Modernizing a Web App – Mission Critical Administration Dashboard
The UX Challenge
Modernize a 10-year old mission critical application with over 300 web pages, 3 target audiences, an outdated backend infrastructure, all while introducing the client to the agile methodology. *Due to client sensitivity, I am happy to discuss this project with you, but am limited on what I can show.
The UX Approach
Incorporating the Discovery phase of the human-centered design process into an agile software development life cycle was something new for this client. As an engineering heavy-waterfall methodology IT shop, I recommended a phased approach to user interviews and focus groups to introduce the client and team to an agile methodology. Scheduling these interviews was based on target customer needs laid out in personas and an initial prioritization of features by the client. Analyzing current system requirements and a sitemap against feedback gathered from user focus groups, interviews, and surveys resulted in the discovery of redundancy, lingering legacy features, poor taxonomy, and a lack of intuitive behavior. Keeping in mind significant bandwidth constraints and security restrictions, the team introduced industry best practices and modern code languages to set the client up for future longevity and enhancements.
Developing surveys with interactive prototypes for each target user group resulted in Survey Feedback confirming our approach to feature prioritization, legacy functionality to remove, and suggested user interface enhancements. This information was presented to the client to help emphasize cost savings and limit time spent by the engineering team developing non-relevant features. Through the details gathered I was able to reinforce the value of user research and the Discovery phase of a project.
The UX Impact and Final Product
Once the client agreed to the information presented, I worked closely with the visual designer to create wireframes for a streamlined, user friendly prototype to pass along to the development team.
My role: personas, focus groups, user interviews, user acceptance surveys, sitemaps