Categories
Product Design

Android app for the Quality Checking team

Timeline

Sep 2017
(3 weeks)

Platform

Android

Role

Design Lead

The Problem

Our Quality Checking team in China was working overtime to support scaling up our vendor strength but the legacy web based system for uploading their inspection results was slowing them down because of the following reasons –

  1. Vendor warehouses were mostly located in remote parts of China with poor network connectivity.
  2. This meant that it inspection had to be recorded using pen and printouts of the item list.
  3. Paper process meant double the effort because it had to be manually keyed into the system once they travelled back to office – error prone and painful!
  4. The application was web-based but not mobile friendly which meant it was very difficult to use on mobile devices even if there was internet connectivity.

The Process

The problem was well understood and given that designing for backend operations usually never got enough prioritisation this had to be a quick project. Here’s what the process looked like –

  1. Understand the software and physical workflow of warehouse quality checking team. Thankfully, a flow diagram was already in place.
  2. Discuss feasible technology solutions based on platform and useful features with the Developer who was available for this sprint.
  3. Streamline workflows and produce quick mockups and prototypes which can be handed over for Development.
The flow diagram was converted to a storyboard so we could understand the experience more holistically

The Outputs

Presenting the 4 main screens of the app

Entering the inspection batch ID lists all the items to be checked along with their status on the system. 3 states are shown – #1 has been checked, #2 was found unacceptable and #3 is yet to be checked
In the individual item screen, one can add defect type, quantity of defective pieces and so on. Finally images can be uploaded against each item inspected.

The Outcome

The Android app was released in record time (design to development in a single sprint of 4 weeks!) and the QC executives immediately got a reliable, handy and fast experience which got out of their way and increased their productivity!