Project Snapshot

I led research and design recommendations for a property manager portal for utilities, focused on streamlining workflows, reducing customer effort, and improving CX and CSAT. The project analyzed existing portals, interviewed property managers and utility staff, and identified key features that would allow property managers to self-serve for tasks like starting/stopping service, processing payments, and monitoring energy usage.

Outcome:

• Recommended portal features and workflows for multiple properties
• Evidence-based guidance on self-service adoption and instructional resources
• Strategy to reduce utility employee effort while increasing customer satisfaction
• Mockups and visual guides for portal interfaces

The Challenge

Property managers handle many repetitive tasks—managing tenants’ utility service, monitoring energy use, and paying bills for multiple properties. Without an efficient portal, they must frequently contact utilities directly, increasing effort for both the customer and the utility.

The challenge was to simplify these complex workflows, reduce repetitive calls to utility staff, and design a portal that allows property managers to self-serve while still providing access to support when needed.

The Approach

1. Stakeholder & Customer Research

• Interviewed property managers to understand high-frequency tasks and pain points
• Consulted utility employees (KAMs, CSRs) to identify common inquiries and process inefficiencies

2. Portal Feature Identification

Key features prioritized based on research:

• Start/stop service and revert-to-owner actions
• Track energy usage for multiple properties
• Process payments for one or multiple accounts at a time
• Access reports and account summaries
• Receive confirmations via email or portal notifications

3. Instructional & Adoption Strategy

• Created guidance materials including how-to videos, FAQs, and PDF guides
• Recommended integration with existing My Account systems for seamless access
• Suggested communications strategy to promote the portal to property managers

4. Benchmarking & Best Practices

• Reviewed multiple utility portals, including Alliant Energy, Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, and TPU
• Analyzed features, workflows, and instructional support that increased adoption and reduced effort

The Solution

Portal Design Recommendations:

• Easy account creation with clear instructions and required information upfront
• Integration with customer information system (CIS) for autofill and unified data tracking
• Task-based dashboards showing active properties, service status, and pending requests
• Self-service workflows to reduce dependency on KAMs and CSRs
• Instructional resources embedded in the portal (video, PDF, FAQ links)

Deliverables:

• Research-backed portal feature recommendations
• Workflow diagrams and task flows for common property manager actions
• Mockups highlighting self-service features, dashboards, and alerts
• Links to guidance materials and portal resources

Impact & Value:

• Streamlined property management tasks for customers
• Reduced call volume and workload for utility staff
• Increased customer satisfaction (CSAT) and first-contact resolution (FCR)
• Improved adoption of self-service workflows

Key Skills Demonstrated:

• Stakeholder and customer interviews
• Task-based UX research and portal workflow analysis
• Feature prioritization and self-service strategy
• Integration of instructional content for adoption
• Designing for efficiency, scalability, and user satisfaction