Utilisation
Description
Integrated HR solution that combines time management and reporting functions into a central system.
Year
2023
Client
NCC Group
Services
UX / UI Design
User Research
Overview
Problem, challenge, and solution
Understanding the problem, evaluating potential solutions, and familiarising myself with the user's perspective.
- Problem
- As the business expands, easy access to essential data is vital for informed decision-making, resource allocation, and financial improvement.
- Challenge
- How do we help the business maintain a productive workforce, control costs, manage workloads and track product performance.
- Solution
- An internal HR tool that combines time management and reporting, aiding employees to track and improve performance.
Research
What challenges must the business address and overcome?
Working in collaboration with the Product Manager, our objective was to pinpoint the challenges within business.
No current tools to plan, estimate and propose with precision
The organisation requires appropriate tools to optimise project profitability, facilitate informed decision-making, and enhance financial performance through detailed insights and meticulous control.
User engagement is limited, time tracking is often forgotten
Administrative tasks can be tedious, often resulting in delays or oversights. Integrating automation and email could streamline these processes, enhancing user efficiency and allowing them to concentrate on core tasks.
Unable to see business, project and workforce data together
How can we efficiently centralise and process our diverse data sources into a unified platform, allowing us to make informed, data-driven decisions and gain valuable, impactful insights?
User interviews & persona development
To gain a comprehensive understanding of our users, we conducted interviews with key personnel including the Chief Information Officer, Head of Global Applications and Software, Senior Product Managers, and Software Engineers.
Chief Information Officer
Goals: To ensure the adoption of the platform across the whole of the business.
Head of Global Applications
Goals: View work, costs, team hours, and export data. Manage products, users, and cost levels.
Senior Product Manager
Goals: Visualise time, plan projects, and assess team capacity effectively.
Software Engineer
Goals: Effortlessly record weekly activities and gain insights into how my time is allocated.
Key Features
Key requirements
I conducted brainstorming sessions to generate feature ideas. Afterward, we prioritized features based on user needs and feasibility.
- Employee time tracking
- Users can log time for various products and activities, allocate time to multiple tasks, and adjust previous or set future allocations.
- Utilisation reporting
- A detailed breakdown of time, costs, and team member utilisation within a specified date range for a specific product.
- Downloadable data
- Users can download reports for selected products and activities using custom date ranges and easily export them to Excel.
- Schedule & resource
- Users can update their schedule, and add activities and products. Managers can visualise time, plan projects, and assess team capacity.
Principles
Simplicity
Simplicity in design enhances user navigation and product effectiveness, and can significantly influences a product's success. Complex and unintuitive products tend to fall short, resulting in reduced interest, and engagement.
Informative
Information must be clear, comprehensible, and logically presented to prevent user confusion or overwhelm. Our goal is not only to facilitate easier information consumption but also to enhance its accessibility.
Functional
Functional design is now pivotal in modern workplaces. Prioritising functionality and practicality in our products fosters efficiency, comfort, and productivity in the work environment.
User journey
Allocations page
Team allocations page
Editing a team members allocations modal
Allocations & dashboard
Effortlessly record weekly activities and gain insights into how time is allocated
Schedule & resource
Visualise time, plan projects, and assess team capacity effectively.
Product reports & admin
View work, costs, team hours, and export data. Manage products, users, and cost levels.
User Testing
Prototyping & user testing
I created a prototype to simulate the final product so we could reveal areas of confusion and uncover pain points in the product to highlight opportunities to improve the overall design
Feeling micromanaged
In earlier designs, our allocators perceived time-tracking as an effort to scrutinise. To address this, we modified the platform to display weekly percentages instead of daily hours. This change ensured comfort for the allocators while still providing valuable insights for the business.
Streamlining features
Users desired an efficient and streamlined product. We achieved this by enabling users to replicate previous week's allocations and by auto-prioritising recent projects in the dropdown menu. These features aimed to reduce administrative hassles, allowing users to focus on other primary tasks.
Conclusion
Design handover
Collaborating with developers, I conducted handover meetings, annotated my designs for clarity, and provided them with any necessary flows or prototypes.
Logo design
After the initial release of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) version of the platform, I was entrusted with the responsibility of creating the logo for the product.
After the initial release of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) version of the platform, I was entrusted with the responsibility of creating the logo for the product.
Business impact / key indicators
Allocators
Frequent use of the platform. Users can successfully complete the tasks they set out to do. Minimal users missing deadlines for weekly allocations. Minimal user errors
Finance & Report Viewers
Minimal time to pull reports showing product utilisation costs. Displaying correct utilisation costs without any need to cross check with senior management. Positive feedback when checking with team that the platform is doing what they need. Reduced time for updating users Utilisation sheets. Frequent usage of product report feature.
Admin & Wider business
Efficiency when actioning CRUD across the platform. Effectively able to liaise and work with the Finance team across any data discrepancies. Positive feedback from survey. The wider business knowing about the platform - more engagement and onboarding from wider teams
