Navigating complex data hierarchies: SaaS solution for fleet management
TL:DR
Brief was to create a portal that allowed fleet managers to see data about their vehicle fleet, and exmplore the complex hierarchies and groups of data.
My approach was to collaborate closely with both the customer success managers for fleet, and the technical team who managed the back end data. I facilitated as the bridge between the two, to identify the best solution and experience.
The outcome was a slick portal for fleet managers, which overcame the complex data sets and allowed for transparent management of fleet info.
The hierarchy of data sets for a customer group.
Initial brief
The goal was simple - to create a tool that would allow a user to see vehicle status information about a customer’s fleet. The challenge was in how to navigate through the different information sets and present many different vehicle sub-statuses. The fleet was organised in a hierarchy, much like an organisational chart. Each point in the tier represents a different department or team. Our users need to see the data for each group, in every tier.
Co-created sketches
I facilitated a workshop with both the users from within the business and the development team. I led a series of activities to identify a structure that made sense to the users and would align to system architecture.
We generated initial sketches together, made updates to the design through discussion, and identified an approach I could take forwards.
A prototype I produced within the Axure wireframes.
Wireframes & prototype
After the workshop I put together a series of wireframes, continuing to evolve and tweak the content. I worked with the Product Owner, Business Analyst and UI designer to ensure the designs aligned to the user stories, and were usable based on feedback from the business users.
I created a navigation approach which would allow a user two options to access different stages in the hierarchy.
A user could search for a specific group by name, and see where that group is in the hierarchy before they select to see that data.
A user could browse through the tree structure, starting from the default view of the whole fleet, and either selecting a child group, or clicking into the child group to see the tiers below.
UI prototype
Visual design & build.
I worked with the UI designer to translate the concept into visual designs and a UI prototype. This helped us test the approach with users before it was developed.
The team completing the development were based offshore, so I spent additional time with the UI designer and BA to walk them through the approach. We ensured that there were detail materials available in the form of interactive wireframes, detailed user stories, and annotated UI designs, as well as regular screenshares and check ins. This helped us to ensure the approach was developed as we intended.