Designing a Database Management Software for Asset Tracking – Sukshm

UX Strategy

Living in an era where we don’t even have to lift a finger to consume goods, we often forget the catalysts that make it happen. Everything is delivered to our doorstep – from electronics to furniture, to daily groceries, to medicines.

After conducting user research, our plan of action was to design a database management software that propagated complete visibility and ease of use.

From our study, we understood the pattern that a typical warehouse manager is comfortable with and planned a product experience that focused on giving control back to these users. We empowered them with filters like date and status to ease the search of any asset along with the option to generate health reports of the assets, if required. The managers could click on any asset to get an individual in-depth view.

Our strategy was to instil a sense of comfort in the user as soon as they used the product. We had to follow this approach for both – fixed assets and moveable assets.

Fixed Assets

A warehouse manager, with the help of Sukshm, was able to see the live location of all the fixed assets, such as a set of Visi coolers, across the city. Along with viewing the location, the manager could also check the connectivity of a particular Visi cooler, monitor, if the temperature matched the advised range to maintain the freshness of the contents inside, and report/ fix a discrepancy as the situation demanded.

This feature not only helped the manufacturers ensure that all Visi coolers were active and functioning but also helped them take action in real time in case they were not. By clicking on a particular asset, they could generate particular health reports, and check the timeline of how long it has had an active/inactive connection.

Moveable Assets

Most home deliveries for groceries and meats are made by moveable assets, such as tote boxes. Since tote bags are usually sent out from the fulfilment center in batches of hundreds, the need to track the boxes and their contents becomes imperative. Let us take a look at the journey a tote box takes from the manufacturer to the customer.

FULFILLMENT CENTER ——– LOCATION HUB ——— RETAILER ———- CUSTOMER

To ensure that all the contents of the boxes reached the customer, an automated check-in service was installed at every stop point. The health of the tote boxes could also be tracked and reports generated by the manufacturer to account for the proper upkeep of the boxes. The in-depth analysis of a particular asset could also be performed as required.

UI Design

We stepped in and ensured that the margin of error was reduced to ensure an optimal experience for both the consumer and the enterprise delivering the service. We designed a clean and easy-to-use interface to eliminate any confusion.

Clarity was kept as one of the key elements that shaped our UI design which is why we used a range of different colors to denote the statuses of the assets. Green for within the temperature range, orange for connectivity issues, and red for outside temperature range. This not only helped the warehouse manager quickly tally up the assets that were not operating properly but also saved time as all information was visible on one screen.

The main screen also displayed the total number of assets along with the ones with frequent issues. All micro-interactions such as filters and an option to generate reports were visible on the dashboard to increase user engagement.