EagleView CONSTRUCT

Overview

My Role | Sr. UX Design Manager

UX Team | Visual Designer, Interaction Designer, Researcher

Tools | Balsamiq, Illustrator, Photoshop, InVision

Goal

How might we design a solution that leverages AI - Machine Learning algorithms to to seamlessly integrate our 3D measurements into construction suppliers' inventory systems, enabling precise material orders for their customers?

EagleView has a fleet of more than 200 airplanes taking aerial imagery used for 3D measurements, data analytics and GIS solutions for commercial, residential and public properties.

Problem: EagleView partnered with national construction stores to build a tool that would assist their customers in ordering the precise amount of materials needed for each of their construction bids and projects. Construction stores lose a lot of time and money when orders for materials are inaccurately placed. By using our 3D building measurements and connecting to all the SKUs in the the network databases, we can apply AI - Machine Learning formulas that auto-generate and select the exact quantity and list of materials needed for each product needed for a particular project. We also integrated and built out an e-commerce platform that allows their clients to browse the store inventory and add more items to their shopping carts as needed.

Success: We were able to take the existing R&D tool of more than 50 screens and replace it with a 5-click process that amounted to over $1,000,000 in material orders in the first six months, and is still in use today.

Process

User Personas
Field Visits & Interviews
Design Studio
User Scenario & Activities
Wireframes
Visual Design
Pattern Library
Engineering Support
User Testing
Marketing

User Personas

Sara Supplier Sales Associate
"Earn trust and respect and you
have a customer for life."

Ralph Construction Contractor
"If it's not easy to learn, and it won't
save me time -- I won't use it."

Field Visits & User Interviews

Working with Product Managers & Sales we were able to organize three supplier store visits and conduct ten phone interviews with the following users:
5 Supplier Store Representatives
8 Roofing Construction Contractors

From our research we were able to identify the different tasks and motivations of our users. After completing our research we then worked with the Product Managers to write scenarios that verified the user goals.

Highlights of Quotes
“It needs to be as easy as ordering a sub sandwich.”

“I fax my orders directly to the same supplier and store manager on every order – confident that order will be billed and shipped correctly.”

“I always use the same system, the quality control is better.”

“I love EagleView reports and order them whenever I can or it’s appropriate! (QuickSqaures for every lead and will convert to Premium if get the job and house is complex.”

Design Studio

At project kick-off the UX Team gathered all internal stakeholders (Sales, PM, Customer Service, Engineering, & Marketing) together for a design studio brainstorming session. The format allowed for team members to quickly express their ideas and encouraged creative thinking, while allowing the sharing of individual insights between different departments. The session revealed many strong ideas, and some that helped drive the UX & Product Strategy:

Automate for Roofing Contractor by including the option to add Material List during ordering.

Provide a way for Sales Associate to set-up a "System" Template for Roofing clients

Simplify the amount of steps involved in ordering materials

User Scenarios & Activities

Supplier Sales Representative:

Contact Contractors building homes, commercial building and roof and siding construction in the area
Give them branch material pricing
Help them with 3D measurements for roofs and walls
Help them organize materials needed – product quantities based on measurements (need measurement in writing, because of possible liability issues)
Help them create a bid, providing three different manufacturers, and warranties for 30-40-50 year
Make sure precise and accurate order is placed and delivered
Stay in close touch with client through all phases of job

Roofing Contractor:

Get leads for new construction, repair or new install
Get 3D roof and wall measurments
Organize materials needed for the job – quantities based on measurements
Estimage cost based on square feet and supplier pricing
Create bid
Sign a customer proposal on site using EagleView mobile apps
Follow-up with warranty and upsells

Wireframes

Visual Design

❮ ❯

Pattern Library

The UX Team created and maintained a UX pattern library that documented all elements within the web application. We worked with Engineering to build-out a Bootstrap repositiory that housed the styling and code for each element, and co-owned updating the repository when elements were added, changed or removed.

Engineering Support

The UX Team participated in daily SCRUM meetings with Engineering. We worked closely with all team members to resolve bugs, and plan sprints, helping Product Managers with feature and enhancement prioritization. The AGILE environment allowed us to iterate quickly with low-fi mock-ups, and then utilizing our Pattern Library we were able to complete the Fit & Finish as efficiently as possible.

Below is an example of a quick mock-up for a new feature:

CONSTRUCT Engineering Support

User Testing

After launch the UX Team designed a full test plan of the main user tasks and conducted usability tests in-house with 6 Supplier Representatives and 2 Roofing Contractors. We also completed a comprehensive user survey completed by ~100 customers. The survey included the SUS usability scale along with other qualitative questions. The UX Team was able to identify key takeaways from the research and make feature enhancements based on the information we gathered.

CONSTRUCT User Testing