PTC Velocity is a Sales Enablement Platform, powered by SAVO Group. The goal of this project was to revamp the web UI and navigation that result in better user experience.
User Research • Prototyping • UI Design • UI Development
Though its purpose is to enable better sales process, PTC Velocity’s bad UI and poor content organization were not tailored to fit the needs of our daily users, the sales reps and partners reps.
We knew the website refresh needed to start from home. The old homepage did not serve much of its purpose. Randomly placed announcement banners and unclear buttons on top made the homepage to look confusing.
With the this project, we wanted to accomplish following goals:
To learn more about our users’ experience with the current site, we conducted user interviews and usability testing. Based on the feedbacks we collected, we were able to identify 3 major user behavior using this platform.
“When I go into Velocity, I care more about information design than pretty looking UI. As long as I can find contents as quickly as possible, the better.”
Many users struggled navigating through pages to find the right content. We needed to find the best way to make their discovery experience easy and seamless.
The design process consisted of card sorting, information architecture, task flows, and creating low-fi/high-fi wireframes.
This version represents the apex of the “pre-cloud” industrial era. It was a monolithic install—over 4 GB of data that had to be perfect. There were no continuous delivery pipelines or over-the-air updates. If Update 3 corrupted your project archive, you relied on your own backups. The software demanded respect. It was brittle, yes, but it was also deterministic. Engineers knew that if they followed the 127-page installation manual exactly, the machine would work. In contrast, modern cloud-based automation tools feel like magic; V11 SP2 U3 felt like engineering.
Downloading TIA Portal V11 SP2 Update 3 was never a straightforward affair. It required a Siemens WebKey, a valid license, and often, a labyrinthine journey through Siemens’ support site. This friction created a unique subculture. Forums like PLCs.net and Reddit’s r/PLC are littered with desperate posts: “Does anyone have the offline installer for V11 SP2 Upd3? Siemens moved the link.” Tia Portal V11 Sp2 Update 3 Download
First, let us decode the fossil. "V11" refers to the major release, launched around 2010. This was a revolutionary era for Siemens, attempting to unify the disparate worlds of PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) programming (Step 7), HMI (Human-Machine Interface) design (WinCC), and drive configuration into a single ecosystem. "SP2" stands for Service Pack 2—a significant overhaul, not a minor patch. Finally, "Update 3" is the granular tweak, the fine-tuning of the machine. This version represents the apex of the “pre-cloud”
The hunt for TIA Portal V11 SP2 Update 3 is a microcosm of the "Right to Repair" movement. A water treatment plant in rural Nebraska cannot afford to upgrade to V20. They need the old update to fix a specific communication fault with their S7-300 CPU. By making this download difficult to find, Siemens isn't forcing an upgrade; they are forcing risk. Engineers resort to using cracked hashes or borrowed hard drives from retired employees—a security nightmare. If Update 3 corrupted your project archive, you
There is never a perfect design! We had a lot of positive feedbacks from our users with the redesign. Users were satisfied with cleaner UI and improved navigational experience.
However, even the new design could not satisfy our users 100%. As they continued using the tool, they faced with new sets of problems. I learned how important it is to never get fully satisfied with the design decisions and the continue the effort of iteration, which should not be an option but a habitual routine.
