Monitoring heating systems with real time visual analytics

Plutinsus is a startup dedicated to heating system monitoring solutions. Building on previous work, this project focuses on user-friendliness and operational efficiency, achieving a user interface that greatly simplifies accessibility, making it a viable option not only for experienced technicians, but also for non-expert users (e.g., landlords or facility managers).

Initial situation

Heating system monitoring solutions often fail to balance the complex needs of expert operators with the requirements of non-expert users. In addition to that, heating infrastructure is inherently non-standardized, with configurations varying significantly from one property to another. Thus, issues are often discovered late.

It is Plutinsus' desire to incorporate the advancements in usability developed by this project into its commercial solution, either as is or after further in-house development.

Problem statement

The objective was to achieve a user interface for heating system monitoring, which focuses on operational efficiency through three primary goals and their assumed benefits:

• Workflow Acceleration: Users of the webapp are less burdened by repetitive tasks.
• Mobile Support: The user interface can fit any screen, which is ideal for accessing information when it is not possible to use a computer.
• Quick Access to Critical Developments: An email alert is sent as soon as a new issue is detected so that users do not have to actively monitor their heating systems.

Solution developed and its benefits

Theoretical frameworks guided design decisions, while the project leveraged the Double Diamond design process model. Each feature presented multiple variants during prototyping, and successively underwent a series of development cycles, ensuring that the final interface aligned with user requirements.

The final implementation contains four core features:

• Mobile UI: an adaptive and responsive mobile interface with breadcrumb navigation
• Tour: an interactive tour combining tutorials and quizzes
• Tagging: a functionality that enables tracking and organizing faulty parameters
• Email alerts: real-time email alerts generated on fault detection.

To simplify testing and mimic the commercial solution more closely, two additional features were implemented:

• Fast forward: a fast-forward-in-time button that allows you to simulate the creation of new reports faster, with immediate visual updates
• Multi-user support: a functionality that allows anyone to connect to the server simultaneously; perfect for testing, as there is no need to redeploy for each user.

The participants of the proof-of-concept usability testing showed overall great appreciation for the developed solution. Results demonstrated high levels of user satisfaction, specifically highlighting the effectiveness of the mobile interface for quick tagging. All testers praised the convenience of email alerts, which contain links that open the webpage of the corresponding faulty parameter directly. Also the tour proved to be a valuable feature for helping users quickly familiarize themselves with the system.

Testimonial
«The mobile UI basically gives you a notepad to make notes: you can tag with the phone and inspect the tagged parameters later on desktop.»
«These are very interesting project goals and implementation. There are a lot of things. It is a good start.»
Felix Hug, mechanical engineer at ElectroJoule AG, partner of Plutinsus

Key terms

• Heating SystemSystems that generate, distribute, and regulate indoor heat
• Visual AnalyticsInteractive analysis of data through visual graphics
• User Interface DesignDesigning intuitive interfaces for efficient user interaction
• Mobile SupportEnsuring functionality across mobile devices
• TaggingAssigning labels to data for organization
• Fault DetectionIdentification of faults in systems early
• Operational EfficiencyMinimizing unnecessary interactions while enabling faster task completion

Customer

Plutinsus AG
Wolfram Willuhn
Im Tiergarten 57
8055 Zürich
Homepage

Team

Manuel Plavsic

Advisors
Dr. Prof. Arzu Çöltekin
Raphael Lüthy
Elif Gurcinar
Alain Zanchetta