the challenge

The Service Tracker project was the creation of a new tool for Daimler's internal truck servicing. The tool was to take the form of a tracking system to bridge the gap between dealers and fleet managers. It enables these users to manage and track truck repairs for their Freightliner brand of diesel trucks. At the time, no tool existed that enabled easy tracking and communications about repairs between dealerships and their customers, the fleet managers. Essentially all communications were done via email and phone calls, where there was little audit trail and there was no central location for updates.

gathering

At the time that I was brought on board, the UX portion had already begun as an internal effort, but internal Daimler staff was limited and unable to give this project the needed attention, so it was handed to me to continue the work. Because of this, much of the requirements and scope had already been discussed and documented. I conducted initial stakeholder interviews and user interviews to gather wants, needs and desires and to get up to speed with what had already been done in the first two sprints.

research

Research and materials gathering followed. I conducted many information gathering and design workshops with key stakeholders to gather feedback and refine the wishlist and must haves. I received logos and a current basic style guide. A basic navigation map was created in order to fully understand and verify what information needed to flow where and what information each user type would be able to access.

design

Designs started with digital thumbnails and very low fidelity wireframes. These basic concept designs were then translated to high fidelity wireframes in Illustrator as well as a few high fidelity mock ups of the design. Over 30 other wireframe designs where created over the span of the project to demonstrate additional pages, features, interactions and mobile and tablet formats. Several rounds of refinement and feedback workshops solidified details and fine points resulting in a total of 20 rounds of revision. One design feature, and how it would work in a responsive way, was coded in html/css and handed to the dev team for proof of concept. An icon image sprite was also provided for the dev team as well as a basic style guide with css call outs.

testing

A clickable prototype was also created for user testing purposes along with a resulting findings document. The testing proved to be very fruitful and its findings resulted in two rounds of revisions.

the solution

The solution was a design that provides a simple and quick look at repair status information and enables communication and documentation all in one location. Associated files and other information can be passed easily and it provides for a historical trail of what was done and when, as well as notification of problems and roadblocks.

results

The resulting site was recently launched and has resulted in a 70% reduction in email and phone communications related to repairs as well as a 36% decrease in repair wait time due to lower communication delays.