A DST (Decision support tool) for Aigües de Barcelona

Overview

DST Aigües de Barcelona is a decision support tool designed to help technical teams plan water network renewal more effectively by integrating heterogeneous data sources and presenting them through interactive visualizations. The tool provides urban context, risk indicators, and prioritization support for engineers and planners.

Project context: Aigües de Barcelona / Institution: Barcelona Supercomputing Center 

Type: Dashboard / AI explainability

My role: UX Lead

Duration: 9 months

Challenge 

The main challenge was to manage high complexity and data density without overwhelming expert users. Users needed to navigate across spatial layers, compare risk and impact at multiple scales, and explore priorities without cognitive overload. The interface had to support real planning decisions and reduce ambiguity in scenarios where multiple high-risk network segments competed for limited resources.

UX Methodology

We applied a traditional, iterative UX process with four key stages:

Design & Co-creation

• Conducted co-creation workshops with domain experts and key stakeholders to shape functional requirements.

• Explored visual hierarchies, interaction patterns, and filtering mechanisms that aligned with real planning workflows.

Validation with Eye-Tracking Usability Testing

• Performed user testing incorporating eye-tracking to understand where users focused attention and where they struggled when interacting with visual layers and maps.

• Eye-tracking data revealed patterns of cognitive overload and areas of confusion, which were not obvious in click-only testing.
  
  

Redesign Based on Evidence

• Refined the interface to reduce visual conflict, improve progressive disclosure, and simplify navigation based on test insights.

• Adjusted visual encodings, spatial focus cues, and coordinated views to align with users’ natural attention and task logic.
  
  

This evidence-based UX process ensured that both design decisions and iterative changes were grounded in real user behavior, not assumptions.

Evidence-based UX with co-creation and eye-tracking testing improved usability and reduced cognitive load in a complex decision support tool, enabling technical users to explore risk and impact data confidently and efficiently.

Final outcome

The tool is now used in production by Aigües de Barcelona’s technical staff, significantly improving planning workflows by providing faster, clearer insights and reducing subjectivity in renewal prioritization. While it did not replace formal approval processes, it enhanced decision confidence and simplified communication to management. There is even ongoing discussion about future versions for public transparency.

Link: Internal tool (No link available)