Freight moves

Obviously not by itself. There are tools and systems in place.

Interestingly, there's an app to help it, and even more interestingly, I got to work on it.

LOCOMOTIVE FEATURE

Here's some quick context on this case study

As mentioned, I worked alongside a team of designers, SAP specialists, developers, and others to create and enhance applications for simplified locomotive maintenance operations

01

This application, called Shop Planning and Analysis, was designed for users in the command center for senior shop planners to get a high-level overview of locomotive operations

02

This was part of the dual track agile effort of the client-Discovery involving research and Delivery track involving product design

03

This project is focused on design delivery as I am showcasing a feature created as part of a larger application

04

Here's some quick context on this case study

Project Dynamics

Team

Four designers- I worked on this particular feature

Client

A major freight company.

Timeline

Built over a period of a few weeks as part of an application build spanning more than a year.

Towing

This feature showcases towing a locomotive from the shop and ensuring all the relevant work orders are completed.

Unlike a car you don't drive the locomotive out of the shop once the work is completed.

Here's some quick context on this case study

1. Overview

The page provides an overview of the application, acting as the home screen.
The top blue box provides a high-level view of the locomotive, such as its current location, locomotive codes, etc
WO status = work order status, which must be completed for the work/ task to be closed.
Complete means the task is complete, which disables the reason code on its right.
Exception means the task isn’t complete, but needs to be closed for the locomotive to be towed
An exception requires a reason which is why the reason code is attached to the section..more on this below.

2. Reason codes

As mentioned above, reason codes are needed for exception work orders.
There’s a scroll with the entire list of reason codes
A reason code must be selected to complete the work order, which must all be completed for towing the locomotive..

3. Initiate

For towing to be initiated, each work order must be closed or exceptioned.
Once the appropriate selections are made, the towing will be initiated.

4. Complete work orders

Once the towing is initiated, the screen is disabled, and a modal pops up in the front for verification.
The modal confirms if the relevant work orders with their numbers are completed. To proceed, the user clicks Yes.

5. Override

Once the towing is initiated, the screen is disabled, and a modal pops up in the front for verification.
It also disables the other work order menu as the options are completed.

6. In-transit

With the work orders completed, the user must set the locomotive status to in transit.
He will need to update the reason code and the status date and time updates.

7. Reason codes

Similar to work orders, reason codes are needed to change the servicing of the state.
In this case, the reason code is set to Bad Order

8. Update

In-transit prompts an additional section for the destination shop with a section for comments
Here the user can add the destination and his relevant comments for the towing process

9. Complete

Updating the locomotive details now reflects the locomotive being towed.
The green modal signifies that the locomotive details are successfully updated.

Parting thoughts

01

The towing feature is one of the many features created within this application to make a user-friendly interface.

02

It provides provisions to verify the work orders and provides a way to improve application efficiency.

03

Modals to verify that work orders are completed .

04

Buttons are highlighted and enabled when relevant work order functions are completed .

05

Blocking out the sections after relevant tasks are completed.

A reasonable conclusion of why this interface makes sense.