Arced GmbH intranet
Internal Platform / Dashboard
Arced is a German crane and heavy-lift service provider operating across Germany and Europe. With a fleet of over 100 cranes, they handle heavy lifting, industrial relocations, and large-scale transport projects.
The company struggled with internal communication and paper-based documentation, making support and equipment info hard to access for employees working across multiple sites.
I designed a digital platform to streamline communication, simplify support requests, and centralize documentation, accessible anytime and anywhere.
Problem Statement
Employees at Arced struggle with internal communication and accessing important documentation. Paper forms, phone calls, and emails slow processes, make support hard to reach, and create inefficiencies especially for staff working on-site across multiple locations. Without a centralized, digital solution, employees face delays in approvals, difficulty finding the right contacts, and challenges accessing equipment documentation when they need it most.
Goals
Streamline internal communication so employees can reach the right contacts quickly.
Centralize documentation for equipment, approvals, and forms in a single digital platform.
Simplify support requests to reduce delays and reliance on phone calls or emails.
Enable on-site access across locations, supporting employees wherever they work.
Research & Insights
To understand the challenges, I conducted workshops and interviews with employees and stakeholders, exploring pain points, communication issues, and documentation needs across different roles.
I grouped users by roles and needs, which revealed patterns that helped define the user flow for the platform.
I also discovered that employees primarily use iPads and laptops, and many work in locations with limited or intermittent internet access. This led to the key insight that the platform needed offline functionality to ensure accessibility anytime, anywhere.
Solutions
I designed a concept of intranet platform that centralizes communication, documentation, and support for all employees. Key features include:
Dashboard: Quick access to notifications, pending approvals, and key links.
Role-Based Access: Users see tools and information relevant to their role (e.g., drivers, workshop, administration).
Centralized Documents: Manuals, forms, and approvals in one place, with offline access for remote locations.
Support Requests: Submit and track requests without relying on phone calls or emails.
Employee Directory & Contacts: Quickly find the right person for any issue.
Emergency Access: Fast access to emergency procedures and contacts.
The platform is optimized for iPads and laptops, ensuring usability on-site, and designed to reduce delays, simplify workflows, and improve overall internal communication.
Wireframes
I mapped the platform during workshops and tested workflows with employees and stakeholders. Based on these insights, I created the first wireframes, outlining key screens and user flows to ensure the platform is intuitive and efficient.
What Went Wrong
Some employees initially struggled with the new platform due to familiarity with paper-based processes and limited experience with technology. Employees also relied heavily on search, which wasn’t fully optimized at first, and some workflows were too complex.
Additionally, drivers faced difficulties on the Cranes documents. While they could find the correct crane, the document naming was too complex, making it hard to identify and access the relevant documents for each crane. These issues required further simplification and restructuring.
Testing & Iteration
I created low-fidelity wireframes to map key screens and workflows and tested them with employees to uncover usability issues. Feedback guided early iterations. Since research showed that employees relied heavily on search, we optimized it globally and added filters on Documents and Cranes pages to better navigate large and complex content. I also introduced a dedicated download section on the Crane details page, enabling quick access to all documents related to a specific crane.
Results
The intranet platform significantly improved internal communication and access to documentation, reducing reliance on phone calls and paper-based processes. Employees were able to find information faster, reach the right contacts more easily, and access relevant crane and project documents on-site.
Optimizations such as global search, filters, and clearer document grouping improved navigation across large and complex content. At the same time, the project revealed opportunities for further improvement, including simplifying document naming, refining the Cranes section, and supporting gradual onboarding for less tech-experienced users. These insights provide a clear foundation for continued iteration and long-term improvement.
