Summary page redesign: A faster way to start your day

At Buildertrend, making building, remodeling and contracting more efficient is what we do. We’re constantly updating and innovating our construction management software to provide you, our customers, with the best tools to run your business. Giving you the best experience possible is what we strive for.

So, we’re here to tell you about our latest update that will make setting priorities for the day easy and efficient. After grabbing your first cup of coffee, get yourself organized with the newly redesigned Summary page. You’ll see the exact information you need to prepare for your day without searching, so you can get to work fast.

Check out what our experts, Brad Dinan, associate product manager, and Sadie Lewman, product designer, had to say about the exciting new Summary page redesign.

What was the initial motivation behind redesigning the Summary page?

Brad: Our users put their trust in Buildertrend and rely on us to equip them with a Summary page that assists with running their business. For it being the first screen that our customers interact with, we saw very little engagement. Our team was tasked with reducing the amount of friction while centralizing important job information that would help push their projects forward.

We wanted to provide a consistent experience for our customers and give them easy access to tools for communicating quickly on urgent items that may require closer attention.

How did customer feedback play a role in new Summary page?

Sadie: Many of our projects start from indirect feedback we receive from our customers via support channels like training calls, and this effort was no exception. Customer feedback shows our Product team where there are opportunities to potentially make a big impact. So, once this opportunity was prioritized, Catie Brown, one of our user researchers, led a survey effort to find out more about the problems our customers were experiencing with the original Summary page.

The research results were a bit disheartening at first because we never like to hear that our program isn’t meeting customers’ needs. However, we immediately recognized the opportunity to create a brand-new experience that would provide powerful insights for our customers.

What key updates can customers expect to see with this redesign?

Brad:

• Better prioritization of information: To put it simply, with the old Summary page, customers had no idea which info was relevant to them. In the past, we’ve tried to rectify that problem by grouping data into feature widgets and providing customization options for each user to add, remove and organize themselves. However, we found that for many people, that made the problem worse.
• Clean and organized design: Overall, the appearance of the Summary page was outdated. In the new experience, customers will immediately notice a more modern and organized layout. There are five sections, each designed to surface project information that is most important to the person who’s logged in. We want to provide the right data to the right person at the right time. Upon logging in, they immediately see everything they need to focus their attention on and can quickly get to work. Our hope is that the new Summary page serves as a powerful hub for customers to start their day.
• Improved navigation: Previously, many customers found this page to be a bit of a dead end. Even if they found something they wanted to review, there wasn’t an efficient way to get there. In the new experience, nearly everything is clickable. Customers can identify something that needs their attention, click on it and find themselves taken directly to that section of the platform for next steps. We want to allow our customers to work more efficiently by giving them direction and then stepping out of the way.
• Renewed emphasis on communication and action: With this new design, we place contact info for project managers and clients front and center, so users can send a message or make a phone call quickly. All the quick-adds have been relocated to a single-action menu for users who know exactly what they want to do. We’ve also brought our popular mobile activity feed and brand-new Schedule agenda to the Summary page. This makes it easy for customers to keep an eye on what’s going on with their projects.

What are the five sections that make up the new Summary page?

Sadie: The new Summary page features five distinct sections, each designed to provide unique value to our customers. Some of the sections also change dynamically depending on whether all listed jobs or an individual project is selected. This helps to surface the most relevant information.

Section one

The first section collects important project information in one place for convenient access. If there are multiple jobs selected, users will see a personal greeting and have the opportunity to clock in here. They will also see a weather forecast for their company location. When a single job is selected, more job-specific data will surface such as job color, important contacts and driving directions to the job site.

Section two

Below, we’ve created an alert center for items that need immediate attention. Customers will see any overdue items here as well as things due today or coming up that are assigned to them. Clicking on these items will take the user to a pre-filtered list page where they can act on them.

Section three

The final section in the left-hand column is the popular activity feed, brought to the desktop experience for the very first time. Customers can look here to get an up-to-the-minute idea of what is going on in their jobs, anywhere at anytime.

Section four

In the upper right, we have a convenient action center where customers can create new items at the click of a button. This allows them to get in and out of the program very quickly if they’re on a timeline and just have a quick task to take care of.

What is the new sidebar design and how will it make navigation easier?

Sadie: The new sidebar design is a cherry on top of the new Summary page. To complement the modern look of the Summary, we redesigned the job selector to tie in visually with the rest of the updated platform. These two updates have been designed together, meaning the Summary page responds really well when the user interacts with the new sidebar. While most of the job selector will function as it did before, customers might notice a few enhancements such as:

• The program logo, whether it is Buildertrend’s or custom branding, has been moved into the sidebar, allowing us to remove the white header and reclaim a lot of screen space. Customers may have already noticed that clicking on the logo will return them to the summary screen for faster navigation.
• Several new interactions are available in the sidebar for customers who want more flexibility in their screen layout. The sidebar can be resized in width to show longer job names, and the existing collapse functionality has been improved. When customers expand or collapse the sidebar, they will notice it remembers the width they set.
• We’ve also added the ability to hover over the sidebar when it’s collapsed to open it temporarily. This allows customers to quickly reference job info without losing horizontal screen space.

Sadie: There are a few more fun interactions that have been added, and I encourage customers to put the sidebar to the test and see what it can do. As always, our support team is available to answer any questions about the updates!

How will these updates help customers to prioritize their day?

Brad: We know our customers are extremely busy. By surfacing the most urgent and actionable items, we’re allowing them to prioritize their work based on their own individual needs. Whether it’s collecting on a past-due invoice or confirming next week’s schedule, the decision is in their hands. We’re just calling out what requires their attention and when.

Make the most of every day with Buildertrend

The amount of dedication that goes into these extensive product updates is validation of our unwavering commitment to our customers. But we’ll never pretend to be perfect because we know there’s always room for improvement.

Having all the important information ready for you right when you log in will make starting your day easier than ever. If you’d like to learn more about the newly redesigned Summary page and how to navigate it in the way that works best for you, give us a call anytime.

If you’re new here and think Buildertrend could help with managing your construction business, schedule a demo today.