Automated Grid Connection
Project description
Volue delivers services within many different areas of the power and energy sector. The AGC (Automated Grid Connection) team builds a platform that allows end users to request power related infrastructure. An example would be a user ordering power at a cabin, and selecting the required capacity.
My role in the project has been to create multiple new request types, as well as testing and refining the existing request types and the platform over all. I have worked closely with the product manager as well as the lead developer in a product trio, in order to map out requirements for new, and improvements for existing flows.
Process
The process for these types of flows start with a meeting between the product manager, the tech lead and myself - the product trio. In this meeting, we map out the data we need in order to place a complete order in our system. Then, we discuss and identify which datapoints we already know, and which ones we need the user to input. Based on this, we outline a flow for the user to input the data we need, as well as making decisions where that is needed. This becomes the foundation for the first iteration of the flow.
These iterations were then tested with internal people in the user group. Toghether with feedback from the developers, this insight was used to further improve the flow.
Flow example
Changing power capacity
One of the flows i worked with was to allow users to change the power capacity at a property they own. As many of our users do not have a lot of domain knowledge, it was a important for us to guide them through the process of selecting the right capacity for them. This is done by breaking the task down into questions that are more manageable to the user - such as the indoor size of the property and how it's heated. Based on these questions, we're able to calculate a recommended capacity, and in extension, recommend a main fuse size for the user.
This allows the user to take an informed choice about whether they want to upgrade, and if so, to which main fuse size. The capacity alternatives are also visualized for the user,
Design system
Volue uses the open soucre Wave design to create consistency and reusability across their products. As the main designer on the AGC team, it was my resposibility to both familiarize myself with the design system, create product specific components where there was a need, and regularly check in with the design system team.
There were also many information messages related to domain terminology and request statuses that are reused across the platform. In order to create consistency within these messages, I created a local component library for information popups for terminology, status pages and email templates, so that the developers can easily implement reusable components.
