Maintaining the data quality of sensors inside trash cans can be challenging, when quite often dirt can be on the sensor's lenses, compromising the readings of the containers level capacity. In order to solve this problem it is necessary to perform cleanings in the sensors, and that's why work orders are created. In this case, I present how together with the team mapped out the current process on how work orders are issued, identified problems in the journey and provided solutions to enhance the overall user experience.
CAPABILITIES
User Experience, Interface Design, Sketching, User Research
TOOLS
Figma, Miro
Introduction
How can the process of generating, sharing, accessing results, and executing work orders be improved in Nordsense?
What are work orders?
A work order is a set of actions that an Installation Agent needs to perform on several sensors, distributed in different locations. There are different types of work orders: they can be to install new sensors in containers, replace faulty sensors, remove old sensors, test the connectivity, visual inspection, and the most common, to clean sensors. To perform work orders, the installation agent uses Walker, a mobile application by Nordsense that enables to identify sensors in containers.
Types of work orders
Design process
The workflow used to deliver a solution was based on the design thinking process. Below you can see which methods I used in each step of the process.
Methods used in each step
Understanding the user needs
The work order feature involves two types of users: the Operations Manager, which is the person in Nordsense responsible for generating these orders for each customer, and as mentioned earlier, the Installation Agent, which is the one executing these orders in the field.
To better understand how they perform the work, what are their pain points, and validate assumptions, interviews were conducted, both with an installation agent and the operations manager from Nordsense.
Interview with John, one of the installation agents in San Francisco
How is the user journey today
Findings from the interviews helped me to map out the user journey and define which areas need improvement.
Current user journey
Defining what to improve
We discovered that Walker, the app used by the installation agent to perform the work orders was lacking features to accommodate most of the user needs. Today the installation agent heavily relies on physical ways to perform and track the work done. Also, there are too many touchpoints in the user journey: Excel sheets, Google Maps, Walker, pen&paper.
Simplified user journey
According to the findings, the ideal world for an installation agent would be to have Walker as a single place to locate the sensors, the actions needed to perform (clean, install, etc.), and take notes/photos.
At the same time, the operations manager needs a system to manage all the data that will be generated in Walker by the installation agent.
What will be designed
A section in Nordsense’s web platform where the operations manager can generate work orders, and track the status of sensors after a work order is completed.
New features in Walker mobile app to support work orders.
User stories
User stories were created to define specific user needs to be addressed in the web platform and Walker, and make it clear for the team what are the goals.
User storeies
Solution exploration
Together with the CTO we started to generate ideas in low-fidelity by sketching possible user flows and interfaces. This allowed me to quickly get feedback from him without compromising too much time on details in this part of the process.
Pen and paper sketches
Mockups
After a couple of iterations and agreed on how should be designed the interfaces, I moved to the next step by creating high-fidelity mockups.
Web platform
List of created work ordersCreation modalIn progress work order
Mobile app (Walker)
After designing the static mockups, I recorded a video with comments over it
Selected container from mapServiced container
Mobile app prototype
We created a mobile app .. . .. easier to show the interactions and flow for the end user, and to get feedback.
