Onboarding and installing devices for IoT platform
Company
Urban.io
Role
User research • Prototyping
Duration
2 week sprint / Q1 22
Urban.io connects industrial IoT sensors across facilities and utilities. Device commissioning involved several roles — internal engineers, client operators, and third-party contractors — each using different tools and instructions.
Figma prototyping helped the team quickly reach understanding of what changes were needed from the very beginning.
Challenge
Multiple systems and manual setup steps made installations slow and error-prone.
Field teams often needed developer support to confirm connectivity or update metadata.
We needed a single experience that served different skill levels and worked reliably online or offline.
Mobile experience
Field engineers needed full functionality on the go.
The mobile flow mirrored the desktop logic but prioritised scanning, geolocation while preventing unintentional mistakes.
Responsive card layout for step-by-step setup.
Responsive card layout for step-by-step setup.
Global search
Feedback proved that fast context switching between entities and actions was a huge pain point in terms of navigation across the platform. This is why global search effectively addressed that and complemented the onboarding even more.
Global search with recent visited items and action shortcuts.
On-location / Area operations
Deploying hundreds of devices across a single site or a large area can quickly become a nightmare without the right tools — undermining not just the onboarding process but the success of IIoT adoption itself. Effective planning and precise contextual positioning were essential both before and after installation, ensuring a smooth deployment and long-term operational reliability.
Contextual floor-plan drawer
Keyboard shortcuts
It felt natural to enhance the global search with keyboard shortcuts, enabling users to navigate and manage the system entirely from the keyboard. In enterprise software, where a single action might be repeated hundreds of times a day, removing even one unnecessary click can make a real difference to someone’s workday.
Keyboard shortcuts hints
Outcome
The new onboarding experience unified three roles, reduced training overhead, and cut commissioning time by 30%.
It became the template for all Urban.io deployments across various pilot projects.
-> 50% faster device commissioning
-> Consistent mobile + desktop UX
-> Role-based access and guided error prevention
Learning
Designing for field operations means balancing flexibility with clarity.
Giving each role exactly what they need — and nothing more — is what makes complex systems usable.
“Good onboarding empowers experts and newcomers alike — it guides without getting in the way.”
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