Building a versatile tool to manage orders and communication

2020

Key insights

Services

Google Design Sprint

Event Storming workshops

Web app development

Mobile app development

Cloud architecture design

Technologies

Java

Spring Boot

JavaScript

React

Docker

Azure

Android

Industry

transport & logistics

About the Client

Visline provides transport services in Europe with an established position on the TSL market having reached over 25 mln euro turnover in 2018. The company has 10 offices in Poland, Germany, and Ireland. Growing the team and the fleet, the company notices that it’s increasingly difficult to maintain a smooth communication flow that facilitates efficient operation.

Challenges

When the Client contacted us, the team was already experiencing some issues in the communication workflow that had a visible influence on the effectiveness of their everyday work. Having multiple channels that were used for communication and order management, the organization saw that the inefficient information chain resulted in miscommunication and delays.

The challenges:

the company at times failed to keep the customer updated on the status of their delivery,
a number of communication channels – it was difficult to manage information received via different communication channels and some things got lost along the way,
multitude of information to be shown to different user types (different roles within the company).

Project goal

Building a communication bridge between individual departments by automating the exchange of information in the company and with clients to achieve competitive advantage.

Project timeline

To streamline communication and optimize order management, we decided to build one, versatile tool that would enable the team to handle all essential issues within one application.

Discovery workshop

Interviews, competitive research.

01

Research

Creating user personas, designing user flow, user story mapping.

02

Wireframes

Defining the MVP,
preparing information architecture,
paper prototyping, user testing.

03

Design & development

Designing user interface,
creating style guide.

04

Further development

Event Storming workshops,
adding new features.

05

Research & discovery

Building a solution that works is best done in close collaboration with the end users – the people who will be using the tool. We observed Visline employees at work and had the opportunity to see the challenges they face and ask them about these. These observations helped us understand the importance of proper team interactions in the company and we found out that the communication issues that occur affect the quality of service but also the employees’ efficiency and motivation as they were experiencing higher levels of stress.Their frustrations revolved around the inability to get access to the right information when it was needed.

Wireframing & design

During the UX workshop, after we have explored the needs of end users and the details of the then workflow, we listed ideas on automating the process and started wireframing. The first low fidelity prototypes were prepared on paper together with the Client’s team. Along the way, we also prepared the user story map and determined the scope of the minimum viable product (MVP).

Architecture & development

At the beginning of the development process, we explored the Client’s IT infrastructure in detail, focusing on listing all the software and tools the company was using. At the same time, we reviewed the company’s use of cloud services to find ways of optimizing cloud architecture. We used the results of the workshops and our observations to design the application’s architecture along with cloud structure. We built 3 separate environments for development, testing, and production, and equipped the system with a fully automated pipeline that allowed for deployment between these without downtime.
We worked on the project following the guidelines of Agile product development, starting with strategic planning and preparing the backlog, through development in sprints with internal daily Scrum meetings, to weekly progress reports and demos delivered to the client. We maintained close collaboration with the Client’s team to allow for faster delivery of increments and timely exchange of all the necessary information. Staying in touch on a regular basis is crucial at every stage of the project, but especially in the design phase, when it’s easier to implement changes in comparison to doing so in the development phase – it’s easier, so it saves our Clients’ time and money.

Solutions

Observing the Client’s employees at work

As shown in the project timeline, we started with visiting the Client’s company to observe the work employees from different departments of the Client’s company. This way, we made sure that we were building a solution that would solve their actual problems and help them achieve higher efficiency. The staff were eager to share their thoughts on how communication within the company could be improved.

One tool to manage all communication

To cut down on the time the employees have to spend switching between communication channels and relieve them of the stress of having to remember too many details, we went for building one application, available in desktop and mobile versions, which would give access to all the necessary information and facilitate communication among departments.

Automatic order status updates

All order updates submitted in the system would now automatically be shown to the customer as well. Prior to this change, updates on the order were done by the drivers who would manually inform about the distance from destination. This was a big issue, especially for express shipping, e.g. of life-saving medical equipment, when it was essential that the orders arrive on time. Thanks to the automation of this part of the process, the customer could access up-to-date information about their order whenever needed - which plays a significant role in building customer satisfaction, while forwarding agents were able to execute more orders on a daily basis.

Prioritizing the information displayed

One challenge we faced during the workshop was that there were hundreds of rows to be shown on the homescreen. The company aggregated vast amounts of data from different sources, which required carefully selecting a database and architecture to allow for real-time operations in multiple browsers. Our goal was to build a clear system that would give instant access to all data and changes made to it right away. To make navigation through the data available in the app easier, we built a dynamic table and prioritized the information to be displayed to make sure that only the most important things would appear on the home screen.

Results

The new communication and order management tool was welcomed by the Client’s team. They are now able to access all order information within one application, access all order-related communication, update order and driver status - even letting the dispatcher know that the driver is stuck in a traffic jam and is facing a possible delay. Additionally, thanks to the automation introduced in the process, drivers no longer have to send text messages or make calls to update order status, which increases on-route safety.

The old channels of communication have been integrated

The employees were happy to say goodbye to the old way of communicating with their colleagues and customers. The new system integrated all the tools the team would use, which made it easier to keep information organized and didn’t require the whole company to re-learn communication rules. We’ve helped the Client use the tools effectively and made sure the staff wouldn’t have to make any extra effort to use the new system.

The customers received up-to-date information

With the new system in place, the staff didn’t have to worry about customers not receiving information on their orders in time. Updates are now done automatically which is great for both customer and employee satisfaction.

Information is well-organized

The stress of having to manage and remember a lot of information is gone. With all order information available in one app where employees can update statuses, exchange messages, filter and search for information, they are able to avoid delays and increase operations efficiency.

What our Client thinks

Tomasz Kempa, Product Owner

Peersoft has delivered excellent service throughout the whole process. They have dug deep into our specification of work in order to understand every element of it. They were able to fully interpret our needs and project automated solutions that we could implement into daily work via the app.

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