On My Way: from work request to closed job, in one app

Every hand-off was a place work could stall

A single electric service job passes through many hands: the request is issued, a crew takes it, time gets logged, paperwork goes to a supervisor for approval, and the approved paperwork moves to the team that closes the work order. Each hand-off was a chance for a delay, a drive back to the barn or another phone call.

I framed each pain point against what OMW would change, so every feature we scoped answered a real problem in the field.

Drawing the line at short-cycle work

OMW didn't try to digitize everything at once. We scoped it to Overhead Service and Streetlight work requests under six man-hours in Massachusetts and New York: high-volume jobs where paper cost crews the most time. Larger projects, underground and substation work stayed out until the core loop was proven.

Crews in the field, and everyone their work touches

Crews and supervisors use OMW every day, but its data flows on to barn clerks, work order completion and maps & records. Mapping who touched the work, and what the business expected to gain, kept design decisions tied to the business case.

One emergent job, four teams

Confirming work requests (CWRs) record the emergent work crews take on at the site. Mapping the digital CWR flow across the crew, the supervisor, the system and the work completion team showed where OMW could take over: once a supervisor approves, OMW files the paperwork and creates the record, so nobody re-keys it.

One rebuild and three new feature areas

Supervisors see every open job for their barn in a list or on a map, filter by job type, status and crew, and assign or approve work from the job detail without leaving the page.

Defining the measurement before launch

To prove the value, we agreed how to measure it up front. The clock starts when a supervisor approves the CWR and stops when the work request's final close-out requirement is marked complete. Comparing that window before and after OMW shows what removing two hand-offs is worth, and where clerical time goes back to other work.

Faster close-outs, on a platform crews choose to use

After the rebuild and replatform I led, the share of jobs crews completed rose from 45% to 83%. Claimed jobs land on the timesheet automatically, the meter form and site photos are captured on site, and completed paperwork routes digitally to a supervisor for approval. In usability testing, clearer navigation lifted task success from 68% to 95%, and removing modal interruptions from photo capture cut task time 32%. Platform totals below cover OMW since launch (Nov 2020 – Jan 2025), so they show adoption, not my results alone.

A roadmap tied to outcomes, not features

OMW kept growing after my time on it. The team's FY25 plan tied each quarter to a transformation goal instead of a list of releases that could change. Automating close-out of short-cycle work, the core of the rebuild, was the first goal marked complete.