Engage
While working at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) there was a need to move field operations from paper packets to a digital solution. Once we had a solution for the field crew(Inspect App), we needed to close the loop with the assignment tool. Engage is a web application that helps supervisors monitor, assign, and report compliance work.
FieldsProduct DesignYear2019
01
CHALLENGE
PG&E compliance Supervisors use paper packets to assign out work to their entire crew (up to 25 surveyors per division). This time-consuming process for work reviewal, approval, and assignment means the Supervisors spend less time out in the field with their crews. Since we already had a mobile solution for the field crews, we needed the counterpart for Supervisors.
02
EXISTING PROCESS
03
EMERGENCY RESPONSE (PARADISE, CA)
During the fires in Paradise, I had the opportunity to do research on the emergency response team and their assignment practices. This allowed me to see the process in action in a much more accelerated setting. Digital Catalyst was deployed to identify pain points in the process that were causing inefficiency and compliance risk.
- User Interviews: 6 users
- Contextual Interviews: 5 ride alongs
- Secondary: 5 existing products (paper & digital)
04
FINDINGS
To understand the problem scope and existing tools we conducted a few ride alongs where, a designer would spend the day with a Supervisor identifying key pain points and opportunities. We also conducted user interviews with people of the business (Process Owners) to understand the complexity behind maintenance plans.
Location
Surveyors assign out work by location. The Supervisors know where each crew member is based out of and assigns work no more than 2 hours away.
Progress
Keeping track of progress was done via sticky notes and highlighters. If by any chance someone made a mistake, a whole new map had to be re-printed and re-pinned. These updates were crucial because it told Supervisors which circuits were energized and which were not. They would then deploy the appropriate crew members.
Reviewing
Supervisors spend 70% of their time reviewing paper maps submitted by surveyors. Although gatekeepers help speed up this process, a large majority of packets are sent back for Supervisor reviewal due to abnormalities in the job (map corrections, tags, abnormal operating conditions, etc).
Partial Assignments
Assignments can be hundreds of miles which can be way too much for a single Surveyor. Not only is it an unrealistic amount of work, but sometimes pairing up for large assignments is the safest thing to do.
05
Wireframes/Prototypes
06
ENGAGE WEB APP
Engage is a web application that helps supervisors monitor, assign, and report compliance work. In addition to cutting assignment reviewal time by 50%, Engage save PG&E $326,000 per year for the paperless solution and supports wildfire/emergency situations.
Assignments
Eliminating paper packets allows the main workspace to be a web browser. Not only are we able to give the supervisor an overview of the work, but we implemented a robust set of search & filter options.
Assignment Details
A deep dive on the assignment allows Supervisors to get a better understanding of the work that needs to be done. This helps makes decisions on how many Surveyors should be deployed, how long it might take, and possible safety hazards.
Partial Assignment
Enhances ability to evenly distribute work by providing a visual way of “cutting up” maps. These interactions (click polygons) follow Inpsect (iOS App) patterns to help bridge the gap when an Inspector/Surveyor is transitioning to a Supervisor position.
Reviewal
Approving work is only 2 clicks away. By pairing assignments with the map, Supervisors no longer have to go in and individually look at each pole. We automate this process and move towards an exception based flow where a Supervisor is only have to look at poles/assets that might have abnormalities, pinpointed by engage.
Reporting
The time spent pulling reports for compliance is now reduced by 80%. This is possible by automating the gathering of documents, and displaying the results in a digestible manner. Additionally, we provide the ability to generate a report that is shareable with anyone.
Engage Workflow
07
LEARNINGS
What were my challenges?
One of my biggest challenges was creating an ecosystem that was business agnostic. Although we found there were slight differences in content, the overall model was very similar (if not identical) and communicating that to different stakeholders was challenging. One of the key benefits in building a business agnostic ecosystem was that it became a “plug-n-play” development effort when expanding to different users.
What did I learn?
You can’t design for one user. Although this is a fairly basic design principle, communicating this to business process owners was challenging. I learned that the best way of getting that point across was to help these partners get immersed in the day-to-day responsibilities of the different users. Bring them along on your journey to a great product.
What would I do different?
Changes in contracts/business requirements have an effect not only on design but also the rest of the team. One thing that I would have done differently would be communicating the effects of constantly moving the goal post. I found this could be done by pairing with P.O.’s when having goal setting meetings with business stakeholders.