Powercor eConnect

Overview

Powercor eConnect is a revolutionary new system that empowers users to instantly submit Solar Pre-Approvals, New Connections, Alterations and Abolishment requests online and directly to CitiPower Powercor. For the first time, the user can also track and monitor the progress of requests in real-time, update and cancel requests and book appointments directly online.

Role

User Experience, Visual Design, HTML/CSS

As part of a much larger Agile team, my role was to lead the User Experience of the application and to advise on all front-end development tasks. As part of leading the UX, I worked entirely client side, working with BA's and SME's from the organisation to better understand the design considerations for the application.

I also developed all HTML and CSS that was handed over to developers who then integrated it into VisualForce.

Problem Statement

Powercor eConnect was the outcome of a previous consulting project to identify improvements for the organisation, specifically around customer experience. It found that the paper based system used at the time was no longer a viable long term solution and was prone to errors, slow service and extensive overhead.

An entire overhaul to completely digitise each point of contact between the customer and Powercor was required. Several of the key items that needed to be addressed were:

• Developing a flexible solution that could integrate with dozens of back-end systems

• Developing a responsive front-end interface

• Change management and User Acceptance

Process

The project was approached in an Agile way, where we started with personas and storyboards which lead to detailed user stories. Like all large scale projects, it was difficult to keep the scope from getting out of hand, but we persevered to focus on the key features and core functionality first. 

Salesforce

Salesforce was the chosen solution as it could be integrated into the required back-end systems and have workflows created to automate tasks. The system was to become a single point of interaction for internal and external users. The front-end was developed on top of Visualforce, which presented an enormous challenge as the site would have to be developed using APEX tags. To address change management, a series of “roadshows” were organised to educate the industry users about the product and to get feedback.

Paper to digital work requests

One of the most important features was the ability for industry users to submit work requests. Originally, this was a two page form that needed to be completed and then faxed to Powercor. We began by focusing on how the form was generally filled out and discovered that on average only 30% of the form is completed. This was due to the one form being used for a variety of different work requests. We decided that to optimise the process online, we would first ask the user what type of request they wanted to complete and show only the relevant questions. Through testing we found that the form completion speed was improved from around 2 minutes to 30 seconds. The other advantage was that the user can also upload attachments, book appointments and submit the request instantly, a process that originally took days using fax machines.

Testing and accepting

Throughout the entire build process, the design and functionality was tested with real-world users by conducting "Roadshows". These workshops gave users the opportunity to provide feedback on the ongoing development of the product and ensured that the service was designed and developed inline with user expectations.

Outcome

Today, eConnect is live, providing users the ability to register accounts, submit and view Solar Pre-Approvals request, New Connection requests, Alteration requests, complete a Call-to-Action and submit enquiries. Additional services are expected to be made available soon including Abolishments, Bulk Requests and retail functionality.