A Transport
Management System (TMS) that creates a supply chain ecosystem.
TMS operations include route planning and optimisation, load optimisation, execution, freight audit and payment, yard management, advancement shipping, order visibility and carrier management.
The basic functionalities which were performed by the users using the platform include:
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Publishing: A grid view of the indents is available at this stage. Indents are to be published on the following day. There are basic options which can be applied to the indents (reassign, edit, delete, etc).
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Placement: At this level, a list of indents (reported, not reported, reporting, etc) are available. The different stages the truck goes through - Reporting, Plant In, Weight In, Load Start, Storage Location, Load End, Weight Out, Plant Out - can be viewed on the placement card.
Security: At this stage, a list of indents (reported, not reported, reporting, etc) are available. The different stages the truck goes through - Reporting, Plant In, Weight In, Load Start, Load End, Weight Out, Plant Out - can be viewed on the security card.
My Role
I led the Product Design - User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) - of this project. I was closely working with the Developers & Product Managers (who were also the co-founders). I was the first designer to get hired at Byte Prophecy and created their design system along with their products from scratch.
Company
Byte Prophecy
(Part of Accenture - May 2020)
Year
2016-2018
Platform
PWa, Web
User Research
Secondary Research
Wireframing
Screen Flows
Visual Design
Interaction Design
Design System
Skills
Tools
Research & Insights
Understanding the user
MonitorFirst Platform caters to 3 different kinds of users depending on their job responsibilities. In order to understand the user, I asked questions to gain an understanding on how the users conduct their daily job requirements. Some of the questions I asked the users were:
Publisher: Major job of reviewing and publishing indents for the following day.
How often do they log on/ off from their system?
If there is any issue, who do they inform? Can they still perform their task?
What all indent details need to be mentioned?
Can a future entry be made?
When an indent is removed, how is it adjusted?
Can an indent be reassigned to another transporter?
Can a removed indent be replaced?
What all information is required while creating a new indent?
What reasons are required while adding, removing or replacing indents?
Can the indents destination be changed?
Placement: Filling and checking in the relevant indent details
Can the user create, remove or delete an indent?
If there is any issue, who do they inform? Can they still perform their task?
What all indent details need to be mentioned?
Can a future entry be made?
When an indent is removed, how is it adjusted?
Can an indent be reassigned to another transporter?
What all stages does an indent go through?
Which all stages need a manual input?
What is the functionality behind filling up the bay form?
Can indents be merged if the destination and load factors are favourable?
Security: Filling and checking out the relevant indent details
What all stages does an indent are visible here?
Which all stages need a manual input?
What all indent details need to be mentioned?
Can the user create, remove or delete an indent?
How is incomplete information handled?
How long does it take to complete the loading of a truck?
What all stages does an indent go through?
Which all stages need a manual input?
What is the functionality behind filling up the bay form?
Can indents be merged if the destination and load factors are favourable?
Based on understanding taken from the user a basic flow of the process was created from which the pain points were derived and design requirements were identified.
Understanding the Problem
Today, transport and logistics is one of the major industries and in order to make sure it runs seamlessly, industries strive to make sure customers receive their shipments on time. At the same time it is also important to plan better for inventory at hand. Some of the major pain points focussed on were:
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Digitising an existing manual process included proper understanding of the job profiles as well as training on ground.
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The indents and relevant information needs to be grouped well so that it is easily understood by everyone using it.
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The product relies on updates across all 3 job categories and needs to work real time seamlessly. Any loss of information can lead to wrong decision making.
Areas of Improvement
Identifying Design requirements
Based on interviews and business requirements, basic design and tech requirements were identified. These were then segregated so that it would give a direction during the designing and ideation.
Clean & easy to understand interfaces
Easily accessible information
Quick actions should be easily accessible
Stages of the indent should be colour coded
Maximise efficiency by making the product real time
Use of colours & charts wherever necessary to easily grasp information
Timely training for features and upgrades
Regular feedback for usability and any painpoints
Easy to understand and execute.
Level based functionality and view of the product
Ideation
Creating the flow
After understanding the users and their requirements, a process flow was created for different job profiles. Based on this, I created different interfaces.
Publisher: The goal of the publisher was to publish indents for the following day.
Placement: The goal of the placement officer was to follow up on the stages of the indent along with the security officer. Also, to perform actions on any indent if necessary.
Placement: The goal of the placement officer was to follow up on the stages of the indent along with the security officer. Also, to perform actions on any indent if necessary.
Final Designs
After working on the wireframes, final screens were worked created. These were designed keeping in mind the requirements of the users and regularly taking feedback from the clients.
The product is unique as it converts the entire manual method of Transport Management System into digitised form. Also, it runs live and stages of the truck can be viewed at any time of the day. This makes the whole process more transparent and easy to manage.
Final Designs
After working on the wireframes, final screens were worked created. These were designed keeping in mind the requirements of the users and regularly taking feedback from the clients.
Testing & Release
How testing impacted design.
The platform was regularly tested with relevant users and stakeholders on various parameters for functionality and feasibility. Some of the points that emerged during the testing were:
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Proper training was necessary for all the involved users so that there was no confusion on how to handle features and product itself.
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Continuous testing and feedback needs to be taken from all involved users and stakeholders in order to check for feasibility and any pain points.
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Since the product was running live and each job category relied on information fed in by the previous person it needed to run seamlessly.
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Since the product was built for scale and had a large integration of data it was necessary to have a robust storage system so that the system did not lag.
In 2020, Byte Prophecy was acquired by Accenture.
My Takeaways
This was a very interesting and had its own unique challenges. Some of my key takeaways were:
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Transport & Logistics was a very new sector to me. Understanding the user job requirements was important and interesting at the same time.
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There were a lot of intricacies that went into creating the product as it was handled at different levels.
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There can be a lot of push back at ground level even if something is made to make your life easier. It's not easy for people to give up on old habits and learn something new. The UX here needed to be really easy to adapt to and easy to understand.
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Visual Design can really be helpful while explaining a solution. Even hierarchy, font (weight, size), space and colour can greatly affect how we perceive information.
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In a business oriented product, user experience needs to be given more emphasis which it is not the case a lot of times. The designer needs to act as an advocate and bring the best design forward.