Photovoltaic Information Service Systems Redesign

A semester long study on redesigning information systems of the photovoltaic industry. 2010 Information Service Systems Design course at UC Berkeley

Transcript

1. S.  Iranzadeh,  G.  Kiener,  L.  Tom,  T.  Yoo   12/08/2010   Fall  2010   Informa(on  Systems  and  Service  Design  Class   I228  –  School  of  Informa?on   University  of  California,  Berkeley   Professor:  Dr.  Robert  Glushko  
2. What  is  Informa(on  Systems  and  Service  Design  Class?   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   2   Diagram designed by Leslie Tom
3. ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   3   Wiki layout designed by Leslie Tom
4. Agenda   §  Mo(va(on  /  Project  Concept     §  Design  Process   §  Prototyping   §  Summary   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   4  
5. Agenda   §  Mo(va(on  /  Project  Concept     §  Design  Process   §  Prototyping   §  Summary   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   5  
6. Project  mo(va(on   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   6   Photovoltaic  Panels  is  a  growing  way  for  renewable  energy.             Figure  1:  Solar  Electric  Capacity  (Wiser,  2009)       Figure  2:  Number  of  installed  PV  systems  (Wiser,  2009)      
7. Project  mo(va(on   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   7   Photovoltaic  Panels  is  a  growing  way  for  renewable  energy.             Figure  3:  US  Energy  Consump?on  (Wiser,  2009)      
8. Project  mo(va(on   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   8   Problems  of  the  solar  industry:     §  Inefficient  and  non-­‐transparent  processes,  full  of  redundancies  and   paperwork   §  High  degree  of  frustra?on  at  the  buyers  side  due  to  unnecessary   project  failures  and  dependency  on  sellers   §  Limited  interac?on  between  buyers,  sellers  and  governmental   agencies.           An  independent  service  system  can  facilitate  solar  industry.  
9. Challenge:    How  can  we    make  “informa?on  intensive”  processes  of  buying   and  installing  photovoltaic  panels  to  be  more  customer-­‐centric?     ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   9   Share  smart  informa?on  to  facilitate  solar  energy  adop?on  
10. Agenda   §  Mo(va(on     §  Design  Process   §  Prototyping   §  Summary   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   10  
11. Design  Process   •  Iden?fy   Stakeholders   •  Research  for  Service   •  Scope  service  system   •  Ethnography   •  Develop  and  model   personas   •  Use  Cases   •  Blueprint   informa?on  flows  /   process  models   •  As-­‐Is  /  Should  Be   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   11   Sketch by Leslie Tom
12. Ethnography  –  Goals  &  scope   Goals:   §  Understand  the  solar  installa?on  process   §  Iden?fy  failure  points   §  Find  possibili?es  to  facilitate  the  industry   Scope:   §  PGE  webinar   §  Web-­‐research  about  bad  solar  experiences   §  Interviews  with  2  solar  buyers   §  Interviews  with  6  representa?ves  from  the  solar  industry       ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   12  
13. Stakeholders   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   13       Various  stakeholders  are  involved  in  the  solar  panel  market.   •  Primary  Stakeholders:    facilitate  solar  panel  transac?ons  between  contractors/installers  and  customers.     •  Secondary  Stakeholders:  Sellers  are  mainly  solar  panel  manufacturers.   •  Ter?ary  Stakeholders:  Facilitators  are  en??es  we  consider  like  governments,  banks,  industry  experts  or   architects.       Diagram by Travis Yoo
14. Interviews   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   14   Table 1 - Information / Experience-Intensive Observations and Data Collection -- numbers correspond through entire document. # Perspective Interviewee/ Observer Name Interviewee/Observer Company/Assoc. Observation Type (Interview, Webinar, Research) Data Collection 1 Solar buyer, early adopter Bob Glushko Homeowner, 2 retrofitted homes, bought complete system. Personal Interview Video- recording and Notes 2 Solar buyer, recent client Susan Turner Homeowner, 1 custom designed retrofitted home, investment Phone Interview Notes 3 Design/Installer Sean Kenny Fresco Solar Phone Interview Notes 4 Office Manager for Solar Design/ Installer Issy Luminalt Phone Interview Notes 5 Design/Installer Connor English Sun Light & Power Phone Interview Notes 6 Software company for Installers Jock Patterson Clean Power Finance Personal Interview Notes 7 Lead Shannon One Block Off the Grid Phone Notes
15. Blueprint  Informa(on  Flows   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   15   Diagram by Leslie Tom
16. ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   16   Ethnography  –  Process  analysis   Going  solar  is  a  complex  process  with  many  redundancies.   Diagram by Leslie Tom
17. Ethnography  –  Failure  points   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   17   Most  of  the  failure  points   can  be  avoided  by  a  well-­‐ informed  customer.   Diagram by Leslie Tom
18. Process  redesign  –  Old  process   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   18   Prescreening   Think  solar   1st  site  visit   Contract   2nd  site  visits   Rebates   Installa?on   Maintenance   Buyer  lacks  necessary  understanding  à  Dependency   Several  contractors  visit  the  same  site.   Inefficient  step,  redundancies  among  several  sellers.   Huge  amount  of  redundant  paperwork.   Lack  of  aher-­‐sales  service.   Possibly  redundant  and  inaccurate  (failure  points).   Diagram by Travis Yoo
19. Should-­‐Be  Process  Model   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   19  
20. Process  redesign  –  New  process   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   20   Educa?on   Think  solar   Site  analysis   Site  visit   Contract   Rebates   Installa?on   Maintenance   Seller  choice   Studies  on  process,  financials,  hardware,  failure  points.       Provision  of  basic  site  data  to  poten?al  sellers.   Compare,  contact  and  chose  reliable  contractors.   Fewer  unsuccessful  visits.  Best  case:  Only  1  visit.   Buyer  can  recognize  failure  points  before  they  happen.   Agencies  access  info  directly.  No  addi?onal  paperwork.   Local  solar  community  and  maintenance  hints.   Diagram by Travis Yoo
21. System  Architecture  Re-­‐design   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   21   Diagram by Travis Yoo
22. Agenda   §  Mo(va(on  /  Project  Concept     §  Design  Process   §  Prototyping   §  Summary   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   22  
23. Prototyping  –  Goals  &  Strategy     ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   23   Goals:   §  Demonstrate  the  basic  service  concept   §  Gather  feedback  about  service  flow  and  user  interac?ons   §  Elaborate  ways  to  improve  the  concept   Strategy:   §  Itera?on  1:  Storyboard  (low-­‐fidelity)   §  Itera?on  2:  Movie  (low-­‐fidelity)          
24. Prototyping  –  Itera(on  1:  Storyboard   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   24   Plot:   §  Journey  through  a  solar   installa?on   §  Focus  on  the  process  flow   §  Old  process  vs.  new  process   Sketches by Leslie Tom
25. Agenda   §  Mo(va(on  /  Project  Concept     §  Design  Process   §  Prototyping   §  Summary   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   25  
26. Summary   §  Solar  industry  is  ready  for  disrup?on:  Processes  are  inefficient  and   full  of  redundancies,  buyers  are  dependent  from  sellers  and  many   avoidable  failures  occur.   §  Buyer  educa?on  is  a  key  element  to  facilitate  processes  and  to  avoid   project  failure  due  to  seller  neglect.   §  Informa?on  sharing  and  transparency  between  buyers,  sellers  and   agencies  reduce  redundancies  and  non-­‐value-­‐adding  ac?ons.   §  Our  Solar  Seeker  2.0  concept  aims  to  unify  all  parts  and  pieces  at   one  plalorm  to  facilitate  processes,  avoid  failure  and  reduce   redundancies.   ISSD  2010:  Solar  Panel  Seekers   26