JOHN KARL
Transflo
Mobile Plus (Mobile/Tablet)
Truck drivers are all different people. Some love technology and use it daily in their personal life, then there are non tech, negative, fat fingered, stubborn, pencil pushing user who will never adapt to change. What can you do? How do you make it easy and fun for them to join in and realize it's not that bad.
The Company
Transflo started as a document scanning company. All 3 of the major highway Fuel companies (Loves, Pilot, TA) from coast to coast have Transflo kiosks in their trucking centers so the drivers can scan and submit their load paperwork to get paid faster. A mobile app was the next step in Transflo's evolution letting the driver scan from the comfort of their own cab using their mobile device. They also need to find a way to deal with the up coming 2018 mandate for all drivers to use a ELD (Electronic Logging Device) stoping the simplicity for the driver to just use paper logs. this caused a major challenge for adoption since a large demographic of drivers we against change.
Original Pre UX
Creating an Easier Mobile Application for Truckers
The original Transflo Mobile application was a list view making it a challenge for the drivers to want to use, let alone figure out how to use. After talking with some clients, the product owner and leaders, it was clear what the drivers need to see and get too quickly. The hours of service connected to the ELD device showing the drivers how much time was left in their current drive status for the day, the weather and the drivers Safety score to let them know if they were staying in compliance will completing their current load.
Two basic designs were created and reviewed with bot leadership and customer VOC. The second one was the choice to continue with. This gave us the ability to arrange the dashboard any way the client/user would want.
Now what could add the simplicity and ease to the user when they were driving? "Hey Transflo" was born. It was decided to create our own simple "Personal Assistant" who could answer Up to 5 pre programmed requests.
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What is my HOS Status?
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Read my messages.
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Read my notifications?
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What is my next stop?
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Give me a summary.
Navigational Problems
After testing with clients and customer we had to continue re thinking and growing features that were new or need to be re designed. One major one was a better way to separate out functions.
A new navigation bar was created. Testing with our users we first wanted to keep the dashboard simple and clean so we started with a 2 button navigation bar with the Microphone button in the middle then after some adoption time added 2 more. this was rolled out this way cause our users don't like change. We felt it was a better approach to get them used to the little change then add a little more. The response was all over the place. But the majority won with the 4 bar navigation giving the driver 4 quick response areas to change to.
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Dashboard / Home
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Notifications
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Massages/Chat
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Help/KB
V1
V2
V3
New Concept
Continued Iterations - Navigation Bar
New information and positioning is changing the bottom navigation to fit the new needs and direction of the mobile application. More focused on documents, profile and now a wallet. The microphone has been remove but may return with further testing. This presents a new set of challenges that are being worked on today.
Configurability
It was decided from the business that no matter what was designed we would need to keep the application completely configurable since no two customers would set it up the same. Also different implementations would need to take place for the application to talk to different services on and off site.
This lead to the creation of the basic Tile or Dial or Menu icon. This way the client could chose what they wanted the icon to be out of a set of design icons, where it was located (tile/dial/menu) and what select functionality it would accomplish. this lead to both design work for the mobile application and a portal to setup the customers profile.
Third Party Connections
Many third party software companies want to be added to the Transflo super app. Apple and Android have complicated this even more. The main 2 Third PArty application I helped work though when adding to the Transflo mobile application are;
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Geotab - ELD, Telematics Provider
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CoPilot - Truck Navigation
Geotab
Geotab needs to show the driver what their duty status is for any given load. Tracking their HOS (Hours of service) to make sure they are with in legal drive and rest times per state regulation. Our Dial/Tile and menu item dynamically show i what stat they are in by scraping the Geotab connect page. We have had to deal with creating our own calculations and linking them every 20 secs or when an action is called to the Geotab portal. We have requested an APK to attach and are waiting on Geotab.
Copilot
CoPilot is a truck navigation software that links to Transflo Mobile though the loads workflow, device motion and tracking. This creates new issues between not only the lock screen created for Transflo Mobile but also Geotab for displaying the drivers HOS clocks to keep them compliant.
After testing with users we create a set of clocks that can be displayed with the CoPilot screen or with out. Both keep the driver up to date on next steps and time left to drive for their current status.
Scanning
Our users were not happy with the constancy of the scanning that they were relying on to complete their workflow. This came in two factors. The backend services which needed to be understood and the UI for the user. With our many different user personas we had to find the best way to let the user turn on or off the light, turn on or off the auto snap and auto crop functionality. We decided to make it two simple drawers with a nice micro interaction to give the user.a warm and fuzzy when clicking the icons.
Fleet Swap / Menu Expansion
Problem: Where to let the users quickly add, swap fleet profiles while still adding more expandable space for other menu growth. Knowing that most users only have 1 to 4 fleet profiles we a/b tested multiple versions and this was the users choice. Top action drawer with a simple carousel and expandable list. Achieving all requirements and creating a nice micro interaction with the hamburger menu.
Registration/Security
To increase Transflos's market share I researched and suggested we start creating this for the end user instead of the B to B practice we had always conducted our business. Opening the application up to everyone. With this a new registration and security model had to be implemented. With all the request around security knowing we would get push back from some users, we changed the registration process to be a user account first then attach it to a paying carrier. Before it was Paying carrier who would grant access to the driver opening the app up to hackers. The new security model has paved the way for more possible avenues in the future around personal information and financial opportunities.
The future is in Sight
The future is in Sight
The future is in Sight
New concepts are always being worked on due to up-to-date user surveys and VoC interactions. Changes in best practices, technology as a whole and business request will shape the next step in Transflo's evolution. Here is a possible concept using new tech with enhanced user experience.
Reviews from Users - Application Video -Stats
May 2018 - Download 250K
May 2020 - Downloads 1.5 Million
May 2022 - Downloads 2.7 Million
It's really good as of now. Didn't Transflo my paperwork before I dropped it in the Trippac, but it adds existing documents and I sent it to my dispatch before. So, it really helped.
-Chris Galloway June 2022
I have used this app for years. Once as an owner op and for the last 4 years as a local company driver. It is so fast and convenient ! It takes less than 2 minutes and I’m done with paperwork and rolling! Why anyone would make a special trip off the interstate just to scan paperwork at a truck stop is beyond me! I’m a 35 year veteran truck driver and I hate change, especially if it has to do with a computer but this app is awesome! It will save you an enormous amount of time! Just get it!
A Google user March 2022
