LevelApp

1. Overview

RBK GmbH is responsible for collecting, monitoring and analyzing groundwater data of about 10.000 km² in Germany. This data is very important for public services, local companies and inhabitants. Therefore, data integrity and the avoidance of data loss is of the highest priority. Keeping all this in mind, I designed and developed a robust Android application that seamless integrates with RBK’s existing infrastructure and helps them in reaching the mentioned goals.

2. Problem statement

After talking to RBK it became clear that an application was needed which satisfies the following:

• App is fast and reliable/robust
• Highest data integrity:
  • Avoiding mix-ups by putting a new measurement accidentally to the wrong well
  • Making sure user puts in the correct data and avoid typos
  • Data backups so no data can be lost
• Documenting the wells visually and to keep track of changes
• Easy onboarding of new workers
• Seamless passing the collected data to RBK’s backend

3. Users and audience

The users are the staff of RBK GmbH which drive around in all kinds of weather to collect the precious groundwater data. From young smartphone affine workers to the older generation, the user base is broad. Developing LevelApp I tried to keep this in mind the whole time.

4. Roles and responsibilities

I was in charge of the entire development process. From ideating and user research to the actual development using Android and Java, it was all done by myself.

5. Scope and constraints

A first working version had to be released quick, since the app they were using at the time was faulty and buggy and the company couldn’t guarantee future support. Also, what was to keep in mind is that the app had to have an interface to the desktop program which takes care of the analyzing the collected data. This interface was basically a SQL database which gets then passed from the phone to the analytics program.

6. Development process

6.1. Identifying pain points

At first, I tried to get a very clear picture of how the data collecting process is working currently and what are the workers pain points. After personally spending time on site, the picture became very clear.

As this is a company internal application, I looked at the company’s and staff’s pain points separately:

The workers were mostly complaining about:

• App crashing/freezing
• Not sure where the well is located exactly
• Little to no customization
• After the day was ended, the delivery was complicated

The company RBK was frustrated about:

• Not being sure if they can rely on the worker’s data
• Workers were not able to finish their route on time
• Workers forgot to send data at the end of the day
• Little to no visual documentation
• New workers had often trouble finding the wells

6.2. Ideation

With two company representatives, we then started the ideation process. I ended up with a list of ideas, but the whole picture wasn’t quite clear. Since the time and budget was limited (and quite frankly I was at the beginning of my developer career), we decided that I would just start developing a prototype and then go from there. A couple of my first wireframes can be seen here:

6.3. The first prototype

As it can be seen in the wireframes, I got heavily inspired by wanted posters and the profiles on social media. Just that this time it is a well which workers are looking for, but the reason behind is the same: We humans identify and (most importantly) remember things best, when you connect an image with a name/description. Also, a huge benefit of having an image centered app is that it is also guiding you to the well, and you don’t have to solely rely on a map. The trees in the background, the street or any other surrounding detail are very helpful in finding the well. This in return makes it easier for new workers to find wells, and therefore they save a lot of time, especially in the beginning.

The first prototype had very limited functionality, mostly just measuring the wells and having a few security mechanisms like calculating an acceptable tolerance range. Here you can see a few screenshots of the first version:

6.4. Further development

The most important features which were added during further development:

• Different sorting options for well list
• Calculating the physical distance in meters of the worker (who is entering new data) and the underlying well. Then the app displays a warning if the distance is too big.
• Image upload directly to company’s Dropbox
• App updates can be easily pushed over Dropbox
• Backups of well data on Dropbox
• Timestamp and well number are being printed on every photo which has been taken through app
• Anti-cheating mechanisms
• Working times tracker functionality to help workers easily record working times which is required by German law
• Functionality to create a photo documentation of a well (6 photos from different angles)

Here is a quick demo of version 2.4.0 (demo only shows a very small selection of features):

7. Outcomes and lessons

I can proudly say that this app was a big success and RBK GmbH stands out with this app. The main benefits are:

• RBK did not lose a single data point last year
• RBK and their clients are now extra confident in the integrity of the collected data
• They now help public services maintaining and documenting wells by the seamless possibility to take repair pictures or replace well images

Additionally, the biggest benefits for workers are:

• Workers could substantially reduce the time they need to complete their tour
• A new worker needs way less time to find a well in the landscape
• The handing over of a finished tour (incl. photos) to RBK became a single button press
• The mandatory tracking of their working times has become very easy, and they only need one single app for it now