UX cycle on an already existing product — Part 1
You are probably wondering what is the use of introducing UX research and design into the process of development. You might even think that it can be a hindrance to the process and provides only minor changes that are not worth the time and money put into it.
But let me tell you why this is all wrong.
I recently have changed my work field from the ed-tech sector to the hospitality sector. A major shift I must say. Not only the shift is in the nature of the sector but it is also a shift from B2C to B2B. Both have their advantages and disadvantages but from a UX researcher perspective, B2B can be a real challenge compared to the scalability of B2C. Yet nothing is better than a new challenge waiting to be tackled!
As a new joiner, I am still getting to know each product serving the hospitality sector and right now I am working with BAYAN HRMS(Human Resource Management System) which is the HR and payroll software solution that is designed specifically to work with hotels. Functionality includes employee information management, attendance tracking, leave management, and payroll processing. You are probably wondering why it needs to be designed in a special way but let me tell you, the operations held in hotels are massive! From handling complex round the clock time shifts to keeping up with each country’s labour law and its continuous timely variations, the software is very complicated and designed to serve all tiny issues.
As I first got into the team, my thoughts were on planning a big research project that dives into all features of the BAYAN HRMS product. But as I got to know the product more I found it impossible to handle it top to bottom so I decided to fragment the functionalities and plan each research project individually. The first project which is currently being designed is the Time Keeping module.
The time keeping module is one of the key systems of BAYAN and a major distinguisher amongst other competitive products. The reason behind that is its -excel similar view- (which is what used to be the time keeping tool for hotels before having smart solutions) and the various filtration option that the heads of departments can plan and keep up with employees. Being packed with complicated features is part of its process since as I mentioned before the details involved in hospitality are unlike any other industry. Just a glimpse of what details I mean, let’s imagine a structure of a hotel. You have the kitchen staff, house keeping staff, reception staff and all other employees that are part of a regular company.
Imagine that all these staff need to operate on a 24 hour basis serving 1000 hotel rooms all year long!
I think you got the picture, so planning is not an easy task. Let alone the numerous edge cases that come along planning, so a smart solution is a must! Going back to the time keeping feature, so for me the first step of planning the research for this feature was to
Understand the product from the user’s point of view
This involves many aspects, but for the time being I am following this process:
1- I have an advantage of being new to the system, so without any training I investigated the module by myself and written notes on what was confusing to me.
The system has the beauty of simplicity and straight forwardness which is key when it comes to customers. Furthermore, the design shows a large number of employees in one view which gives the viewer the advantage of forming a summary when viewing the sheets (this is a huge advantage cause usually head of departments need quick info). What I loved the most was the helping tools which come in the form of pop ups that can be handled freely by the user, so if the head of department wanted to know the vacation balance of the employee, a simple tool is inserted which allows the user to open a pop-up and view the balances as he scrolls through the sheet.
What I wanted to focus more in developing the design:
- Improving the visual icons and symbols since the attention span of users are very short and visuals help make the understanding process faster.
- More information tool tips that basically explains each box in the sheet.
- A summary view that combines multiple view in one (this is already provided but the focus would be on highlighting the info in a more user friendly manner)
2- Interviews with the product managers to listen to what the customers usually complain from.
The main points the were mentioned are:
- Customer training usually takes the longest time when explaining the attendance sheet which is an indication that UX needs to be improved.
- Customers find it difficult that they need to navigate through multiple views instead of a holistic view that shows all info.
- Customers find the letters and symbols confusing since they are too many.
- Customer find when viewing attendance that the editing process needs to have shift information available so that the head of department knows what was planned and what actually happened in real life.
These notes will also be verified in our user interviews, so watch out for part 2!
3- View other competitor modules and see what makes us different and what can we learn from their module.
From my analysis, the main highlights were:
- Sheets had visual icons.
- Color codes are used a lot.
- Filtration options are very thorough.
- Report exportation to multiple file types.
- Ease of editing information.
4- Introducing data analytics tool such as Hotjar in order to track how users use the module and if there is any rage clicks (where users get frustrated from the product) or strange paths they follow (where users do not follow the original planned paths in the product and try to come up with way to compensate the bad UX). This is very important as its the closest thing to the natural behaviour the user follow — to be discussed in part 2.
5- Actual interviews with customers — to be discussed in part 2.
Stay tuned for part 2 to check the final design for the sheet.
