Case study

UX design for Bitlog logistics solution

Logistics and Supply Chain
UI/UX

Location:

Sweden, Stockholm

Industry:

Logistics and Supply Chain

Warehouse Management

Partnership period:

January 2015 - present

Bitlog is a Sweden-based company offering innovative software solutions on the supply and logistics market. The main product of Bitlog is a digital warehouse management system that allows companies to eliminate paperwork, automate their operations and increase productivity.

intuitive iOS applications
seamless user experience
simple and consistent UI design

Goals and tasks

The client sought a reliable software development partner that could allocate a strong team to design and develop a cutting-edge warehouse automation system. Thus Bitlog engaged N-iX to build a user-friendly iOS application with wide functionality. UX design was an important part of the project as our specialists had to ensure smooth operation of the product.

UX designers at N-iX took on such tasks:

Perform in-depth analysis of the major warehouse and distribution operations
Come up with multiple user flows based on the analysis, take into account all the delivery and storing details
Provide the development team with the design of all the necessary user flows to facilitate and accelerate software development

Challenges

The efficiency of a typical warehouse depends on delivery planning and many logistics operations. They usually include dozens of coordinated activities performed by different employees – managers and workers. Warehouse automation systems are to include all these operations as well as take into account unforeseeable circumstances. That’s why N-iX UX specialists faced two main challenges:

Structurizing the requirements and breaking all the processes into user flows according to particular roles
Creating intuitive UX to ensure smooth operation of warehouses

Research and discovery

N-iX team worked in close cooperation with the product owner on the client’s side who communicated the project requirements. Thus we had to analyze and develop multiple roles for the following applications:

Warehouse management system (WMS) designed for two user roles: one for managers, another for warehouse workers
Transport management system (TMS) also supporting two scenarios – for a manager and for a driver. This application also includes Statistics – the module to be used by the managing staff members

Our UX designers divided all working processes of a typical warehouse into numerous user flows. Then they developed user roles and the scenarios for each user participating in a corresponding process.

Implementation

Based on the user roles and flows, N-iX designers created the wireframes of the main pages and interactive prototypes. As soon as the client had approved the wireframes, we designed UI mockups.

To achieve the best result, UX team always takes agile approach in their work. Hence we used Lean UX to design Bitlog applications, constantly repeating the “think-make-check” cycle. The product owner validation and feedback enabled us to work through complicated processes and realize them in the app features.

N-iX designers collaborated with Bitlog on two applications:

Warehouse Management System allows to manage such processes as goods arrival, sorting and departure.
Transport Management System & Statistics for sorting the goods according to destinations, planning the delivery, and statistics.

Value delivered by N-iX

In-depth analysis of multiple logistics processes to meet the client’s business requirements
Successful development of the warehouse management applications that include multiple user roles and scenarios
UX design that makes the app easy to use for any person engaged in the warehouse working processes
Simple and consistent UI design with a minimalistic logo, vivid colors, contrast palette, and rounded shapes

Partnership overview

Bitlog has offered technological solutions in logistics and warehouse management for over 10 years. They sought the team that could extend their engineering expertise and develop functional iOS applications for their main product. Thus in June 2015, they partnered with N-iX. Our specialists started with the maintenance of their warehouse management app for iPad. Additionally, they redesigned the existing app, added many new features, and united several applications in one solution to make the platform multisided.

Redesigned Bitlog Wearhouse management system (WMS) offers extended functionality and new UI/UX design. It is built with the latest tech stack and supports iOS devices (iPad/iPhone). Moreover, N-iX professionals developed Transport Management System (TMS) – the solution used for the supply chain planning the delivery. Therefore, our team has helped the client to implement the digital transformation of their products and deliver highly functional technological solutions to their customers.

Expertise delivered: