Equipment selector

How did I redesign the equipment selector to reduce project delay on average by around 10 days?

Problem & Introduction

As part of a larger initiative to redesign the application process for renewable energy projects, one step stood out as a major bottleneck: reporting the solar equipment used—such as panels, batteries, and inverters.

Our platform’s Equipment Selector was outdated and confusing. It caused users to misreport equipment, get stuck mid-application, or require manual assistance from internal teams. These issues had real impact.

As a regulated utility company, failing to meet annual connection targets can result in fines ranging from $2 million to $5 million each year."

Role: Product Designer

Year: 2024

Deliverables

  • Stakeholder interviews

  • Competitive analysis

  • Heuristic evaluation

  • Current & future state journey maps

  • Two rounds of usability testing

  • Wireframes & interactive prototypes

  • Final high-fidelity designs

  • Workshops with engineers & reviewers

Team: Product Manager, Engineers, Stakeholders

Duration: 3 months

Both internal project managers and external renewable project developers face major issues with the current equipment selector

We spoke to both internal and external users—project managers and solar developers to understand where breakdowns occurred. Pain points included:

  • No error-proofing: Equipment input often didn’t match the electrical line diagrams, requiring manual verification by engineers.

  • Lack of support for equipment changes: Tasks like replacing or decommissioning old/broken equipment do not exist on the current user flow.

  • Overwhelming data fields: Equipment detail pages included complex fields without help-text or examples—challenging for non-technical users.

  • Poor catalog usability: Large catalog required exact matches to search. Identical-looking options (e.g., Tesla PowerWall) caused confusion since for solar project the exact same equipment can have various settings and be used differently.

  • No reuse of common data: Users often input the same equipment for every application but had to start from scratch each time.

  • Poor visibility: Equipment selector was buried under the "Application Form" with no clear signifiers.

Hueristic evaluation

Stakeholder interview notes

Developer Affinity Mapping

Our Services

  • Basic

    What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.

  • Intermediate

    What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.

  • Advanced

    What should we know about the services you provide? Better descriptions result in more sales.

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