Keeping track with one click: The new web portal of ista

Easy and quick determination and comparison of water, heat, gas, and power consumption online – with the new portal of ista Deutschland GmbH. User Interface Design GmbH (UID) developed a user-centered interaction concept and screen design. The result convinces ista and the users: Since the relaunch, the number of new registrations has increased by 50 percent.

The new ista portal allows users to compare their current energy consumption data with previous data (draft).

The property list gives a quick overview of all properties (draft).

The service page offers hints and tricks to save energ (draft).

The UID team developed the basic concept for the new web portal together with ista and created wireframes on this basis.

Scribbles
The background

ista Deutschland GmbH is one of the lading companies for consumption-dependent billing of energy, water and ancillary costs. Via its online portal, ista customers are able to view and manage all billing-relevant data. In late 2009, the web portal was relaunched to integrate numerous new functions for the customers.

The starting point

For several years, ista has been offering its customers a web portal - and the number of users is continuously increasing. This success involved new challenges:
ista intended to integrate additional online services.
The displayed content became more complex.
The users expected a higher level of usability.
All these requirements had to be combined in one concept.
As the basis had been established by the current portal technology, ista developed a user-centered operating concept together with UID.

The objectives

ista wanted to offer both private landlords and professional property managers an attractive interface that is easy to use. The challenge for ista and UID was to integrate different online applications in one well-structured and user-friendly navigation concept.
In addition to the interaction concept, the screen design had to be optimized.

The procedure

First, the user interface experts of UID analyzed the existing system and conducted a workshop with ista to determine the requirements. On this basis, use scenarios were developed together with the ista project team and wireframes were prepared to illustrate the basic concept. Subsequently, UID and ista tested the concepts for usability among ista customers. Based on the test results, they revised the concept and evaluated it in a second usability test. At the same time, UID designers developed the screen design and icon set in close collaboration with ista. The website concept was documented in a style guide.

The result

The new ista web portal is now unique as regards its functionality among service and billing providers. The core part of the web portal is the property overview, providing landlords and property managers with information on all their properties. Status icons now allow to view the current meter and billing statuses of all objects at a glance. From this property list, all applications can be accessed. Based on their experience, users may use different navigation paths.
The new ista web portal visualizes large amounts of information in a clearly structured way to allow both professional property managers and private landlords easy and quick use.
The effort was well worth it, as the results show! That is also the user's opinion: The new portal was accepted very positively. Since the relaunch in December 2009, the number of new registrations has increased by more than 50 percent in the following months!

Project reference from 2010