As the innovation team within DCP, we discovered a big, dangerous, and financially crushing issue. DCP Gas Operations employees were struggling to resolve emergency plant events in a timely manner. A growing need arose for a singular application that would unify team communications and expedite event resolutions. 

We put our best lead UX researcher and designer on the job. First, we interviewed cross functional leaders from impacted internal departments, and captured a variety of pain points and struggles. A common complaint was the lack of response and accountability when communicating internally. To converge on a problem, we ran a problem framing workshop followed by a design sprint.

During the Problem Framing Workshop, we led the department leaders in identifying, prioritizing, and aligning on the primary problem statement, “To be the single verified source of unplanned event status and communication across everyone at DCP from anywhere at anytime.” 

We then facilitated a Design Sprint that helped inform the design of the application. During this Sprint, we facilitated department leaders and field workers to craft user journeys, potential solutions, and finally, a rough prototype. They thoroughly enjoyed the workshops, as it was the first time they were included in the process of building software to solve their problems.

With golden nuggets of data, and a basic prototype coming out of the workshops, our UX designer started mapping the experience. He created a service blueprint that identified the relationships between each archetype throughout the journey. This highlighted the key benefits which we then presented to our executive stakeholders. Based on research, Gas Controllers became the primary user.  

Ongoing research and testing influenced RAPID information architecture and MVP strategy. For example, Gas Controllers needed the ability to create an “event” so we added it to the list of MVP features.

We created feature-specific task flows which became the foundation for the prototype. Pencil sketches evolved from wireframes to prototypes with regular input from users and internal stakeholders.

We tested the prototype with our users (DCP employees) and they were thrilled to have an elegant solution to help them resolve emergency plant events in a timely manner.

We presented these results to the executives, and they were pleased—not only with the fact that this solution would provide our employees with an effective tool—it would also save the company a considerable amount of lost revenue, and help reduce environmental impacts due to these plant events.

We created and delivered journey maps, service blueprints, interaction flows, personas, and functional prototypes for both desktop and mobile to the engineering team. These deliverables would ensure an accurate design translation and build.

Due to the negative economic climate in the oil and gas industry and the outbreak of COVID-19, the project was canceled in April of 2020. While the entire DCP Energy Lab department was let go, we hope DCP will build this valuable product when the economic impacts of 2020 subside.