Internal Operations Dashboard — Planning & CSV Workflow
A real-world internal dashboard project focused on making high-risk CSV-based operational updates safer and easier to handle through the interface. The work covered specification design, validation logic, error UX, and implementation-aware coordination across product, frontend, and backend constraints.
Period: Since Dec 2025
Overview
A safety-critical internal dashboard project for power operations teams, focused on replacing command-line and direct database updates with a safer, more repeatable UI workflow. The work covered specification design, validation logic, error UX, and implementation-ready handoff.
Context
The dashboard is used in a smart-city energy operations environment to manage and monitor power devices. While much of the product is about analytics and configuration, the features I worked on involved editing and applying short-term operation plans — actions with real operational impact if handled incorrectly.
Challenge
The task was to redesign a high-risk workflow so that operators could act safely and efficiently under real constraints, not simply to add screens.
- CSV uploads directly affected snapshot-style database updates
- Small input mistakes could overwrite or delete valid planning data
- Operators needed to scan and validate up to 50–100 devices × 48 half-hour slots
- Existing screens relied too much on user memory and workarounds
Contribution
Workflow Design
- Designed Operation Planning month/day views and Operation Mode Switching flows
- Defined CSV-first flows including download, upload, delete, and confirmation patterns
Validation & Error Handling
- Designed frontend and backend validation layers
- Mapped structured server errors to localized UI feedback
- Aggregated non-critical errors to reduce repeated upload/fix loops
Specification & Handoff
- Documented behavior, states, edge cases, API shapes, validation rules, and copy tables
- Reduced implementation ambiguity for external implementers
Outcome
- Reframed a high-risk operational flow into a safer, more controllable UI
- Made validation and destructive actions more explicit and actionable for operators
- Turned ambiguous requirements into implementation-ready decisions and documentation
Selected Screens
Month View
Two-month grid for scanning plan existence and bulk actions safely.
Day View
Spreadsheet-style detailed daily view across devices and time slots.
Validation Error View
Aggregated actionable feedback designed to help operators fix issues in one pass.
Reflection
- Safety-critical internal tools need UX that is operationally reliable, not only visually clean
- Turning ambiguity into implementation-ready behavior was a core part of the work
- Specification quality and review judgment mattered as much as visual design