IMAGINE IOT PROTOTYPE CHALLENGE M-POWER SMART ENERGY APP ENERGY INTERNET OF THINGS (E-IOT) C V Vijay Raj Manager, Analytics & Digital Transformation, SAP Capgemini
Energy expenses form a significant percent of the overall monthly expenses for any individual/organization. Despite selecting the most attractive plans available in the market and receiving detailed monthly bills from energy suppliers, customers are still unsure of how exactly energy is consumed for meeting their needs. The customer is the one who operates the various electrical devices and appliances available at their homes. However, they seldom understand which appliances during what times consume how much amount of energy. The appliances are often unaware of the circumstances and conditions they operate and have little or no autonomy. They almost completely rely on user intervention for their operations. The Energy Internet of Things (EIoT) platform connects the smart grid and utilities systems, smart meters from residential, commercial and industrial consumers, smart energy appliances at customer sites, and energy market data to enable insight to action smart energy applications. The platform also provides insights and data to smart energy appliances to help decision making and empower them with autonomy for smart and optimal operations. An ecosystem of applications developed over the Energy Internet of Things Platform helps the consumer gain control over their energy consumption and operations of the home energy appliances with ease. The prototype presented here is an EIoT based smart energy mobile application called mpower. 2
With mpower, users can: Monitor and control their energy consumption with a simple user friendly app on their mobile devices Have a one touch user interface to access information of all home appliances and devices Correlate appliance operations with smart meter feeds, and control operation of home appliances from anywhere Monitor operational status and health of home appliances and devices Analyze energy consumption patterns, understand and influence energy spend Broaden their choice of appliances and connectivity for a Smart Home Adopt smart sustainability solutions and bridge energy consumption and energy generation gaps. 3
The mpower app is designed to achieve a delightful user experience. Simplicity is attained through a one touch user interface, coherent designs for various roles and functionalities, viz. smart meter consumption monitoring and analysis, appliance energy usage, generation analysis and management; and a responsive device agnostic design. The app is designed primarily for energy consumers to have control of their household energy appliances and thereby optimize energy consumption. The app also allows utilities customers to monitor and control their spend on utilities. The EIoT Architecture is based on the SAP HANA Cloud Platform and is powered by the Business Data Lake Architecture built on the SAP HANA Vora and Hadoop Big Data Platform. Architecture for Energy Internet of Things 4
Glenda Energy Consumer I like to understand how various appliances and devices at home consume energy. I want to be in control of my home, anytime, anywhere. I don t want any surprise bills, period About 26, Single, Professional. Being the person who pays for utilities at home, I have to be in control. Technology savvy, I have my iphone, always. I am not at home on weekdays, and spend time at home during the weekends. Responsibilities I pay my energy bills. I use and operate most of the household appliances that I feel constitute to a major share of my utility bills. I am a working professional and use energy during early mornings, before office hours and in the evening after office hours, and also on weekends. There is hardly anyone at home during weekdays. I analyze and understand my energy bills to contain expenses, but many a times I am clueless. Needs I need to optimize my energy use and reduce my energy spend. I need to know how use of appliances leads to the dollar value on the bill. Currently, I have no way to do it. I need to be in control of my home, anytime, anywhere. Main Goals Correlate use of appliances with energy bills. Optimize energy consumption and reduce energy spend. Monitor and control home appliances actively and remotely with insights on usage. Pain Points I don t really understand how my energy bills relate to the actual usage of appliances & devices at home. Despite researching and opting for the best energy plans, I feel I am paying too much. I just don t know. Due to my busy schedules, I sometimes forget to turn off certain home appliances like the AC, heating etc. I wish I had better control. My supplier charges me high at different timings. I am aware of peak and off-peak, but I need to be reminded of it at times. It will help. 5
Point of View (PoV) 6
UX Journey Actions, Mindset, Feelings and Touch points The user experience journey describes the actions, mindsets, feelings and touch points of an Energy Consumer on a day to day basis during his or her interaction with the energy appliances and devices at home and the transactions that he or she makes with the energy supplier. The journey puts the persona into the context. Actions Describes the activities the Persona undertakes while going through the journey to achieve their objective. The energy consumer operates various home appliances and devices that user electricity at different points in time. Mindset During the performance of various activities, the Energy Consumer at hand has thoughts in his or her mind which determines their behavior. Mindsets influence behavior and behavior determines results. Feelings As the Energy Consumer performs the day to day activities, it results in energy usage leading to their utility bills; they undergo a cycle of emotions. Pain points often result in negative emotions which need to be addressed by any technology solution and is important towards creating a delightful user experience. Touch Points For an Energy Consumer there a variety of touch points, for instance, weather can influence the need to switch on or off an air conditioner. As appliances and devices consume energy, the smart meters record the energy consumption data which is eventually used for settlement and billing by an energy supplier. 7
User Experience Journey The Energy Consumer The journey map describes the journey of an Energy Consumer together with the actions, mindset, feelings and touch points.
Prototype Prototype screens for mpower EIoT Smart Energy App mpower, The Smart Energy EIoT App The earlier sections illustrate the challenges faced by an energy consumer on a day to day basis to monitor and control their energy consumption and optimize energy spend. The prototype designed using SAP Build illustrates how Energy Internet of Things (EIoT) powers the mpower smart app to help the energy consumer have autonomy over the home appliances that consume energy and thereby optimize the energy spend. The Design Principles The mpower EIoT Smart Energy App is designed based on the SAP Fiori Design Guidelines. The SAP Fiori Design Guidelines focuses on the five fundamental design principles to maximize user experience. The mpower EIoT Smart Energy App is designed based on a mobile first principle, and can cater to other devices. The app caters to the role of an energy consumer who is keen to proactively manage their energy consumption recorded my smart meters (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) captured by the EIoT platform on a real time/near real time basis. The EIoT platform also is capable of capturing the energy market prices at real time from various energy suppliers for the plans applicable for the consumer, along with the pricing procedures to calculate the estimated usage in terms of the dollar value. In addition, the EIoT platform holds the details of various energy appliances and smart home devices available in the market, and allows users to add their own home appliances and the details associated with their appliances. The app has the functionality to monitor and control the operation of the appliances, by means of sensors, and performs analytics on the usage and correlates it with the meter reading. The app enables the smart home in its true sense. The mpower EIoT Smart Energy App is adaptive and is responsive to a wide range of mobile and computing devices available in the market. The design of the app is a key driver in enabling a seamless, device agnostic use experience. The user interface for the mpower EIoT Smart Energy App is intuitive and promotes a onetouch experience throughout its use. This ensures coherence between different screens designed for achieving varied functionality.
Throughout the design process of the mpower EIoT Smart Energy App, simplicity has been the key focus, and functionality that is essential has been incorporated considering user experience as the key priority to ensure a delightful customer experience. mpower EIoT Smart Energy App Prototype The prototype of mpower EIoT Smart Energy App can be accessed online. Project: Energy Internet of Things (EIoT) BUILD Prototype Page Map: Energy Internet of Things (EIoT) BUILD Prototype 10
Screens: Energy Internet of Things (EIoT) BUILD Prototype 11
Feedback: Energy Internet of Things (EIoT) BUILD Prototype 12