Case Study
UX
Reducing Task Overload for Admins Managing a Water Utility Platform
Brand
Water Utility (USA)
Product
SaaS - Web App
My Role
UX Designer (Agile)
Time
2025
At a Glance
01
Operational risk drove the brief
Part-time admins were missing urgent tasks between shifts — creating real risk for a utility that communities depend on.
02
Research reframed the design direction
Structured interviews revealed admins don't need more information — they need the right information, fast.
03
Iterated three times before the right solution
First attempt was immediately too much. The solution emerged through two deliberate reframes: big picture first, then user-controlled filters by status, timeline, and task type.
04
Filter logic validated by stakeholders
Stakeholder review confirmed the core insight — admins wanted control over what they saw, not a pre-filtered view decided for them.
05
Shipped in active Agile development
The dashboard is currently in development as MVP. Data is organised around the client's actual operations, with urgent tasks surfaced without searching.
The Snapshot
Background
The client is a small water utility providing services to local homes. Part-time admins were missing urgent tasks between shifts — creating operational risk for a utility that communities depend on.
To address this, I designed the admin dashboard: a central space where system admins can track and manage their daily work. The product is being developed in Agile, we focused on MVP features first, with room to grow based on business needs.
Challenge
How might we help system admins quickly understand tasks when they land on the platform?
Solution
A focused dashboard that highlights what needs attention
Tasks are clearly grouped under every feature, so, system admins can quickly find what they need and take action.
User & Stakeholder Research
Admins need to understand what has happened during their off time and catch up fast
Through structured interviews with stakeholders, we found that admins work part-time and often step in after someone else. They need a clear way to understand what happened during their off time and what still needs to be done.
They don't always feel confident using digital tools. They described wanting to catch up quickly — without feeling overwhelmed or lost in too much information.
Susan Roy
System Admin @ water utility
Susan is not very tech-savvy, but she’s open to learning. She’s not always around, so that she needs to quickly understand what's going on and take actions when something important or urgent comes up.
Goals
See what’s new and what needs actions
Quickly understand priorities
Take action before small issues become bigger problems
Pains
Missing urgent tasks
Forgetting to follow up
Feeling overwhelmed by too much information on one screen
Flag urgent tasks from the dashboard
Critical issues surface immediately, so nothing gets missed between shifts.
Balance data by category
Reduces cognitive load when scanning across multiple feature areas.
Enables action from the dashboard
Susan can create a new task without navigating away.
Links chart data to filtered task screens
Tapping a data point takes Susan directly to the relevant tasks, pre-filtered, no extra clicks.
I stepped back and asked: what does Susan need before she acts? That reframe led to a dashboard showing total counts and task summaries per category — the big picture before the detail.
Digging deeper into how maintenance plans actually work, I realised Susan needed to filter by different dimensions depending on her shift context. I introduced three filters: by status, by timeline, and by task type. The pie chart became hollow, with the total in the centre — giving Susan control without losing the overview.
The final dashboard organises data around the client's actual operations — categorised by task type and filtered by the important index of the tasks, such as status, timeline, work, and priority. Tasks needing immediate attention are flagged clearly, so admins can act without having to search.
The product is currently in active Agile development. Stakeholder review confirmed the filter logic addressed the core need: admins wanted control over what they saw, not a pre-filtered view decided for them.
