FieldPro for iOS · Schneider Electric
Designing for gloves, glare and zero bars of signal.
An offline-first iOS app for field technicians who maintain switchgear and UPS systems at customer sites, often in basements with no signal and gloves on.
- Role
- Product Designer
- Company
- Schneider Electric
- Timeline
- 2019 to 2021
- Team
- 2 designers, 1 PM, 5 engineers
- Platforms
- iOS, iPadOS
1Scan the label, skip typing serial numbers
256 pt targets, usable with gloves
3Work is saved on the phone first, sync happens later
+18%
First-time fix rate
−45%
Time spent writing service reports
4.7
App Store rating
6,000+
Technicians using it each month
The problem
Technicians worked from paper checklists and a mobile website that lost their work when the signal dropped. Reports were typed up at night from memory, and missing information meant return visits.
What I did
I rode along with 14 technicians, designed the app end to end from research to App Store, and worked with engineering on an offline model where the phone is the source of truth and syncing is a detail.
What changed
FieldPro reached more than 6,000 technicians. First-time fix rate went up 18%, report writing time fell 45%, and the app holds a 4.7 rating from a famously sceptical group of users.
01 · Context
My first big project, and where I learned to do research.
I joined Schneider Electric in 2018 as a product designer, straight from industrial design school. FieldPro was my first large project: a native app for the technicians who service switchgear, UPS systems and building equipment at customer sites across Europe.
02 · Problem
Work lost in basements, reports written from memory.
The existing tool was a mobile website. In a basement with no signal it showed a spinner or lost what the technician had typed. Most people gave up and used paper, then typed everything again at night. Missing details meant return visits, the most expensive outcome in field service.
The question we worked on
How might we help technicians fix it right the first time, wherever they are, and make the report write itself?
03 · Research
Fourteen ride-alongs, a lot of basements.
I rode along with 14 technicians in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, shadowed more than 30 service visits, ran a three-week diary study and tested prototypes on site, with gloves on.
The job starts in the van
Technicians prepared in the car park, the last place with signal. Everything they'd need had to be on the phone before they walked in.
“Once I'm downstairs, I'm on my own.”
Hands are busy and dirty
Gloves made small targets useless. People tapped with a knuckle, or took gloves off, which they weren't supposed to do.
“I use my nose sometimes. Seriously.”
Reports were written twice
Notes on paper during the job, typed up at night. Photos stayed on personal phones. Details were lost every time.
“By the evening I don't remember which breaker it was.”
04 · Process
Testing where the work happens.
Better mobile website
Offline storage and camera access were too unreliable in 2019, and there was no NFC.
Cross-platform app
The prototype worked, but scanning and NFC lagged on older devices.
Native iOS first
92% of technicians had company iPhones. Native gave us reliable offline storage, scanning and NFC.
05 · Design decisions
Scan, follow, done.
Scan to start
Scanning an asset's label with the camera, or tapping its NFC tag, opens its history, open issues and the right procedure. No typing serial numbers with gloves on.
- 01Arrive on siteJob already on the phone
- 02Scan assetQR or NFC, no typing
- 03History and issuesLast visits, open faults
- 04Guided procedureStep by step, with photos
- 05Report builds itselfFrom photos and checks
- 06Customer signsOn the phone, sent at sync
The two steps that saved the most time
Big targets for gloved hands
Primary actions are at least 56 points tall, twice the size we started with. Checklist rows are large enough to tap with a knuckle, and a high-contrast 'plant room' mode helps in poor light.
The report writes itself
Every photo, voice note and checklist answer is collected into the report as the technician works. At the end, they review it, the customer signs on the phone, and it's sent at the next sync.
Saved on the phone, synced later
The phone is the source of truth. Sync happens in the background and is shown in plain words. When a colleague changed the same asset, the app shows both versions instead of quietly overwriting one.
06 · Outcome
Adopted by a famously sceptical group.
First-time fix rate improved by 18% and report writing time fell by 45%. The components we built for FieldPro later became part of the company's mobile design system.
“First app from head office that works in a basement.”
“I finish the report before I leave the building now.”
07 · Reflection
What it taught me.
This project made me a researcher. You can't design for a plant room from a meeting room, and the best ideas came from sitting in a van at 7 in the morning.
Looking back, I'd push for tablet support earlier. Technicians on large sites wanted a bigger screen for drawings, and it took another year to get there.
Tools on this project
Sketch, later Figma, Principle, Xcode previews, Lookback, Firebase Analytics
Names of the people quoted have been changed to protect their privacy.
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