Locomotive maintainence-Feature
-
I worked alongside a team of designers, SAP specialists developers and other folks to create and enhance applications for simplified locomotive maintenance operations.
-
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
-
This feature talks about towing a locomotive from the shop and ensuring all the relevant work orders are completed for the same
-
This was part of the dual track agile effort of the client-Discovery involving research and Delivery track involving product design
-
This project is focussed on design delivery as I am showcasing a feature created as part of a larger application
Background
How might we create a feature for towing a locomotive that's functional aesthetic and intuitive?
-
This was done for one the largest locomotive operators in North America
-
The application was designed to support SAP at the backend
-
We created this application to cover a range of Shop Planning activities, however this specific feature focusses on towing.
Solution and the artifacts below
Conculsion
The towing feature is one of the many features created within this application to make a user-friendly interface.
It provides provisions to verify the work orders and provides a way to improve application efficiency.
Reasons why this feature is more functional
-
Modals to verify that work orders are completed
-
Buttons highlighted and enabled when relevant work order functions are completed
-
Blocking out the sections after relevant tasks are completed
This interface was approved and set to be launched during the next product increment. However, budget cuts were pushed back, and the application wasn’t commissioned.
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 current location, locomotive codes etc
-
WO status = work order status which needs to be complete for the work/ task to be closed. C
-
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 reason code is attached to the section..more on this below
1) Overview
-
As mentioned above reason codes are what are needed for exception work orders
-
There’s a scroll of a with the entire list of reason codes
-
A reason code must be selected to complete the work order all of which must be completed for towing the locomotive
2) Reason codes
-
For the towing to be initated each work order must be closed or exceptioned
-
Once the apporporitate selections are made the towing will be initiated
3) Initiate
-
As the user clicks the initiate the towing button a modal pops up validating the confirmation of the completed work orders
-
The modal is just reconfirming if the work orders (with identifying numbers) are truly marked complete
4) Complete work orders
-
The green modal indicates that the work orders are overridden
-
It also disables the other work order menu as the options are completed
5) Override
-
With the work orders completed the user needs to set the locomotive status in-transit
-
He will need to update the reason code and the status date and time updates
6) In-transit
-
Similar to work orders, reason codes are needed to change the servicing the state
-
In this case the reason code is set to Bad Order
7) Reason codes
-
In-transit prompts an additional section for destination shop with a section for comments
-
Here the user can add the destination and his relevant comments for the towing process
-
Once done the user hits "Update" on the top right corner thereby finishing the towing process
8) Update
-
Updating the locomotive details now reflects the locomotive now being towed
-
The green modal signifies that the locomotive details are successfully updated
9) Complete
