Booking system PoC (proof of concept) in 48 hours

This is a story of how we built a clickable prototype for buying event tickets online. Wireframes, vital functionality and user flow we suggested in a project’s MVP.

Originally I shared this story to Syndicode blog.

After a 3-hour discovery session with a client, we received a task to create an estimate for a payment system for selling tickets to a night club. Earlier these tickets were sold via a well-known ticket selling platform, but now the client decided to provide a booking process with their own facilities. And according to our estimate, we couldn’t launch the complete solution in two months as the client wanted. So we came up with the idea of MVP and a payment system PoC (proof of concept) in 48 hours to show what features could be done in the first product version.

The challenge

According to the client’s vision, the ticket selling platform should have been launched in two months timeframe.

Syndicode made the estimation and, taking into account all the technical risks, the development timeframe exceeded 2 months. We couldn’t have a chance to launch the full-fledged product in such a short period of time. So we came up with the suggestion to create an MVP that could work as a complete product but only with necessary functions.

We needed to create a prototype to show the client how the key functions will work in the app. And we did it only in 48 hours!

PoC in 48 hours

A proof of concept, Syndicode made in only 48 hours, included:

• Describing a user flow

– Admin flow

– User flow

• Basic functionality:

– Booking a place

– Payment

• Design wireframes
• Integration with a payment system

Using Ruby on Rails UI and UX prototyping we created an admin and a user flow and added Wayforpay payment system.

Product development process

1. 3-hour discovery session where we collected all the requirements
2. Research
3. Analysis, competitive analysis, and planning
4. Risk management
5. Wireframes and user flow
6. Estimation
7. PoC development

– UX prototype

– backend

– markup

1. Demo

Requirements

The client wanted the ticket selling platform to have:

• Booking functionality
• Payment functionality
• Security
• CRM
• Reporting and analysis systems integration
• Marketing channels integration
• Partners’ and vendors’ services integration
• Launch in two months

Analysis

When analyzing the needed app’s functionality, we understood that the technical risks are high, and to provide all the necessary integrations in the right way — we need more than two months. The only way to launch the app in this timeframe was to launch it without some extra functions.

Those functions we implemented in the ticket selling platform MVP are described in the user flow below.

User flow

Admin Flow

1. Authorization
2. Creating a new event

2.1. Completing general information

2.2. Creating tickets and seats on a map of the location

2.3. Saving event as a draft

3. Publication an event

Customer Flow

1. Choosing an event
2. Choosing ticket and seats
3. Filling general information
4. Filling billing information
5. Payment confirmation
6. Getting a ticket on email

Demo

To let the user buy a ticket with a credit card we used Wayforpay API. Our demo application was deployed on Heroku.

With the clickable prototype and detailed user flows the client could get an understanding of what features the product’s MVP will have and how it will work. That is a good way to decide on primary options and to start your project even if you know that right now you can’t have a complete version of it.

Here are other reasons why do you need an MVP.

To sum up, quality made prototypes are a great way to empower your business!

Thanks for reading!