Fathom Consulting
Fathom Consulting is a 15-member firm that tackles many projects at once. Using the OpenAir software in order to have the employees input their time and Project Managers to have an overview of projects they are currently on.
Tools:
Invision Whiteboard
Zoom
AdobeXD
Invision Prototyping
Methods:
Cognitive Walkthrough
Research Findings and Prototype Documentation
Wireframing
Prototyping
Foundation
Our team was given walkthroughs of how they currently use OpenAir. We viewed:
What features that are currently being used
What features, while doing their basic tasks, are not being used or not aware of why they are there in the first place
What their work-setting is around this application
With this information, I conducted a cognitive walkthrough on how easily they were able to complete their primary tasks on OpenAir.
From the results of the cognitive walkthrough, I saw that as a team with many projects going on, efficiency with completing tasks and removing non-beneficial information needed to be addressed.
Approach
As a team we conducted three interviews with Fathom personnel. With the notes taken, I proceeded to make a Research Findings and Prototype Plan.
The Findings from the Cognitive Walkthrough and the interviews resulted in two key findings:
Issues with interface/wayfinding which made getting to an aspect of a page tedious
Found, with the cognitive walkthrough, you needed a minimum of six clicks in order to be successful in key tasks
This is inefficient. The time spent on getting to the task is usually higher than the time spent on the task.
Issues with information displayed on the pages that the employees do not use.
Found, through the interviews and cognitive walkthroughs, areas of the website where the employees stated not using buttons, areas in forms, or completely not knowing what certain things were.
As well as two User Stories:
As a Project Manager, I want to have a simpler way to add, edit, and track Projects, so I that I can make sure that my time is spent in a efficient way to figure out the progress of projects.
Simplified Projects page with boxed-in ‘current project’ sections
A list of all current Projects and what percentage they are at in estimated time allocated as well as total current time out of projected time
An “edit time booking” link/button under the project section
An “allocate time” link/button under the project section
2. As an Employee, I want to feel comfortable inputting my time daily, so I that I can keep the projects updated daily on the time I’ve spent, and how much is left to allocate.
A time input that shows the pay period
Allowing to click and extend days of the pay period to see all current projects you are signed on for, and update multiple times (if not doing daily)
See your current hours on a project vs the time estimated allocation for you
Outcome
Using the key findings from the findings, I created two scenarios to focus my Prototype on:
After a user logs in, they are taken to a new dashboard with widgets displayed, personalized to the user. This user would be able to fill out their daily time in the Time-Widget. And then move to the new Timesheet page (by clicking inside the widget, or on the top bar) to view details, such as viewing current hours vs the estimated allocated time for each project.
After a Project Manager logs in, they are taken to a new dashboard with widgets displayed, personalized to the Project Manager. They can view all of their current projects, the people assigned to the projects, and the total time spent vs the total time allocated. If the Project Manager needs to start a new project, edit a project, or view project details, they can then move to the new Projects page (by clicking inside the widget, or on the top bar) to view that information.
Making sure to center around the information I gathered from the cognitive walkthrough, the interviews, the findings and research, and prototype plan. You can view an Invision tour here: External Link-Invision Tour.
I completed the low-fidelity wireframes of the community feature and high-fidelity wireframing of the mobile-unit tracker page. As well as four annotated pages.
Prototype: Employee Homepage
Prototype: Updated Timesheet Page
Prototype: Project Manager Homepage
Prototype: Updated Projects Page
Conclusion
In conclusion, I created new layouts for the problem spaces identified in the cognitive walkthrough and the survey.