PROBLEM

Storable has to support many different access control integrations for its facility management softwares.

“Access control” is a combination of hardware and software that manages tenant and non-tenant access privileges for a storage facility. Not only were Storable’s multiple integrations becoming hard to support, they were limited in capabilities, and some required using an on-premise computer. All these issues added up to frequent access-related issues for Storable customers and their tenants.

Learn how we solved this problem below, or skip to the shiny stuff.

OPPORTUNITY

A single access control solution that can integrate with all of Storable’s facility management softwares.

We focused our efforts on creating a resuable micro front end that could be embedded directly into any of our facility management softwares, while sharing a consolidated backend for easier maintenance.

MVP FEATURES IDENTIFIED THRU INTERNAL/COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Instantaneous access privileges when tenant is moved in
Automatic lock out when tenant is delinquent or moved out
Activity logs that capture access events
Remotely open, close, or hold open gates
Assign tenants to groups based on unit or tenant attributes

Our first iteration of Access was aimed at working with Storable’s most popular desktop facility management software, Sitelink, so that we could move faster and bring value to the most customers. This is one of many takes on the MVP user flow.

RESEARCH

Rethinking Access

We used customer feedback to inform our initial prototype then brought it back to potential users to validate the design. Below is sampling of what we heard and learned, some of which forced us to make small pivots in our architecture and user flows.

Saves time, prevents human error, and put Access over competitors.
Some operators had security concerns when access privileges can be manually assigned. Our MVP should focus on auto assignment.
The most important aspect for many customers is dependable hardware rather than specific features. The gate is their “lifeblood”.
Gates need to be opened manually sometimes, but not often, so pinned controls aren’t that helpful.

BEYOND MVP Needs SURVEY (weighted ranking)

Early prototype used for customer validation

“You guys nailed it.”

— Operations, TNT Management

“This is awesome.”

— Manager, Bluewater Storage

Beyond Access

The Access team was also laying the foundation for future embedded services by Storable, so we needed a system that could represent the new direction of the brand while working for the entire product portfolio. Using branding created by the marketing team, I mocked up several iterations to land on this scaleable approach.

Beyond branding, we were also creating Storable’s first component library that could be leveraged by other products. Since we had to move fast we decided to use an existing library as our base. We chose Bootstrap because it was already a popular framework at Storable and it included a robust and extendable set of utility classes that would help us avoid custom CSS. I used existing brand guidelines to inform the restyling of our components, as well created a comprehensive typography scale and UI color palette. I also utilized Bootstrap’s grid system to create a design that could flex to any screen size.