirmations. When the product is delivered at it’s first iteration, we will test the application and document any bugs, callouts, and feature requests. This phase can be time consuming, but this phase is also the last defense before release.
Upon release, we live streamed with our current user base and onboarded our users onto the new application. The live stream offered a great opportunity for my team to demo the application in real-time and offer a thorough Q&A session for our current users.
The Feedback
The feedback was awesome, we were able to compile a lengthy list of feature requests and user needs (seen above). It’s difficult to accommodate every need and request of the user but our team did remarkable job prioritizing value points for each request.
Feature Requests would often go through an array of questions(examples seen below) to establish value and priority
“Does the feature request have any potential to save the user time?”
“Was this feature request made my multiple users or just one user?
“Can this feature request prevent the front end user from losing any money?”
My Involvement
UI/UX Design
Create Mockups
Part of the wireframe and prototyping process is creating mockups. One of my main roles was to create every page of the application and to communicate those mockups and flows to the development team.
UI/UX Design
Introduce a New Event Builder
One of my interesting additions to EZ Party Booking was the new way to create a event. I wanted our users to feel more confident and engaging when publishing an event on their website. There are many small details that go into Event Booking, and some of our users experienced anxiety and uncertainty when creating new events on the old application. The Event Builder allows the user to create an event in a very engaging way. The Event Builder breaks down all the details in a step-by-step flow. The user is not presented with too much information at once either, the step-by-step flow provides a smooth journey for the user to create and publish an event to their website with confidence.
UI/UX Design
Creative Solutions
Some of our users really wanted a way to memo cash payments, they also wanted customers that paid a initial deposit to have the ability to pay their remaining balance online.
I helped build a separate tool on the application that will let the user memo a cash transaction. We also created a Customer Account where customers can see their purchases and/or pay their remaining balances.
Project Management
Track Development
Once the High Fidelity Prototype is complete and reviewed with the development team, I would then break down the mockup into many Trello cards. Utilizing Trello to track and manage development was crucial for keeping the project within scope. The agile board allowed for complete transparency between the development team and myself. Each Trello card would contain all the required information for the task, this includes the summary of the task, the expected results, the CSS styling properties, screenshots, and the prototype file.
Project Management
Release Product
My other role in the EZ Party Booking project was to manage the release of the product as well as onboard our current users. I utilized our Web Developer to create the public facing website for EZ Party Booking at ezpartybooking.com
I also utilized a Technical Support Specialist to assist with the live stream release with our current users. During the live stream we had demonstrated the new application and answered any questions or concerns. We then created the users their new accounts as well as all of their booking information.
The Results
The EZ Party Booking application has been a great solution for our users. We took on a lot of feedback and developed some really effective tools for our users. The numbers below speak for themselves and are from 7 different businesses in 2020 to 2022.
The Final Product
If you liked what you saw, follow the link over to the demo website to see the application firsthand.