Enhancing User Experience of KingNet
Optimizing the interface of the intranet of The City of Kingston
Project Phases
Overview
Enhancing User Experience of KingNet, Intranet of the City of Kingston is a client project that aims to improve internal communication among the City of Kingston employees. By achieving this we discover opportunities and areas of improvement on KingNet by analyzing data from literature reviews, user surveys, interviews, and feedback sessions. Our findings led us to recommend a high-fidelity prototype for the website that would enhance the user experience of employees. My role was a UX researcher and Project Facilitator. I collaborated with 4 other teammates, namely Erick, Nadi, Cali and Shivansh on this project.
Client Name: The City of Kingston
Platform: Web/ Intranet
Key Performance Metrics: User satisfaction
My Role: UX researcher and project coordinator
My Responsibilities: I am responsible for planning and conducting user research studies, such as interviews, surveys, and feedback sessions, to gain insights into the needs of the target audience. My role involves analyzing the data collected during the research phases and translating those insights into actionable design recommendations. I work closely with the UX designers to ensure that the design solutions are based on user needs and preferences, and that the user experience is optimized.
Tools/ UX Methods Used: Literature Reviews, User Surveys, Interviews, Feedback Sessions, Design Iteration, Wireframing, Prototyping; Figma
Target Users
Our main target users are the employees of The City of Kingston, focusing on the office workers, including: full-time, part- time and temporary contractors.
Problem Statement
The current state of KingNet, the intranet of the city of Kingston, lacks efficiency and a user-friendliness interface, resulting to decreased accessibility for city employees.
Research Phase 1
Surveys and Literature Review
To quickly obtain quantitative data on how employees perceive the existing state of KingNet, we distributed surveys to all office workers at the City of Kingston. We also conducted a literature review to learn about best practices for intranets. These research activities provided a good starting point for efficiently acquiring data in a limited time, and the data helped guide subsequent research. Throughout this phase, I collaborated with another researcher Nadi to analyze user sentiments, frustrations, and patterns from the data.
01
Email is the preferred communication tool by office workers
The results showed that KingNet is not the preferred method of communication for office workers in relation to departmental, interdepartmental and organization-wide news. The majority prefers using email as the communication tool.
02
KingNet contains all the information they need
The results showed that employees can still find the information they want on KingNet, primarily HRMS related information.
03
Information architecture of the website should be drastically improved
The qualitative data showed that even though employees can access the information they want, they still hope for an easier way to access that information because the organization is now confusing.
“Everything you need is there when you find it,
just making sure you choose the right links to get there.”
Research Phase 2
Interviews and Low-fi Wireframes
Starting from this phase, the project scope had been narrowed down to the Home Page and HRMS related pages as requested by client.
Since surveys are ideal to collect data in a broad sense, this method does not provide deep-dive insights from the user perspective. As such, we decided to further conduct user interviews to gain valuable feedback from the employees. A total of five current employees were invited to the interviews online.
Top 4 things that employees want to see on the home page
01
A dynamic feed with customized up-to-date information
03
Efficient search function
02
Quick access to popular links/pages
04
Recent internal job postings
“Quick access to popular documents (e.g. sick day leave, trending forms, HR, internal jobs) and want to know why they are popular (key insight)”
Top 3 things that employees want to see on the HR Tools and Resources page
01
Links to HRMS
03
Policies and Procedure
02
Org. Chart
"HR Tools and Resources is a popular page among employees"
Low-fi Wireframes
After analyzing the results from Phase 1 and 2, we created low-fi wireframes for three pages: the Home Page, the HR Tools and Resources page, and a level 2 sub-page of the latter. Since we planned to iterate the wireframe design in later stages, we labeled this version as v.1 for better identification. Our goal with these wireframes was to address the users' top needs when using KingNet, as identified from the research activities in Phases 1 and 2. Additionally, we aimed to improve the visual hierarchy of the website content and provide users with limited options.
Research Phase 3
A/B Testing and Feedback Session
In this phase, we set up three feedback sessions with the employees to obtain their feedback on wireframes v.1. We aimed to validate their expectations and preferences by conducting simple A/B testing. We showed them the current interface of KingNet alongside our wireframes and asked them to choose which version they preferred, and explain why.
Overal Feedback
01
Two out of three picked our wireframe due to the clearer organization of information and a better layout.
02
All of them agreed that our HR Resource page was a good solution.
03
All of them liked the “Job Listings” section on Home Page.
Things They Would Like to See Improvements on the Home Page
01
Add back the “New Hires” section because it is interesting to see who are new to the organization.
02
Rethink the necessity of putting up the slideshow banner on top.
03
Substitute the media hub as the organization does not have enough fresh content for regular updates
Things They Would Like to See Improvements on HR Articles Page
01
Provide shortcuts so they can jump to specific content
Design Iteration
Based on the feedback received from the A/B Testing and Feedback Sessions, we iterated the design of v.1 aiming to accommodate the received comments. In addition, we also conducted an internal feedback session with 28 UX design students to receive critiques about the interface design. Taking all the feedback into consideration, the UI Designer had created the wireframes v.2.
Design Phase
In the final phase of this project, we will incorporate all feedback from clients and employees to develop high-fidelity prototypes for three website pages. Our goal is to fulfill user needs to the best of our ability.
Home Page
Personal Account Information & Navigation Menu
These elements together with the greeting make the experience more personalized and enjoyable.
Personal Account Information & Navigation Menu
These elements together with the greeting make the experience more personalized and enjoyable.
Search Bar
Besides the navigation items, we have redesigned the search bar component as requested by users.
Customizable Quick Access Menu
During the interviews in Phase 2, we learned that everyone employee's workflow is unique. To make this feature more user-centered, we added a customization function for users to customize the items they want to see in the menu.
Quick Poll
The management wants to receive feedback about the organization on an ongoing basis. A simple quick poll that can be updated on a weekly/monthly basis is the solution we see as the most efficient one to accommodate user's needs.
HR Tools and Resources Page
Left menu
We removed the left menu that previously covered all resources to make the layout more minimalistic.
Large cards
Cards were made larger for easy recognition and improved readability.
Icons
Using icons instead of images to guarantee visual consistency. Icons of the same style family help us avoid outdated or unclear imagery.
Article Page
Accordions
Allowing users to collapse and/or expand sections, which helps them navigate and locate content with greater ease.
Adding contact information
On the right column of the page, we have included contact information that is relevant to the content of the page.
-
Understanding the importance of user research: The project highlighted the value of user research in shaping the design of a product. It demonstrated the importance of listening to the needs and preferences of users in order to make a product that is relevant to them.
-
Developing empathy for users: Through the research phases of the project, I worked with another researcher to gain a deeper understanding of the users' perspectives and needs. Communicating their needs to the UX Designer helped to build empathy for the users and informed the design decisions that were made.
-
Learning to work collaboratively: Working in a team of five in which everyone was assigned different roles required me to communicate effectively and work collaboratively with others in order to achieve the project goals.
-
Iterative design: The project demonstrated the importance of an iterative design process, where design decisions were tested and refined based on user feedback. This approach ensured that the final product would be user-friendly and met the needs of the target audience.
-
Adapting to constraints: The project involved working within the constraints of an existing intranet platform. This required the UX designer to be flexible in finding solutions that worked within the limitations of the platform, while still meeting the needs of the users.
Room for Improvement
-
Introducing new features: As the project progresses and more users begin to use the platform, it may be useful to consider introducing new features to meet their needs. For example, the platform could include a messaging system to allow users to communicate directly with one another, or cloud-based file sharing platform for internal file transfer.
-
Continuous testing and refinement: It's important to regularly test the platform and make refinements based on user feedback to ensure that it remains relevant and useful. This could include usability testing, A/B testing, and ongoing user surveys to gather feedback and make necessary improvements.
Project Outcome
The client was pleased to see the thorough user research and design solutions for the betterment of KingNet. They were willing to further our design and take it to the technical professionals to investigate the feasibility of implementing it.