Digitizing Utility Connections for Electricity North West
Electricity North West manages the power grid for the North West of England. They required a digital transformation of their "new connections" process—the workflow used by customers (developers and homeowners) to apply for new grid connections, service alterations, or disconnections. I worked as the lead designer for both UI and UX in the Mando team to deliver a self-serve tool that replaced a labor-intensive manual system.
The Challenge.
The existing application process was archaic and inefficient. It relied on paper forms and manual hand-plotting on maps to calculate costs.
Time-consuming: Processing a simple quote took an average of 3.5 days.
Inconsistent: Manual calculations led to pricing inconsistencies for customers.
Frustrating: Users had no visibility into their application status and could not self-serve outside of office hours.
The Solution.
We built a custom web application that streamlines complex integrations with ENWL's back-end technologies into a simple, consumer-facing interface. The core of the solution was an interactive mapping tool. I led the UX/UI design for the mapping interface, focusing on making the complex task of "plotting a cable" intuitive for non-technical users. I conducted user testing to ensure the "draw" functionality was accessible on desktop and tablet.
Self-Serve Mapping: Users can now validate their address, plot their property boundaries on a map, and virtually "draw" where they need the connection to the mainline cable.
Automated Quoting: The system instantly calculates costs based on the distance and complexity plotted by the user, replacing manual estimation.
User Journeys: We designed three distinct workflows: New Connections, Service Alterations, and Disconnections.
