Westshore Terminals operates all year round and is capable of moving 33 million tons of coal a year. A team of approximately 300 employees serve customers in both Canada and the U.S. in sectors such as energy and steel.
The Challenge
While its core business is focused on the physical handling of coal, the ability to manage data with accuracy and reliability is critical to Westshore Terminals’ ongoing success.
This includes coordinating the scheduled arrivals and departures of trains bearing coal and the ships onto which it will be loaded. Then, there are the complexities of different coal grades and products, many of which must be tracked and handled separately.
Like many organizations, however, Westshore Terminals was using a combination of legacy applications, those it had developed internally and those that were purpose-built for its industry but didn’t meet its unique needs.
The Solution
An Operations (OPS) module, for example, helps keep track of trains, the products they’re carrying, and other mission-critical operational data. Our work means Westshore Terminals employees have access to schedules, reports, and other information in an intuitive design.
Other features provide Westshore Terminals with the ability to create interactive voyage and train schedule plans using simple drag-and-drop functionality, enabling users to easily make changes and improve the efficiency of their operations.
A workforce management system module, meanwhile, gives Westshore Terminals the ability to track everything from payroll, hours employees have worked, absences, replacements, and shift scheduling.
Key user experience and design features:
An extensive discovery process including several stakeholder interviews and multiple workshops to help our team grasp the complex inner workings on the company.
Usability testing to help provide a modern yet familiar user experience for the operations and work force management teams.
Responsive platform that works on any device and screen dimension.
Showing detailed data sets in the same screen view for easy reference and analysis.
Defined digital brand standards and live component library that gives a consistent look and feel to company all applications.