Nutrien

Nutrien produces and distributes over 27 million tonnes of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products worldwide. This publicly traded company is on a mission to help increase food production in a sustainable manner.

The challenge

How might we simplify communication, create efficiencies, automate reporting, and replace outdated and inconsistent processes, across five Canadian mines, while maintaining their uniqueness?

Paper based processes

Unique databases and electronic processes dating back to 2003

Products

MineSight is a potash operations platform with two flagship custom web apps

  1. Borer: A tablet based app that allows miner operators to enter information underground

  2. Ops: A app designed for large monitors in the control room whereby supervisors and leadership can manage, plan & assist production

Borer app seen on tablet. Ops app seen on desktop monitor.

Context

  • Underground

    Underground in the mine is dirty and dusty. There is minimal light—just from the miner. Therefore, dark theme was utilized. A design pattern was utilized leveraging the existing Material UI light theme at Nutrien. Differences were required to accommodate conditions ie using transparencies instead of strokes for inputs.

  • Control room

    The control room has many monitors transmitting critical information. The person in the control room needs access to critical information quickly without information overload.

 

Project details

Duration: 2.5 years

Role: Design Lead

Cost: approx. 7.5M

 
 

  • Axure
    Figma
    Affinity Creative Suite
    Jira
    Miro
    Office suite

  • Scrum Master
    Project Managers
    Product Owner
    Front & Back-end BAs
    Front & Back-end Devs
    QA Specialists
    Change Management/Training

  • Regulatory
    Budgetary
    Compliance: accessibility, branding, privacy, etc.
    Software: third party integrations
    Stylistic: design system, photos, etc.
    Business requirements

 
 

Approach

 

Research

Current state analysis
Discovery workshops
Interviews
Requirements gathering
Site differences analysis

Value add

Project roadmapping
Data creation
Team working agreement
Brand materials

Ideation

Persona creation
Journey mapping
User flows
Collaboration
Sketching

Implementing

Defining requirements
Prioritizing features
QA testing
Launch

Prototyping & Iterating

Design patterns & component creation
Lo-hi fi wireframes & interactive prototypes
Usability testing
A/B testing
Stakeholder engagement

UX Goals

Focus on UX so miners, sites & users are championed

Phases

  • The MineSight platform was built off of one code base. We developed the applications sequentially. Moving from Lanigan to Cory and Vanscoy. Building /customizing Borer and Ops as we moved from one location to the next.

  • Cory and Vanscoy were developed on top of the Lanigan codebase. Each site having it’s own flavour aka unique features and data. The Cory site being detail oriented and A-type personalities.

  • All about simplicity. Let’s focus on capturing the required data in as little time as possible.

  • We’re promised to be a large undertaking with unique processes.

  • We’re a large mine and a large commute to boot.

Initial Discovery Process

18 weeks (workshops every 2 weeks)

  • 8 Workshops
    10 Stakeholders
    5 Sites

  • Engage stakeholders
    Understand current processes
    Map out future processes
    Gain insights from end users
    Design new systems

  • Focus on specific functionality
    Wireframe walkthroughs
    Review design iterations

  • Engage stakeholders
    Establish functional & business requirements
    Determine design specifications
    Detailed project plan

Initial Usability Testing

  • Rounds of testing

    6 rounds per site

  • Users

    5 users per site/per app/per round

  • Numbers

    122 Total tasks to complete

    14 Semi-complete

    23 Incomplete

    1 N/A

  • Outcomes

    Adjust labels, order of fields, flow between screens, etc.

    Location of features

    Data requirements & calculations

    Informed integration requirements

    Removing processes that do not pertain to primary users

    Identified unique reporting needs

User Personas

The personas’ goals, of having one system that streamlines the production process, mirrored testimonials post-release. It is key to keep user needs centered throughout the process.

Participatory design

Co-designing a new & complex feature with site stakeholders is fundamental to understanding use cases & dependencies

Subject matter experts can save time & increase alignment amongst the broader team. This allows for deeper understanding which allows me to be a better advocate for the stakeholder. I understand the importance of the feature and communicate it well to the working team. This can impact its presence or absence in the project roadmap.

Iterating Features

Usability testing allows you to learn what what does and what doesn’t work.

Through usability testing with primary users, I learned that a feature needed to be removed. Originally, secondary users identified the Time Usage Model (TUM) being required. However, after testing with primary users, I learned that they were unaware of the TUM. The feature was removed since it distracted from the primary users’ goals.

Leading product vision

The product team was experiencing misalignment, so I took it upon myself to find a solution. I created and led a daily design meeting were we discussed features and requirements, reviewed designs, co-designed as a team, and provided critique. This helped create a well-gelled team.

Communication across teams

Mine regulations require anyone going to a mining location to review existing hazards for safety purposes. I was tasked with creating an area to review existing hazards and have employees sign off that they have read them. You are able to see who has reviewed the active and remediated conditions along with a map of outstanding hazards. The hazards carry over shift to shift until they have been resolved. The live data ensures miners are always aware of hazards.

Building on previous work

If a hazard was created on a previous shift, but remains active, a miner can add additional details. Collaborating on work started by another crew is possible. You can add ground control, photos, comments, and remediate the hazard.

Improving productivity through reporting

Complex third party integrations were required with RtDuet and Pi. It was important to make the process simple for users despite offline status, data sync issues and manual add processes. A simplified user experience was created through technical updates and utilizing visual indicators. The user experience will continue to evolve as the budget and time constrains change.

Post-Release Success Metrics

  • 1-1.5 K

    Daily users

  • 8.5

    Overall rating

  • 100%

    Of operators agreed that all processes had been captured

  • 100%

    Incident-free safety record

  • 100%

    Product adoption

Results

The rollout was coined, by Nutrien leadership, as one of the smoothest in Nutrien’s history.

Robust usability testing minimized changes required post-release.

These apps created the foundational standards which the MineSight platform continues to grow.

Upcoming project: MineSight SIC

Upcoming project: MineSight Hoist

Next

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