Project Overview
The Inventory & Accounting System is an integrated solution designed for food businesses like restaurants and accounting firms. It combines POS (Point of Sale) features with real-time inventory tracking and financial reporting to streamline daily operations and financial management.
The system enables managers to monitor inventory in real-time, receive low-stock alerts, and restock supplies efficiently. On the accounting side, it provides insights into daily transactions, profit/loss trends, and financial reports, along with tools for strategic planning, tax preparation, and access to financial services.
Accounting firms can also use the system to manage client financials, track transactions, and analyze financial trends.
By combining inventory management, POS, and accounting features, the system simplifies operations, improves efficiency, and provides actionable insights for better financial and operational decision-making.
Problem Statement
Food businesses like restaurants and accounting firms face challenges in managing real-time inventory tracking, supplier delays, and financial reporting. Existing systems are often disjointed, leading to inefficiencies, delays, and difficulties in making informed operational and financial decisions.
There is a need for an integrated solution that combines POS capabilities, real-time inventory tracking, and financial insights to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and provide actionable insights for better decision-making.
Target Audience
- Food Businesses (e.g., Restaurants, Cafes, and Food Chains)
- Accounting Firms
- Small & Medium-Sized Enterprises
Challenges
Some of the challenges were:
1. Ease of Use for All Experience Levels: An intuitive system that ensures even employees with zero technical or accounting knowledge can learn quickly and perform transactions without extensive training.
2. Real-Time Inventory Monitoring: Providing real-time inventory tracking to ensure managers can monitor stock levels, track supplies, and respond quickly to low inventory situations without operational delays.
3. Easy-to-Use POS System: Creating a user-friendly POS system that can be used by staff with varying technical knowledge, including employees with zero prior experience in POS systems.
Research & Insights
1. Brainstorming & Sketching: With the feature list and user stories in hand, begin brainstorming design solutions that address user needs. Sketched out rough ideas for the layout, user flow, and key screens.
2. User Flow Mapping: Providing real-time inventory tracking to ensure managers can monitor stock levels, track supplies, and respond quickly to low inventory situations without operational delays.
3. Information Architecture (IA):
In accounting side,Organized the software’s features and functions into a logical structure that users can navigate intuitively & also Developed a sitemap and decide on menu structures, categorizing functions under accessible headers like "Income," "Expenses," "Reports," etc.
In POS side, We organized the system’s features and functions into a logical structure that restaurant staff and managers can easily navigate, ensuring a smooth workflow.We even developed a sitemap and define menu structures, categorizing features under accessible headers like: Orders, Inventory, Sales, Staff, Reports & performance.
3. Wireframing: We Created a low-fidelity wireframes to outline the basic layout of each screen. This helps visualize how information is structured and where key elements will be placed.We Kept the designs minimal and functional at this stage to focus on layout and flow rather than visual aesthetics.
"While this overview captures the main steps, the research process itself was far more detailed, involving iterative testing, refining ideas, and revisiting key elements to align with user feedback and evolving project goals. This groundwork laid a strong foundation for the system's design and development."
First Phase Design
Mid-Fidelity Prototyping :
- Developed high-fidelity prototypes based on wireframes, adding design elements like colors, typography, icons, and branding elements.We Ensured that the design aligns with Srot’s brand identity and conveys professionalism, reliability, and ease of use.
Validation
- Conducted usability testing with real users (from the target audience) to assess the ease of use and intuitiveness of the design.
Final Phase Design Process & designs
Moodboard Creation:
Style Guide Development: A comprehensive style guide was created to maintain consistency across the platform. It included specifications for fonts, button styles, input fields, and spacing, ensuring a unified look and feel throughout the system.
Final Visual Design: The final designs combined clean aesthetics with user-friendly functionality. The interface was visually engaging, with clear layouts and consistent styling, ensuring accessibility for users of all experience levels.These are just few designs here:
Development Handoff phase
Prepare Design Specification : - We created a detailed design specifications for the development team, covering aspects like color codes, spacing, font sizes, and interactions.
We Used design collaboration tools (e.g., Figma ) to ensure clear communication and maintain consistency between design and development.
Collaborate with Developers : -We Worked closely with developers to address any technical challenges in implementing the designand made sure we will be available for clarifications, and conduct regular reviews to ensure design fidelity throughout the development process.As first phase was complete we started design side by side as it would be easier to communicate on anything.
Responsive Design & Accessibility : We ensured the design adapts to different screen sizes and devices, making Srot accessible on mobile, tablet, and desktop. This was only for website not for whole software.Webapp was fully web focused because it would be impossible to make it responsive due to complication. So, we have made app afterwards.
Learnings & Thoughts
"Designing SROT Cloud has been an incredibly insightful experience, not just as a UI/UX designer but as someone eager to understand industries at a deeper level. While this particular phase of the project is just a brief glimpse into the whole scope, it has laid the foundation for significant personal and professional growth."
A Glimpse of the Project's Scale:
The project itself is extensive, aimed at solving complex challenges faced by accounting firms and restaurants. From inventory tracking to point-of-sale systems, SROT Cloud streamlines critical operations that businesses rely on every day. My task was not just limited to designing visually appealing interfaces but also ensuring the user experience (UX) truly reflects the workflows and thought processes of the end users.
Learning About Accounting Firms : Working on this project gave me a deeper understanding of how accounting firms operate. I delved into how they manage:
-Inventory
-Accounts receivable/payable
-Sales and reporting
By aligning the design with these operations, I learned how to simplify complex financial concepts into clear, intuitive interfaces that users can engage with seamlessly.
Understanding Restaurants and Their Internals: Another major takeaway was exploring the operations of restaurants. I discovered:
-How restaurants manage inventory, from perishable goods to real-time usage tracking.
-The workflow of orders and billing, ensuring a smooth POS (Point of Sale) process.
-Restaurant-specific challenges like managing peak hours, split bills, and keeping track of ingredients for dishes.
-This insight allowed me to design interfaces that not only simplify tasks but also reflect the dynamic and fast-paced nature of the restaurant environment.
"The project became a balance between learning and execution. It pushed me to consider human-centered design principles more closely. Not only did I focus on visual design, but I also explored how different user roles interact with the system—from restaurant managers to accountants—ensuring their needs were addressed efficiently."
