The DataFlow project represents a personal milestone in designing specialized data management solution for the oil, gas and energy industries. From initial user surveys to market research, I developed a clear picture of the industry's needs. Crafting user personas and defining the problem space led to the creation of intuitive user flows. These foundations defined the design of clear and functional wireframes and eventually, detailed high-fidelity screens.
User Surveys
User surveys were a crucial research tool. These surveys were disseminated to engineers working at prominent organizations in the industry, including OQ, Enerflex, and PDO. Their responses provided a wealth of knowledge, revealing the specific demands and preferences for a data management system within their unique operational contexts.
Personas
Persona creation was a key step in aligning our product with the real-world needs of industry professionals. Personas such as 'Jaffer Al-Suleiman', a Project Director from Muscat working at OQ, and 'Hamed Al-Balushi', a Senior Petroleum Engineer, were developed to embody the typical users of our system.
Elevating Petroleum Data Management
The DataFlow project was conceived in recognition of the critical role that data plays in the decision-making processes of the petroleum and gas industry.
Understanding that petroleum engineers require access to data for daily tasks but information might be confidential and needs high-level permission before being revealed even for trusted internal teams. DataFlow aims to reconcile the need for information with the imperative of confidentiality.
The goal was clear: to streamline the process for petroleum engineering teams to request and receive data from higher authority levels within their projects. Leveraging IBM’s Carbon Design System, the solution places a premium on user experience, ensuring that the request workflow is intuitive, efficient, and seamlessly integrated into the engineers' workstream.
Conclusion
The goal was to design a secure, user-friendly document access system that streamlines the permission request process while ensuring strict compliance with confidentiality and clearance levels for our petroleum engineering projects.
With a thorough research process of collecting qualitative data through user surveys and validation of target audience through personas, the current product design iteration of DataFlow meets the key use cases and can serve as an MVP
Next Steps
File Creation Workflow
Have a way documents are generated, categorized, and stored, reducing the steps required and enhancing user efficiency.
Multi-tier Approval Process
To enhance oversight and accountability, a two-step approval process is being considered. This would require both a Manager and a Director to sign off on critical actions,
Measuring Success
To measure success for a solution like this, reviewing User Adoption Rates, Request Processing Time, Collaboration and Productivity Metrics would allow to understand its impact.
A/B & Usability Tests
Since this is the first iteration of the design, conducting A/B and usability tests would show if the solution actually works with this strategy.
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