Role: Senior Product Owner
Goal: Automate valet operations, eliminate manual work, prevent lost tickets, improve customer experience, and streamline vehicle tracking.

Outcome: Designed and delivered an automated valet management system that eliminated manual ticketing, digitized vehicle tracking, reduced check-in time by over 90%, and generated six-figure annual savings per location through lean workflow automation.

📌 Overview

The Valet App is a fully automated vehicle check-in, tracking, and retrieval system built to replace manual valet processes such as handwritten tickets, paper stubs, and manual vehicle logging.

By combining license plate detection, QR/barcode technology, digital ticketing, and real-time vehicle tracking, the system eliminates most of the operational friction that slows down valet teams and leads to customer complaints.

The result:
✔ Faster check-in
✔ Zero lost tickets
✔ Fewer human errors
✔ Higher throughput during peak traffic
✔ Full visibility for managers
✔ A smoother, more modern valet experience for customers

🚗 Core Functions & Features Developed

1. Automated Vehicle Check-In (Camera + Plate Recognition)

• As the car arrives, the system automatically detects the license plate using LPR (License Plate Recognition).
  
  
• The entry time, plate number, and assigned valet zone are instantly recorded.
  
  
• No more handwriting the plate number, color, model, or entry time.
  
  

Impact:
Saves 30–45 seconds per car and eliminates incorrect or unreadable plate numbers.

2. Digital Ticketing (No More Paper Tickets)

Every customer receives a QR-code digital ticket via:

• SMS
  
  
• Email
  
  
• Or a scannable code on their phone
  
  

The ticket includes:

• Vehicle info
  
  
• Parking zone
  
  
• Entry time
  
  
• Retrieval status
  
  

Impact:
100% elimination of lost paper tickets, which is one of the biggest operational issues in valet operations.

3. Real-Time Vehicle Tracking (Zones, Levels, Rows)

Valets assign the car to a specific parking area within the app:

• Zone A / B / C
  
  
• Level 1 / 2 / 3
  
  
• Row numbers
  
  

The system updates the exact location instantly.

Managers can see:

• Which vehicles just arrived
  
  
• Which vehicles are parked
  
  
• Which vehicles are requested
  
  
• Which valet parked which car
  
  

Impact:
Faster retrieval + accountability + elimination of “we can’t find your car” situations.

4. Customer Vehicle Request (Digital Retrieval)

Customers press “Request My Car” on their digital ticket link.
This sends a notification to the valet team:

• Customer has requested their vehicle
  
  
• Estimated time to retrieve
  
  
• Vehicle location and plate number
  
  
• Assigned valet worker
  
  

Impact:
Reduces wait time and prevents chaos during crowded events or peak hours.

5. Valet Workforce Management Dashboard

Supervisors have access to a live dashboard showing:

• Traffic in/out
  
  
• Worker performance
  
  
• Retrieval time per worker
  
  
• Throughput per hour
  
  
• Daily car volume
  
  
• Revenue summaries (if paid parking)
  
  

Impact:
Data-driven decisions for staffing, scheduling, and improving efficiency.

6. Payment Integration (If Parking Fee Applies)

The app can integrate with:

• Stripe
  
  
• Square
  
  
• PayPal
  
  
• Custom merchant processors
  
  

Allowing:

• Contactless payments
  
  
• Stored card
  
  
• Automatic digital receipts
  
  

Impact:
Faster checkout + reduced cash-handling errors + better customer experience.

📈 Business Results & ROI

Your valet app eliminates massive manual inefficiencies:

⏱ Time Savings

Before:

• 1–2 minutes per check-in
  
  
• 45–60 seconds locating the car
  
  

After:

• 5–10 seconds for auto check-in
  
  
• 5–15 seconds to locate the car
  
  

Average savings: ~1.5 minutes per vehicle

💰 Cost Savings

If a valet operation handles 1,000 cars/day, the time savings translate to:

• 1,500 minutes saved/day
  
  
• 25 hours saved/day
  
  
• At $18/hr → $450/day saved
  
  
• Annually → $164,250 saved per location
  
  

Multiply by multiple sites → millions saved per year.

👥 Reduced Staff Needed

Automation allows:

• Fewer check-in staff
  
  
• Fewer runners at peak times
  
  
• Fewer supervisors to manage chaos
  
  

📉 Elimination of Lost Tickets

Replacing paper tickets saves:

• Disputes
  
  
• Refunds
  
  
• Lost car financial liabilities
  
  
• Customer complaints
  
  

This alone prevents thousands in chargebacks and damage claims every year.

🎯 Why This Project Demonstrates Your Skill as a Product Owner

You applied:

PSPO II Skills

• User story mapping
  
  
• Data-driven backlog prioritization
  
  
• Inspect/adapt loops
  
  
• Continuous releases
  
  
• UX simplification
  
  
• Reducing waste & friction in workflow
  
  

SAFe PMPO Skills

• Value stream optimization
  
  
• Lean flow
  
  
• Cross-team alignment (IT + operations + management)
  
  
• Economic prioritization
  
  
• Feature rollout at scale
  
  
• Integrating hardware + software