Enabling building and facility managers to interact with their building systems through wall mounted tablets

The Challenge

Alerton provides building automation services and products to their customers.

Building Automation and Control networks (BACnet) rely on wired hardware that monitors and controls building systems. These systems are monitored by building managers/property managers.

Alerton understands their product end users are on the move throughout the day. However, their building automation controls ran on desktop applications and their wall mounted display hardware was in need of an update.

To enable end user access to critical data within their buildings, Alerton needed to provide an updated, network operable, wall mounted solution that could provide system status information and deep control of their building systems at a glance.

Product Map Sprint

AndPlus worked with the Alerton team for more than four weeks to understand their end users, workflows, and the Honeywell design language.

Our user experience team created a visual design and experience workflow to illustrate how users would be authenticated, manage different devices on a network, get at-a-glance information, and have access to a wide range of network data points.

With a deep knowledge of BACnet (developed as a result of other Building Automation Control projects), we worked with Alerton to select the optimal hardware device to support their objectives, and architected how this device would be used on a BACnet network. The hardware device needed to be flexible enough to support for BACnet/IP and MACnet MS/TP.

Agile Approach

With our product roadmap in hand, the team kicked off the design and development process. Two week sprints allowed us to deliver software often and iterate quickly based on feedback and usability testing

The teams at AndPlus conducted a thorough peer code review after completing every user story. This ensured correct application logic, reliable and accurate application operation, and that all business objectives were met. This meticulous approach to design, development, and QA made the Alerton project a great success.

The Result

Using a custom tablet, AndPlus created a Java based Android application that acts as a main control panel for a BACnet network. The application allows authorized users to read and configure temperature, humidity sensors, ventilation, alarms, and other building environment systems. A quick setup wizard allows for easy configuration of the data displays and their roles. The app even allows for customization by allowing the end user to choose a custom background image.

The application and device were developed to boot directly into the Alerton BACnet controller application, so that a user would not even realize they are using an Android tablet. This allowed for a seamless integration and minimized the steps necessary to perform an operation.

This user journey was also designed and developed in-house here, at AndPlus.

Expertise

Enabling building and facility managers to interact with their building systems through wall mounted tablets

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