B-hyve Pro - Device Sharing feature

What's B-hyve Pro?

The B-hyve Pro app gives control to contractors to manage their customer’s B-hyve sprinkler controllers, all from one place. The B-hyve Pro allows Sprinkler technicians to maintain and program home owners sprinkler systems.

No more driving back and forth for simple programming changes. Now Sprinkler technicians can add an unlimited number of controllers to their account and easily access them through the account listing or use the proximity property function in the app to find clients close to your current location.

Role

As the only designer on this project, I lead the design process, I designed the user flow and high fidelity muck-ups. Other members on the team included a Product Owner and 4 full-stack developers.

Tools

Figma

FigJam

Timeline

3 Months

PROBLEM

Sprinkler technicians had to drive to a homeowner's property just to check watering history and adjust the schedule whenever a homeowner called complaining about over- or under-watering — costing time and fuel for issues that could often be resolved remotely.

CHALLENCE

No budget for user research, irrigation technicians are busy users, and home owners want privacy.

GOAL

To help sprinkler technicians get access to home owners smart sprinkler timers via the B-hyve app Pro.
Enable homeowners to grant sprinkler technicians access to their timer via the B-hyve app.

IMPACT

B-hyve Pro users (Sprinkler technicians) love "Device Shared" feature which gives them access to control and maintain home owners B-hyve Smart Sprinkler Timers. 100% of Sprinkler technicians use the Device Shared feature. The B-hyve Pro app rating increased within 6 months of launching the feature, from 4.0 stars to 4.4 stars on both the App Store and Google Play Store.

User Research Phase

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Sprinkler technicians have morning appointments: Assisting homeowners with system start-ups in the spring, fix broken pipes damaged by landscapers/homeowners and they need full access to homeowners sprinkler system.

Troubleshooting: Technicians conduct "wet check" which means turning on a sprinkler system zone-by-zone to inspect it for broken sprinkler heads and to test them after repairs. They also rewire bad electrical valves or upgrade old mechanical timers to Smart Irrigation Controllers.

Adjustments: They test water pressure and adjust how high or far a sprinkler sprays so it waters the plants, not the driveway.

Some Home owners want privacy and don't want to grant full access.

Ideate phase

I designed a permissions system allowing B-hyve homeowners to grant two types of access: Manager and Guest.

The Manager access for the business owner and the Guest access for his employees.

Manager (full control including adding/removing users)

Guest (ability to change programming and run/edit watering status).

Homeowners granting access:

B-hyve Pro - Sprinkler technician interface

During onboarding, the sprinkler technician enters the homeowner-provided code in the B-hyve Pro app or tablet to access the smart sprinkler controller.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Testing the feature

When testing with users, all 5 sprinkler technicians were able to gain access via onboarding and control the sprinkler timer using the code provided by the homeowner.

Results

All sprinkler technicians use the Shared Device feature to maintain and schedule their customers' systems remotely. Sprinkler technicians love the feature.

The B-hyve Pro app's rating increased within 6 months of launching the feature, from 4.0 stars to 4.4 stars on both the App Store and Google Play Store. The app sells for $9.99 USD on both platforms.

Reflection

If I had more time on this project, I would place the feature somewhere more visible to homeowners and contractors. I'd also learn more about 'morning scheduling' from sprinkler technicians — it seemed like they could benefit from a scheduling service in the app, where they could see the work order (the tasks they need to complete once they get a call from the homeowner) directly in the B-hyve Pro app.

Bhyve Pro app