Billing Assignment App
OUC's Billing Assignment App transforms utility billing, merging tailored workflows with user-centric design to boost efficiency, reduce errors, and save significant time and costs.
Problem Definition
Orlando Utilities Billing department, managing water and electricity amongst others, faced issues due to old, fragmented systems. A generalized approach caused inefficiencies and frustration. The absence of specific workflows for each CCB (Customer Care & Billing) & MDM (Metered Data Management) billing exception as well as the various personas (Manager and Employee), increased errors and decreased productivity. The system's failure to meet the unique needs of each billing persona - Manager - made processes difficult, affecting employee satisfaction and customer service. We started developing the Billing Assignment App to streamline workflows, reduce errors, and improve efficiency by considering each billing persona's specific needs and each systems unique data objects.
Process
Research and User Feedback
The research phase of the "Billing Assignment App" project was an enlightening journey into the billing team's daily operations. Our primary objectives and findings were:
Understanding User Workflow: Extensive discussions with the billing team helped us map out their current workflow.
Persona Development: We identified and crafted three distinct personas - Water Persona and Electric Persona, each with unique needs and workflow patterns.
Workflow Differentiation: Our investigation revealed that each persona followed a different workflow, highlighting the need for a tailored approach in our solution.
User Story Mapping: Engaging in user story mapping sessions, we gained insights into potential functionalities for the initial release, focusing on user priorities and process efficiencies.
Design and Prototyping
The UX design process for the Billing Assignment App combined user-centric design with technical understanding. Starting with detailed user flows to grasp activities and technology, our team used Figma for wireframing and prototyping, iteratively refining designs based on user feedback. This approach aligned with the Salesforce UI framework, customizing screens for user relevance. Usability testing with six participants further informed design iterations, ensuring alignment with actual user workflows. Our iterative process, blending prototyping, testing, and refinement, resulted in an application that was not only functional but also user-friendly and visually coherent.
Validation and Testing
In the iterative journey of the Billing Assignment App, each sprint concluded with rigorous usability testing, engaging five participants at a time. This methodical approach illuminated new use cases, prompting the introduction of an innovative feature: a personalized work dashboard for analysts. The insights garnered from these sessions were pivotal, with the majority of user feedback seamlessly integrated into the app’s final design. This relentless pursuit of user-centric refinement ensured that the app not only met but exceeded user expectations, enhancing efficiency and functionality in meaningful ways. Through this iterative validation process, we crafted a solution that was both responsive and intuitive, truly tailored to the needs of those it was designed to serve.
Iterations
Following the MVP launch, our dedicated project team entered a phase of relentless enhancement, undertaking five strategic iterations of the Billing Assignment App. This journey was fueled by dynamic, feedback-driven methodologies, focusing on refining functionalities, addressing emerging user demands, and optimizing performance. Utilizing real-world usage insights and direct user feedback, we pinpointed areas for improvement and innovation. Each iteration was carefully crafted to not only resolve existing challenges but also to anticipate future needs, introducing pivotal new features that significantly advanced the user experience, thereby ensuring a seamless blend of usability, efficiency, and overall satisfaction in the utility billing process.
Final Design
In addressing the challenges faced by the billing department, our team developed a robust solution centered around a user-friendly interface and seamless system integration. The core of our solution was a bespoke user interface, tailored specifically for the Billing Assignment App and built upon Salesforce's object library. This interface was refined through rigorous usability testing with the billing team, ensuring that it met their unique needs and preferences.
To integrate with existing backend systems, we employed Talend, a powerful middleware resource. This integration was critical in streamlining the flow of data and ensuring that our app worked in harmony with the company's existing digital infrastructure.
A significant technical innovation in our project was the development of a custom Talend integration. This integration was designed to efficiently parse data from Excel spreadsheets, funneling it into Salesforce. To facilitate this process, we created a staging table where all data was initially dumped. This table then effectively parsed the data into distinct views tailored to each persona type - a solution that not only enhanced the data processing efficiency but also personalized the user experience for different user personas within the billing team.
Continual user feedback played a pivotal role in our development process. We conducted usability tests with the Billing Team at various stages, incorporating their insights and suggestions into the app’s design and functionality. This iterative approach ensured that the final product was not only technically sound but also user-centric and responsive to the actual needs of its end-users.
This holistic approach, combining technical solutioning with user-centered design, resulted in a solution that not only resolved the initial challenges but also greatly improved efficiency and user satisfaction in our billing processes.