The Problem:

Before the creation of this new mobile solution, all work done by our internal staff was done on laptops and desktops. Our internal ERP solution was a desktop-only app, and it was sufficient for the staff members who worked inside the office for the entire day. However, there was a missed opportunity to make life easier for our employees that were actively moving around. Maintenance staff members who travelled around the community to fix problems inside residents’ apartments were at a huge disadvantage. They were forced to walk around the community and complete their tasks that they had written down on paper or typed into their phone, and then return to the office to manually input the activities. Not only was this tedious and challenging, but it also opened the door for the possibility of things being forgotten or misrepresented. Maintenance staff could have done something inside an apartment and forgotten to make note of it once they returned to the office, or they may have been working with outdated ad-hoc information that was only updated on the desktop app. This was costing the business due to fragmented tracking. It was becoming increasingly difficult to be sure that what the maintenance workers were doing in the field was being relayed to the desktop app later on. We needed to create a mobile version of our desktop app that maintenance workers would be able to take with them on the go and use to stay connected with the database at all times. This would make their jobs both easier and more organized.

The Goals:

• Build a mobile version of our desktop application to support the staff members working in the field

• Improve tracking and productivity of our maintenance staff

• Help our employees save time and improve the convenience of performing their day-to-day tasks

The Challenges:

• Preventing scope creep due to the many features requested by the field

• Collecting insightful user research from users with low expectations

• Not being able to physically visit the users’ work environment for further insights

The Result:

• Successfully designed, built and launched an ERP mobile app from the ground up

• Improved the productivity and happiness of our users in the field

• Achieved good reviews and feedback on the usability and overall usefulness of the app

The Team:

• Chief Technology Officer (Toronto)

• Product Manager (Toronto)

• Technical Team Lead (Toronto)

• 3 software developers (Toronto)

• UX Designer (Myself, Toronto)

The Tools:

Sketch, Invision, Microsoft Forms, Outlook, Teams, OneNote, Confluence, JIRA

How can we consolidate an ERP system into an app?

It was a daunting task to take our extremely complex ERP solution and jam it into something that fits in the palm of your hand. It was very critical that we maintained a solid scope for this project to prevent it from getting out of hand. Before we began doing research or any designing at all, we had to set the realistic goal of NOT transitioning the entire desktop app to mobile. Not only was it too difficult to do, it was also not necessary. The employees in the field only needed access to some of the module in the desktop app, so we focused on giving them those features rather than the entire app. We wanted it to be very clear that the mobile solution was a ‘lite’ version of the desktop version rather than the entire desktop version in a mobile app form. This would help us in keeping the scope under control, and it would also keep our users’ expectations in line and minimize any disappointment. We did intend to continuously add to the mobile app and have it grow in the future (which we’ve since done), but the first iteration needed to focus on a handful of critical features that would drive productivity for our staff members that needed it most.

Phase One: Doing research at ground zero

Research began by understanding the issues that our employees were having at the ground level. It was important to speak directly with them to get unfiltered information about what problems they were having. We also worked closely with the Director of Maintenance Operations who helped act as a strong guide for overseeing the process and ensuring nothing was missed.

Here are some examples of problems we learned about:

• Maintenance workers were arriving at apartments to repair something without having full knowledge about who lived in the apartment of the details of the lease. (E.g. Visiting an apartment and being greeted by a large dog without having any warning of what to expect)

• The need to travel back and forth to their desk to input information into the system was not only physically demanding and tedious, but it created opportunities for information to be forgotten or not entered properly hours after the fact

• Time-based tasks were difficult to stay on track with. Valuable time was being wasted between when the problem was received from a resident and when the worker was notified by seeing it on their computer

• Maintenance workers weren’t fond of having to do so much work with a paper and pen before manually typing it onto a computer later on in the day (not to mention the environmental impact of all the paper usage!)

Phase Two: Ideation and feature prioritization

Once we developed a strong understanding of the problems our employees were having, we moved onto feature prioritization. We knew we wouldn’t be able to consolidate the entire desktop solution into the new mobile solution, so we had to choose features that offered the most value for the users. We narrowed it down to several key features we wanted the app to support:

By adding in features that weren’t specific to maintenance workers (specifically features 1-5), we would be able to ensure that this app would be useful to even more users than just the maintenance staff. Our community staff would also be able to use the app to help view and manage information about residents while they were on the go as well. This meant that a staff member would be able to enter a lease violation immediately while they were walking around the property, rather than having to remember to do it once they got back to the office. All in all, the main goal for the app features we chose was enabling our employees to be productive and efficient no matter where they were.

Phase Three: Translating desktop flows to mobile and prototyping

A great part about this project was that we were building off of something that already exists. We needed to take workflows and paths from our desktop solution and make sure they could work on mobile. This required some slight adjustments, but for the most part we were able to keep much fo the workflow the same. A key benefit of this was that the end users would need to spend less time learning the app because it was going to operate in a similar fashion to the desktop version that they were accustomed to. There was no sense in reinventing the wheel and increasing the amount of learning that the end user needed to do. 

I was able to save time on the project by avoiding wire-framing and diving directly into high-fidelity prototyping. Since we knew that the majority of our users were blue-collar workers who weren’t strong in using complicated technology, the theme for the design was simple and predictable. It was very important the app was designed for maximum productivity, NOT maximum beauty. We needed our staff members to be able to quickly access information, manage their tasks and move on to the next one without being burdened by trendy UI features or an unpredictable and unique layout that was difficult to learn. 

Phase Four: User testing and feedback, and measuring success

Once stakeholders had approved the design and we were confident that it would be an effective solution in the field, a few dozen users were given access to a prototype for testing. We put the app in our user’s hands and asked them to use it in their everyday lives to solve problems and report back with their thoughts.

After several months of usage and connecting with the Director of Maintenance Operations as well as some users themselves, I created a survey to begin collective quantitative feedback that we could use to help evaluate the success level of the product. The survey was sent to 65 users and they were given an opportunity to provide us with their opinions.

 Overall, the feedback we received on the app was positive.

• 83% of users said performing tasks in the app was very easy and 100% said it was either very easy or somewhat easy

• 95% of users agreed that the onboarding and training process we created for the app was sufficient

• The overall rating for usability and visual design for the app was a little over 4 out of 5 stars

• While 61% of users said they experienced a usability issue at some point, 55% of the usability issues were due to the app’s speed or network issue, which are fixable on the development side rather than on the design side

Though network and app speed issues are not in the control of UX design, a slow app and an app with network problems are still a detriment to the overall user experience. UX isn’t just visual — it’s the entire experience of interacting with the product. That’s why it was important that we focused on improving on all of the critiques we received, because they all contribute to affecting the experience of using the app. With this new feedback, we have since been able to continuously improve on the app design and make it even more beneficial to the users who rely on it. We continue to listen to users about features they would like to see and problems they’re having so that we can work in making the necessary improvements.

Which goals were achieved and what was learned?

I’m proud that our team was able to come together and build a mobile solution from the ground up. Not only were we able to improve the tracking and reporting process for the business, but we also make our employee’s lives easier by giving them a convenient mobile solution to help them stay organized and productive on their busy days.

One of the biggest lessons learned while working on this project was that it was important to not get too fancy. The UI design truly needed to focus on function rather than form. It’s truly important to understand your user and their priorities. As busy maintenance workers lugging around tools and getting their hands dirty, they didn’t care for trendy UI features or pretty colors — they just wanted to get their work done efficiently and track and report it with an app. I definitely learned that knowing your audience is key, and that different demographics have different requirements and expectations in terms of look and feel.

This was also the first mobile app I’ve designed and helped launch, which is a proud and defining moment in my career. I’ve learned that designing for mobile is not only fun, but challenging. Understanding both iOS and Android design principles is important. Designing for mobile forces you to get creative and come up with solutions in a confined space, and I definitely enjoyed the experience.

Overall, this was a massive success and a project that truly improved the lives of our workers on the ground at our communities. I’m glad I was able to help contribute to building a solution that makes doing their job easier and more enjoyable.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to explore my other case studies to learn more about the wonderful products I’ve contributed to.