The first thing I did in this project was to analyze existing tools. I reviewed the PuroPoint web app in its development environment and studied a few high-fidelity mobile app screens created by another team member. Upon familiarizing myself with the given tools, I identified a few problems:

Hence, I took initiative and came up with a plan to address the aforementioned problems I had identified:

Then, I set up revised goals for the project and got them approved by the project/development manager that was overseeing the project. The revised goals were:

As part of user research, I went beyond asking my team members for their insights about driver flows and took the initiative to schedule delivery ride-alongs to observe drivers' workflows and gather firsthand insights. Since PuroPoint served 2 user groups — regular drivers and "Super Drivers" — I requested 2 delivery ride-alongs to be accompanied by a junior driver that would fit into the regular driver group and a more senior driver that would be considered a "Super Driver".

The main difference between the two user groups was that "Super Drivers" were given the ability to update a delivery point if they reached a wrong location, whereas regular drivers could only make suggestions for a wrong location as opposed to overriding it with a new point.

Prior to user interviews, I developed tailored interview questions based on missing information in the initial project scope. I focused on understanding drivers' pain points, needs, and preferences.

The 4 categories of questions I focused on were:

After the user interviews were done, I took my raw notes and cleaned them up for easier analysis. Then, from the summarized notes, I identified key observations and ideas and did affinity mapping with them.

Then, I presented my findings to the team and worked with them to discuss priorities for which features to implement for the MVP. Considering technical feasibility and user needs, we defined and prioritized the following key app functionalities:

The user research findings also allowed me to redesign the user flow to be more effective and accurate to a realistic driver scenario.

With new features and flows implemented to accommodate the drivers' realistic workflow and needs, there were 3 main improvements that were made to the user flow.

Previously, users could only select and navigate to one stop at a time. The problem with this flow is that drivers have to search up a new address every time they're done with their previous stop, which requires a lot of back-and-forth. Since drivers are constantly on the move driving and dropping off packages, it's unrealistic to expect them to find time in between stops to add new addresses. With the revised flow, drivers can add all of their stops in one go before the start of their delivery. This flow is more time-efficient and realistic as drivers don't need to set new addresses in the middle of their shift.

In the old user flow, there wasn't a lot of actions users could take on the Map screen besides navigating to a delivery point and confirming their arrival. The revised flow gives users more control and freedom as it allows users to change their delivery point (for the given address) as well as mark unable to deliver. What led to this change was considering edge cases such as:

Going on ride-alongs and observing drivers' workflow firsthand all day definitely helped notice such edge cases and implement this change.

The last user flow improvement was accommodating drivers' realistic delivery workflow upon arriving at a delivery point. The old user flow didn't allow drivers to mark delivery as complete and report wrong location at the same time since it coincided arrival at wrong location with failure to deliver. However, I realized that it is still possible for drivers to complete delivery even if the app guided them to the wrong location as drivers could try and scan the area and find the correct drop-off point. Hence, the flow was revised so that drivers could still submit proof of submission and mark delivery as complete even after arriving at the wrong location.

The mobile app design went through several iterations from the original high fidelity designs created by my mentor.

Out of all the UI/UX improvements that were made, here are 3 most notable improvements:

Not only did the Home page get additional features such as multi-stop and auto-route, it also went through some major design improvements. From clearly distinguishable address field states to a button for adding stops, many design considerations were made to accommodate the multi-stop flow. In addition, this page had improved UX writing to help users understand how to use the app from the moment they log in/open the app.

The second page that saw major design improvements was the delivery point select page. This page now had a map view with card overlays to help users connect the delivery points to their physical locations. Furthermore, the card design was improved to place a heavier emphasis on the street view images and help users identify the correct delivery points more easily. Lastly, a couple of UI elements were added to make the design more intuitive.

The last major design improvement was made to the Proof-of-Delivery Submission page. This is one of the screens that now had additional features such as delivery corrections and wrong location reports, so the design had to be adjusted to accommodate the extra information users have to process. To avoid overwhelming users with a lot of different sections, I made certain sections only reveal when triggered. Having progressive disclosure and context-specific content leads to less distraction, higher task focus, more efficient workflow, streamlined interface, and reduced cognitive load.

Designing for the mobile app also came with a few challenges.

A lot of analysis went into determining where "Wrong Location" reports belong. We had 2 screens where drivers could submit the reports — the Route Overview page or the Proof of Delivery page. So I put myself in the mind of a driver and identified scenarios where drivers might need to report incorrect navigation.

Upon putting this diagram together, I realized that the first point of interaction drivers have with the app after getting to the wrong location is always on Screen 1.

To confirm my theory, I also put together a user flow for when drivers are guided to the wrong location. As shown, drivers must go through Screen 1 before proceeding to report wrong location or confirm arrival.
However, there was a fatal assumption I had made: unsuccessful delivery means app guided driver to the wrong location. This assumption wasn't true, as there can be other reasons for unsuccessful delivery. Furthermore, upon discussing this challenge with other developers and my manager, I found out that we had the ability to automatically detect how far user was from the selected delivery point.

As I was working on the project, the team told me that we might want to add a secondary user group of retailers. They saw an opportunity where the PuroPoint app could help address a lack of structured communication between retailers and drivers regarding delivery exceptions.

To better understand the retailers' workflow and the relationship between the retailers and the drivers, my mentor and I visited a Purolator terminal and interviewed a few retailers. Upon conducting the interviews, we realized that retailers at the back room of the Purolator terminals have a close relationship with the drivers and that they exchange a lot of crucial information about delivery day-to-day. For example, if a driver couldn't complete their delivery due to issues with the recipient's address, retailers would contact the sender, make corrections to the address, write down the updated information on a piece of paper, and place it on the parcel. Not only was there a lot of manual work going into this process, there were concerns around the notes going missing or delays in communication.

Hence, I introduced address notes that allow drivers and retailers to share important details real-time (e.g., “Do Not Deliver” or corrected unit numbers). Retailers would use the mobile app to add notes to addresses, and the notes would appear on the drivers' side of the app, immediately visible at the time of delivery. This solution improved the user experience of retailers and drivers in many ways, including:

After a comprehensive process of user research, analysis, and iterations, a seamless, intuitive design was finally put together.

Try the prototype yourself to see the entire flow!

Through proactive research and user-centered design, I transformed PuroPoint into a comprehensive tool that empowers Purolator drivers to optimize their workflows. The app bridges the experience gap between junior and senior drivers, streamlining navigation and delivery processes while addressing critical pain points.

The outcomes of this project were highly rewarding. The final designs transformed PuroPoint into an all-in-one tool that empowers drivers to optimize their workflows, save time, and reduce stress. Key achievements included:

I wish I could have conducted user testing with the prototype to validate the designs further. Additionally, the potential integration of PuroPoint with existing tools like DeliveryPro remains an area for future exploration.

I'd like to thank my mentor, Sarah, my manager, Cathy, and our Purolator Digital Lab team for all the support they've provided for me thorough out this project!