Performance
Verification Tool

Scan Sites and Record Findings

What is PVT (Performance Verification Tool)?

The Johnson Controls Performance Verification Tool (PVT) is a software solution designed to assess and validate the performance of building systems and controls. Its primary function is to ensure that critical building management systems—such as HVAC, lighting, and energy management—are operating efficiently and as intended.

PVT likely integrates with a building’s control systems to conduct comprehensive tests and analyses, evaluating factors such as temperature regulation, energy consumption, and system responsiveness to varying conditions. By providing detailed performance insights, the tool helps optimize system efficiency, ensuring a comfortable and energy-efficient environment.

The Challenge

Several challenges arose when determining how users would access key functionalities within PVT, particularly given the large volume of constantly displayed data. A clear and intuitive approach was essential to ensure ease of navigation and usability.

Key design considerations included:

  • Displaying notifications effectively, both on the dashboard and upon entering PVT.
  • Designing a user-friendly preferences system to allow seamless customization.
  • Merging site settings in a logical and efficient manner.
  • Resolving issues related to existing sites, ensuring smooth data management and user experience.

Each of these challenges required thoughtful solutions to maintain clarity, accessibility, and consistency throughout the application.

My Role

When I joined Johnson Controls, the basic framework for the web app had already been established. I was tasked with taking over the project after the Principal UX Designer transitioned to a new role. My responsibility was to craft a cohesive user experience that streamlined the flow of core site functionalities, including scanning, merging, reporting assessments, and displaying important notifications, among other features. The goal was to ensure that users could navigate the app efficiently and intuitively, enhancing both usability and overall satisfaction.

The Objective

Design a cohesive user experience that features an intuitive and easy-to-follow flow for core site functionalities, including scanning sites, merging sites, reporting assessments, and receiving notifications, among others.

The user experience had to be adaptable, taking into account the user type logged in, as certain features and functionalities were restricted or made available depending on the user’s role and permissions. This ensured that each user interacted with the app in a way that was both relevant to their responsibilities and easy to navigate.

Designing the App

Fortunately, I had the dashboard framework to build upon, which provided a solid foundation for the design. While a design system was already in place, I needed to create several custom components that were not part of the existing system. These components were essential to making the features both user-friendly and visually cohesive with the rest of the product.

One key feature was the tabular table, which organized various preferences, points, equipment types, and rules for technicians. This table needed to be both functional and visually aligned with the overall design, ensuring it was easy for users to understand and interact with.

Notifications

The notifications screen shows the criticality of the alert, from informative to warning to severe. They can be filtered by date, priority and by site name.

Preferences

The preferences pane is what technicians use to change the patterns, instance numbers, units of measure and object type of a site, and are categorized by global, site and country values.

Dashboard

This screen is the site dashboard, and shows the scans that took place during different periods of time, while also indicating their status.

Takeaways

Over the year and a half I spent on the project, I participated in daily scrums with the team, as well as one-on-one sessions with developers to ensure the proper implementation of visual components. I also had periodic meetings with the product owner and architect. The project was used by several different types of users, and depending on the user role, certain features were either displayed or hidden.

Initially, the project was quite intimidating. I had little understanding of the industry-specific terminology and the numerous acronyms being used, which made it challenging to grasp the material being taught to me. However, over time, I became more familiar with the concepts, which helped me contribute more effectively to the project.