RHYTHM FOR CIVICS
Overview
Infor's Rhythm for Civics is a cloud-based publishing platform for city, county and state government agencies.
Citizens and government contractors can discover, apply and renew business permits and licenses as well as submit 311 requests such as pothole repairs and loud noise complaints.
The Rhythm platform offers a highly customizable widget library that can be configured to any agency's business needs.
Role
Research, Information Architect, UX/UI Design, Prototyping
Client
Hook & Loop – Infor, Inc.
Tools
Sketch, Omnigraffle, Hype 3, Silverback
Problem
Being built from a pre-existing backend that already conformed to city and/or state specific regulations and laws.
Researching examples of online permitting was difficult because very few cities offered this service online (at the time).
Initial designs were completed based on technical requirements documentation which lacked user scenarios or journey maps.
Design Process
The first phase of the project was just getting started when I joined the team. The only work that had been established so far was a series of requirements documents that were written by business analysts. Using these documents, the team and I started organizing all the different widgets that needed to be designed and created user flows for the two primary user roles we were tackling for phase 1, the customer (citizen) and public user. Once these flows were established we were able to start on the initial wireframes that would then go through several rounds of iterations based on feedback from the business analysts and development team. The designs below showcase the experience for the customer user role.
Research
As the team and I worked through the requirements and completed initial wireframes, user testing started in the form of in-person scenario-based testing with a current customer of the Infor software. About two months into the project I was able to travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota and conduct in-depth user tests with a total of 6 local citizens. The participants were given a set of tasks for a proposed scenario of finding and applying for permits and licenses required to open a new coffee shop. The participating citizens were directed to provide honest opinions regarding their experience using the Discovery Wizard and Submitting process.
Findings & Further research
The feedback and insights we gathered from the user testing sessions established a baseline of performance and identified usability problem areas within the UI. Each insight we gathered was documented and analyzed by including a key takeaway or, in some cases, a possible solution to the problem and ranked by priority. The results of the user tests both confirmed some of our initial assumptions while also revealing problems areas we were not expecting.
After the initial user testing session, the team was able to conduct further user testing and research including a client workshop with the City of Long Beach in California. Based on feedback from citizens and the client, the following user journey was created to highlight each step in the process from Discovery to Renewal.
Solution
Since the team and I were bound to the time constraints of the project, we had to rely on the business analysts’ domain knowledge and follow their requirement documentation. As time went on we were able to conduct user testing which helped us figure out what aspects of the platform were working and which needed improvements. Since user testing and design were happening simultaneously we were able to determine and apply quick fixes or plan for future changes that had deeper, overarching impact.