Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s DASH Application
DASH is an earthquake reporting web application that prioritizes post-earthquake inspections for PG&E's gas, electric, hydro, nuclear, and corporate real estate.
Challenges
- Merging complex data from PG&E and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) into valuable information for seismologists, administrators, and department managers.
- Achieving a quality user experience within the parameters of an existing application.
- Strategizing with project managers, and lead engineers to prioritize the scope of deliverables based on fluctuating deadlines and budget constraints.
Process
- Research: Performed heuristic reviews on the existing application and conducted stakeholder and end-user interviews to align business objectives with user goals for new features.
- Wireframes / Prototypes / Designs: Utilized Axure, Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML, and CSS to define the information architecture (IA), workflows, user interface (UI), and data color schemes.
- Design Reviews: I led frequent design reviews of wireframes and prototypes with stakeholders and product development teams to ensure that the look and functionality of features would benefit multiple types of users.
- Documentation: Because we were a remote team, documentation was critical in the design, development, and QA testing process. I provided detailed information on the Information architecture (IA), workflows, error validation rules, and User Interface (UI).
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Users beta test the product to make sure it can handle required tasks in real-world scenarios, according to specifications. Training sessions were conducted to familiarize users with the UAT process. Results were gathered and discussed with stakeholders to determine if the product was ready to go live.
Outcome
The complexity of DASH was both challenging and rewarding. Excellent team collaboration throughout the product lifecycle allowed us to make significant improvements to DASH. PG&E can now manage earthquake monitoring systems, data, inspections, and repairs more efficiently.
