UX Design at Pason
Re-designing the Pipe Tally for accurate record-keeping
Jan 2021 - Jun 2022
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Improving Pason's Pipe Tally
Keeping an accurate Pipe Tally is important for precise drilling. It is standard industry practice that the length of all items used to drill a hole are recorded and then added together to track total hole depth.
For the drilling industry, the Pipe Tally acts as the source of truth during drilling operations.
"It would be nice if the Tally behaved more like a spreadsheet where you could edit things and move pipe around. I spend a lot of time trying to make to make sure that the info is reliable."
- Driller
During my earlier UX research for the EDR rewrite project at Pason during 2020, I frequently heard users express dissatisfaction about the Pipe Tally as their number one frustration with the system.
The Pipe Tally was complicated to navigate, did not have the flexibility required to easily edit the Tally document, and had an outdated look and feel.
Once the main EDR page was re-designed, Pason decided to tackle a re-design of the Pipe Tally as its next major priority.
Pipe Tally prior to re-design
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Confusing workflows and navigation for adding / editing row data
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Inability to move rows from the Tally to the BHA, which is a common operational workflow
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Duplication of data entry that is prone to human error by having to manually edit each row one by one
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Outdated, unintuitive UI components
Hosting user feedback sessions
To understand how the Pipe Tally could be improved, I hosted multiple 1:1 user interview sessions to speak with Drillers.
The common theme was that Drillers needed more flexibility when editing the Pipe Tally. Without this flexibility, users were manually entering information into the system in various parts of the interface in order to have documentation reflect the information that they wanted it to report.
Since users were hacking information together in multiple parts of the interface, it was difficult for drillers to keep track of equipment on the rig without double-and-triple-checking various manually created documents and trying to piece together the source of truth.
More Sheet Flexibility
In many ways, the Pipe Tally acted like a giant spreadsheet. However, the Pason system was limited when it came to allowing the user to move items around within the sheet.
The number one request from users was to make Pason's Pipe Tally behave more like an Excel or Google document.
To accommodate this request, sheet editing functionality was incorporated into the new Pipe Tally. This allowed users to navigate and move items between the Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) and Drill String tabs with ease.
Addressing duplicate data entry and report reliability
A catalogue management system was introduced to keep track of frequently used inventory. Users could now store all information regarding pipe, drill bits, and other drilling equipment in one place. This reduced the need for entering the same information into various parts of the interface.
Refreshing the look and feel of the Tally's UI
On a previous project with Pason, I had developed a new style guide for Pason's rigsite products. To keep corporate branding and user experience in line, I aligned the new Tally and Catalog screens to this new look and feel.
The result
After the initial MVP trial, drillers provided feedback that they were delighted with the new Pipe Tally and Catalog.
"I've hated Pason's Tally for years. Thanks for finally fixing it!"
- Driller
They felt that they had more flexibility within the system, and were able to build reports suited to their unique drilling rigs. Because users were no longer trying to make the information "work," drillers also reported that common rig workflows took less time to complete. The implementation of the catalog allowed for less duplication of data entry, which increased information accuracy.
The updates made to the Pason EDR drove price increases in January 2023. Revenue reached unprecedented growth, creating value for the business and for Pason shareholders.