Change Request Flow Optimization

Sector

Telecommunications

Duration

4 Months

My Role

Lead UX

The Challange

Redesign the Operations Support System to improve user adoption and efficiency across teams, while streamlining change management for smoother transitions.

Additional Challange

Additional Challenge: Managing a multi-vendor environment and coordinating multinational teams with diverse cultural backgrounds, both onshore and offshore.

Problem Definition

The Operations Support System suffered from low adoption and inefficiency due to a complex user journey, outdated interface, and ineffective change management process. Users across various roles struggled with managing Change Requests (CRs), as the system displayed all CRs in the same color and stacked in day and week views, making them indistinguishable and difficult to interact with, especially when adjacent. CRs scheduled for multiple days or as 'all-day events' obstructed the view, further complicating user workflow. To address these challenges, we redesigned the CR calendar for better clarity and usability and developed a mobile app for more accessible CR management.

Current System Issues: Complex Navigation and Inefficient CR Management

Week View

Day View

Discovery Phase

Conducted client workshops to define the target audience, align on business goals, and establish success metrics.
Performed in-depth user interviews to uncover pain points, needs, and opportunities for improvement.
Analyzed user journeys, functionalities, and layouts to identify barriers preventing users from following their ideal paths, resulting in significant costs in time, money, and resources for the client.
Carried out a comprehensive UX analysis of the existing system to pinpoint usability issues and inefficiencies.
Executed a competitive analysis to benchmark against industry standards and identify best practices.
Reframed the core challenge using research insights, laying the foundation for a user-centered design approach.

Ideation

Defined user journeys by thoroughly considering users' needs, motivations, and limitations to create tailored experiences.
Drafted layouts and information architecture for each journey and task, ensuring a clear and logical flow of information.
Collaborated with an in-house Visual Designer to explore and refine brand and visual design elements, aligning the project with the brand’s identity and enhancing user engagement.

Design

Developed wireframes to outline the structure and functionality of the tool.
Validated wireframes and design concepts with stakeholders to ensure intuitive usability and alignment with user expectations.
Refined wireframes based on stakeholder feedback to enhance clarity and effectiveness.
Created a high-fidelity clickable prototype to define and test navigation, interactions, and component behavior, ensuring a seamless user experience.

Design Rationale & Functionality

Separate Display for Full-Day and Multi-Day Events: Full-day and multi-day events are now displayed distinctly, improving clarity and organization within the calendar.

Current Time Indicator: A red line has been added to the calendar to mark the current time, offering users a real-time reference for better time management

Top Horizontal View for Multi-Day Events: This feature reduces visual clutter on days that were previously blocked by overlapping multi-day events, preventing events from obscuring one another.

Event Hover Pop-Up: A pop-up window now appears when hovering over an event, displaying key details without needing to click. This enhancement simplifies navigation, allowing users to quickly review event information without constantly switching between screens.

Change Freeze Feature: Domain leads can now create blackout periods on the Change Management calendar, referred to as "Change Freeze." These periods, shown in red, indicate when changes are restricted, as seen in the lower wireframes.

Delivery

Documented design decisions to ensure a smooth handoff to the development team.
Ensured high-quality design standards were maintained throughout the offshore implementation process.
Measured success metrics defined during the discovery phase and conducted usability testing to validate the design.
Refined the design and provided recommendations based on user feedback to continuously improve the user experience.

Outcome

Increased Adoption and Efficiency: Achieved a 17% improvement in user adoption and efficiency within the first month post-launch.
Impact of Small, Rapid Releases: Implementing small, fast releases allowed users to adjust seamlessly to changes while maintaining familiarity with the tool, showcasing progress in a short timeframe.
Prioritizing Quick Wins: Focusing on "low-hanging fruit" proved essential in tackling a project of this scale, allowing for manageable progress amidst numerous required changes.
Cultural Insights: Gained valuable experience in understanding Japanese corporate culture and work ethics, adapting user interviews and research to fit this context.
New Skills Acquired: Enhanced expertise in UX analysis and UX maturity assessment.
Remote Collaboration Success: Built a successful partnership with the remote team and client, driven by transparency, trust, and clear communication.

Learnings

Gained valuable experience in data visualization, enhancing the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable insights.
Recognized the importance of continuous user engagement throughout the design and development process to ensure the final product meets diverse user requirements.
Reaffirmed that a focus on user-centered design and thorough validation can significantly improve the adoption and success of new digital tools.

Feedback

Ilia, Senior Manager

"Miriam is being an inspiration UX leader, being example to others. Always collaborative, flexible and adapting to the client situation. Nowadays true importance of UX is still to be realized by the bigger organization and our clients, but we are on the right way. And Miriam is an ambassador of this experience.

Besides excelling in her capability, Miriam is proactively taking steps to educate others as well as highlight importance and value of the true User Experience to the leadership.

Great performance and footprint. Keep doing this, Miriam!"