InQ Services x MHCI

Research

Solution

Team

Blog

InQ Services x MHCI

InQ Services x MHCI

Research

Solution

Team

Blog

InQntrol

An all-in-one facilities management solution that makes troubleshooting a seamless experience

––––– 01

01

––––– 01

Spatially- mapped alerts

Spatially- mapped alerts

Spatially- mapped alerts

Group alerts based on zones provides a straightforward way to check and address those that need the most attentions

Group alerts based on zones provides a straightforward way to check and address those that need the most attentions

––––– 02

02

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Root causes & Redirection

Root causes & Redirection

Root causes & Redirection

Cause recommender uses past work orders & vendor data, providing high-level directions without stifling user curiosity in troubleshooting

Cause recommender uses past work orders & vendor data, providing high-level directions without stifling user curiosity in troubleshooting

––––– 03

03

––––– 03

Building level resources

Building level resources

Building level resources

View relationship between data points in a holistic manner across different floor levels

View relationship between data points in a holistic manner across different floor levels

––––– 04

04

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Spatially assigned work orders

Spatially assigned work orders

Spatially assigned work orders

New technicians review assigned work order with the necessary details and direction to start troubleshooting on-site easily

05

Customizable facility floor plan

Customize facility floor plan by selecting various mechanical drawing overlays and equipment types to find exactly what users need

––––– 06 🤩

Augmented Reality diagnosis

Discover hidden devices, view device data such as past work orders records and real time sensor readings in space through AR!

––––– 05

––––– 05

Customizable facility floor plan

Customizable facility floor plan

Customize facility floor plan by selecting various mechanical drawing overlays and equipment types to find exactly what users need

––––– 06 🤩

––––– 06 🤩

Augmented Reality diagnosis

Augmented Reality diagnosis

Discover hidden devices, view device data such as past work orders records and real time sensor readings in space through AR!

Design Process

Design Process

How to make alerts more actionable to enhance operational efficiency in facilities management?

How to make alerts more actionable to enhance operational efficiency in facilities management?

How to make alerts more actionable to enhance operational efficiency in facilities management?

Initial Ideation

Initial Ideation

Asking “5 whys” helped us dissect a broader problem scope to a more concrete question which informed the design ideation stage. We brainstormed and sketched out ideas grouped in 4 themes, and developed the more promising ones into low-fi wireframes.

Asking “5 whys” helped us dissect a broader problem scope to a more concrete question which informed the design ideation stage. We brainstormed and sketched out ideas grouped in 4 themes, and developed the more promising ones into low-fi wireframes.

  • Alert grouping

  • Geographically based features

  • System-generated suggestion

  • Data visualization

Low-fi prototyping

Low-fi prototyping

During concept testings, we prompted participants to envision a scenario where they had $100 and allocate the funds to each idea. This has helped us identify the most desirable and feasible features within time and cost constraints.

During concept testings, we prompted participants to envision a scenario where they had $100 and allocate the funds to each idea. This has helped us identify the most desirable and feasible features within time and cost constraints.

🤩 Learnings

  1. Emotionally, users want to act on curiosity in troubleshooting alerts, don’t want to be fed the exact solutions

  2. Socially, users want smooth cross-functional collaboration between technicians and facility managers

  3. Functionally, users want to identify problem causes of incoming alerts

Tying features together

Tying features together

Having established the value proposition for our MVP, we created information architectures for the desktop and mobile flows that work hand in hand to facilitate seamless collaboration between facility managers and technicians in on-site and off-site troubleshooting.

Having established the value proposition for our MVP, we created information architectures for the desktop and mobile flows that work hand in hand to facilitate seamless collaboration between facility managers and technicians in on-site and off-site troubleshooting.

Moving from mid-fi to high-fi

Moving from mid-fi to high-fi

During concept testings, we prompted participants to envision a scenario where they had $100 and allocate the funds to each idea. This has helped us identify the most desirable and feasible features within time and cost constraints.

During concept testings, we prompted participants to envision a scenario where they had $100 and allocate the funds to each idea. This has helped us identify the most desirable and feasible features within time and cost constraints.

🤩 Learnings

  1. Users feel overwhelmed by the plugin as it adds an extra layer of information on top of what they already have. It also has limited space to provide new information beyond institutional knowledge, something on

  2. Spatially mapping sensor relationships should just reveal information, rather the exact solution on how to fix them

  3. News feeds feature on mobile has the risk of becoming a group chat with irrelevant conversations, defeating quick access to essential information.

Design change:

Desktop:

  1. Reduce cognitive load on homepage to show the most critical function first (critical alerts)

  2. The transition from the map view to building view needs to feel less disconnected or disorientated


Mobile:

  1. There's latency in receiving real-time sensor data —> better to provide a directory to legacy software for accuracy

  2. Only provide high level of information for root causes

  3. AR interface needs to be really simple and easy to parse through information, can't be text heavy

Building a design system from 0—>1

Building a design system from 0—>1