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Digitalizing a Solar Metering Dashboard
Industry
Energy / PropTech
My Role
UX/UI Designer for Tenant Electricity Module
Team Structure
2 UX/UI Designers, BA/PM, Engineers
Timeline
November 2023
The Business
MK Metering provides a comprehensive smart metering service, including:
Subscription
Smart meter installation
Data collection (MK Metering Platform)
Reporting (MK Metering Platform)
About the Dashboard
Tenant Electricity (Mieterstrom) is a dashboard, created to streamline solar energy management. Tailored to integrate into the existing MK Metering web app, it allows users to visualize and analyze energy consumption and production, generate automated monthly reports, and manage additional cost billing.
Deliverables
1 month
From kick-off with stakeholders to final comprehensive solution
Responsive layouts
Desktop and Tablet - for property managers view; Mobile - for tenants
Process
stage 1
1
Our client came to us to develop a tool within the existing platform to provide data and reports from newly installed solar meters in apartments.
2
Found a lot of unintuitive inconsistencies.
3
Researched Business and Users
Mapped out IA and Task Flows
Created lo-fi wireframes
4
5
stage 2
6
7
Challengies
Inspecting the business & existing platform
At the start of the project, the main challenge was understanding the complex processes involving Proprietary Business and the German Energy sector.
To clearly understand the situation, I conducted stakeholder interviews and I used the 5W1H framework to define all relevant aspects about the overall platform experience.
Unpacking the Complexity — Research & Discovery
5W1H
5W1H Findings:
Three user roles: Admin, Tenant, and Property Company.
Solar meters aren't installed in all properties.
Solar metering helps both renters and owners: renters save on energy costs, property owners increase their income.
Understanding Current Solution
IA and simple Task Flows on the existing platform clarified how users navigate and complete key actions. I framed out existing tasks and understood where to integrate new functionalities.
Initial platform IA and task flows
Initial platform analysis
New task development & refining
Iterating & Collaborating
As I began designing the solar metering module (Tenant Electricity) in the initial phase, I encountered a challenge when the platform navigation underwent a full redesign. Since I had already laid the foundation with low-fidelity wireframes, I moved directly to high-fidelity designs, dividing the property, units, and history views into separate tabs within the dashboard.
Final UI
Property owner/manager flow
Takeaways
Understanding the business
Gathering comprehensive information and developing a clear understanding of processes in complex areas required me to investigate not only the underlying energy principles but also the regulations that impact utility pricing. With a comprehensive investigation I could answer to complex questions and set a base for further work.
quick changes & Working in Collaboration
When I started the project, I found the platform structure unintuitive and communicated this to the client. Initially tasked with designing a solar metering module, I began work on that functionality. Later, the client agreed to overhaul the entire platform, assigning another designer to handle the redesign. This delayed my progress as I had to revisit my design to ensure seamless integration with the new architecture. The experience taught me to adapt to evolving project needs and stay flexible with my solutions.
