Building Issue Reporting System

Overview

High-rise residential buildings in New York city provide a variety of amenities and a dedicated staff responsible for their maintenance . But there isn’t always an easy way for members of these communities to report problems to management so they can be resolved quickly. As a resident of a New York City high-rise building myself, I embarked on a pro-bono project to help our building staff & residents better solve this problem by suggesting enhancements to their existing building management platform.

My Role

Research with building staff, building residents, and management offices
Analysis of existing building management platform
High fidelity design solution
User testing and feedback on design concepts

Research

I restricted the scope of my research to the building in which I reside for this project. I did some contextual inquiry with:

3 building residents (1 unit owner, 2 renters)
2 doormen on duty
1 package room attendant
1 porter

The main themes unearthed were:

Lack of clear repair responsibility. If an issue cannot be resolved by building staff, Residents must take it upon themselves to report it to Unit Owner. This caused a lack of continuity and frustration
Repair resolution ETA. Residents and staff do not know about the status and expected resolution date of a reported issue
Unknown maintenance issues. Residents don’t always report issues to staff members, and staff members are not aware until an emergency arises

I sought to create designs that addressed these issues.

Based on this research I mapped out where the community was experiencing breakdowns in issue reporting

Design Solution

Use the slides below to view the proposed solution

Conclusion

The designs were tested with each of the roles interviewed and received positive feedback. I assisted the building staff with submitting this idea to their provider, which was considered as part of a future release