From Desktop to User Friendly Web Application
| Client | Alcensoft A/S |
| Tags | Care, Alarm, Security |
| Role | Product Designer |
| Time | 6 months |
The Desktop Application
When starting the project there was already an existing desktop application.
Kick-off
In continuation of previous innovation and strategy work that started back in March 2017, where assessments of what Alcensoft’s purpose and challenges were we did some initial strategy work to identify what challenges there was.
#1: IT people spend 80% of their time on service and maintenance of older outdated platform solutions based on older technology that customers are moving away from and that we have a hard time selling.
#5: When developing new features it is for our current solution based on old technology.
#2: We are also experiencing great competition in the market for emergency call solutions for the care sector with Tunstall as the dominant provider, but also several smaller players are succeeding and starting to become a threat.
#6: We do not have a service team and are therefore not able to handle service and maintenance on a larger scale for nursing home solutions.
#3: We are not developing new solutions with the required perspective and speed that matches an exponential world.
#7: We do not have an app for nurses in nursing homes or an app for home nursing we can connect to our alarm center software.
#4: Our competitors has developed from us in the field of larger operator-operated guard and control centers, and is firmly in the market.
#8: We are not good at recognizing that we need to have a professional and design-optimized and up to date externat communication and profiling to support a professional sales strategy.
Customer Journey Mapping
To get a shared understanding of how Alcensoft currently provided value to their customer we did a customer journey workshop, where we together went through the different touchpoints there was in when serving customers. The customers was Enterprise customers where each solution was tailored to their specific needs.
Problem Statement
“How can we design a modern and up-to-date web interface to replace our old and outdated desktop application?”
Competitive landscape
To better understand the competitive landscape the different competitors was listed in Figma to have an overview of how the competitors solved UX challenges like navigation and information architecture. A few videos was found as well which showcased some of the competitors solutions which gave a better understanding of how the product was used and who the user of the product was.
Understanding the users
The users are employees in an alarmcentral where they are using the system full time. Therefore some of the users have been using the system for more than 20 years and are very skilled at using it. These users do not think there is anything wrong with the desktop version as they know exactly how the system is working. Though they know that it takes plenty of time getting new users started and continuously educating them becoming super users. There is as well the team leader who need to have access to some features that the normal users do not have permission for.
Lise Userson
New user
Lise has just started working with Safecon and are currently being onboarded where she is learning how to use the system through a getting started course and by following a super user.
Morten Userville
Super user
Morten have worked with Safecon for 20 years and know exactly how it works. He’s both experienced in the different scenarios with different alarms as well as working with the system.
Lotte Usersøe
Team leader
Lotte is working closely with both the users and the upper management where she is responsible for reaching the KPI’s as well as managing ressources and setting goals for the team.
User Journey Mapping
To get a shared understanding of how Alcensoft currently provided value to their customer we did a customer journey workshop, where we together went through the different touchpoints there was in when serving customers. The customers was Enterprise customers where each solution was tailored to their specific needs.
Semi structured interviews.
A protocol was made for conducting a few semi-structured interview asking questions about the user journey. The recordings was transcribed and analysed. The analysis method Thematic Analysis was used were different concepts was shaped for each step in the user journey. Here is some of the key insights divided by sentiment.
“One of the improvements in Safecon is that the call automatically transfers to the phone when we activate it from the interface”
“Sometimes I need to know if the same contact is calling multiple times during a day. Here it is nice to get an overview of who has called many times during a day”
“The simpler it is to navigate the easier it is to use for us.”
“The first time I used Safecon was when I was responding to an emergency call. I wasn’t there for the training, so I learned it. on my own. So it has been a lot trial and error and then I’ve learned from my peers. “
“We need some procedure for how we do things, so we have a rule of thumb about how things should be done.”
“There is a lot of information about the contact that we are not using for anything. It’s the same with the reports.”
“If you do not check the emergency code when you receive the call then you actually can’t see the code when you have an ongoing call and therefore you don’t know what type of call it is.”
“I miss some kind of call list, where I can see which calls, why, when, and who. Not only on one contact but all the calls, there were during the day. It would be nice with an overview to make sure everything was done.”
“We have the incident log, but it is a bit confusing. There is different information in the same log.”
Synthesising User Research into Design Vision
“Safecon AMS for responding to incidents is simple to navigate and easy to use to ensure quick onboarding and increased productivity in the alarm center, while giving the user high customisation and the right information at the right time.
Iteration 0.0 – Getting the essentials right.
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 1.0 – Front-end prototyping.
One of the developers got that excited about the drawings that he stayed “a few” extra hours to code the front-end from the previous days workshop. This gave us a quick realtime prototype which made it possible to gather real usage feedback from some of the existing clients. Quickly a usability test was set up with a client to test some real usage of the prototype.
Iteration 2.0 – Visualising the sketches.
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 2.1 – SaaSifying the login flow
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 2.2 – Designing extensions catalog
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 2.3 – Create/Import
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 2.4 – Dark mode
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 3.0 – Improving the dashboard from learnings
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 3.1 – Medical index
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 3.2 – 2-factor authentication
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 3.3 – Choosing alarm centers
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 3.4 – Choosing alarm centers
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 4.0 – Improving dashboard and states
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 4.1 – Expanded alarm lists
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 4.2 – Improved alarmview
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 4.3 – Alarm controls
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Iteration 4.4 – Realtime KPI’s
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
Key Learnings
In a tailormade Google Design Sprint boiled down to a few hours we came through which elements to focus on where the team together was sketching different ideas on how the most essentials parts could look. The sketches with the most votes was these three. The thoughts was that the menu would be working be working as an expendable left sided bar containing all the menu items. The alarm lists would be separated in three lists which could be enlarged based on how the user wanted it and then there should be a integrated softphone which would safe the operator time when calling the different contacts.
