from analog to digital
Team: Niqua Berry (Lead Designer), UI Designer, Product Owner, 3 Engineers, Scrum Master, Project Manager
My Role was to identify a strategy that would allow our company to extract vital user information in order to create a user profile and an application designed to integrate technology into the end users work process.
Crafting a Narrative
Problem Statement
As an Amtrak Maintainer, my core responsibilities are to provide the necessary repairs and services to all assets associated with the train sets to ensure passenger safety. With such a vast number of assets assigned to a train; documenting, scheduling, and servicing a Work Order can be a tedious and often time-consuming task.
To ensure synchronization between our departmental goals and the project roadmap, I crafted a detailed Creative Brief. This document was then promptly disseminated to our Product Owner, outlining the specific objectives and timelines for the tasks assigned to our UX/UI team.
So we asked……
How might we, as Developers, configure our Mobile platform to empower maintainers to have more decision-making abilities by having more information at their fingertips?
How can we integrate technology with processes of work?
How might we introduce our platform to Maintainers to make work easier to accomplish?
Mobile Platform User’s
Included:
Superintendents,
General Forman,
Forman,
Maintainers including:
Heavy Machinist,
Electricians,
Car Men,
Pipefitters,
Supervisors.
Research
As a Lead Designer, I recommended the UX team get as close as possible to the Users to understand what their daily work environment consist of and how they currently interact with the Kiosk they used. Due to Covid, this request was impossible with the social distancing measures being enforced. So being a creative thinker, I purposed a live face-time contextual interview, were users would give a walk through of their facilities and depots and so us their daily processes.
Data Driven Decision’s
sYNTHESIZed DATA POINTS AND PERSONA creation
Persona 1
Persona 2
Recognizing UX Opportunities
Our team identified some potential features that could help facilitate some of the common actions, procedures, and activities. The list included:
1. Notifications page
2. Take photos / record video, and attach media to Work Orders
3. Night Mode
4. QR code scanning
5. Start page with suggested tasks
6. The ability to process Work Orders offline
7. The ability to assign Tasks
8. The Ability to take Meter Readings
9. GPS integration
10. Real-time updates
Ideation
The Design team collaborated with Facilities management SME’s to understand Braid Technology and how it will be integrated into Maximo.
Next I hosted Design Studio Sessions with the Dev team and unlocked potential features and layouts for the mobile apps.
Then our delivery team discussed MVP.
Working together
Working within a cross-functional team, while integrating feedback from Amtrak stakeholders, provided the design team with the extensive information required to carefully craft our user-friendly interface. Here you can see our Requirements document.
Mobile Wireframes
Hi-Fidelity Wireframes
Pain point: Unsure of the status of Work Assignments and Work Order Request
Feature: Dashboard displaying progress of work orders along with due dates
From Pain points to features
Addressing our users biggest concerns
Pain point: Locating Schema’s and instructions on how to repair a part
Feature: A predictive maintenance allows user to access the next logical point of repair.
Pain point: Finding the Line Manager to retrieve assignment and assignment details
Feature: Assigned Work Orders appear on dashboard upon sign in.
Helpful Feature: Inspection list. Allows new mechanics to fix issues without supervisors assistance.
Documentation
During 2020, Covid prevented many aspects of the traditional UX process from happening. So instead of the traditional user testing, our team decided to demo the prototype to Amtrak Stakeholders and document what we would move forward into development.
Project Retrospective
What went well?
Amtrak realized the value of allowing users to utilize mobile devices to complete work and reduce inefficiencies. What also went was great was the openness of stakeholders to try a new approach that they did not quite understand.
What could we have done better?
There could have been better Synergy between the internal teams. For better understanding of the existing product, the Design team should have been granted individual access to the Maximo Desktop Application and Braid platform.