COMPLIANCE TRACKER
Created a web app to manage client audit readiness in real time
UX Research I UX Strategy I UX Design I UI Design
MY ROLE
Lead UX Researcher
Lead UX Designer
KEY ACTIVITIES
Research & Insights
Wireframes
Prototyping
Content
Usability Testing
COMPANY
Highland Ag Solutions
INDUSTRIES
SaaS Enterprise
B2B
DATE
2022-2023
Summary
Highland Ag Solutions is a subscription-based web application designed for the agricultural sector, providing digital tools for compliance, sustainability, and remote enterprise management. My project objective was to develop a new tool specifically for food safety consultants, with the aim of expanding Highland's product portfolio and ultimately boosting revenue.
Problem - Food safety consultants encountered significant challenges in effectively managing multiple client accounts to ensure they were continuously prepared for audits in real time.
Solution
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This app serves as a comprehensive tool for monitoring and notifying clients, ensuring real-time compliance readiness.
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Provides a solution, enabling them to manage compliance and regulatory requirements for vendors, clients, suppliers, etc.
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The enhanced visibility and real-time updates empower businesses with continuous audit readiness, 24/7/365.
What I Did - A comprehensive research and design package. I served as the UX Lead for this project.
In the research phase:
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I conducted stakeholder interviews
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Deep dived to empathize and comprehend the frustrations of consultants
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Mapped out user flows
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Conducted all user testing
In the design phase:
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I took charge of creating all wireframes and high-fidelity mockups
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Implemented all iterative design changes
Watch the demo video below
Compliance Tracker demo video
Research
Is there a market for this MVP? Start by talking to the consultants
To kick off the project, I engaged with food safety consultants, all of whom are active users of the Highland Hub. Additionally, I conducted interviews with the internal Highland team members who assist customers with inquiries about the Highland Hub.
The insights gathered from these interviews informed my understanding of the consultants' needs and current experiences.
Criteria for the internal and external stakeholder interview panel:
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I recruited (6) 45-minute user interview sessions with food safety consultants from small, medium and large consulting firms.
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I also interviewed (4) internal stakeholders: Product Owner, Director of Customer Success and Account Managers.
Screenshot of a stakeholder interview to gather requirements and insights
KEY FINDINGS: I identified 3 crucial areas for further investigation and direction
1. Unveiling Client-Consultant Dynamics: Investigating the relationship between the client and consultants.
2. Uncover the Consultant's World: Understanding how the consultant and their team directly and indirectly shape the current experience, exploring the constraints they navigate, and gaining insight into consultant pain points and desires.
3. Solutioning for Consultant Pain Points: To explore solutions for addressing consultant pain points, with a focus on the team’s integral role in realizing that vision.
Identify the areas of opportunity to provide a solution
I collected insights through stakeholder interviews and extensive primary and secondary research, specifically targeting food safety consultant experiences and food safety audits. These insights formed the cornerstone of the design and development process.
Following the interviews, I documented all responses on sticky notes and organized them into clusters based on their topics. Using an affinity map format, I identified recurring themes and valuable insights to inform the UX design strategy.
I organized sticky notes containing interview quotes into clusters to identify themes
KEY FINDINGS: I Identified 3 key areas of opportunities
1. Time-Consuming Logins
Logging into individual accounts within the Highland Hub is a time-consuming process.
2. Real-Time Tracking Challenges
Items can go out-of-compliance overnight, making it challenging to keep track of all line items across accounts in real-time.
3. Delayed Remediation of Non-Compliance Items
Out-of-compliance items often go unnoticed for weeks, making it nearly impossible to promptly remedy them and bring them back into compliance.
I still lacked a complete understanding of their needs and motivations
After organizing and clustering notes, I identified recurring themes in frustrations, processes, and motivations, reaching the point of "data saturation." However, I realized the need to dive deeper and truly understand the consultants' perspectives. My goal was to empathize more deeply to fully comprehend how these elements interconnected in their journey. Though I was close, I recognized the necessity for further research. To visualize their insights and understand their needs and motivations better, I crafted empathy and customer journey maps seen below.
Empathy map of my food safety consultant
Building upon my consultant persona, Sarah, I created a user journey map that significantly aided feature development. This map highlighted the fears and obstacles consultants encounter across various stages of their journey. I attempted to understand potential negative scenarios throughout their journey, identifying opportunities to address them by considering the unique desires, needs, and fears.
Journey map of my food safety consultant
INSIGHTS: I pinpointed 4 key areas for improving their user task flow to better address their pain points
1. Monitoring Pain Point: Spend too much time logging in to each client account.
2. Response Pain Point: Difficult to identify and resolve critical items before they get to far along and time consuming to remedy.
3. Pre-Audit Pain Point: Must leave the internal audit to see other items and to see a complete audit.
4. Post-Audit Pain Point: No aggregated data available to create reports to see trends and observations of the season.
Now I was confident identifying Minimum Viable Product (MVP) solutions
Scenario: Sarah, the food safety consultant, utilizes the MVP to oversee food safety aspects within the Highland Hub. Her process involves identifying non-compliant items and promptly notifying her clients to rectify them through their Highland Hub account. In addressing the initial challenges, I've devised solutions focusing on monitoring and response, which I'll integrate into the MVP user flow:
Step 1: She logs in to her account on the MVP.
Step 2: She accesses a centralized page displaying all her accounts. (Solution for monitoring)
Step 3: She identifies clients with non-compliance items, i.e. those with past due statuses. (Solution for monitoring)
Step 4: She promptly sends notifications to these clients, flagging the items for review within their Highland Hub
account. (Solution for response)
User flow for sending a notification to the client's Highland Hub account
Experiment
Design strategy and understanding the level of effort for the MVP
The design strategy aimed to simplify processes. Consultants must monitor numerous food safety items for each client to ensure audit readiness at all times. The plan involved creating a web app based on these processes to eliminate individual account logins and reviews. Starting with a basic user flow, I integrated key concepts and expanded from there.
Here's a twist: I had a technical constraint given to me by the business. I had three sprints or 9 weeks for the dev team to build this. Since this was a new product, I needed to present the concept idea and MVP functionality to the Engineering Architect.
Must Have Features
Navigation
Integrate All Accounts
Status Indicators
Food Safety Line Items
Account Manager Name
Notify Button
Initial sketches to start proposition testing for feasibility
I am not the user, so test, test, then test again
Did the strategy solve the problem? What are the technical constraints?
Final design solutions
An elegant and simple solution
To address the urgent pain points and adhere to the tight development schedule, I effectively tackled the primary two issues in the consultant's journey. The remaining concerns will be addressed in future iterations during upcoming sprints.
Monitoring Pain Point Solved:
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The consultants can access a centralized page that shows all of their accounts.
Home page
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They can then identify clients with non-compliance items, such as those with past due statuses.
Response Pain Point Solved:
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Consultants can send notifications to these clients, flagging the items to take action in their Highland Hub account.
Account Details page
Deliver
Soft-launch to the market
Introducing the Compliance Tracker
Following meticulous testing, vetting, and refinement, we methodically introduced the new food safety product to consultants. Maintaining open lines of communication and fostering strong relationships with the consultants was imperative throughout the rollout process. Both consultants and customer service reps played pivotal roles in promoting the project, rallying support, and organizing informative sessions to introduce the product and address any inquiries.
Check out the official Compliance Tracker website
Outcomes & reflections
Impacts seen 6 months post-release
Throughout the process, I collaborated closely with food safety consultants to conduct research and refine our approach. Together, we identified and resolved key pain points. As a result, consultants observed a significant decrease in audit duration and a decrease in non-compliance issues among their clients after the product was launched. This underscores the importance and effectiveness of our solution.
75%
Reduction time in on-site and in-person audits.
87%
Reported decreases in non-compliance issues.
15 pts
Average point increase of clients' audit scores.
Feedback from Users:
“The Compliance Tracker feels like it was made just for me.” - Food Safety Consultant
"I can quickly review and identify the clients I need to contact, making it easier to plan my day." - Food Safety Consultant
Reflections:
I had a great time working on this significant project, immersing myself in the world of food safety audits and gaining insights into consultants' needs. The pilot of the web app was successful, garnering positive feedback and adding value to the Highland portfolio while also boosting revenue.
Ultimately, this will lead to an enhanced experience for consultants and their clients, improved audit preparedness, build stronger relationships between consultants and Highland, and increase time for consultants to concentrate on expanding their own businesses.