Dealerware

Overview

Originally released in 2016, the Dealerware app was built on two separate codebases for Android and iOS respectively. While the app was maintained and updated with regularity, the outdated codebases were making adding new features and updates to the app extremely cumbersome. Designers were also limited in what could be done to the app’s design to make the app more user friendly and accessible, and it was clear the app needed a major overhaul. Starting at the beginning of 2023, a new version of the app, built in Flutter SDK, was being developed. I was brought on to the project not long after it started, and got to work quickly on establishing a design system file, user flows, updated screens, and a new prototype to test out a major new feature, Valet Tasks.

Goals & The Problem At Hand

The biggest goal for the overhaul was hitting the release date of end of Q3 2023. Release of the new app was necessary in a short time frame, not only because the app was long overdue for an update, but new planned features would not be able to be implemented without the release of a new app. This goal presented a problem, however, in that design was in danger of taking place at the same time as development, and while the web version of Dealerware had an established design system in place, mobile did not.

Role & Process

I served as the lead designer on the project, taking over after the previous lead left for another opportunity. I immediately recognized the need for a basic design system that incorporated design elements from our web system, but also paid attention to the specific needs of mobile. I tackled this issue first, because it would not only help with creating polished designs quickly, it would enable any future updates and changes to the design system could be easily disseminated across any designs I had created. It also enabled me to work quickly to get ahead of development, and avoiding the problem of designing while developing. Later in the process, our team brought on a contractor specializing in setting up design systems to help me with the work.

Once the design system had enough foundational elements and components set up, I got to work first on the Customer Details portion of the app. Customer details was a necessary starting point because dealers almost always search by customer name to then start a contract from the customer’s profile, or they create a new profile to then attach a contract to. I set up a simplified design where the different aspects of the customer profile, like Driver’s license, Insurance, and Payment Method, opened up easy to read and use form fields in overlays.

From there, I moved on with my scrum team to the New Reservation/Contracting flow. Initially, we thought 1:1 designs with the legacy app were the fastest way to go, but upon laying out the user flow diagram and analyzing new functionality in Flutter SDK and GraphQL, we were able to eliminate unnecessary and cumbersome steps in the contracting process. This was especially important as many dealerships need to set up contracts for customers as quickly as possible, as most customers show up at similar times of day and dealership service areas can become very busy.

Testing New Features: Valet Tasks

As the team began to move toward working on the Daily Schedule portion of the app (the area of the app where dealerships can see a vertical schedule of their incoming appointments/contracts, and the status of them), leadership made it clear that the ability to schedule pickup and delivery of vehicles via the Dealerware app would be a key priority for 2023. This would mean dealerships could send loaner vehicles to their customers, pick up the customer vehicle to bring in for service, and later return the customer’s vehicle and pick up the loaner vehicle, all without the customer having to leave their home or business.

Working with our research team and the product manager for Dealerware mobile, I created a new user flow of the Daily Schedule portion of the app to reflect the addition of valet tasks, as well as work out kinks in the flow, such as the issue of timing for entering in fuel and mileage of loaner vehicles so that customers were accurately billed for any charges they may incur.

Valet Tasks happy path prototype

After testing with six different dealerships, general feedback was very positive. Users felt as though the design was easy to navigate, and tasks were easy to manage (tasks could only be created on the web version at the time of testing). Although it was a simple happy path prototype to test, users were excited about the possibility of managing, starting and ending valet tasks through mobile as most dealers who have valet manage it manually, either through spreadsheets or simply on paper. There was user confusion on elements such as copy, and contract statuses vs. valet statuses, which was the next challenge the team planned to tackle.