Designing a resource management system for a university food pantry
How can we improve the distribution of inventory as well as communication between staff, volunteers, and students?
Company
Klemis Kitchen
Timeline
3 months
Role
Product Designer
Outcome
The My Klemis app and POS system were developed by Georgia Tech students as a part of the Computer Science Senior Capstone Competition. We're thrilled that this project became a reality on the Georgia Tech campus.
Summary
Partnered with Georgia Tech’s Division of Student Life to improve the operations of Klemis Kitchen, a campus food pantry serving students with financial needs. Our team focused on enhancing access, efficiency, and the overall user experience for both students and staff.
Research
Our team toured the current Klemis Kitchen facilities and interviewed active staff and volunteers. Due to confidentiality issues, we were unable to interview students that are a part of the Klemis Kitchen program. This challenged our team to create concise and substantial questions for our anonymous feedback.
External communication
Facilitating the acquisition and approval of donated goods can be a challenge, and 100% of the staff members and volunteers that we interviewed agreed. Klemis Kitchen had no standard for communicating who would pick-up and collect deliveries from each donation partner.
"Sometimes we miss our deliveries from Panera Bread because of unread group messages."
Internal communication
Our team was surprised to discover that Klemis Kitchen is a lightly monitored facility. No staff member is present in pantry locations unless a volunteer is cleaning or accepting a delivery. There is also no system to track or notify students of the pantry's inventory.
"We send students an email once a week to say that food has been restocked. It's quite ambiguous."
User feedback helped us develop three main objectives:
We then ran through cycles of ideation and user feedback as we updated storyboards and user flows in order to refine our concept.
Staff action
Once donations are picked up or delivered, the Klemis Kitchen staff enters the food into the POS system to update the inventory for both volunteers and students to view.
Student action
Students can view the inventory remotely using the My Klemis app. Once students take away food, they can use photo recognition or the POS system to scan out their food and update the digital inventory.
Proposed user journey
Info architecture
The staff and student modes presented their own unique needs. View how we met these needs and fulfilled our goals of improved communication, coordination, and growth support.
The solution
A resource management system, comprised of an app and POS system, that improves the distribution of inventory and communication between Klemis Kitchen staff, volunteers, and students.
Outcome
The My Klemis app and POS system was developed by several groups of Georgia Tech students as a part of the Computer Science Senior Capstone Competition. We're thrilled to see this project become a reality on their campus!