Human Resources Office Intranet Redesign
DISCLAIMER: To protect proprietary and confidential information, some content and visual assets related to this project have been redacted.
Project Overview
The Human Resources Office (HRO) intranet site provides a full range of key agency-wide staff services, including recruiting and hiring, employee and labor relations, succession planning, and career development and training. While their site was redesigned in 2013 following an internal reorganization effort, it still proved to be difficult for staff to find critical services with information disseminated across eight sub-sites. Additionally, each sub-site featured its own separate navigation, which proved to be a disjointed experience for users cycling through its estimated 1,270 HTML pages and 2,000 documents.
Project Goals
The goal of this project was to create one simplified, topic and task-based intranet site that provides consistent and clear navigation to support staff in finding information they need. The expected outcomes were to:
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Reduce the complexity of the site
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Streamline customer access to critical information
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Bring the site into compliance with both federal and agency standards and best practices
My Role
I inherited this project about one-third of the way into the project plan, to kick off the IA phase. After a brief transition period for transfer of knowledge, I became the methodology lead and sole user experience (UX) specialist, working collaboratively with a project team comprised of a content writer/editor, website designer/developer, and the product owners—HRO. I was also responsible for project management and had to quickly learn the essentials of Microsoft Project to continue developing the project schedule, assign resources to tasks, and track progress.
Joining the team to lead such a complex project, already in progress, was a bit of a challenge. But with a "hit the ground running" determination, I took this opportunity to grow as a leader through agility, creative problem solving, and effective collaboration.
Key Project Activities
We used a user-centered design approach for this work—with an emphasis on content strategy, plain language, and information architecture (IA).
Information Architecture
My first task was to define a new topic and task-based IA and navigation. Using previously collected research (site metrics, survey, and card sort) I worked closely with key stakeholders in IA working sessions where we:
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Reviewed content and gathered high-level topics
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Grouped related topics (informed by similarity matrix from the card sort and most used topics from metrics)
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Labeled the groups (informed by card sort data and keyword search data for most used terms)
We went through about two-three iterations before we finally landed on a solid draft IA.
Tree Tests
Since findability was a key challenge with the existing site, we needed to be sure our new IA did not have the same pitfalls. I conducted pilot studies with stakeholders, prior to each official tree test with users, to work through any kinks in the test design.
I conducted two rounds of tree testing, based on the following objectives:
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Evaluate the findability of topics in the proposed structure
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Discover patterns in how staff think
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Generate ideas for organizing information on the new site
Findings and Recommendations
Tree Test 1
Tree Test 1 – Task Matrix
As the task matrix shows, most users found the items they were seeking, but quite a few did not. After thorough analysis, I identified the main problem area as the lone audience-based branch in a topic-based tree. Ultimately, it gave users a false information scent leading them off the correct path. My recommendation was to eliminate it and disperse its sub-branches to their respective topics in the IA.
Using the findings from Tree Test 1, I revised the structure accordingly, and prepared for the second round of testing to confirm that our revisions actually worked well for users and did not cause further issues.
Tree Test 2
Tree Test 2 – Task Matrix
As the task matrix shows, this version of the tree performed well, but two tasks proved to be a bit of a challenge for users. We got our front-line navigation (categories) correct with first clicks improving from Tree Test 1, but a few users were still unable to successfully complete the related tasks. In both instances, my recommendation was to include a solid cross-linking strategy for these tasks, to support users who may have a slightly different mental model for locating this information.
Final Thoughts
This happened to be my first time using tree testing as a supplemental evaluation method for card sorting and I must say, it was awesome! Many users shared their appreciation for being included in this effort and were pleased with this research method as well.
I was happy to conclude this key project phase with a data-driven architecture that served as a blueprint of the site upon which all other aspects could successfully be built.
Career Maps Redesign
When I say this was a complex redesign project ... it's likely an understatement. While working through the main project plan, there were also several "mini projects" that we worked on concurrently. One of which was the Career Maps redesign.
Existing Career Maps Design
Career Maps were created to educate employees on career opportunities available within the agency—in lieu of creating a position for a full-time career counselor. They were meant to serve as a self-help, or self-study tool, that employees could use to identify a career path that best matched their specific needs and interests.
Early Design Options
The team had previously created two design iterations prior to my joining the project:
Early Design Option – Balls and Arrows
Early Design Option – Straight Arrows
These designs were shared with staff in "short feedback sessions" where the team captured the following feedback:
When I inherited this mini project, I was not at all familiar with the Career Maps tool. To get up to speed, I scheduled a brief meeting with the product owners to learn background information about the tool, gather requirements, and share the early design options the previous team iterated. Ultimately, we decided to move forward with the Arrows design which would be updated based on feedback as next steps.
Usability Testing – Career Maps Prototype
Partnering with the web designer, we used user feedback from the early Arrow design iteration to inform a third design iteration. With approval from the product owners, I created a click-through prototype to use for testing this latest iteration.
Career Maps Usability Testing Prototype
Test Objectives
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Test the prototype with representative users
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Uncover critical usability issues within the layout and design of the interface
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Establish baseline user performance and user-satisfaction levels of the user interface for future evaluations
Findings
Two critical issues were observed during usability testing—both related to exploring paths in the design:
Recommendations
I shared the following recommendations with the product owners based on the critical issues that surfaced during testing:
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Add explicit instructions that outline the key methods of interaction for users
(boxes + paths + arrows = career path) -
Change the paths to go directly to the occupation boxes instead of arrows
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Change map color scheme from monochromatic to analogous (going for a more varied color palette)
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Remove tooltip from boxes, but keep it for the arrows
As next steps, I proposed that these recommendations be incorporated into the next version of the prototype for internal review.
Published Career Maps Redesign
Final Career Maps Redesign
HRO Intranet Redesign Outcomes
The redesigned intranet site was a success, which was a major WIN for all involved. Winning outcomes included:
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83% reduction of HTML pages and 52% reduction of documents made content and related assets easier to maintain and keep up-to-date
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Improved quality of content with consistent and clear navigation to support easy discovery of information to meet user needs
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Users can easily find the business services they need via one simplified, topic-based intranet site
Users were especially pleased with the redesign and shared positive feedback in a post-launch survey:
This is a condensed recap of this study. If you are interested in learning more about the full scope of my process, please let me know.
