Fluid Sampling & Scheduling System
USER RESEARCH • USER JOURNEY • WEB APPLICATION • INTERACTION DESIGN
OVERVIEW
The business requirements necessitated the overall update of the sampling and scheduling system that was in use, in order to accommodate the growing business needs as well as simplify and digitise processes that previously required operational effort. The prior user journey as well as visuals were heavily cluttered and complex, not to mention outdated according to the advancements in business as well as tech. The key aspect was to understand the various roles that this application would serve in order to stitch the experience accordingly.
MY ROLE
Requirement gathering from BA. Understanding and visualising the complex system of sampling and testing of fluids. Creating personas , journey maps and task flows for proposed system. Incorporating latest trends- suggestion. UI design and micro-interactions for the prototype.
THE TEAM
3 designers, with guidance from a UX associate director & the business team
TIMELINE
Oct - Nov 2021;
Proposal for Redesign
UNDERSTANDING THE ACTORS
The application would mainly serve two significant actors in a single sample cycle - The dealer & the lab technician.
ACTOR 1
The DEALER is the middle man between the customer and the lab, who receives the sample for testing, registers it on the portal and monitors the logistics and sample results to convey to the customer.
ACTOR 2
The LAB technician, as the name suggests is responsible for sample testing, uploading results and modifying tests if required.
EXISTING USER JOURNEY
We monitored the key flows for both the dealer as well as the lab tech in the existing system and structured the "current user journey" with pain points and areas of opportunity
SOS - Scheduling of Samples
UX MARKET TRENDS IN SAMPLE TESTING
Functionalities that can be incorporated in the proposed system to keep up with market trends.
PROPOSED USER JOURNEY
By thoroughly understanding the scheduling system and the roles played by the actors, we were able to create a more efficient journey for each user type with reduced steps and better visual recommendations
Visual Concept Screens *
DASHBOARD
A landing page for Alex, the dealer to have a quick view of the samples analysis status, reminders and, quick actions buttons to perform various tasks.
* Items white-out for privacy & security
1. Clean and clutter free interface design,
complimenting the Caterpillar brand guidelines.
2. An intuitive indicator displaying the overall status of samples for quick updates.
3. List of recent most samples submitted along with its status indicated.
4. Quick action buttons for Registration of new samples, Pre-registration for current samples, tracking samples and viewing reports.
5. An essential section for reminders of
registered samples that are due for its timely maintenance.
6. Chatbot and Self-Help function for guidance and personalized experience.
SAMPLE TRACKING
An intuitive page for tracking the analysis of a sample
1. An intuitive visual representation of the
sample's test status.
2. An ETA function to get an approximate time to know by when will the sample report be ready.
3. Overview section of the sample provides
details about each stage of the analysis.
4. Sample details (from registration)
* Items white-out for privacy & security
SAMPLE REGISTRATION FORM
A well-defined and seamless registration form for quicker sample registration
1. Clean and clutter-free form layout.
2. Selection of lab option integrated in the
form to streamline the process of registration and reducing number of steps required to complete it.
3. Barcode scanner function to auto fill the
form and make it quicker and seamless to
register.
4. Efficient categorization and layout of the
fields to speed up the process of form filling.
* Items white-out for privacy & security
Conclusion
The sample scheduling process was a complex system involving multiple actors and roles (2 of which were revealed here). By studying the process of these roles, we were able to break down their flows into key flows/ accommodations which helped stitch the visuals as well as the journey into one seamless experience. The learning effort for a new user was reduced as the visual complexity was dissolved into a clean and hierarchical interface with well defined CTA's and information.