A Grant Update: Alberta Innovates 

Last year, our team was thrilled to be selected for the Alberta Innovates Grant. We saw this grant as an opportunity to continue our innovation process and improve our mobile application for those who needed it most. Alberta Innovates is an organization that expands the horizon of possibilities to solve today’s challenges and create a healthier and more prosperous future for Alberta and the world.

Flash forward a year later, and we’ve come a long way with the grant and our emergency response management app. Some key areas we focused on updating and improving include our in-app chat functionality, dashboard UI and overall user management. 

Revamping our in-app chat function

This was one of our main focus areas for the year. After much consultation with our users, we identified several areas for improvement and started on the changes. 

Some of the critical updates we made to the in-app chat function were enabling users to: 

• Send messages, photos and locations
• Edit a message
• Phone or email specific individuals in your chat groups
• Users will receive push notifications, at all times (if setting is enabled)
• Sent and read status of messages

Revising our dashboard user interface

Another item that we wanted to tackle was our dashboard user interface. We know that navigating the user interface is one of the most important parts (aside from having the correct information at the right time). Some of these updates include: 

• New download and archive page
• Incident Action Plan (IAP) (new feature!)
• UI/UX overhaul
  • What does this mean?
    • UI = anything with screens, buttons, toggles, icons, and other visual elements you interact with when using a website, app, or other device. 
    • UX = your entire interaction with a product, including how you, the end user, feel about the exchange.

Updating and refining the functionality of our user management 

We know that the most essential part of our app is YOU, our user. Without the people using the response daily, there wouldn’t be an app or the need to ensure it functions properly. With that in mind, we wanted to streamline and refine our user management interface to provide the best experience. 

• Add and delete users
• Edit user
• Resend the invitation email on your own! 

We want to extend a huge thank you to the Alberta Innovates team and to all our users who constantly provide feedback. We couldn’t make this app the way it is without your support!