Designing a simple way for admins to send broadcast message
Brand
WWWA Water Utility
Product
Web App
My Role
UX & UI Designer (Agile)
Time
Oct 2024 - May 2025
WWWA is a small water utility that supplies local homes. Although they send emails to let residents know about planned maintenance. They still receive complaints when the water is turned off or come back on unexpectedly.
I was tasked to design a better way for system admin to send alert just before the water supply changes. This feature became part of their broader SaaS system, used by system admin, technician and residents.
Solution
A simple tool that allows admins to send “water off/on” message in a few clicks.
WWWA already notifies users a few days in advance about planned outages, adding a real-time message just before the water is turned off or back on helps reduce confusion, inconvenience and frustration.
What we discovered
Many admins are volunteers from the community.
They need something that felt easy to use.
Many admins at WWWA are local volunteers. They care about the community but don't always feel confident using digital tools.
Through stakeholder meetings, we realised our users are often non-tech-savvy and may come and go. So, the product needed to be intuitive and easy to use, even without training.
Ideation
To help Susan send alerts with ease, the design includes:
Obvious design w/ all steps on one screen
Drop-down options to avoid typing mistakes
Minimal decision-making required
So, Susan can message fast.
User Flow
Journeys from dashboard to sending alerts
Wireframe
Email sending inspired the design
Observing how people write and send emails inspired me to create the current design.
In this version, Susan can immediately see everything required to send an alert on one screen. The use of background colours helps her visually separate each section, making the process easier to follow.
The step-by-step layout felt like it offered guidance, but Susan couldn't see what was coming next without switching screens.
Starting with recipient selection still hid the rest of the steps. It made the experience feel uncertain.
Iteration
A better way to select affected time
Based on stakeholder feedback, WWWA only sends “water off/on” alerts right before the valves are operated. This meant there was an opportunity to simplify how admins enter the affected time.
Instead of selecting a start and end time, Susan can choose a duration instead.
Instead of selecting a start and end time separately.
Now, Susan chooses a preset duration, usually 1, 3 or 8 hours according to WWWA.
The most current design
Allows Susan sending alerts in few clicks
Let's experience Susan's task and see how she does.
Self-Reflection
An exciting challenge with meaningful impact
This project brought me back to my own experience working with complicated business systems, the kind where I had to write down confusing, non-intuitive steps just to get things done. That memory helped me focus on designing something simple and clear, especially for non-technical users like Susan.
Working in an Agile team, we prioritised features and developed them one at a time. Right now, we’ve built the MVP features for WWWA and this is just the beginning.
Looking ahead, we'll working on features like problem reporting and maintenance checklists. We also have an ambitious goal: to partner with water-related non-profit organisations, so we can design features that truly support their work and make a real difference.
