Human factors analysis and interface design for a truck dispatching system

BR Distribuidora, a subsidiary of the Brazilian oil and gas company Petrobras, is responsible for the distribution of petroleum derivatives throughout Brazil. Currently, BR Distribuidora is centralizing all allocation programming for their distribution centers to a single control center located in Rio de Janeiro. To assign truck routes, the operators in the control center utilize a resource allocation software called PCT. Through a cognitive task analysis, we found that PCT lacks some functionalities and does not fully support the operators in their decision making process. After defining the functional requirements to fix these problems, we designed a user interface that should improve the usability and flexibility of the system and thereby the efficiency of the truck dispatching process.