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Upfitter Integration System (UIS)
Service Design & Support Foundations

March 2023 - December 2023

ROLE

UX & UI

TEAM

D-Ford

TOOLS

Figma, Miro

USERS

1,000+

PROBLEM

Usability

UIS might not win awards for its name, but it’s a genuinely important piece of Ford innovation.

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The Upfitter Integration System (UIS) was created to modernise how commercial vehicles are upfitted — things like lights, sirens, cranes, ploughs, and other specialist equipment on Super Duty and Transit vehicles. Historically, upfitters had to rely on clunky third-party software, manual programming, and inconsistent workflows. UIS changed that by introducing a drag-and-drop web interface to configure vehicle integrations in a faster, more standardised way.

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In March 2023, I joined the programme with D-Ford as a Product Designer. My focus wasn’t just UI — this phase was primarily service design: shaping the support experience around UIS so upfitters knew where to go, what to do, and how to get help quickly when things went wrong.

The Problem

 

The launch of the 2023 Ford Super Duty in the U.S. (June 2023) was approaching fast — and UIS was mission-critical.

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But there were serious risks:

  • The software was unstable (crashes, lag, inconsistent performance)

  • There wasn’t a clear support model for upfitters

  • Users didn’t know who to contact or how to get help

  • Ford worried that frustration at launch could damage trust in the new vehicle programme

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To make things harder, there wasn’t an agreed “best” approach to support. Previous experiments ranged from futuristic ideas (like Google Glass for remote assistance) to expensive, reactive support models — including engineers flying internationally to troubleshoot issues on-site. It was obvious we needed a support approach that was scalable, practical, and fast to implement.
 

Constraints and Barriers

 

We were a small team:

  • Me — UX/UI + service design artefacts

  • Stef — interaction design

  • Ana — research lead


And we had a hard deadline: six weeks before vehicles began reaching upfitters. On top of that, the European e-Transit launch was coming soon after, with potentially different needs and expectations — so whatever we proposed had to work as a foundation, not a one-off fix.

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What I Did (high level)

 

I led a rapid discovery and design sprint focused on support and service readiness. The goal was to identify quick wins we could ship fast, while also defining a longer-term support vision that leadership and engineering could execute.

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Key activities included:

  • Mapping the existing support ecosystem (and highlighting gaps)

  • Competitor research across support models and tooling

  • Facilitating ideation workshops and prioritisation

  • Turning research into a clear user journey + service blueprint

  • Prototyping near-term improvements and a longer-term UIS support experience

  • Packaging outputs for leadership decision-making and engineering handover

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The Process (what we actually did)

 
1) Support ecosystem mapping

 

My first step was to map existing Ford support pathways and websites. The challenge: there were multiple platforms, but none had the technical depth or UIS-specific guidance upfitters needed. This became a key insight to align stakeholders: support existed, but it wasn’t usable for this audience.

2) Competitor research

 

We looked at a wide range of support approaches — from dependable basics like forums and self-serve knowledge bases, to more advanced ideas like apps that could read fault codes via NFC or use smartphone cameras for diagnostics.

The main takeaway: the “best” solutions didn’t rely on novelty — they reduced uncertainty and made the next step obvious.

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3) Ideation + prioritisation (fast and structured)

 

I facilitated How Might We sessions and ran Crazy 8s to generate lots of options quickly. We then used:

  • Dot voting to converge on the strongest ideas

  • A feasibility matrix to separate “ship now” ideas from longer-term bets

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This helped us stay realistic under time pressure, while still building toward a coherent vision.

4) Storyboarding for stakeholder buy-in

 

To move quickly with senior leadership, I created storyboards that showed the real upfitter experience — what happens when something breaks, where they get stuck, and what a better support journey would look like. This made the problem concrete, built empathy, and helped leadership commit to action.

5) User research (remote + in-person)

 

We ran interviews with upfitters and captured insights in Miro. I also created card-sorting activities to understand:

  • what support users value most

  • which channels they trust

  • what “good help” looks like when they’re under pressure

 

We then synthesised the notes into themes, discarded weaker ideas, and doubled down on concepts that directly addressed real pain points.

6) User flow + service vision / journey map

 

I created a clear end-to-end user flow showing:

  • what was broken in the current process

  • proposed short-term fixes

  • longer-term improvements

 

I also added estimated costs and requirements per option, so leadership could make decisions based on reality — not just design intent.

7) Concepts + prototyping

 

Based on feedback from users and leadership, I visualised a mix of near- and long-term concepts, including:

  • Clearer pathways for submitting software feedback (not just hardware)

  • Quick-start guides and “first 30 minutes” support content

  • QR labels on UIS hardware linking users directly to the right support point

  • A prototype UIS-specific support site with deeper technical content

  • An integrated in-tool help model (onboarding, tutorials, video guides, live chat, community forum, webinars)

Handover and Outcomes

 

Once leadership selected the most promising near-term and long-term options, we organised everything into a structured SharePoint repository that included:

  • key pain points and evidence

  • recommended solutions and rationale

  • priority, effort, and status tracking

 

From there:

  • The product engineering team took ownership of the software changes and OTA updates

  • A dedicated web team began work to unify Ford Pro support sites and create a UIS-specific support area for upfitters

 

The key outcome wasn’t just “ideas.” It was clarity: a shared understanding of what upfitters needed, what could ship quickly, and what investment would be required to support UIS at scale.

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Why This Project Matters

 

This project shows how I work when the pressure is real:

  • High stakes, hard deadline, and real operational risk

  • Service design + UX thinking, not just UI outputs

  • Strong facilitation and stakeholder alignment

  • Turning messy systems into clear journeys, priorities, and actionable plans

  • Designing support experiences that scale, not heroics and firefighting

“The new Ford Pro Upfit Integration System* (UIS) is a game changer for anyone installing or operating upfits. This hardware/software solution allows upfitters to seamlessly integrate equipment on the truck. Ultimately, UIS will unleash capabilities many may not have known existed and open up a new world of possibilities.”

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— FORD PRO, GLOBAL

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