### Background

To date, our internal tool at biBERK has largely been built in response to the changing needs, immediate problems and short-term goals that have arisen in the day-to-day throughout its lifespan.

### Problem

Our users struggle to efficiently use our product due to the lack of cohesive vision for the software. It doesn’t support our users' complex, non-linear workflows and as a result, users are forced to frequently switch between different pages and actions, wait for long loading periods and utilize external tools to complete their work. This results in bloated and tedious workflows that consume our users’ time and make our tool unnecessarily difficult to use.​

### Goals

* **Unify user requirements with system capabilities** by conducting and analyzing user research​ to understand where our users's needs and the system's structure diverge

* **Reduce cognitive load** by creating guidelines for navigation elements and establishing consistency​ throughout the interface

* **Improve workflow speeds** by restructuring the underlying information architecture to reflect the actual paths our users take to accomplish their goals​

### Process

1. Audit current state of the tool, including all navigation elements and page actions

2. Define user goals and workflows (using field studies and semi-structured user interviews)

3. Separate navigation elements and actions into hierarchal categories according to user goals and workflows

4. Restructure the information architecture

5. Map the architecture to UI components and design patterns

6. Design the interface

### Key factors

**Leveraging other projects**

As this project started, we had a different project already underway that helped significantly: an exploratory research program that involved sitting with participants from all five of our user groups in order to observe their workflows and discover areas of improvement. We used the research from those sessions to outline the key goals of our underwriters and identify our user requirements.

**Solving for multiple problems at once**

In order for our tool to accommodate a wide variety of user groups, we moved from a chaotic, flat hierarchy with a single plunge, to a role-based, intuitive and deep hierarchy. After culling global navigation and actions, another massive problem emerged:

Our software needed to solve two more *very* different problems: complex domain computation and task management, but any semblance of the second part of its dual function was buried deep within the hierarchy. Without easy access to the task management component of their workflows, our users were losing significant amounts of time clicking between all of the screens necessary to complete their work. Every move to a new page required reloading information just for them to pass through it to the thing they actually needed.

Our solution? A new workspace that surfaces the task management and communication piece at the global level, and allows the user to see all needed information at once.

**Scaling**

At the start of this project, we only had access to two of our three primary user groups. Our initial nav redesign attempted to factor in what we knew of the third group's needs but focused primarily on solving the known issues for groups one and two, knowing that we would need to adjust our solution later on.

IA + Navigation Redesign

Product Designer

A spin-off project from our IA + navigation redesign

Advanced Search: Establishing consistency and maintaining accuracy

I worked with different departments and dev teams to research, improve and develop UP internal tools. From conducting intensive user interviews and usability testing, to designing and prototyping software, I helped discover issues and design solutions that improved our employee and customer experiences. A day in the life at UPRR looked a little like:

✨  Designing low to high fidelity visuals, including mockups, prototypes and user flows
🔍  Conducting extensive research in order to improve UP internal tools
🤝  Collaborating with a wide range of engineering teams to redesign and improve existing software
💡  Hoping design a new customer tool from the ground up
🥅  Consulting on analytics goals and KPI’s for our digital customer experience department
💭  Dreaming about riding on trains (sadly I never go to do any yard visits)

UX Researcher + Designer

My days are primarily focused on our internal tool, Apollo, our home grown solution to risk rating, policy management, claims management and billing. In the day to day you can catch me:

🧐 Learning SO MUCH about the complexities and nuances of our different product areas, our  customer needs and the roles of our primary users—our own employees
🧠 Obsessing over the open-ended and ambiguous problems that sit at the intersection of  complex domains and non-linear workflows
🕵🏻 Balancing trade-offs to solve those problems, with mindfulness of short-term needs, long-term direction, and inevitable constraints 
🤝 Building relationships with different departments to support their needs, and providing education on the availability and usefulness of UX tools and resources
💡 Defining key areas of improvement for each product area based on company goals and findings  from our user research
✨ Jumping into the weeds with whatever research, design or prototyping needs doing

Jules Halstead

2023