Challenge

GE Energy management customers were unable to quickly access machine parts information and identify spare parts resulting in 6+ months cycle times, dissatisfied customers and lost opportunities.

Solution

To create a mobile app that will enable field engineers, sales engineer and external customers to identify the part by capturing images using smart phone camera. Captured images will be matched to the database of parts and the customer will be presented with parts information & availability and ability to submit their order.

My Role

Project Leadership, Competitive Analysis, Wireframing and Prototyping in Axure, Usability testing along with Researcher, Presenting the finding and recommendations to stakeholders.

Our approach was to first conduct workshop with the stakeholders to understand the business needs and identify who our target users were. From our sessions, we got insights into the business flow of parts ordering and understood the priorities.

Personas

Our next step was to conduct 1:1 interviews with target users to gain understanding of their needs and painpoints. We used that information to create the personas below.

Task Flow

We identified the key capabilities that the user would need such as Dashboard, Search, Camera, ability to mark as favorites, add to a list and submit for request. We created a high level task flow and this informed the information architecture and screens required.

Sketches

Initial sketches helped explore how the information on the screen could be presented and what functionalities should be emphasized.

Wireframe Iterations

Usability testing

We conducted usability testing with a mix of sales engineers, parts engineers and field engineers. Here is an outline of the test objectives.

Feedback from users

"I want to organize parts catalog by the process areas that I deal with my everyday tasks."

"I need a wide range of information including Part#, Description, Technical specs, Brochures, Schematics and Photos so that the purchasing team identifies and orders the right part to the customers."

"I want to know if someone is working on my request, what is the lead time, tracking number and the place where to pickup the order".

Final Prototype

Check out the final clickable prototype below to see it in action!