eHarvestHub Online Marketplace + Integrated Apps

eHarvestHub

ONLINE MARKETPLACE

At the center of eHarvestHub’s business management and logistics technology suite, this namesake platform connects sellers, buyers and shippers. In combination with business operations applications found in both eHarvestFarm and eHarvestHaul, this always-on marketplace enables produce growers to sell direct to new and existing retailers, and allows each to find and hire the truckers they need to move product. Designing the total experience — for all users in the space — started with understanding each player’s needs, the demands of their markets and end-consumers and how transforming business processes would need to take all of this into careful consideration to be successful.

eHarvestHaul

ANDROID + iOS APPS

Built specifically to connect independent owner-operators with freight owners, eHarvestHaul is more than a maps and rest stops app. This Android and iOS app is designed for real-time notification of available loads, and includes the tools required to comply with established shipping processes — size and weight calculations, routes and mapping — and more recent safety and sanitation regulations — equipment cleaning checklists, real-time check-ins. Through strategic planning and iterative design flows, this app delivers a full complement of digital business solutions in a simple and easy-to-use application.

Process

Like nearly all of the projects I’ve worked on this one started with meeting notes. Many, many meeting notes. I’ve filled books with eHarvestHub notes — scribbled in early morning calls, working lunches and late-night sessions — and the image below is just a quick glance at a couple of the pages I’ve filled. It was critical to maintain daily recordings of user interviews and feedback, strategic and tactical processes, plans and final decisions. Decoding and describing the rules and regulations coming down from government and industry bodies depended on accurate note-taking and the ability to find quickly the information I needed to work at high speed and maximum efficiency.

Oftentimes my notes became the foundation for the team’s discovery working sessions. I cannot praise whiteboard paint (yes, paint) enough, for this miracle product allowed us to create a 15-foot wide by 8-foot high whitewall that we used to flow out everything from user-onboarding to API availabilities to shipping lanes in the Pacific Northwest. Again, there are many, many shots like the one below — evidence of the thinking and re-thinking that goes into a project of this magnitude.

Once the team established the most effective flow for users coming into the marketplace application (as shown in green sticky notes and red marker) it was time to design wireframes of critical pages in that flow. Seeing each component and requirement accounted for at this stage makes any change easier and, ultimately, less impactful on workflow and timelines as design teams are focused on the framework and not the finery. Visual and front-end design will take final deliverables here and move the project forward, into development and to production.

Wireframes and working prototypes informed the design and development of each application as these tangible deliverables — along with use case scenarios and customer insights — were prepared and passed to developers in the US and Central America. Using a number of project tracking and management tools and agile methods the team was able to swiftly build, test, and deliver three working products updated every two weeks.

Results

In less than a year this product suite went from concept to completion and is being used by fresh food growers and buyers throughout California. One client farm, forced by a large retailer to comply with newly minted regulations for traceability, found that by using eHarvestHub they were able to improve efficiencies in product handling and labeling by more than 50%. Other clients were able to establish and grow sales with larger, previously out-of-reach, buyers because of the implementation of digital processes and tools. Trucker users anticipated a jump of 3-4x in profit margins after using eHarvestHaul.