Case study 03 · Field Operations Design
Putting the depot in the driver's hands and the fleet in the supervisor's view
Two roles, one operation, and no reliable connectivity.
Context
Two users, one operation, zero connectivity guarantees.
VAN Sales is the last mile of the fulfillment chain: drivers load stock at the depot, sell and deliver along a route, collect payment, and return with reconciled stock and cash.
The design challenge was to give drivers a fast, mostly one-handed workflow that survives patchy connectivity, while giving supervisors a real-time picture of routes, stock and collections without turning them into data-entry clerks.
Design approach
Shadowed drivers on live routes and sat with supervisors at depot close-out. Mapped the day end-to-end, prototyped both apps in low fidelity, validated with field teams, then translated the validated flows into high-fidelity, development-ready designs on the One Design System.
Driver App
Designing the Driver's Day
The Driver App follows the shape of a route day: load, drive, sell, deliver, collect, return. Each stage is a single screen with one primary action, large targets and offline-first data.
Research foundations
Key screens
The route-day workflow
Load → Route → Sell → Deliver → Collect → Reconcile
01→
Load
Confirm depot load against the planned stock list; variances flagged before departure.
02→
Route
Ordered stop list with customer status, outstanding balance and last-visit notes.
03→
Sell
Build an order from the van's live stock; pricing and promotions resolve on the device.
04→
Deliver
Fulfil pre-orders, capture returns and proof of delivery in one pass.
05→
Collect
Record cash, cheque or digital payment against invoices; receipts generated offline.
06■
Reconcile
End-of-day stock and cash summary, ready for supervisor sign-off.
Supervisor App
Running the Fleet from One Screen
The Supervisor App turns the drivers' activity into a live operational picture: routes in progress, stock on the road, collections against targets and exceptions that need a decision.
Route planning
Assign customers, vans and drivers for the day; the system proposes loads from demand history, the supervisor adjusts and approves.
Live oversight
A route board shows each van’s progress, sales and collections as they happen; exceptions surface as decisions, not reports.
Reconciliation
Driver end-of-day summaries arrive pre-matched against expected stock and cash; the supervisor reviews only the variances.
Key screens
Business impact
Successful Adoption
312Active vans
4,847Orders on route
28.6MCollections