CC
A SaaS platform that automatically generates an estimate to provide a quote based on the client's needs.
The Challenge
Our team was hired to redesign the main page of PCS's software as well as the client summary report page. The main page of the software is what PCS estimators use to review the software-generated output of a project's estimate generated by their system. When the estimate is finished, the client receives the summary report page.
My main focus was redesigning the client summary report page and determining what their clients wanted to see on it.
Research
We were able to create two divergent designs after conducting an initial round of SME interviews based on these two key factors that we learned from the interviews:
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Clients desired the flexibility to see more than just the general line item cost.
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Clients desired an easier way to scan divisions of major CSI items.
Based on the original, we created two design concepts to test with PCS's clients.
Original PDF
We also conducted a survey and solicited feedback from 50 users who fit our target demographic.
Concept A
Concept B
We used our discoveries to converge and redesign our product.
Redesign
Following the convergence of our two designs based on the results of our testing, we conducted additional testing and discovered new insights from our new redesign.
Solution
Taking our newfound knowledge into consideration, we divided our report into a summary and a breakdown report. The summary report provided a big picture view of a project, and the breakdown report provided exact breakdowns of a line item when needed.
The phase of the project must be prominent so clients can easily recall the level of detail the project is currently for. Repeat in bottom footer if possible.
We found that having two separate reports, a summary report and a breakdown report is necessary.
Charge # should be changed to either a reference # or a job # to distinguish different projects they might have with their client.
We found that the grand total cost of the project should only reflect the project name and the total cost.
We found that you should only use Lump Sum (LS) if that line item is broken down with different units of measurement. If it is not broken down, it should be an actual unit of measurement such as square feet, linear feet, etc.
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Final Thoughts
Further research can be done to see if the phase of the project on the footer is beneficial to clients. We can also explore the possibility of including in the estimator’s live app the option to selectively export varying levels of detail for different clients.
A personal takeaway I learned from this project is how to approach projects at different angles if you do not have all the information you need. I also became more adept at prioritizing different deliverables depending on changes in the project’s timeline.