HMS Networks, Ewon · Service Designer & UX Lead · 2021–2022

Connecting a machine.
Understanding the people who use it.

HMS was preparing a SaaS platform to bring Ewon services together around its machines. I established the first UX function, connected the buyer, engineer and operator roles, then had six organisations test the concept.

Explore the reconstructed journey

The 2026 demo extends the assignment concept with fictional people, readings and alerts. No real machine is connected.

Prospective exploration · fictional data
15 dinitial audit that opened the assignment
8international customer interviews
6organisations tested the journeys
Approveddevelopment budget

My design decisions

Assign access by role

The buyer subscribes, the engineer configures and the operator monitors. Invitations give each person access suited to their work.

Keep the instruments operators know

Operators valued the gauges. I kept them alongside numerical values, including in the full-screen view.

Keep the alert tied to its machine

The notification keeps the measurement, threshold and time. Its link leads to the equipment and the information needed for diagnosis.

01The people around the machine

The buyer, engineer and operator share the machine.

The project would bring device configuration, eCatcher and cloud services together. Those tools followed the technology: connection, remote access, machine data. Designing the SaaS also meant understanding who used them and when they handed over to someone else.

I start with the person using the device.

  • The assignment began with a fifteen-day audit of the existing cloud product. I combined Power BI and support data with benchmarking, eight international client interviews and observation of work around the machines: who prepares the connection, who reads the measurements, who acts when something changes.
  • Early mock-ups helped make each person’s work explicit. Operators explained how they read their indicators; the discussions brought out the access and information needed by whoever would take over.

I used those situations to define the roles, then the invitations and views each one needed.

Handovers become the focus of the workshops.

  • With sales, billing, support and engineering, I placed those people in the full journey: discover the offer, subscribe, start working, ask for help and leave the service.
  • Setup crossed the contract, access rights and technical configuration. We clarified who started each step and who picked up the next: from contract holder to engineer, then to operator.
  • Situations gathered across countries and industries gave the teams common material for setting the priorities of the first version.
02Giving them the access they need

The account belongs to the company. Access follows each person’s work.

  • The account holder needs to invite the people configuring equipment and those monitoring production. I designed entry into the service around those invitations and access rights.
  • With the functional analysts, I worked through these journeys on the whiteboard, then in mock-ups. Architectural constraints entered the discussion as we decided how the interactions should work.

VALUE PROPOSITION CANVAS · STRATEGYZER

The Ad-Lib: the value proposition in one sentence.

Product or service
Our industrial monitoring SaaS with a shared entry point
Customer segment
helps companies whose buyers, engineers and operators work with the same machine fleet
Job to be done
who want to connect equipment, monitor its condition and organise intervention,
Customer pain
by reducing breaks between access, alerts and handovers
Customer gain
and giving each person the information and controls relevant to their role and the affected machine,
Competing value proposition
unlike separate configuration, remote-access and cloud-service tools.

Concept value proposition · editorial synthesis.

Bringing in the right person with the right access

The contract holder needed to delegate machine connection, then give production staff access to monitoring. That division of responsibility had to be built into the service from the start.

  • I separated invitation, configuration and project access. Each person joins the step relevant to their work, with the corresponding rights.
  • A demo entry point also allowed people to explore the service before connecting equipment.

2026 reconstruction · fictional data

The invitation and account identity come before access to projects and equipment.
View the original project mockup
03Read the alert, then act

An alert must lead to the affected machine.

Monitoring had to remain readable on the production floor and lead to action. Operators valued familiar instruments; the reading, range and history needed to stay connected to the same machine.

  • I kept gauges alongside numerical values. Indicators remain attached to the machine they describe and can be shown full-screen in production areas.
  • In tables, the first column stays fixed during horizontal scrolling to keep the machine’s name in view. Controls are adapted for tablet use.

2026 reconstruction · fictional data
The reading, its range and history stay connected to the same machine. This scene is part of the 2026 simulation.
Open the full screen

An alert needs to identify the machine, indicator and time.

Users choose SMS or email. From the notification, the link was intended to lead to the affected machine and indicator, with the information needed for diagnosis.

I brought the reading, its threshold and the time it was exceeded into the machine’s context. A person can examine the incident, then indicate that they are investigating. A colleague returning to the alert can see who is dealing with it.

2026 reconstruction · fictional data
In the simulation, the link opens the affected machine. A person can see the reading, the time it crossed the threshold and ways to investigate before recording a decision.
Open the full screen

The solution, module by module

Original project flows and scope

The original project covers discovery, registration, projects, devices, users, files and alerts. The 2026 demo connects these modules in an interactive simulation.

Monitor and take over

Find favourite machines, read the gauges and open the machine that needs attention.

Try this workflow
2026 reconstruction · fictional data
04Handing over the service to build

The tested concept supports the decision to develop.

Six international companies took part, with two user profiles per company. Prototype interviews and subsequent tests guided iterations through to the version handed over.

The collective work led to approval of a €2M internal development budget, as confirmed by my manager. HMS teams took over the concept and design materials to continue the product.

At the end of the assignment, the concept has been tested and handed over for development. The results presented concern that design stage.

Six international companies

Two user profiles per company

  1. Prototype interviews

    Discuss each profile’s work in the proposed journeys.

  2. Journey testing

    Examine the interactions against those work situations.

  3. Iteration and handover

    Evolve the prototype into the version handed over to the teams.

Editorial synthesis of concept validation: company interviews and testing guided iterations into the version handed over.

Keeping the reasoning behind the screens

  • I brought the observed needs, journeys and interface decisions together in the Concept Report. For each role, teams could trace a working situation to the response proposed in the product.
  • The Figma design system supplies the components developed with the engineers for their Angular environment.
  • The journey maps preserve the handovers between roles. The tested prototype lets product, engineering, sales and support walk through the same service.

HMS launched Ewon Cloud in December 2024, after my assignment. The launch is documented in its 2024 year-end report.

Read the HMS 2024 year-end report (PDF)

Concept Report

Needs, journeys and interface decisions.

Journey maps

Handovers between functions.

Tested prototype

The service to explore with product, engineering, sales and support.

Figma design system

Components developed with the Angular developers.

Editorial synthesis of the design material handed over: Concept Report, journeys, tested prototype and Figma components.
He quickly took ownership of the initiative and helped us build a stronger and more consistent product vision across our platforms.

Julien Vandercammen · Head of Cloud Program, HMS Networks

Contact

Does your service need to connect different roles and complex workflows? Let’s talk.

For a role or an engagement, write to me. CV (PDF)

hello@christophevanengelen.com View my LinkedIn profile

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