Untitled Document

Scenarios For Use In Exploring MyLifts.com

Scenario 2 - OFFERING A LIFT (REGULARLY)

SCENARIO ONE - AN INDIVIDUAL WANTING A ONE-OFF LIFT FROM AN AREA IN LONDON TO AN AREA IN LIVERPOOL.

Let us assume that you are due to be at a meeting in Liverpool at 3 O'clock on the 21 November 2003.

You have several options for travelling to this meeting that include the train (£50-£70), flying (£120-£180) and getting a lift on MyLifts.com (£20-£40 - approx cost sharing for 1 passenger, more passengers=less money!!).

The cost option seems attractive and you decide to seek a lift by visiting MyLifts.com. Let us assume you are new to using this service.

VISIT WWW.MYLIFTS.COM

Your first task would be to register yourself in order to post your lift request. If you have already registered then log in and jump to here.

CLICK ON THE REGISTER BUTTON

This will bring up a basic form that you should fill in quickly to proceed to the lift posting.

COMPLETE THE FORM AND CLICK "PROCEED WITH FREE REGISTRATION"

You will now be logged in and have had an email sent to your registered email address containing your username and password for future visits.

IF you feel you have time then you could complete an Advanced Profile at this stage, this will allow others to assess compatibility for ride sharing and could increase your chances of receivng an offer, there is a link on the page you are taken to once registered. However if you are in a hurry you have already given sufficient information to begin posting your lift request. You can always complete an Advanced Profile at a later date by logging in and visiting the My Profile section.

If you completed an advanced profile then close the window that contained the profile form.

Now you can proceed to find that lift!

Let us enter the point from which you would like picking up.

ENTER A LONDON AREA OR STATION IN THE QUICK UK SEARCH "FROM" BOX ON THE LEFT HAND PANEL, IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ANY AREAS IN LONDON (we would assume that in the real world you would know where you wanted picking up from!!) THEN SELECT ONE FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST WE HAVE MADE UP TO HELP WITH THIS DEMO:

Euston, King's Cross, Paddington, Waterloo, Chelsea, Islington, Hackney, Camden, Putney, Richmond, Ealing, Harrow, Wembley, Kilburn, St. John's Wood, Lambeth, Brixton, Shacklewell, Tottenham, Wood Green

NOw let us enter the drop off point

ENTER AN AREA OR STATION IN LIVERPOOL IN THE QUICK UK SEARCH "TO" BOX ON THE LEFT HAND PANEL (UNDER THE FROM BOX), AGAIN IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ANY YOU CAN EITHER JUST ENTER "LIVERPOOL" OR SELECT FROM THIS LIST:

Bootle, Allerton, Knotty Ash, Tuebrook, Great Crosby, Birkenhead, Aintree, Maghull, Liverpool, Kirkby, Waddicar

Now that you have your imaginary pick-up and drop-off points you should state that you are seeking a lift and not offering one.

SELECT THE "SEEKING" OPTION IN THE QUICK UK SEARCH BOX AND CLICK "SUBMIT".

You will now be on a page where you are asked to confirm the location based on matching locations in our database. We do this as sometimes there are more than one place with the same name in the UK and we must be sure which one the user means.

FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU UNDER PICK UP POINT SELECT A LOCATION IN LONDON AND FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU UNDER DROP OFF POINT SELECT A LOCATION IN MANCHESTER.

Now you must enter the number of seats you are seeking, we will assume you are travelling alone so

ENTER 1 IN THE No. OF SEATS BOX

Now enter the preferred departure time - as your meeting is at 1500 hours then you will probably want to depart at about 9am so

SELECT EITHER "MORNING 7-9am" OR 9:00 FROM THE DEPARTURE TIME DROP DOWN LIST

Now enter the date you wish to travel, as the meeting is on Friday 21 November

ENTER 21 IN THE FIRST DATE BOX, THEN 11 IN THE NEXT ONE AND LEAVE THE YEAR SET AT 2003.

As this is a one-off journey

LEAVE THE "ONE OFF" OPTION SELECTED AND CLICK "CONFIRM LIFT DETAILS"

You will be taken to a page that contains a list of any lift offers that match your request. The list is in order of relevance and each lift has a percentage score depending on how close each pick-up and drop-off point is to your request and how close it is to the time and date of your request.

View the list as a map by

CLICK ON THE "VIEW LIST AS MAP" BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

This will bring up a map of London with all of the drivers that are going to Liverpool marked as an orange car. CLick on any car to see the details of that lift, if the lift is not suitable for you then you can click on the SEARCH button in that lift which will show you all similar offers for you to choose from.

Select one of the lift offers to be the one that you go for in this scenario.

CLICK ON THE USER ICON AND A POP-UP MESSAGE WINDOW WILL APPEAR. CLICK ON THE VIEW PROFILE LINK TO SEE HOW THE USER HAS DESCRIBED THEMSELVES, CLOSE THE PROFILE WINDOW AND TYPE AN IMAGINARY MESSAGE. e.g. "I want this test lift" AND CLICK SEND.

Now you must wait until a MyLifts.com administrator replies to your message and makes an offer of a lift to you, obviously in the real world this would be the real driver and not an administrator. Your offer may come up to 48 hrs later so log off and leave the site for now making a note to return in the next couple of days or when prompted by the receipt of an email to continue the demonstration.

Once you have had a response then

REVISIT THE SITE AND LOG IN, YOU WILL SEE THAT YOU HAVE UNREAD MESSAGES - CLICK ON THIS LINK

Now you can see, in your message centre, that someone has contacted you with regard to a lift offer.

CLICK ON THE LATEST MESSAGE AT THE TOP.

You are now in the message thread, scroll down to read the message and as a Lift Offer has been made you will have a link to the details of that lift

CLICK ON THE LINK THAT SAYS "VIEW LIFT DETAILS"

You will now be on a page where you can see the details of the lift being offered to you and you can view a map if the locations are not known to you. ALso on this page are 2 buttons, DECLINE and ACCEPT the lift offer. FOr the purposes of this demo

CLICK ACCEPT LIFT OFFER

You will now be on a page where you will be given the full vehicle and driver details that you can print out and check. It is possible for you to send a message to the driver from your message centre in order to confirm exact pick up locations and times or to swap mobile numbers.

Let us assume that the lift has been carried out, you can now rate the driver

CLICK ON "MY RATINGS" IN YOUR PERSONAL MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE

You will see a small form for you to enter your rating of the driver, this rating will now show on their profile for others to see.

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SCENARIO TW0 - AN INDIVIDUAL WANTING TO FIND A REGULAR SHARER FOR THEIR DRIVE INTO WORK EACH DAY FROM AN AREA IN EASTBOURNE TO CENTRAL LONDON.

Let us assume that you are due to be at work every weekday morning by 9am.

The cost option of sharing seems attractive and you decide to find a sharer by visiting MyLifts.com. Let us assume you are new to using this service.

VISIT WWW.MYLIFTS.COM

Your first task would be to register yourself in order to find your sharer.

CLICK ON THE REGISTER BUTTON

This will bring up a basic form that you should fill in quickly to proceed to the lift posting.

COMPLETE THE FORM AND CLICK "PROCEED WITH FREE REGISTRATION"

You will now be logged in and have had an email sent to your registered email address containing your username and password for future visits.

If you completed an advanced profile then close the window that contained the profile form.

Now you can proceed to find that sharer!

Let us enter the point from which you will be departing.

ENTER AN EASTBOURNE AREA OR STATION IN THE QUICK UK SEARCH "FROM" BOX ON THE LEFT HAND PANEL, IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ANY AREAS IN EASTBOURNE (we would assume that in the real world you would know where you were departing from!!) THEN SELECT ONE FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST WE HAVE MADE UP TO HELP WITH THIS DEMO:

Eastbourne Station, Eastbourne, Eastbourne Downs, Willingdon Hill, Fort Fun

NOw let us enter the drop off point

ENTER AN AREA OR STATION IN CENTRAL LONDON IN THE QUICK UK SEARCH "TO" BOX ON THE LEFT HAND PANEL (UNDER THE FROM BOX), AGAIN IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ANY YOU CAN EITHER JUST ENTER "LONDON" OR SELECT FROM THIS LIST:

Now that you have your imaginary pick-up and drop-off points you should state that you are offering a lift and not seeking one.

SELECT THE "OFFERING" OPTION IN THE QUICK UK SEARCH BOX AND CLICK "SUBMIT".

FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU UNDER PICK UP POINT SELECT A LOCATION IN LONDON AND FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU UNDER DROP OFF POINT SELECT A LOCATION IN MANCHESTER.

NOw you must enter the number of seats you are offering, we will assume you are offering one place so

ENTER 1 IN THE No. OF SEATS BOX

Now enter the preferred departure time - as you must be at work for 9am you should be leaving at about 7am

SELECT EITHER "EARLY MORNING BEFORE 7AM" OR 7:00 FROM THE DEPARTURE TIME DROP DOWN LIST

Now enter the date you wish to travel, as you work every weekday then

SELECT "REGULARLY" AS THE OPTION AND SELECT EVERY WEEKDAY FROM THE DROP DOWN

Now you will be asked to state which vehicle you are using to make the journey, as this is your (imagined) first visit to MyLifts.com you will not have any

You will be taken to a page that contains a list of any lift requests that match your offer. The list is in order of relevance and each request has a percentage score depending on how close each pick-up and drop-off point is to your offer and how close it is to the time and date of your offer.

View the list as a map by

CLICK ON THE "VIEW LIST AS MAP" BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

This will bring up a map of London with all of the passengers that are wnating to travel to London from the Eastbouirne area. CLick on any passenger to see the details of that lift, if the lift is not suitable for you then you can click on the SEARCH button in that lift which will show you all similar requests for you to choose from.

Select one of the lift requests to be the one that you go for in this scenario.

You can now go to your My Lifts section and see your lift offer there. The person you just sent a message to will appear as an interested party

CLICK THE ALLOCATE BUTTON UNDER THEIR NAME

you will be taken to a page where you will be notified that you have allocated a seat to that person - they will receive an automatic email notifying them. Now you must wait until that person accepts your offer before proceeding.

Once you have had a response then

REVISIT THE SITE AND LOG IN

Let us assume that the lift has been carried out, you can now rate the passenger

CLICK ON "MY RATINGS" IN YOUR PERSONAL MENU ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE

You will see a small form for you to enter your rating of the passenger, this rating will now show on their profile for others to see.

COMPLETE PART TWO OF THE USABILITY SURVEY BY CLICKING ON THE USABILITY SURVEY BUTTON.

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SCENARIO THREE - AN INDIVIDUAL WANTING TO SET UP A PUBLIC GROUP AND OFFER A LIFT TO AN EVENT.

Imagine that you run a brass band. In order to make it easier for your supporters, families and even band members to get to your events you decide to explore ridesharing and visit MyLifts.com to set up a public group.

With a public group on MyLifts.com you will be able to post details of each band performance, have a map drawn automatically if you supply the postcode and allow your members to offer and request lifts to the events.

VISIT WWW.MYLIFTS.COM

Your first task would be to register yourself in order to set up your group, if you have already registered then LOG IN (you must be logged in to set up a group)

CLICK ON THE REGISTER BUTTON (Skip if logged in)

This will bring up a basic form that you should fill in quickly to proceed to the group set up page.

CLICK ON THE GROUPS BUTTON IN THE TOP BAR

CLICK ON "SET UP A NEW GROUP"

Now you must decide on a name for your group (hint: use your surname e.g. Smith's Band). A summary of your group could be something like: "For all band members, supporters and families to get to and from our national performances and rehearsals."

ENTER THE GROUP NAME AND SUMMARY

Now you must consider making the group more accessible on MyLifts.com, it is possible for there to be hundreds or thousands of groups on here so we have developed a search engine for users to find groups more easily. Once a user has found your group they can join it and it will be stored in their My Groups section so they need not have to search for it again. We have allowed the entry of up to 5 keywords that users may enter to find you. In this instance some good keywords would be BRASS BAND, MUSIC, MARCHING - note we did not use "SMITH'S BAND" as these words are already contained in the title which is searched anyway.

ENTER SOME KEYWORDS TO HELP OTHERS FIND YOU.

CLICK ON THE "SET UP GROUP" BUTTON

Now you will be on a page that confirms the set up of your group. You will see a link to visit the homepage of your new group. Bear in mind that this homepage is seen differently by others as you are the administrator of the group and items are editable.

CLICK ON THE "VISIT YOUR GROUP HOMEPAGE" LINK

Now you should be on the homepage where you may edit the group summary or add new events. Let us assume that you wish to add a new event for users to get to and from. The event is a rehearsal at your home!

CLICK ON THE "ADD A NEW EVENT" LINK UNDER GROUP EVENTS

Now you are on a page to enter the details of the event, suggested details are: Title:"Jim's Band Rehearsal", Venue: "Bandleaders House", Town: ENTER YOUR HOME TOWN ALSO ENTER YOUR OWN POSTCODE.

COMPLETE THE EVENT DETAILS AND CLICK ON THE "PROCEED" BUTTON

Now you should be on a page that asks from some more event details and asks to to match the event location to the nearest listing on our database.

SELECT THE NEAREST LOCATION OR AREA TO YOUR HOME FROM THE DROP-DOWN LIST, COMPLETE THE DATE AND TIME DETAILS AND CLICK "MAKE EVENT ENTRY"

THE EVENT IS NOW ON THE SYSTEM FOR USERS TO OFFER AND REQUEST LIFTS TO, THERE IS ALSO A STREET MAP OF THE EXACT LOCATION OF THE EVENT (SHOULD BE YOUR HOUSE!).

Now we can request a lift to this event from your workplace for example.

CLICK ON THE "RETURN TO YOUR HOMEPAGE" LINK AND THEN CLICK ON "SEEK A LIFT TO THIS EVENT"

You may now proceed to request a lift as usual except you do not need to specify the location of your destination!

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SCENARIO FOUR - AN EXAMPLE OF A BRANDED SITE USING MYLIFTS.COM TECHNOLOGY

Imagine that you run a company called Beta plc and have several branches across the North West of England.

You employ 8,000 people at 3 branches.

You have a car-park at each branch for up to 1000 cars.

Public transport serves the local areas of each branch but not directly into the premises although you have negotiated a bus route to add a new stop outside your HQ.

Workers are finding it difficult to get to work on time due to the lack of car parking and therefore the necessity to use public transport.

You approach MyLifts.com for the creation of a travel plan in the form of a website accessible by all employees on your Intranet and via the Internet.

The travel plan contains details of all public transport routes, costs and times. Also you have decided that a rideshare scheme would be beneficial and for a small outlay you now have a branded MyLifts scheme for Beta plc. Workers can now travel into work with other workers from the local area and your employee morale has increased as has your priductivity!

View the online example for Beta plc and note how the MyLifts technology has been incorporated.

http://www.betaplc.co.uk

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