How my team and I built a complete scalable system from 0 to 1 for a group of seasoned property damage estimation professionals
Our client was a property damage estimation firm that inspect and assess property damages and prepare a loss estimation report for insurance claims.
The challenge started when they struggled to meet the growing number of estimation projects that happens per day. So the goal we undertook was to create an end-to-end eco-system of products that help them scale up their business. And to bring it into the market as a SaaS product in Phase 2.
Certain details in this case study have been modified or excluded to protect confidential information
Role
Design Lead
Products
Web Application for estimation | Mobile App for inspection
Impact:
1. Number of inspections increased from just 2 to 5+ per day
2. Total hours taken for estimation reduced from ~ 12 hrs to ~ 8hrs , as per the client feedback
3. Faster learning curve for the tools
The Challenge:
A combination of factors including multiple standalone tools and communication gaps served as a bottleneck for the team’s estimation.
Our high level goals were to:
1. Bring a harmony in the workflow which was fragmented
2. Create a single eco-system for project management, communication, inspection and estimation
3. Reduce the overall time for each project by 2/3rd
4. Keep the tools simple and intuitive
Auditing their existing process:
Through multiple working sessions, and access to their existing system we captured the entire workflow. This, along with the feedback from the client, we mapped the pain points in their journey that limits their performance. Some high level findings are given below
Redundant Process: The core team comprising of a co-ordinator, Field inspector, and Estimator do a lot of redundant work because of a disjointed workflow. For example, the field inspector creates a 3D scan of the entire property using LiDAR capabilities of iPhone. Once this is completed, the inspector go around the entire property again to take pictures of the damages - which is time consuming. In another instance; when the inspector hand-over the damage images to the estimator, (along with 3D scan and floor plan) the inspector had to brief the damage images to create a context for the estimator to write the reports better.
Disconnected workflow: The team uses WhatApp for communication. 3D scans of the property were shared over mail or through physical hard drives. They use a tool called Xactimate for sketching. A cumbersome tool called Xcelerate for project management
Lack of Automation: At times, co-ordinator receives bulk number of jobs in excel sheets, or new jobs are sent over e-mail. Such times, co-ordinator has to sit vet through these mails and sheets, and then capture the details and enter it manually in the system to create new jobs
Cumbersome tools: All the tools used in the process require huge learning curve. So it is not easy for the team to find employees when needed to be replaced. Moreover, every single tool needed separate subscriptions which is not an optimal usage of money
Mapping a unified user experience:
We began by mapping the workflow of each user role in detail, while making sure we addressed the pain points that were identified earlier. The proposed solution involved two products.
1. Web-app for co-ordination, scheduling, estimation and report generation
2. Mobile App for field inspector
Collaborating closely with our lead engineer for the mobile application helped us achieve a technically feasible product that is highly powerful and addresses the challenges of the field inspector.
Highlights:
1. Draft concept for automated jobs created through e-mail
2. Easy scheduling of jobs using drag and drop
3. Take pictures during the 3D scan- These pictures can be annotated, voice recordings can be added, and notes can be included all in real-time during the scan, to capture the context.
4. Real time sync between Inspector App and Web App to transfer files
5. Google Map integration for directions
6. Auto-tag feature in pictures to understand where the picture is taken. Eg: Living Room, Bed Room, Kitchen etc