Highway Access Analysis Functionality in Site IQ
Give commercial real estate brokers superpower to search, filter and recommend the most suitable warehouses to clients
Team
Site IQ Team at CBRE Build
Project Duration
June - August, 2019 (2 months)
My Role
Product Designer
Tools
Sketch, Invision, Zeplin, Abstract, Airtable, Miro Board
Site IQ: innovative SaaS solution designed to improve the quality of the real estate broker’s day-to-day work
CBRE industrial brokers use a variety of tools and resources to translate client requirements into a shortlist of available, most suitable properties to be recommended to clients for selection. Most research and prioritization tools brokers have relied on are not easy to use and lacking end-to-end functionalities, thereby hampering, not augmenting their experience of preparing the shortlist. Also, there is a demonstrated need for a property and site analysis tool to provide additional key insights beyond obvious property details.
Project Brief
In October 2019, CBRE Build launched a web application called Site IQ, the SaaS solution designed to give the brokers the ability to help clients make the best site selection decision.
One of the core functionality ideas we designed specifically targets the process improvement behind analyzing travel distance and time from/to warehouse to closest transit options. More specifically, we implemented a highway access analysis feature that helps brokers quickly and accurately prioritize and recommend select warehouse(s) to clients based on a variety of factors related to highway access from/to the warehouse.
Initial Research
The pain points that brokers expressed during our initial user interviews in their site selection process was that there was no single tool that helps them with:
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Visualizing the total routes
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Measuring the distance/time from the warehouse to the closest transportation system
The two emerged pain points helped during our feature ideation process. To move forward and build a feature that meets our user needs, we set our research goals as follows
Clarify Required Travel Information
Understand the Value of New Feature
Understand Input/Outputs of the Analysis
Understanding Users
Before our design process, we aimed to understand our users (brokers) and their current flows more deeply. In order to do that, we created an empathy map and journey map with our initial interview findings.
*Process photos (Click the image above to see the Broker Journey Map in full size)
Product ideation
After crystallizing our understanding of the users, we started our ideation process by doing Crazy 8's exercise — a fast-sketching exercise that challenges people to sketch eight distinct product design ideas in eight minutes. At the end, we presented each of our ideas and voted for the best design solution.
*Process photos of crazy eights
Design Process
Evolution of low-fidelity wireframes into high-fidelity prototypes after 6 iterations as a result of learnings from a series of broker interviews and design reviews with PMs and engineers.
User Interviews
We interviewed 6 participants (5 Brokers, 1 Client Service Coordinator) using our initial prototype to learn if the design/features really solve the need for the potential end-users.
General Use Case
Core Interview Findings
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Currently, participants use various tools (Google Earth/Dimensions/Geoskill/BAM) to “eyeball” drive-time based on the aerial view.
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Highway access analysis feature would be most valued 1) during the initial client presentation or 2) right before visiting selected warehouses.
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Brokers usually look at one to two dozen sites (max: 28) within a submarket at once.
Insights
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Build one tool where brokers can create and save highway access analyses for reference (like a bookmark feature).
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Build the analysis feature that supports any stage of the site selection process.
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Scale the table and map to hold up to 2 dozen sites.
Design
Core Interview Findings
Solutions
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Unclear if “Time to Exit” was estimated based on truck or sprinter vans or average.
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Wanted to sort the bottom table columns but wasn’t sure whether to click the tab or the sort icon.
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Preferred eliminate ineligible properties to select eligible properties.
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Clarify if the “Time to Exit” is calculated with truck or sprinter vans estimation.
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Click anywhere on the tab to allow sorting
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Eliminate or hide/unhide ineligible properties on both the table and the map.
Final Prototype
After applying feasible insights (from the interviews) to our design, our high-fidelity prototype of the Highway Access Analysis feature has been completed — they were reviewed and signed off by Product Manager and Head of Engineering for development!
Future Steps
In addition to the Highway Access Analysis feature, I also designed an analysis feature platform as the team realized the need for the Site IQ platform to seamlessly integrate and support multiple analysis features to provide optimal site selection experience for brokers and their clients.
