Shipment tracking app

Client operates the world's most connected data centres in 44+ markets across five continents, The expensive servers and machines to these data centres arrive to their respective cage/cabinet through Data Centre's Warehouse. Customers send these equipments through couriers and Warehouse specialists accept the shipments. They can either store the package for customer pick up or deliver to the respective cage based on the ticket raised by the customer in the Customer portal.

I worked as a freelancer for this project. Worked on user interviews, design sprints, wireframes, visual design and usability testing

Problem statement

Currently when the carrier comes to deliver the package, warehouse specialist uses paper and pen to record the incoming shipments and later go back to his office to match them with the inbound tickets. Later after completing the task on the package he again updates the status in the system which will notify the customer. At present it takes 5-8 hours to update the status on the siebel system resulting in delay in communication and impacts efficiency. But the real challenge is about reconciling the shipments with the inbound tickets when there are no tracking ID's mentioned in the ticket.

Solution

A mobile app for scanning the shipments and accept or reject the shipment. Reconcile the shipment with an existing inbound ticket intelligently and update the backend system about the status change in real time.

Design Sprint

In some of my previous projects with the client I had conducted Design Sprints and they were impressed about the end result. Client invited me to their office in Bay Area in California to conduct the workshop and start the project. On June 16, 2018 I travelled to SFO to start the project.

Design strategy

Executive intent

Improve the efficiency of the Warehouse specialist (user) by enabling him with an easy and convenient tool to track and update the status of inbound and outbound shipments at the IBX in real time

User Profile

Warehouse specialists,
IBX Technicians (Secondary users), when Warehouse specialist are not present

Age Group: 25-60
Domain Expertise: Average to Experts
Computer Expertise: Moderate to High
Mobile Usage: Novice to Experts
Language: English, Others

Environmental profile

Mostly Indoor,
Not good lighting conditions when they are inside the IBX
Slightly higher noise level due to hardware fans and AC

General tasks

Record the inbound and Outbound shipments
Segregate the shipments based on actions to be taken
(Customer Pickup/ Delivery to Cage),
Update the status / actions taken on the tasks
Create an event in the system when there are un announced inbound shipments
Reconcile with the right ticket when there are not enough information in the ticket or on the shipment
Return unclaimed packages after stipulated time

Expectations

Work efficiently like a barcode scanner, get information about shipments quickly and able to reconcile with the right customer ticket and update the customer about the status change in real time.

Critical success factors

Enable Ware house specialist to complete majority of his tasks on his mobile
Complete reconciliation of a shipment with an existing ticket in 10 seconds