Allowing for users monitor the status of their system and identify any critical issues within their zones before they affect the overall yield of the plants.
Challenge
Reduce time to identify issues
Improve understanding of detected issues
Reduce overall farm downtime
What is the CRCLR system
The CRCLR system is a series of movable racks, a nutrient distribution system and a software that allows users to manage indoor farms. These farms operate year round controlling all possible environmental variables such as temperature, nutrients, humidity, light levels & more.
Identifying problems with the previous issue detection UI
General Issue messages
When an issue occurs, a text link will appear indicating the number of issues in the cell the rack issue is occurring in.
Issue Pop ups
When the link is clicked, a pop up appears providing the issues location along with secondary information.
Issue 1
Issues were tough to address
Some issues were difficult to understand especially for newer users. Issues relating to dosing can often have multiple causes and addressing them can take multiple steps.
Issue 2
Easy to miss issues
Many times the issues were not obvious enough to the users. Some severe issues like a lack of water can result in ruined crops and need to be addressed immediately.
Issue 3
No context provided as to what is wrong
Some issues that are more critical need immediate action and we noticed often, simply saying “issue detected” resulted in users ignoring problems far too long.
Identifying all hardware issues within the system
We collected a large document containing all the possible detected issues along with clear actionable steps for trouble shooting and adressing the issues.
The initial design
The new issue detection cells were paired with other visual updates. Issues now reside below the content of the cell in an area that only becomes available when needed.
Extra context in issue messages
These cells contain a short phrase providing context to the issue in 5 words or less. This lets users know if the issue is persistent or requires immediate concern.
Troubleshooting tips
Clicking an issue now brings up the new pop up. This contains descriptions, likely causes along with actionable troubleshooting tips.
Alerts
Alerts can now be configured to send in app notifications, emails or even text messages to selected users.
Unexpected Problems
New Issue 1
Users got numb to red
Since all issues were displayed as red, users often ignored more critical issues thinking they were lesser important nozzle issues at first glance.
New Issue 2
Too many notifications
We also received immediate feedback that notifications, specifically texts, became overwhelming and needed to be adjusted.
Revised concepts: issue levels
Level 1
Low concern issues that can be addressed within 24 hours before seeing significant effects
Level 2
Medium concern issues that should be addressed as soon as possible before becoming worse
Level 3
Critical concerns that have negative effects on the plants within the hour.
Visual Indicators
Issues now show below the blade cell to give more space. The issue pills contain more info related to the issue.
Managing alert responses
Issues now show below the blade cell to give more space. The issue pills contain more info related to the issue.
How did the changes go?
Wins: Strong feedback among farmers
The first batch of test farmers responded overwhelmingly positive to this roll out. One notably calling it a "crucial update for profitability"
Wins: Reduced downtime
When analyzing the length of unresolved issues both critical and small, there was a clear decrease in duration of these issues
Fail: Steep learning curve
Issues now show below the blade cell to give more space. The issue pills contain more info related to the issue.
50%
Reduction in total crop failures
20%
Reduction in farm down time
15+
New issues added to troubleshooting document
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