1.0 Proposed Task
Before we begin gathering requirements on the users, we will need to first identify the tasks that users need to perform using our EMS application. After discussion and researching on existing system, we had identified some task that users may need to perform:
Setting up the system
To track the power consumption of home or store, users may need to create an account that will store the information on user’s power usage and also their usage patterns
Checking power consumption and make bill payment
Most users are unable to save energy as they do not know how much their energy usage is when plugging in a device or switching on an electrical appliance. To manage energy usage, user may need to monitor and check their home or store power consumption to know their amount of energy consumption and usage pattern
Get information on saving energy and electricity usage pattern
Most users do not know how to save energy as they do not know what they can do to save energy. To achieve energy saving, users may need to get information on ways to save energy and reduce power consumption.
2.0 Persona
2.1 Persona 1 : User group of professional home owner
Name: Suhana binti Suratman
Archetype: The responsible home owner
Motivation:
Manage household expenses more efficiently, maintain a comfortable home environment and avoid unnecessary waste in electricity consumption
Concern:
Missing important notifications about bills or energy usage due to lack of digital familiarity
Challenge:
Confusing information across digital platforms, relying on printed bills because digital access feels complicated
Goal:
To ensure the home operates efficiently with minimal electricity wastage
Puan Suhana is a 57-year-old professional home owner who manages her household with care and systematically. She has spent years of her life building a family and handling numerous home-based tasks but now she treats home management like a full-time job since she keeps track of the expenses, maintaining appliances, and ensuring that every part of the home runs smoothly. Her house is equipped with a variety of high usage electrical appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerator, air fryer, water heaters, washing machine, microwave, and several fans.
Although she is experienced in managing her home efficiently, Puan Suhana is not very confident with digital applications. She mainly uses WhatsApp for communication and Facebook to stay connected with family and friends. Her children suggest that she should use the myTNB app for easier access to the electricity bills, but she went back to using printed bills after she had trouble logging in. The rising monthly electricity cost is her biggest concern, especially due to inconsistent appliance usage from family members and the increasing use of cooling appliances.
She wishes for a simple and easy-to-use app that can help her monitor daily or weekly household electricity consumption so she could be able to compare appliance usage, notice unexpected surges, and get suggestions on how to reduce waste. A clean and straightforward interface would give her more confidence in managing electricity consumption as part of her professional approach to handling the home.
Name: Seri Aton Binti Borhan
Archetype: Family’s grocery shop owner
Motivation:
Manage family’s shop, take care of household responsibilities and partake in community events.
Concern:
High-electricity usage from shop’s refrigerator
Challenge:
Not confident with digital tools, fear of loss of account
Goal:
Manage shop’s electricity costs more precisely
Ms Aton is a 56-year-old small business owner who has been running her family’s grocery shop for over 21 years. Her shop operates daily from 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM and is about the size of a single-storey terrace house. Although the shop is small, it relies heavily on electrical appliances, especially five refrigerators which are three for frozen items such as karipap, nuggets, and kuih, and two for raw ingredients. She manages the shop with her husband and son, and outside of business hours, she also handles household responsibilities, picks up schoolchildren, and prepares food for community events like mosque programmes and local gatherings.
Despite her long experience in managing the shop, Ms Aton is not very confident with digital tools. She mostly uses WhatsApp and Facebook to communicate with customers or promote her food services, while her husband previously used the myTNB app until he lost access and could not log in again. Because of this, they still depend on printed electricity bills every month. Her main concern is the high electricity usage from the refrigerators, as they run continuously. She hopes for a simple and easy-to-understand system that can show daily or weekly electricity usage, identify which equipment consumes the most power, and highlight any unusual spikes. A clear and straightforward interface would help her manage the shop’s electricity costs more confidently without needing assistance from others.
2.3 Persona 3: User group of students renting room
Name: Philip Shalom
Archetype:
A conscientious undergraduate student that rents room with roommates
Motivation:
Comfortable with digital apps that are convenient and easy to use
Concern:
Disagreement with roommates due to everyone pay the bill by splitting equally every month
Challenge:
The electricity account is registered under the landlord’s name
Goal:
Monitor electricity consumption and maintain fairness in shared expenses for the electricity bill among roommates.
Philip is a 22-year-old undergraduate student renting a room in an off-campus house together with his two student housemates. In their shared living space, everyone uses common appliances like the refrigerator, water heater, washing machine, and fans, along with multiple laptops and chargers for study and personal use. Since all of them share the same TNB electricity account, the bill is split every month. Sometimes leading to disagreements because the printed bill only shows the total amount without explaining why certain months cost more.
Philip is very comfortable with digital apps and regularly uses online banking, e-wallets, Grab, FoodPanda, Shopee, and Lazada. He also uses the myTNB app, which he initially relied on only to check the latest bill. Although the electricity account is registered under the landlord’s name, the landlord granted him full access through the app. This allows Philip to view the bill immediately when it is released and even make payments directly through myTNB.
Even though they still receive a printed bill slip each month, Philip prefers using the app because it provides real-time updates, clearer cost breakdowns, and a more reliable way to track usage. After paying the bill, he simply sends the digital receipt to his housemates so they can transfer their share to him. This makes managing the bill much easier, reduces misunderstandings, and helps everyone stay on the same page about payments.
Philip hopes for a simple, transparent, and reliable system that can:
Show daily or weekly electricity usage
Highlight which appliances or rooms contribute most to the bill
Provide alerts when usage spikes (e.g., water heater overuse)
Make cost sharing clear so arguments among housemates can be avoided
He wants a clear interface that helps him monitor electricity consumption and maintain fairness in shared expenses.
3.0 Scenario
3.1 Scenario for Persona 1
Persona: Puan Suhana, a 57-year-old professional home owner, wants to understand her household electricity usage and identify which months consumed the most electricity.
User goal: To review her monthly electricity bill, compare usage trends, and understand her home’s energy consumption using the myTNB app.
Task:
Open the myTNB application
Log into her registered account
Select her home electricity account from the dashboard
Tap “View My Bill”
View the electricity charges and kWh usage
Compare which months show the higher or lower household consumption
Puan Suhana is often confused about why her household electricity bill changes from month to month. She usually relies on the printed bill that comes to her house since she is not quite confident with digital apps. However, she knows the myTNB app that was recommended by her children will provide her more detailed information, so she decides to try using it once more in order to understand her home’s energy use.
When she opens the myTNB app, she goes to her registered home account and selects “View My Bill”. The digital bill presents the total amount, due date, and her previous consumption. Next, she checks the account bill’s summary where she can see two graphs which are monthly charge and usage. Both graphs are comparing the previous months. By looking at the usage trend, she notices that the usage increases during months when the air conditioner is used more often.
Despite the interface being a bit confusing, the app allows her to recognize patterns that printed invoices cannot show. This information will help Puan Suhana become more conscious of her household routines and feel more confident in managing her home’s electricity consumption.
3.2 Scenario for Persona 2
Persona: Ms Aton, a 49-year-old small grocery shop owner, who is not confident with digital tools
User goal: To view the electricity consumption of the shop and identify which month contributes the highest energy usage.
Task:
Open the application
Enter the Electricity Consumption section
Select the month she wants to check
View the electricity usage breakdown for each appliance
Ms Aton has always had difficulty understanding which appliances in her grocery shop consume the most electricity. With five refrigerators running daily, she often wonders if one of them is using more energy than others. However, the printed electricity bill only provides a general total without any detailed breakdown, which makes it hard for her to identify specific problem areas. Whenever she reviews her bill, she’s left unsure about where the extra cost is coming from, making it difficult to manage her shop's electricity usage effectively.
One day, she decides to try checking the electricity consumption via an app, hoping for a clearer view of her shop’s energy usage. After opening the app, she navigates to the section showing her electricity usage details. While the app displays a general overview, it doesn’t break down the usage by individual appliances. The graphs and charts provided are confusing and lack clear labels, making it hard to compare the energy consumption of each refrigerator. Even when she taps to explore further, she’s unable to see specific details on each appliance’s energy use. This lack of detailed information frustrates her, as she’s unable to make informed decisions about managing her shop's electricity more effectively.
3.3 Scenario for Persona 3
Persona: Philip, a 22-year-old student renting a shared house off-campus, wants to monitor the house’s electricity usage so he can split the bill fairly with his housemates.
User goal: To view electricity usage trends, identify which appliances or time periods consume the most power, and ensure the electricity bill can be divided fairly.
Task:
Open the myTNB application
Navigate to Usage Breakdown
Select Appliance / Time-based usage
View monthly usage patterns
Check spike alerts
Share usage summary with housemates
Philip and his two housemates often struggle to understand why their electricity bill changes from month to month. The printed bill only shows the total amount, and without any detailed breakdown, they sometimes end up guessing what caused the increase. This occasionally leads to small disagreements, especially during months when the bill is higher than expected.
One afternoon, Philip opens the myTNB app to get a clearer picture of their electricity usage. From the dashboard, he taps on the “View my Bill ” section, where the app displays a simple chart of their monthly consumption in kWh. He notices certain months where the usage spikes, which usually matches periods when everyone stayed home more, used the water heater frequently, or had long nights working on assignments.
The clearer breakdown in the app helps Philip understand the pattern better. He shares the usage chart with his housemates so they can all see what might be contributing to the higher bills. With this shared understanding, they find it easier to discuss how to manage their usage and split the cost more fairly. Using the myTNB app gives Philip more confidence in managing shared expenses and reduces confusion among the housemates.
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