Byron

The challenge

The Operations team at Byron originally approached Dam to design and develop a new intranet in 2013, seeking to maintain internal culture and identity whilst the business expanded nationally. In addition to a communications function the company was also keen to push paper-based operations processes online and digitise auditing - ensuring greater compliance with regulation through automation.

The response

The subsequent project took place over two phases. The first phase (2013 - 2014) involved API integration of an external payroll provider and digitisation of daily checklists and new starter paperwork. The second phase (2015 - 2016) involved a total UX overhaul, inclusion of further paperwork actions (Fire Safety Checks and Delivery Reports), the addition of pass/fail mechanisms on new starter paperwork and the introduction of an 'auditor' user-type and interface.

We abstained from detailed wireframes in favour of rough sketching followed immediately by interactive prototyping in HTML. This prototype was perpetually updated and demoed to a panel of internal stakeholders made up of restaurant managers, Operations staff and senior management. The workflow ensured continual feedback, improved buy-in and largely eradicated mis-interpretation of final interactions and processes. Moreover it allowed the client to experience the design as the user would from a very early stage, building empathy in a project with a delicate balance of business and user needs.

This system now acts as the restaurant chains daily operations and communications platform and is continually added to as new requirements are identified, such as the recent addition of their How-to cards.