Improving building sequencing UX in cmBuilder

Project Type: New feature definition, and end to end design
Time: 2023
Role: Lead Designer

Problem Statement

Users find our current building sequencing process complex and unintuitive. They have low confidence with the edits they are making. We aim to make the process more robust, improve usability and boost user confidence.

Process
Background

cmBuilder is a web-based construction logistics planning platform.

Users use the app to storyboard their construction flow, and they use it to show the sequence of how the buildings will be constructed. To do so, users connect the construction of the building components to the respective milestone dates. They will be able to flip through the different milestone dates and see the building being constructed.

displaying building sequencing with cmBuilder

RESEARCH & DEFINE

Understanding the Problem

The current user flow

Main challenges can be summarised as:

  1. Lack of user control over original 3D file 🤷🏻

  2. Complex folder navigation 😵‍💫

  3. Selection difficulty 🔍

User Interviews

Insights about our target audience 🧐

Through interviews with users and customer success team, I categorized the findings into 4 main themes:

  • 🔍Users are playing detective to find relevant Information:

    • Users often find the default folder structures unhelpful for finding what they need. However, file names sometimes provide useful hints to assist in their search.

    • Some users open files in other software to get important metadata or keep a separate Excel sheet to track information.

  • 🧠 Users have wide variety of software expertise:

    • Our target users have different software experience levels. Some like automation, while others prefer simpler tasks like those in PowerPoint and Paint. This shows the need for flexible customization options in the application to meet diverse user needs and skills.

  • 🗂 Current users have a typical workflow:

    • Users navigate using a combination of 3D view and folder structure due to distrust in folder layouts.

    • Sequencing is usually done in one session, so users must track their progress before any interruptions.

  • 📑 Users want to use metadata:

    • Users express a desire to reuse metadata from other software. However, they caution that this metadata can be prone to errors or frequent updates.

    • Key metadata properties, such as “building storey” and “IFC class”, are deemed crucial by users. “Worksets” are also frequently mentioned.

Competitive analysis

The competitive analysis was conducted for two main groups of software:

  • Firstly, we explored 3D software like Revit and Solibri, common software used by the more “techy” users.

  • Secondly, we investigated software in other domains, like Product Board and Premiere Pro, seeking insights into effective data categorization methods.

The outcomes drove suggestions for the main interactions.

DESIGN AND DELIVERY

Ideation

During the ideation phase, there were two main directions that held promise. Here I took some screenshots of the multiple ideas within the two main directions that were created for a quick snapshot.

Direction A - Utilizing filters

Using filters to search through metadata/properties to quickly find items.
This would allow users to find and select exactly what they want with the metadata that is present in the building model files.

Direction B - Dynamic tree grouping

Establishing a sorting hierarchy based on properties, to quickly organized items in similar groups.
This would enable the users to organize the content of the building element file in the manner that fits their mental model in how they would need to work and sequence it.

With this idea, it would be important to identify the typical organizational logic that the users would desire.

Converging

The path of “dynamic tree grouping” was selected because it enables faster navigation with the user’s workflow requirements.

After our ideation phase and drawing inspiration from competitive research, I proposed the paths to the stakeholders. I presented how each idea would affect and benefit the workflow of the users.

We decided to focus on the idea of "dynamic tree grouping" (path B) to swiftly navigate through items in the desired hierarchy. The decision was driven by the recognition that while filters excel at locating specific items, they are less efficient for swiftly navigating through extensive datasets and making numerous selections.

With this, we further focused our design efforts to create the MVP, which composes of two main components:

  1. Property editing: allow users to edit properties and create values

  2. Dynamic tree grouping: allowing the tree to sort by desired hierarchy (dynamic tree)

User Flow

User flow for current launch highlights the need for two separate functionalities - property editing and dynamic tree grouping.

With the direction chosen, the user flow was created. It illustrates how users would use property and the dynamic tree groupings to work faster and to have more confidence when creating building sequencing.

The key improvement lies in users' ability to utilize metadata and tree grouping to easily select groups of similar items, such as “all exterior walls of floor 3”. This contrasts with the old flow of needing to select individual items in the 3D scene, or trying to navigate arbitrary folder structures. In other words, selecting “all exterior walls of floor 3” previously entailed a laborious process of clicking or name searching. Most importantly, the selection could not be easily redone. 

Design Details

Defining user presets

For the tree grouping, user interviews revealed a need for presets, expected to be used 80% of the time. We gathered initial ideas from competitive software and user discussions. Quick prototypes with mock data led to user feedback and refinement. This iterative process refined presets, with one initially discarded based on user input.

Implemented Design

Feature demo with realistic use case

The final design implemented was dynamic tree sorting with the default present of IFC Structure. The IFC structure definition was based on the logic that users are used to in their day to day work and the terminology was based off an industry standardized practice.

The video below showcases a typical use case for the 'dynamic tree grouping' feature, complemented by editable metadata properties. Quite often, these properties were already present in the original source file but were inaccessible for editing or practical use prior to the current design. With this enhancement, users can seamlessly select all elements of a single floor by grouping them according to the 'IFC Structure' preset. Furthermore, they have the flexibility to rectify incorrect or outdated data as needed without the need to go to the source file and reupload.

demo of the feature in the app after launch showcasing a typical user flow

Reflection

Challenges that shaped the project trajectory

  1. Navigating diverse input formats:

    Understanding the varied array of input formats and structures provided by users, including different file types and varying levels of completion, took a lot of background research and discussion.

  2. Understanding user mental models:

    Delving into the mental models of users to understand their typical file organization and management methods was crucial for designing an intuitive solution.

  3. Managing solution complexity:

    Breaking down the expansive solution space into manageable units of work in collaboration with stakeholders was essential to ensure we were able to iterate quickly and validate our ideas early.

This project emphasized understanding user need and concentrating on clear feature requirements. It introduced essential functions and suggested ideas for future improvements in building sequencing workflows in the app. Early testing revealed ineffective options and highlighted key solutions.