RISIS PETROPROP | A Case study
Digitizing the way OMCs in Uganda buy oil products from UNOC
Improving finance, and logistical operations
Background
The Problem
The procurement process is manual, characterized with a lot of paperwork and highly frustrating to both the UNOC and OMC staff due to a lot of human to human interactions and approvals.
The Challenge
The mission is to design a user-friendly experience that enables the digitization of these processes and improve operational efficiency.
My key Responsibilities
I was the product designer on this project and my responsibilities involved understanding the overall landscape, ideating solutions, prototyping, business assesment andconcept validation.
Project Overview
Project:
RISIS PETROPROP
Role:
Product Designer
Team size:
1 Product Manager,
3 UX Researchers,
1 Product Designer
Project Time
12 weeks
My Process
1
Scoping
Context
Target Users
Previous research
2
Research
User interviews
Field Observation
3
Ideation
Journey mapping
Brainstorming
Sketching Ideas
4
Prototyping
Lo-Fi prototypes
Hi-Fi Prototypes
Final Design
5
Evaluation
User Testing
Design critic
Defining the user
Primary Users: OMC staff responsible for getting approvals for product shipments
Secondary Users: UNOC staff responsible managing OMC accounts
User interviews
Field operations
User personas
We crafted two personas representing the two types of users we had earlier defined as we tried to know more about them
User Empathy mapping
Using our research findings from the interviews we had an empathy map was crafted.
User Journey mapping
To understand their current process, we worked on a user jouney map highlighting pain points and opportunities
Our Research findings
By reviewing our research data, we were able to define our design direction.
A very slow nomination and allocation process
This was attributed mainly to the paperwork involved as well as the need for a physical presence of the required staff to sign these documents which made the process more frustrating to the tstaff handling it.
Lack of an automated invoicing mechanism which makes the process further slow
Invoices are manually created and sent. The process is hectic and is prone to mistakes being made in case of any distractions
Both OMCs and UNOC staff tend to miss some procurement related emails due to their incoming high volumes
Because each email is handled as an isolated case, the staff can sometimes miss important emails leading to a drag in the process
Lack of a tracking mechanism for specific processes like invoicing and payment which causes anxiety on either side
This has mostly led to a high volume of phone calls to the UNOC support team as OMC staff make inquiries about their payment confirmation delays
Design Goals
We became intentional on what we wanted to accomplish in finding a design solution to our problem
Design Stories
When I make a payment, I want to track it status so that I plan on when to send my drivers to collect the oil products
When I am invoicing, I want to be able to perform a bulk action so that I save time
Ideation & Feature Selection
We tried to break down the core functions of the platform that guided the flow and consequently the screens
Story board
The payment journey of Sarah is a fulfilling one as shown in the storyboard below.
Wireframes
The solution
We managed to have a platform that digitizes nominations, allocations, invoicing as well as manage engagement and payments
UNOC staff can onboard new OMCs in a well defined experience so as to have their process work digitally in one central place
OMCs can easily make nominations and receive allocations with just a few steps removing the need for paperwork.
OMCs can easily receive invoices on the platform, download them and even shares.
Payments can easily be managed based on shared proof of payment from OMCs or confirmation of payment by UNOC.
