Coordinate: Document Management
Role: Senior User Experience Designer
Responsibilities: Discovery interviews, usage analytics, usability testing, moderate whiteboarding sessions, design solutions to identified problems and business requirements
Team: Danny Russell (Sr. UX Designer), Richard Wagner (Product Owner)
Year: 2022
Note: Due to privacy concerns, mock ups have been reduced to lower fidelity removing brand specific iconography and content.
Background
Our product team conducts regularly scheduled surveys, and one of the frequent complaints we hear is the jumping back and forth between pages which slows down productivity. After a bit of digging into the user metrics and conducting user interviews, we established at least one of the root causes for this behavior is the way documents are handled within the application. On one page all of the documents are typically available, but on another page, where much of their work is conducted, only a select few related to that authorization are available (and even then sometimes things aren’t tracking over). These pages cannot be opened simultaneously hence the jumping back and forth. To make it worse, there are three locations for documents, one on the first page, two on the second, and a lack of consistency across the three. Depending on where someone uploaded a doc and how it was labeled, it can live in one, two, or all three which only adds to the confusion.
Problem Statement
Users of all roles reference documents attached to patient records when conducting their work and need to be able to locate and access them from anywhere within the application.
Research
To be confident in how we approached the problem as well as shed some light on where users experienced trouble, we reviewed work instructions and shadowed users.
I applied those findings to workflow diagrams and used keystroke level modeling to gauge how many interactions (and how much time) it takes a user to complete a task that requires referencing documents. We would later apply keystroke level modeling to our solution to compare the time savings.
Workflow Examples: A selection of workflows by role demonstrating when and how they access documents within the system.
Analysis
We found that the triple threat approach to document management was not appropriate given the inefficiencies and expressed frustrations from users.
We learned that having them organized by authorization is important because they rely on documents that support the case, however, other documents that seem unrelated were still determined to be relevant in their understanding of a case. Access to all documents everywhere was critical.
The three places were all designed differently and completely inconsistent from one another.
Affinity clustering as well as workflow explorations
Exploration
Taking all of that into account, I collaborated with another designer through a few white boarding sessions trying to account for the major issues established in the research. We took these sketches into lo-fi interaction models and worked with clinical leaders, product, and engineering to make sure we covered the necessary bases and what we were proposing was actually feasible. Great news! It was.
Low fidelity explorations for how to restructure document management.
Solution
One place for consistency and ease of locating documents for a patient.
Tab system for authorizations to isolate specific docs relevant to the task at hand.
A means to expand and review details regarding a document to avoid having to download and review, a known blocker to efficiency.
Ability move documents across authorizations without having to download them and upload them. This equates to significant time savings.
Ability move documents across authorizations without having to download them and upload them. This equates to significant time savings.
Redesigned upload system that made sure the document goes where you want it and notifying other users who need to know it was attached all in one form.
Document Drawer: a single source for all document management needs like previewing, downloading, uploading, and attaching to cases.
Document Drawer: annotations for select features (left), and the upload documents form (right)
Results and Lessons Learned
We confirmed our solution through multiple rounds of user testing where we asked them to complete tasks relevant to their role wherein they had to access the new location for documents. The response was overwhelmingly positive.
Furthermore, remember that keystroke level modeling? We used it again to demonstrate how we eliminated several back and forth clicks and improved time savings (and subsequently, cost savings.) This project drove home the importance of not only advocating for the user but speaking the language of the business and promoting change that benefits everyone.
Through user feedback we learned this single source for document management reduced second guessing and uncertainty around where to find specific documents to complete their work.
