Winter Fleet Dashboard

Disclaimer: This case study is about a project that did not reach completion due to a pivot in the company's direction. While the project did not receive validation from expected end users, it still provided value in other ways, which we will explore in the following sections.

Overview

VoltSafe Winter is a magnetic smart plug designed for cold-weather drivers who need to use an engine block heater to prevent their engine from freezing during frigid winter nights. The companion app allows users to remotely turn the VoltSafe Winter device on and off, as well as program it with automated schedules. The app also includes features such as reminders, customer support, and device settings. The user interface is designed to be accessible for older adults and users with disabilities, while embodying VoltSafe's signature branding and style.

Challenge

The VoltSafe Winter companion app was originally designed for residential use. However, our team saw an opportunity to create a solution for the enterprise use case after receiving inquiries from dozens of Kickstarter backers who were interested in using the product for their fleets.

We also had discussions with the Regina RCMP, ambulance fleets, and others who were interested and even agreed to participate in a pilot program if we decided to pursue it.

In cold regions, managing a fleet of vehicles like this can be a logistical and costly nightmare, and we wanted to create a tool to help managers schedule a fleet worth of engine block heater plugs in one simple step and monitor how much money they were saving via the schedules from energy costs.

Approach

I designed a basic web dashboard which consisted of a user log in, dashboard interface screen, settings and user preferences. The dashboard provided users with a range of capabilities, including the ability to view recorded on time, monitor GHG emission reduction and cost savings, group devices, assign schedules to groups, and control individual devices. The settings page allowed for the management of admin members and payment details, while the user preferences page allowed for profile editing. Overall, the dashboard was designed to provide managers with a comprehensive tool for managing a fleet of vehicles during the winter season.

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Disclaimer: the mockups below are mid-fidelity designs

Results

Unfortunately, the VoltSafe Winter Fleet Power Management Enterprise Dashboard did not make it to a public release due to a pivot in the company's direction. Therefore, the project did not meet the end of the design cycle and did not receive validation from the expected end users.

Though this project did not go as expected, I was still satisfied with the fact it still came of use and ended up benefiting the company internally. While we did not receive the validation from our expected end users, we fully built out the dashboard and hardware production and QC team quickly saw the value of our dashboard and incorporated it into their procedure to more easily mass provision and mass update our inventory of VoltSafe Winter devices!

They are still using this dashboard to this day and it has provisioned and updated thousands of units.

Key Takeaways

• Sometimes the best ideas come from unexpected places
• Even if a project doesn't go as planned, it can still provide value in other ways
• User validation is crucial for success, but internal validation can also be important

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