OMNI Application for NextEra Energy

BACKGROUND

In January 2020, I joined the newly formed OMNI team at NextEra Energy, led by product owner Cory Ramsel. The team's success hinged on integrating automated pricing and a robust user experience into our product. 

GOAL

Our objective was to develop an application that enhanced transparency in project pricing for executives, facilitating better financial decisions and providing traceability for all parties involved in pricing—originators and subject matter experts (SMEs). This tool was designed to help achieve $18 million in annual cost reductions by 2023.

TIMELINE

The development spanned from January 2020 to August 2020, with a soft launch in August followed by a full rollout in December 2020.

STRATEGY

Prior to my arrival, initial user research and persona development for Originators and SMEs had been completed. The junior designer had created preliminary mockups. However, the application's broad scope and our limited UX resources prompted a decentralized design approach initially, leading to a lack of uniformity across departments.

Recognizing the need for cohesive navigation, I designed the initial navigation interface using a tile layout, a pattern proven effective in other applications. This design simplified the interface and supported scalable growth across the twelve distinct Business Units within NextEra Energy.

CHALLENGES

The project required extensive collaboration, involving interviews with multiple SMEs from the twelve Business Units. Each unit had unique pricing inputs, presenting significant challenges in designing a uniform interface that met diverse requirements. A breakthrough was realizing that all units shared a common need—a consistent deadline for pricing inputs, which we used as the cornerstone for the Universal SME Dashboard.

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IDEATION AND DESIGN

The Universal SME Dashboard centralized project tracking, reducing reliance on email by 95% and enhancing accountability. It provided a consolidated view of pricing requests and deadlines, which improved visibility and team responsibility. Strategic use of color and icons in the dashboard helped clarify statuses, important dates, and hierarchy.

The Manage Model and Reference Data feature became a central hub within OMNI for business units to upload and manage data, significantly streamlining the automation of pricing processes. This solution was developed in close collaboration with Business Analysts and the Development team, emphasizing simplicity and user-friendliness.

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