HSE MGMT

BIS Safety Software

B2B/B2C, Enterprise, SaaS, Health Safety and Environmental (HSE) Management Tool

Founded in 2006, BIS Safety Software’s goal is to simplify safety management in a way that allows organizations to focus on their craft, and spend less time managing complex safety plans. The initial product BIStrainer launched in 2007 as an online learning management system (LMS) catering specifically to the safety industry. Over the last 14 years it has grown into a highly utilized web and mobile application which helps solve complex safety management challenges globally, every day.

Role

Lead Product Designer

As a team member who started work on this project in it’s infancy circa 2007, I have had the opportunity to grow as this product evolved. From initial wireframes in Photoshop (before the product was fully planned), to creating and maintaining complex design systems and style guides for a growing design team, I was lucky enough to be there every step of the way. Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Assisting with evaluative and generative user research, feedback interviews with clients, usability testing, and client management
• Working collaboratively with product owner, CTO, research, engineering, support, and product management teams
• Assisting with growth of design, research, and development teams both locally and internationally
• Product strategy planning and evaluation to create product roadmap
• Assisting PM and CTO with feature prioritization
• Creating, maintaining, and expanding our multiple design systems and style guides
• Migrating team from Photoshop to Adobe XD, then from Adobe XD to Figma
• Creating feature prototypes and clickable wireframes used in user testing and development team feedback sessions
• Liaising with product manager, product owners, engineers, CTO, Research, and Support teams to stay on top of critical feedback
• Managing team members responsible for research, client success, and product design (3-7 team members)
• Continued maintenance and iteration of the product and new feature design as required
• Quickly addressing bugs through testing and review/feedback

Problem Space

When we started out creating the initial version of BIStrainer one thing was clear – there was no easy way to maintain a safety plan in a digital format. Word documents, massive excel files, folders on people’s local machines with hundreds of .pdf’s named incorrectly – this theme runs through almost every organization we interact with and many times we discovered teams very close to a major data loss catastrophe. The initial scope of BIStrainer looked to address the issue of maintaining employee training in a more automated way, allowing them to take training online where possible, and removing the data storage responsibilities of the safety manager. Over the last 14 years, we have also identified many other fantastic areas where a new system feature was able to offset more and more of the daily administrative tasks of all team members, and even digitize the paper workflow for field workers.

The Solution

When we initially looked at creating a learning management platform to deliver training, store training certificates, and automate notifications, we searched across other products for inspiration. Much of what we found was clunky, bloated, and outdated already. We decided to build an minimum-viable product and implement new features on a per-request basis, rather than pre-planning every feature from the start. We consulted with industry executives, interviewing and asking them simply what they would need to offset their training record management and learning delivery. Initial wireframes were done on paper with pen, and then translated into photoshop. At the time we also did not have the amazing team of engineers we have today, so much of the initial front-end code was completed by myself while interfacing with back-end engineers. After growing the team from 4 in 2007 to nearly 100 globally today, the BIStrainer product has become far more than training. We now offer a robust product which can deliver paperless forms both online and offline, manage assets and equipment maintenance, contractor onboarding, job role based training requirements and training, our own custom in-house created content library, classroom calendar for in person training delivery and management, robust reporting abilities, and of course – our learning management system.

Outcome

The product built over 14 years is more than an SaaS for B2B and B2C clients – it allowed me to be part of a team that accomplished things which seemed nearly impossible. BIS now works internationally with major construction, energy, transportation, and industrial clients and continues to expand and learn more and more about the needs of each region we approach. Organizations who employ these services see a massive decrease in the amount of time health and safety professionals spend working on maintenance of their team and instead find more time to grow their people, all while still sending everyone home safely at the end of the day. The platform truly prevents accidents and saves lives.