A gate access feature for 24/7 unmanned storage facilities

Goal

Create gate access feature that allows facility managers to have unmanned facilities and provide 24/7 facility access.

Hypothesis

If Storage facility operators have the ability to open and close gates remotely and manage tenant gate codes then they will be able to transition their facilities to being unmanned. This will lead to increased revenue for Storable and facility operators.

Result

24/7 access to storage units and operation of unmanned facilities.

Summary

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Our Operators had to lock and unlock their facilities for their tenants to have access, so my team added a remote gate access feature.

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Process

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Research → Explore Ideas → Design UI → Validate with Users → Develop & Ship

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Research

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It was obvious during covid that we needed to launch a remote gate access feature allowing users and tenants to control facility gates and doors remotely. This feature would make it possible for facilities to become unmanned and the amenity of 24/7 access.

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60 customers responded to my 2020 general survey that they wanted enhanced and additional functionality in the application.

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A series of news articles highlighting the trend to unmanned facilities and the survey results of a survey I sent out.

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Design System

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At Storable, I was a key member of a cross-functional initiative to merge the gap between our enterprise Figma design system and our developer's react component library. As part of this effort, we implemented StoryBook to act as a place to do QA on developed components.

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A look at the Storable Design System - from tokens to components.

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Explore Ideas

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Possible user flows were explored in a Miro then translated into high fidelity designs. The following designs explore the way the access control micro-front end content would be embedded into the add tenant flow.

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The mockup on the left shows the access control MFE as a separate step. The right image depicts it as embedded.

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Design UI

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Once the information architecture was defined, further high fidelity mockups were created.

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Tenant Activity

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The tenant activity grid provides essential information for monitoring access, troubleshooting tenant issues, and additionally locking tenants when delinquent.

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Two UI designs of a grid tenant gate access history.

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Access Points, Access Point Zones, Access Times

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Operators are able to set override hours, create and manage access zones, and edit access points. These features give operators more freedom in setting up their facilities to work for them.

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Screens showing the override hours, access zone, and access point modals.

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Additional screens for Access Control

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Accessors, Controls, and Settings empower operators to manage and configure their gate access features from right within SiteLink.

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10 Images showing various UI designs that are part of Access Control.

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Move In Flow

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When a tenant is moving in, the gate access control feature is a seamless additional step in the process.

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A tenant move-in flow with the addition of the access control step.

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Validate & Ship

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This feature was showcased to key customers and then rolled out to an alpha group. It is now available to all SiteLink and StorEdge customers. Read more about Access Control here.

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