Internal Application / Workshop + Solution / Product Designer
Assisting a WORKSHOP to figure out Pain Points + Possible Solutions
for a Top US Energy company
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The Setup
Business
Transmission business squad at the energy company
Challenge
The challenge was to work hand in hand with our stakeholders to learn their current workflow, gain a list of pain points within the business squad, and evaluate those to decipher what the best MVP would be to start increases presence and experience for Transmission
My Role
Assist in creating visuals (mid-to-high fidelity) of a possible solution to the business units pain points
Project Time
Six months consisting of an incubator workshop and refinery phase to work on probable solution
Transmission Team
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Portfolio Owner
Dana Adams
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Construction & Maintenance
Christy Guenther
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Asset Management
Tab Jordan
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Long Term Planning
Cassandra Brooks
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IT
Delsi Love
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Change Management
Erika Sanchez
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Designer
Jorey Jones
Week 1 of Workshop : The Current State
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Validate Presented Workflows
Understand the backstory
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Define Opportunities
Align scope of opportunities and potential
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Define Group Impact
Define problem statement to ground ideation of future vision
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Discovering Validation
Linking together users, problems, and opportunities to solve them
Workshop Exercises
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Crazy Eight’s
Rapid ideation of concepts that may inform a future state
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Future State Workflow
Reimagine the future state that reduces identified pains
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Vision Board Poster
Visual representation of our opportunity
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Foundation
Updated stakeholder map to identify the user
Opportunities
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Work Prioritization
Data aggregation and sharing
Actionable data relevant to work
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Data Collection
Work prioritization
Cognizant sub-station
Leverage existing data used by other groups
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Capital Asset
Equipment tracking
Feeding work management systems with equipment change info.
Risks
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Work Prioritization
Bad data in / bad data out
Weak in execution
Not meeting rate expectations
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Data Collection
Impact is high
Dependent on data collection
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Capital Asset
Bad data in / bad data out
Compliance
Opportunity Statements
Design a way for C&M, MANAGEMENT, AND RELIABILITY PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
to STANDARDIZE DATA COLLECTION, UPDATE THE DATA, AND ELIMINATE MANUAL EQUIPMENT DATA ENTRY. So that all work can be PRIORITIZED, ALLOWING FOR CROSS-DEPARTMENT ALIGNMENT, VISIBILITY, AND COMMUNICATION OF PRIORITIZATION CRITERIA throughout the equipment lifecycle.
Design a way for SPONSORS to LEVERAGE ASSET DATA TO PREDICT LONG TERM ASSET STRATEGY AND SYSTEM PLANNING REQUIREMENTS to OPTIMIZE RESOURCE AND OUTGOING PLANNING TO EXECUTE HIGHEST PRIORITY WORK.
My Role up to this point
My role was to help understand the reasoning behind all exercises to come towards a sole problem to solve. We didnt want them to just create a solution in our first iteration (which was hard when you are working with stakeholders who are having the problems with their current workflow) but critically think how this could expand and effect the Transmission team. I created the Vision Board Poster sketches, which ended up being the focal point as I used this sketch as my description of what I felt the problem that we occuring.
Week 2 of Workshop : Prioritizing the MVP
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Equipment Engineering
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Reliability Engineer
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Technicians & Support
Paper Prototyping & User Testing
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Equipment Engineering
“The application should recommend a starting point that I can validate”
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Reliability Engineer
*No RE’s available
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Technicians & Support
“I’ll only use it if it works. Nothing ever works right that you give me.”
User Testing
We tested a few employees within Transmission to get their thoughts as to how they could improve their workflow and workflow. Like their stakeholder counterparts, they wanted a centralized place where they could, see all equipment and its assets, the condition and manuals on that asset, and the next best approach for that asset. Here are a few below:
Prioritization Finals
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E.S.P.O Engineering & Maintenance
Why:
Desirable: High Adoption Estimate & Meets Needs
Feasible: Integrate into existing initiatives
Viable: Foundational for long term savings & risk planning
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T.E.D.D Support & Technicians
Why Not:
Integrated into E.S.P.O
Aligned to Existing Initiatives
Fast Follow
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Long Range Planning Reliability Engineers
Why Not:
Just Do It
Aligned to Existing Initiatives
Existing System Integration
Value Statement
Equipment Strategy Planning & Optimization Tool will empower Equipment Engineering, Maintenance Support Technicians, and Reliability Program Engineers to make data driven replacement and maintenance decisions with 100% confidence.
This will be achieved by consolidating data from disparate systems to drive a combined maintenance and replacement strategy.
After Workshop : Refinery Phase
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Equipment Engineering
What is the plan for this particular piece of equipment?
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Reliability Engineer
What is prioritized to be worked on?
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Technicians & Support
Should I replace or repair this piece of equipment?
Sitemapping MVP
Process
The stakeholders and I were very pleased with the outcome of the ESPO tool. It served as a central hub where Transmission could have a list view of all assets and be able to drill down on it’s details; all on one application. The action to add comments and files could help the technical and field teams to interact with the app as well in a functional way. The workshop was so in depth and dynamic, it felt great to come to a point where the team was satisfied and couldn’t wait for an experience I help create, go into production. This tool should enable the completion of the highest priority work and facilitate the following outcomes:
20% reduction in unplanned spend
Expedited regulatory recovery in unplanned disruptions
25% reduction in maintenance work orders on end-of-life assets
Reduction in Customer Minute Interruptions (CMI)
Dynamic risk & cost plan
Conclusion
I really enjoyed being a creative and conceptual asset for this team. This was my first project in which I was a solo designer; enhancing my design and consulting skills in a multitude of ways. I was able to effectively listen and communicate to the stakeholders as we worked hand in hand for months. I was able to be fully immersed into the project, its full behaviors, and all its possibilities. For this project to be an “Exploration and Innovation” opportunity, it was a designer’s dream because there weren’t as many restriction; yet wanting to see how creative and user-centric we could be with our ideals.