🏠 » Application for Maruti Service Stations
[ In order to adhere to my non-disclosure agreement, I have intentionally left out and obscured sensitive information within this case study. The content presented here is entirely my own and may not represent the opinions of Maruti-Suzuki.]
Pre-paid recharge application for Maruti Service Stations
Background
MASS ( Maruti Suzuki Authorized Service Stations ) facilitates interactions between MASS and services which are offered by Maruti.There are two types of dealers proper and Mass dealers.
Mass dealers do not have regular dealings with Maruti, so they cannot use postpaid payment options. They also struggle with funding, making a marketplace crucial for their business growth. So MSIL is looking for an optimum solution for business growth of Mass dealers.
Discovery – deep understanding of the problem
🎯 Research Goals
🚩 Identifying the problem
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) hosts array of services (such as AI based Voice and Chat BOT) to assist channel partners with their customer connect operations and to improve business.
Who are facing the problem ?
Some dealers categorized as MASS (Maruti Suzuki Authorized Service Station) don’t have access to these MSIL services as they are not enabled for post-paid mode of payment for service utilization.
What are some pain points ?
What are some expected solutions ?
- MSIL aims to streamline and secure the payment process for its MASS partners regarding the use of MSIL Services
- The goal is to enable a pre-paid recharge model where partners can add funds in advance, ensuring uninterrupted service and simplifying financial management for both MSIL and MASS partners
Converse with Stakeholders & Detailed Requirement Gathering
We conducted a visit to the Maruti Suzuki Factory in Manesar, along with several premium dealerships and service centers in Gurgaon, including Maitri Motors (Indian Oil) and Maruti Suzuki NEXA Authorized Service (Kumar Motors), to gain insights into the challenges they encounter.
During our discussions with dealers and engineers, we presented our vision for the interface, illustrating our concepts on a whiteboard. This approach facilitated their understanding of our ideas and allowed them to offer constructive feedback.
Our application is organized into three stages of Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and we started by outlining the essential functionalities for each stage, utilizing the Red Routed Matrix for this purpose.
Initially, we documented all the critical features for MVP1 on the whiteboard. However, after engaging with stakeholders, we recognized a considerable gap in our comprehension.
Numerous dealers and service engineers, along with focus groups, expressed a preference for the application to be available in Hindi rather than English, which led us to undertake a comprehensive demographic analysis.
They also recommended incorporating a section for content related to offers and promotions via the Admin interface. While we had already planned for multilingual support in MVP1, the suggestion to include offers and promotions emerged as a new feature from our discussions.
Overall, our conversations proved to be fruitful, resulting in the identification of several new features.
Understand ECO system
The desired application is expected to be Responsive. Also it should conform with WCAG 2.2 Level A guidelines.
Understand Demography
Age
Per capita income ( per annum )
Languages Spoken
Hindi, Punjabi, English, Haryanvi, Urdu and other Indian languages
Education
User Interview
I carried out four interviews on Zoom and one in person.Six participants were from Service engineers from Maruti,Dealers and service stations and tried to get following answers around following context
👉 What problem you are trying to resolve when you are using this product ?
👉 What outcome are you expecting to achieve ?
👉 How did you solve the problem before using our product ?
User interview questions
Survey
After visiting the Maruti factory, I created a brief survey to collect more quantitative data and shared it with the business using a Google Form.
This survey allowed me to address several “HOW…” questions. Here are a few examples of the questions we included in the survey.
In home page which is the most important feature for MVP 1 ?
- Check account balance and refresh
- Check all the active services (45%)
- Check upcoming services
- Check recent transaction
- Other
Survey Findings
Research Findings
Few of the responses 🙋 🙋🏻♂️ we received from several hours conversion from different days are as follows
❝ यदि साइट हिंदी में उपलब्ध हो तो यह बेहतर होगा।
❝ I want to show Maruti’s latest promotions in my service page. Is it possible ?
❝ I want auto debit feature to be enabled and want notification when there is critical usage limit reached
❝ I want to read detailed description of service and its benefits
❝ For each service I want to view atleast last five transactions made and can create a transaction report from them.
❝ मैं रिपोर्ट और चालान दोनों को एक्सेल में डाउनलोड करना चाहता हूँ
Persona Mapping
From my research, I noticed that there were some patterns amongst my participants and sorted four types of Personas.
- MASS ADMIN ( DEALER CEO )
- MASS NON-ADMIN ( DEALER NON CEO)
- MSIL ADMIN ( MARUTI ADMIN )
- SUPER ADMIN
Meet Gurdas Singh ( Dealer CEO )
👤 Gurdas Singh
Occupation
CEO & Founder of Amanda Motors
AMANDA MOTORS is located in Gurgaon and regarded as one of the premium Maruti dealers.
Demographics
- 30 years old;
- Lives in Delhi;
- Married, no children;
- Speaks fluent Hindi, Some English;
- College dropout, takes care of his father after a stroke, helps him out financially
- Computer literacy:Beginner;
- Has an upper-middle-income level & a profitable business
Goals and Needs 🎯
────୨ৎ────As a busy person, Gurdas doesn’t like wasting time, as time is money for him.As a business owner, he aims to keep his business profitable, which is why he relies on MARUTI services to help him significantly expand his business.
Pain Points🤔
────୨ৎ────Maruti intends to place a large sum of money in an escrow account to buy a service, which can often be a major hurdle for service centers. Also there is no proper training in place for applications developed.
Motivations 🏅
────୨ৎ────profit success Increased services increased queries Stable supply chain
❝ When small businesses succeed, communities thrive ❞
Meet Rajiv Malik( MSIL ADMIN )
👤 Rajiv Malik
Occupation
Top Executive at Maruti
Demographics
- 56 years old;
- Lives in Delhi;
- Married, two children, studying abroad
- Speaks fluent Hindi,English and Japanese Basic;
- Mechanical Engineer from IIT Kanpur
- Computer literacy:Expert
Goals and Needs 🎯
────୨ৎ────Rajiv is looking for a solution that enables MASS Dealers to purchase any Maruti service at a fixed price. Additionally, he wants an admin panel to oversee, assess, and report on their operations.
Pain Points🤔
────୨ৎ────
- There is no central location to monitor, evaluate, and report on all dealer business progress.
- Absence of promotion and discount management system, till now it is done by mail
- Notification Configuration and management
Motivations 🏅
────୨ৎ────profit success Increased services increased queries Stable supply chain
JTBD – Job To Be Done
As mentioned earlier there are four personas and following table represents a summary of the valid job of each role
| MASS ADMIN | MASS NON-ADMIN | MSIL ADMIN | SUPER ADMIN(MSIL) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secure Login |  |
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| Authentication of MASS | |
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| MASS Profile Management | |
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| MASS Credit Management | |
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| Billing and Invoicing | |
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| Reporting | |
|
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| Notification | |
|
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| ADMIN DASHBOARD | |||||
| User and role management | |
|
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| Service Configuration | |
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| Transaction Oversight | |
| |||
| Notification | |
|
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Taskflow Diagrams
MASS (Maruti Suzuki Authorized Service Stations), DMS (Dealer Management System)
Use Case 1: Login – MASS Users
Userflow
- MASS User logs in the Portal using his/her DMS credentials
- The authentication request is sent to DMS API which validates the credentials
- If successful, the feedback will be provided to MASS Portal
- The Portal initiates a 2FA by sending OTP to user’s mobile
- If user enters the correct OTP, he/she is authenticated and allowed into the system
- The user’s session is managed
- If user enters the wrong OTP, access is denied, and a suitable message is displayed
- If failed, a suitable failure message is displayed to the user
Use Case 2: Login – MSIL Administrator User
Userflow
- MSIL Administrator user logs in to the portal using their enterprise AD user
- The request to authenticate the user is sent to Corporate AD
- The Corporate AD validates the user and initiates a 2FA request
- Upon successful authentication, the feedback is provided to MASS Portal
- MASS Portal allows access to user and maintains the session
- If authentication is failed, a suitable message is displayed to the user
Use Case 3: View Account Balance
Userflow
- MASS User logs into the Portal
- Users access their dashboard
- Portal makes a request to the ERP for current account balance
- Dashboard shows current account balance
- Users can refresh account balance to view the updated balance
Use Case 4: Start MSIL Service
Userflow
- MASS User logs into the Portal
- User accesses the Services page
- User selects the specific service he/she wants to activate
- User selects the specific plan he/she wants to activate
- User is shown the complete breakup of service activation cost
- A confirmation is required to continue with activation
- Once confirmed, a request is sent to the ERP for account debit as per the service activation cost
- On successful account debit, portal sends activation request to the services
- Once activation is completed, the user is notified, and service status is updated to ‘Active’
- If amount is debited from account but service activation is failed, MSIL Admin needs to be notified for offline resolution
Information Architecture
Post gathering feedback from users it is time for planning and designing how information is organized in applications.Hence I started working on creating an IA document. Following IA is for MASS CEO persona.
Concept Design and Wireframe
Prior to developing wireframes, we engaged in multiple discussions with the MSIL Business Team and a select group of dealers.
During these discussions, we presented key functions and components through a PowerPoint presentation, based on the insights gathered.
We received varied responses, such as the suggestion to include a refresh option for the Total Account Balance. However, there was also a proposal for last and next refresh options, which we deemed impractical due to the system’s automatic refresh every five minutes and the five-minute logout time. Consequently, we decided not to incorporate that suggestion.
Following several days of idea exchange, we proceeded to develop the wireframes. These wireframes are organized into three stages, corresponding to MVPs 1 through 3, with the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework divided accordingly.
Concept Design
Wireframe
MASS ADMIN ( CEO ) ▸ LOGIN
purpose of interface :MASS ADMIN can login using DMS credential
MASS ADMIN ( CEO ) ▸ Register
purpose of interface :For the first time, MASS ADMIN needs to register on the portal, and the MSIL Admin will either approve or deny the request.
MASS ADMIN ( CEO ) ▸ HOME ▸ SERVICE PLANS
purpose of interface :MASS ADMIN can check all active service plans under Active Service Tabe, Inactive and new would appear under Other Service Tab
MASS ADMIN ▸ SERVICE PLAN DETAILS
purpose of interface :Displays list of all subscription plans under a particular service selected.
MASS ADMIN ▸ SERVICE USAGE DETAILS
purpose of interface : Shows usage status of service subscribed.
MASS ADMIN ▸ NOTIFICATION DRAWER
MASS ADMIN ▸ PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS
purpose of interface :Showing performance chart, depending on different parameter chart type would change.
📲 Responsive Version
Admin Dashboard for MSIL
MSIL ADMIN ▸ DASHBOARD
purpose of interface :Home page or Dashboard page for MSIL Admin.
MSIL ADMIN ▸ MANAGE REQUESTS
purpose of interface :Screen for approve or deny pending requests for dealers when they register.
MSIL ADMIN ▸ ADD CONTENT FOR PROMOTIONS
purpose of interface :How Admin can push Video content for offers and promotions ?
MSIL ADMIN ▸ CONFIGURE NOTIFICATIONS
purpose of interface : MSIL and MASS administrators get notifications for various scenarios. However, these notifications need to be set up regarding their frequency, content, and other details.
MSIL ADMIN ▸ CONFIGURE DISCOUNTS
purpose of interface :If MSIL Admin decides to give discount for any plan how he would configure that ?
MSIL ADMIN ▸ ADD CONTENT
purpose of interface :MSIL ADMIN can add content for different sections like service details, promotions etc
Testing prototype with stakeholders
The prototype I’ve created has been tested on 6 participants.
Age range of them: 25 to 35 y/o.
Participants include stakeholder, service engineers focus groups and following are their feedback over the time.
I’ve collected lots of feedback, some of them quite interesting as well as unexpected. This helped me make several small updates in order to achieve a smoother flow. Some of initial key feedbacks are
Usability Test Findings
Finally, interviews were scheduled and recorded. I have demonstrated our prototype to our MSIL stakeholders, actual dealers and and requested them to do the tasks requested on our platform while thinking out loud.
- Arranged group discussion with a small group of users to gather feedback on this application
- Experimented with multiple versions of a design ( A / B Testing )
- Closed Card Sorting ( navigation )
I tested the prototype on 6 participants. There were two tasks to complete.
The first task for this prototype were to start service for a plan and check the usage level and download usage report for last one month.
The second task was to appove one pending approval in admin screen.
Everyone was able to complete both the tasks. There were some points where the participants took some time or clicked on other things but were still able to figure it out without guidance.
🌟 What worked
Simple and Straightforward
Clear what are active services and what are not
Can view Account Balance
Overall site is fast
Can easily select service and subscribe plan
Can download report and invoice
Admin can approve or deny request
Admin can manage users
Admin can easily monitor business of MASS
⚠️ Need to improve
Last refresh time not available
Need separate tab for new and inactive service
Business words need tooltip
Service benefits need in simple language
Can Hindi be default lang of the site ?
Can download report and invoice
❓Questions
How do I enable auto-debit feature?
Can I select multiple users for approval ?
Business jargons need tooltip
💡 Ideas
Maybe there should be screen for configuring Notifications
May admin should be able to add dynamic content including media
“last used” option to be set as the default filter on the report page
Can I select multiple users for approval ?
Reports should not be available in excel
Reflections & Take-aways
We have conducted several workshops and focus group discussions. Based on these discussions, we have made multiple changes to our prototype, task flows, and information architecture. However, if there was more time, I build all the personas, also run the task prioritization exercise more rigorously.
Thanks for reading !
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