VEGA
During the Pandemic 2020 we Created a Tool that Contained the Incident Rate on a Remote Working Site of one of the Top Five Global Energy Companies. Besides That it Helped to Manage Authorizations and Mobilization of 10k+ Workers.
It is beginning 2020 and the Covid-19 virus rises. As many companies, a leading energy company (+200 billion revenue) also struggles with unforeseen consequences. Especially on remote sites – where workers have to work, travel and live close together – the risk of infection is particularly high.
Also the fluctuation of new workers which come in 2-4 weeks rotation shifts from anywhere in the world put the group in the hopeless position of being able to keep the working site running risk-free. As there are 10k+ workers on site every shift they needed a solution build for a large operation. Fast.
No Agency.
No Agile Board.
No Project Manager.
Just a Team of 7 Experts.
In a small team of tech experts and developers, I designed – as the only UI&UX designer – a technical solution to monitor Covid-19 statuses and prevent high density of workers on site.
Excerpts from a flowchart of the early beginnings of Project Vega
Early stage wireframe of the dashboard
A Unique ID Code and Signal for Every Worker on Site.
With the initial Covid test process at the onboarding on site, workers are marked equipped with a bluetooth low energy wristband. This BLE-wristband contains a unique QR code and sends also a bluetooth signal every second.
With this code health staff was able to link Covid-19 test results to the specific worker. On the other hand worker could identify themselves easily with the code on the wristband. For those events we created a mobile app.
The Companion App
A Tool to Manage and Maintain Pandemic-Related Processes on Site.
The mobile app (Android & iOS) has been created to give supporting workforces (like health staff, worker management and technicians) the helpful tool during the processes. Depending on the role of the user, different features are unlocked. These include e.g:
Onboarding work forces and linking wristbands to them
Scanning ID codes of the worker
Verifying and Updating the worker’s health status
Check-ins and room management
Access management
Installing BLE gateways on site
The Network
Using Multilateral and Multi-Devices.
Furthermore, the company wanted to know where each workers exact location was and where fields of density were coming up. On site we installed 600+ BLE gateways in addition to already permanently installed access points to create a BLE network that determines the position of each wristband/worker.
As an independent extension of the network, android smartphones – running the VEGA app – also received the signal of the wristbands on even more remote areas of the site. This interaction of different devices and software solutions allows the server to calculate the exact position of the workers up to 0.5m using multilateration. This data is compressed by a server on site, on the android phones (before even using the bandwidth of the sites network) and sends it to the cloud where the dashboard takes over.
The Dashboard
A Web-based Operation Tool for Monitoring and Analyzing Contact Reports, Location Tracking, Alerts, Access Control and BLE and User Management.
User Management
Workers, app users and operators can be imported and managed in the dashboard. This includes an invitation management, automated groups and roles.
Zones & Access Management
Stationary gateways and access points define different zones on site. The operator can see (almost) live which and how many people are in these zones.
Geofence Alerts & Access Management
Using the group management of the workers and the zones, the dashboard’s operator is able to set time and location-based geofence alarms. Besides that app users can verify on site if the worker is allowed to be in specific zones.
Covid-19 Prevention & Health Monitoring
On the worker’s profile all tests, vaccine shots and the current health status is shown. In case of an incident operators of the dashboard can export contact reports that include Interactions of the infected worker within various adjustable ranges and times.
The Future
Extension to Other Fields
Vega is about to start in several other fields and working sites that struggle with the same problem. The flexibility of the technical framework can easily transform to different situations. The next extension for this client will be a management system for quarantine hotels (of the workers on the way to the site).
Conclusion
In less than 10 months of development a handful of experts created a stable tool for large operations using an innovative combination of devices running on a dense and flexible bluetooth network.
The conception, the interface and the product presentation was created by me. We convinced decision-makers at a multi billion corporation and made it possible for people to go to work with less risk in this extra ordinary situation.