← David Randolph CASE 03 / 04
Motion graphic · 16-second loop · illustrative

LEGACY MODERNIZATION · ELECTRIC UTILITY · INTERNAL TOOL

Getting storm-duty teams to critical outage data in two steps, from anywhere

During storms, National Grid's storm-duty teams depended on Focal Point, a legacy outage application that buried critical data 10 steps deep and only worked from the office. As a full-time product designer at National Grid, working alongside the consulting team Giant Machines, I led its redesign into PORT — the Power Outage Reporting Tool — so the people restoring power have every number they need at their fingertips, wherever they are.

MY ROLE
Product designer + business analyst
TEAM
National Grid business stakeholders, Giant Machines consulting engineers
TIMELINE
2023 – Present · National Grid
METHODS
Doc and recording review, stakeholder sessions, prototype testing
10 → 2
Steps to reach critical storm-duty data
Anywhere
Storm duty from home or the field — no drive to the office mid-storm
1st screen
Where critical-care customers now appear
Live
Adopted by storm-duty teams, who rely on it, per the business owners
01 — THE PROBLEM

A storm is the worst time to click through 10 screens

When a storm hits, employees are pulled from their regular jobs onto storm-duty assignments. Their tool was Focal Point, a legacy application where reaching the data that mattered most — which outages to act on, and who was affected — took 10 steps.

Worse, Focal Point wasn't available outside the office. To do their storm duty, people had to drive in during the storm, putting themselves at risk on dangerous roads just to reach a desk.

Every delay had a cost on the other end. Critical-care customers — people on life-support and medical equipment — cannot lose power. Businesses and people working from home depend on it too. Upgrading the tool was about protecting our customers.

02 — MY ROLE

Designer and business analyst, between the business and engineering

I owned the design and also worked with the business analyst and engineering — turning what the business needed into clear requirements engineering could build. The goal: a modern version of Focal Point that works in the field.

  1. 1
    Got up to speed fast
    Combined the project's Confluence history, recorded Focal Point walkthroughs and hands-on access to learn the domain and the system's constraints.
  2. 2
    Audited the critical path
    Mapped every screen, filter and tab between a storm-duty user and the data they need. That audit, below, set the target: critical data in two steps.
  3. 3
    Talked with the business and stakeholders
    Learned what storm duty demands, which data is critical, and why critical-care customers come first.
  4. 4
    Made the Home Dashboard the core of PORT
    Put outage totals, crews and critical-care customers on one screen, and reviewed direction, trade-offs and feasibility with engineering and the business in regular sessions.
  5. 5
    Tested the prototype with users
    Put the PORT prototype in front of storm-duty users and refined it from what they struggled with.
03 — THE USERS

Experts in their jobs, occasional users of this tool

Storm-duty staff only use the outage tool when a storm hits — a few times a year. Between storms, they forget Focal Point's long, nested paths. So the tool has to work for someone opening it under pressure, tired, possibly on a laptop at their kitchen table, without relying on memory.

04 — FINDING THE FRICTION

Mapping every step to the data that matters

Using my Focal Point access, the screenshots and the meeting recordings, I mapped the path a storm-duty user takes to reach critical outage and customer data. Every screen, filter and tab added time when time mattered most.

FOCAL POINT · 10 STEPS, OFFICE ONLY
  1. Before you start · drive to the office
  2. 1 · Log in
  3. 2 · Open Focal Point
  4. 3 · Pick region
  5. 4 · Pick district
  6. 5 · Open outage list
  7. 6 · Filter status
  8. 7 · Open incident
  9. 8 · Customer tab
  10. 9 · Search account
  11. 10 · Check critical-care flag
PORT · FROM ANYWHERE
  1. 1 · Open PORT
  2. 2 · Your assignment, critical data first
Representative path from my audit of Focal Point.
05 — DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Three rules for PORT

Data at your fingertips
The numbers a storm-duty user needs live on the first screen, not behind tabs and filters.
Work safely from anywhere
Secure access from home or the field. No one should drive through a storm to reach a desk.
Critical care first
Customers who can't lose power always sit at the top of every view, ready to escalate.
06 — THE SOLUTION

From Focal Point to PORT

PORT opens straight to the user's storm assignment. Outage totals, crew status and critical-care customers sit on one screen. One tap opens a customer's details and the actions that matter — call, escalate, or flag for the next crew.

FOCAL POINT
RegionDistrictIncidentsCustomersReports
INC_IDFDRSTAT_CDCUST_CT
004821314-2BASGN312
004821909-1AOPEN1,104
004822422-3COPEN87
004823114-2DENRT640
Step 8 of 10 · Critical-care flag still two steps away
Office network only
Before: Focal Point. Codes, tabs and an office-only connection.
PORT · YOUR STORM ASSIGNMENT · NORTH DISTRICT
18,420
Customers out
37
Critical care
42
Crews active
Critical care — act first
Life support · out 2h 10mEscalate
Oxygen · out 1h 45mEscalate
Dialysis · crew en routeETA 40m
After: PORT opens to the assignment, critical data on the first screen.
Critical care · Life support
Out 2h 10m · backup ~4h left
Feeder 14-2B. Nearest crew 6 miles away, currently on site at a downed line.
Call customer
Escalate to dispatch
Signed in securely from home
One tap from the dashboard to the actions that protect a customer.

Screens recreated with sample data. No real customer or system data is shown.

07 — IMPACT

Safer for employees, faster for customers who can't wait

Reaching critical storm data went from 10 steps to 2. Storm-duty staff can now work their assignments from home or the field, so no one has to drive through a storm to reach a desk.

Critical-care customers now appear at the top of every view, so the people who can't lose power are the first thing a storm-duty user sees, with escalation one tap away.

PORT is live and relied on. The business owners report that storm-duty teams have adopted PORT and depend on it during storms. The Home Dashboard I designed is the part users like most: it's where they go to find the data they need, quickly.

08 — REFLECTION

What I learned

Legacy users need a bridge, not a cliff. People had years of Focal Point habits. Keeping familiar terms and running both tools side by side through the first storm made the switch feel safe.

Design for the hardest moment. A tool used a few times a year, under pressure, has to be learnable in seconds. Every screen was tested against one question: could someone use this on their first storm?