PressReader Admin
CRM • DATA VISUALIZATION • POWER BI
CONTEXT
Role
UX Architect
Client
Client
Digital newspaper distribution and technology company
Team
• 1 UX Architect
• 1 UX Designer
• 1 UI Designer
• 1 UX Designer
• 1 UI Designer
• 1 Front-end Developer
Timeline
3 months
CHALLENGES
Problem
To manage their publishers, subscribers and all other aspects of their business, the client needed a powerful reporting and management solution. The existing one was slow, unreliable and didn't meet the client's needs.
To design a web app which could help:
• Show relevant business metrics to different stakeholders
• Manage subscriptions, publishers, accounts and all the other aspects of their business
• Generate business reports.
Platform
• Power BI
• Web Application
• Web Application
SOLUTIONS
With this project, I've followed a classic double diamond design thinking process.
Discovery & Definition
Step 1: Analyzing Existing Tools
Before building the new tool, I had to understand what parts of the existing one are valuable to the users.
Deliverables: all the existing reports and their current usage.
Step 2: Stakeholder Interviews
I've conducted multiple workshops with the stakeholders to understand their use cases and business problems. The best part about these workshops was seeing how people from different departments understand their own business processes better.Deliverables:
• Detailed requirements document
• User satisfaction score: 2.2
Development & Delivery
Step 3: Prototyping
The list of existing ungrouped and unsorted 21 reports was replaced with only 12 reports, grouped in 5 logical sections.
Deliverables: low-fidelity interactive prototypes
Step 4: User Testing
I've tested these prototypes with the key stakeholders and end users. After a few iterations, all the stakeholders were happy with the new reports. The proposed solution, if implemented properly, should have solved all of their needs.
I've tested these prototypes with the key stakeholders and end users. After a few iterations, all the stakeholders were happy with the new reports. The proposed solution, if implemented properly, should have solved all of their needs.
Deliverables: User Testing reports
Step 5: UI Design Overview
After testing the prototypes with the stakeholders, the team has started designing high-fidelity designs in Sketch.
Deliverables:
• Design guidelines
• High-fidelity screens
• Design guidelines
• High-fidelity screens
IMPACT
• User satisfaction has improved from 2.2 to 4.3 on a 5-point Likert scale
• Removed unused reports that required a lot of calculation and data storage on the backend
• Improved the visibility of important metrics
• Streamlined client management processes
LEARNINGS
When dealing with complex enterprise products, conversations with the stakeholders tend to gravitate towards the technical restraints and business goals. Keeping the team focused on the end user needs helps in prioritizing and making the right decisions.
Power BI is a powerful tool, but it comes with its own limitations. It was important for me to learn its technical and UX constraints.
One of the most difficult challenges of redesigning legacy software is gathering the tribal knowledge about it. Most likely, it is not well documented, it was built gradually over a great time span, and not too many people know how it works. That was the case here. If I had a chance to work on this project again, I would've spent less time analyzing the existing business logic, as most of it turned out to be obsolete.
Thank you!
