The Challenge Medical Center of Arlington needed an interactive application to serve as an informative tool for visitors of the hospital.

The Results Aztec responded by building both an administrative intranet site where content and data could be managed as well as an engaging and organized user interface for straightforward information display via a touchscreen kiosk.

Aztec began by conducting an extensive research, analysis, and design process and documented their findings into a specifications document. This document served as the blueprint for the project.

The features of the kiosk include the following:
+Area/Room locator
+Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
+Printable Maps
+Lists of Hotels and Restaurants in the area
+Job Listings
+Link to existing newborn gallery

The design of the kiosk was a simple, clean design that properly displays the look and feel of the MCA brand image. The goal was to remain simple enough to function properly, but eye-catching enough to make hospital visitors say "Wow!"

The kiosk consists of a main screen with a menu for navigating to the other sub-screens (Area/Room locator, Job Listings, etc.). There is a control bar that has "zoom in" and a "zoom out" buttons so that the user can control the view of the map. There is also a screensaver on the kiosk that will display whenever the kiosk becomes inactive. The screensaver animates and displays multiple graphics and photos that represent the Medical Center of Arlington people and culture.

The Area/Room locator screen starts out with a main page. This main page consists of the first floor map, with a highly visible spot designated "You are Here" (the location of the kiosk). Displayed on the screen are a list of options to choose from, all of which will be common areas to find except the last option, which will be "Find a Room".

The user sees a list of the most popular areas (Emergency Room, X-Ray, etc.) of the hospital (up to 12 areas per floor) of which they can click on to pop up a new map with a path to that area from the "you are here" spot. The selection list is displayed on the new screen so that the user can easily request another area's map to pop up.

The user is able to choose the option "Find a Room" from the list of mapped areas. Once they click on that option, a keypad pops up on the screen so they can input the room number they wish to visit. After inputting a room number into the keypad, and clicking a button, a screen with the path to that room pops up. In addition, the desired room will "flash" letting visitors identify its location a little easier.

The FAQ area consists of 20 of the most popular inquiries/questions asked of hospital staff and information desk operators. The FAQ screen also gives the answers or solutions to these inquires in an easy-to-understand format.

The Printable Maps area consists of a 12 maps to the most common areas of the hospital (i.e. Radiology, X-ray, Emergency, etc.) that can be printed out and kept by the visitor.

Another key area of the kiosk is a listing of local Hotels, Restaurants, and such that would like to get more exposure for their business. Since this is advertising for local businesses, The Medical Center of Arlington charges these businesses for this service they are offering. This list also includes links to the business' website, if one exists.

The Jobs Listing screen consists of a listing of all the current open positions at the Medical Center of Arlington. This section has an admin person dedicated to updating the data when new job needs arise, or when positions are filled.

Finally there is a "Baby Web" area along with a link to the Growing Family Web Nursery. The Web Nursery is part of the Growing Family network that hosts pictures of newborn babies from hospitals across the country.

Content in the kiosk is constantly updated and managed via an administrative content management system. This allows MCA staff to update content easily and efficiently without knowledge of flash or database programming.



+ActionScript
+Content Management System (CMS)
+Microsoft® SQL Server^TM
+Macromedia® ColdFusion®
+Macromedia® Flash 5®
+Macromedia® Shockwave®
+Touchscreen Technology