Child support system
Modernized a case tracking system for the State of Utah’s child support program, improving usability for agents managing individual family cases.
Project details
UX/UI designer
3 months
Design tasks
User research
Workshop facilitation
UI design
Lofi and hifi wireframes
Prototyping
Usability testing
Project team
3 Design Researchers
1UX/UI Designer
1 UI Junior Designer
Tools
Sketch
Abstract
InVision
Miro
Background
The Utah Office of Recovery Service (ORS)'s primary mission is to promote responsibility. They help ensure that parents are financially responsible for their children by providing child support services and support for children in care. They also work to help ensure public funds are used appropriately through the efforts of our Bureau of Medical Collections.
The problem
The Office of Recovery Services desired to continue their modernization journey to ultimately enhance service to families and partners, improve program performance, and achieve the goals of the agency.
The constraints
Current system created in the 90's and has not been updated since
There is zero emphasis on HCD in current system
Only contracted to conduct research and provide design concepts - not full implementation
The goal
Bring ORS into the 21st century with a human-centered design approach
Use technology as a trusted partner
Cultivate a culture of care
My impact
Led UX redesign efforts for human-centered design team
Engaged users to directly incorporate their needs in system redesign
Facilitated four usability testing sessions
Presented final artifacts to stakeholders and account leadership
Discovery
User research
Approach
The team conducted a 5-week generative design research program to understand the experiences of Caseworkers at the State of Utah Office of Recovery Services when interacting with the office’s primary information system, ORSIS. The intent was to uncover insights that will inform a new design direction for the agency and enhance the experience of caseworkers performing work-related activities in ORSIS.
In-depth interviews
The generative design research process drew from ethnographic research and co-design, an approach to designing that engages people with direct experience of a problem as fellow designers in the design process. This ensures that design outcomes address the true needs and wants of the stakeholder group.
Design mapping
We met with 19 ORS members from across the agency for more than 26 hours of in-depth interviews about their experiences with ORSIS, ORS, their individual workflows, and their hopes for the future of their workplace technologies.
Experience principles
Experience principles capture the important ways that caseworkers aspire to interact with ORSIS. They are non-negotiable guidelines that determine the design of any future system enhancements.
Make it easy for me… because there are too many things to remember and work through
Don't slow me down… because there are a lot of tasks I need to accomplish in my day
Adapt to me… because I want ORSIS to understand me and my work
Connect me to others… because I want to work with and learn from my colleagues
Teach and guide me… because I want to learn quickly and perform at highest levels
Communicate with me… because I want to hear and be heard
Process and interaction maps
Process maps depicted the workflows of caseworkers in three ORS functions: Intake, Pre-order and Post-order. All process maps were created in collaboration with the caseworkers.
Modes and mindsets
Modes
Modes are collections of tasks and actions that caseworkers perform while working towards a goal. For ORS, modes describe discrete states in the child support process of working a case through ORSIS.
Prepare
Gather
Craft
Evaluate
Document
Relay
Coordinate and Communicate
Support and Advise
Mindsets
Mindsets are outlooks and behaviors people bring to the modes in which they engage. They are dynamic, meaning they are subject to change in response to external factors. For ORS, mindsets describe the motivations of caseworkers when engaging in certain tasks and highlight opportunities to design for encouraging desired behaviors among caseworkers.
Develop
Current System Evaluation
After understanding the caseworker process, I started the wireframe development process and analyzed the current system they were using. The primary pain point they were facing was the frustration around having to navigate to multiple screens to gather the information they need to support a case.
Other Key Insights:
Non-existent information architecture
Accessibility and usability issues
Inability to use a mouse to navigate
Initial Design Concept
Using the experience principles, modes, and mindsets uncovered during our research, we created initial screen designs to test our design assumptions and decisions.
We focused on their “go-to” screen when working on a case: the Case Profile.
Initial Design Enhancements:
Provide information hierarchy and organization
Consolidate case information in an easily accessible flow
Notify users of key actions needed to be taken
Ability to access multiple cases at a time
Co-Design Workshop
A fundamental goal we had during this project was to include caseworkers in the design ideation process. We conducted co-design workshops to incorporate end-user thoughts, ideas, and vision through their participation in the creation process.
We had two caseworkers participating at the same time to ensure they had a partner to bounce ideas off of and provide creative support.
Using Miro, we conducted four activities during the workshop:
Build a Duck
First Impressions
First Impressions Pt. 2
Build Your Dream Site
Activity 1: Build a Duck
Method: Serious play
Process: Have participants build a duck using building blocks
Goals: Get participants in the creative head space and awaken creative thinking. This also acted as a troubleshooting activity to make sure users understood how to use Miro.
Activity 2: First Impressions
Method: Perceptual mapping
Process: Review and provide a rating for commonly used websites
Goals: Elicit preferences for page interaction, information organization and functionality
Activity 3: First Impressions Pt. 2
Method: Perceptual mapping
Process: Review and provide a rating for current wires
Goals: Receive early evaluative feedback on ORSIS visual comps and seek validation of design decisions
Activity 4: Build Your Dream Site
Method: Collaborative wireframing
Process: Using simple shapes, build components on the screen that you would love to have in future ORSIS
Goals: Receive direct feedback on wishlist items and improve current designs
Testing
Usability Testing
We worked with a small set of caseworkers to expose usability defects of our initial design concepts. Our usability testing mainly focused on the caseworker's ease of using the design concept in their daily work, flexibility of the concept to enable desired functionality and the ability of the concept to meet its intended objective.
Goal
Our goals were twofold: elicit feedback on the UI direction of ORSIS with a high-fidelity wireframe and test the overall design concept with a series of medium-fidelity wireframes.
Process
Due to COVID, we had to conduct our usability testing virtually. We invited five ORS participants to 30-minute remote testing sessions using Zoom. Wireframes were shared with participants using InVision, while the Zoom Annotate feature allowed participants to record their responses to prompts issued by the design team.
Results
100% approval from participants of the concepts of an Agent Dashboard and comprehensive Case Profile page
75% usability success the proposed design overall, suggesting a need for further design iterations.
Wrap-up
Final Design Recommendations
Using the findings from the co-design workshop and usability testing, we continued to improve on the existing screens.
Final UX Recommendations:
Reorganize Workflow
Features: Consolidated view, information hierarchy, actionable steps, facilitate multi-tasking, bookmark their spot
Integrated Workspace
Features: Inin (ORS's phone platform) integration, built-in screen sharing, digital productivity toolbox, document view, embedded calendar feature
Streamline Collaboration
Features: Facilitate handoffs, pinned narratives, team viewer, notification of new cases, recent activity and notes
Design for 21st Century
Features: Design for accessibility, augment search and intuitive navigation patterns, autosave, design for community
Child at Center
Features: Organize work around youth, inspiring imagery, connect to purpose
Final Information Architecture
In the proposed design of ORSIS, case management is the focal point, with the critical Case Profile page playing the central role. The Case Profile houses all the relevant information needed to understand a child support case, including participants, narratives, and documents.
Final Artifacts
The screens below display the final artifacts we submitted to the client.
Lessons learned
Key Learnings
How to be proactive and take ownership of different aspects of the project (i.e. system set-up and deliverable coordination).
Over communicate, especially in a virtual environment. It’s easy to get wrapped up in a design bubble.
How to work in a very fast-paced environment - this project felt like an all-out sprint since day 1.
The masterpiece my fellow designer, Megan, created to commemorate our last day of the project.