The client, a prominent bank, faced significant challenges in its Human Resources operations due to the reliance on manual processes. The generation of reports, a critical aspect of these operations, involves collecting data from diverse sources manually, leading to a high likelihood of human errors and time consumption hindering the departments efficiency and overall productivity.

We carried out research in a three-pronged focus. 

• To understand who our user was
• To understand the customer’s needs
• To understand the technological limitations of the deployment platform

We employed qualitative research to gather requirements by interviewing stakeholders, including Business Analysts, developers, Insights analysts, and clients. We sought to understand who was creating the reports, their challenges, and what they expected from the dashboards. Through this process, we ascertained which metrics were necessary for their reporting. We went through previously generated reports to understand how they would be used. 

The interviews with the developers allowed us to understand how the data flows from the source of entry to where it’s stored until the visualisation level. The developers gave us an insight into how SAP Lumira worked as a visualising tool so we could understand the pros and limitations when designing for the deployment platform. It enabled us to manage user expectations concerning what they can achieve on the dashboards.

Insights

What we gathered from the research was that

• Automation was a high priority as it would cut down time for creating Reports
• Reports were static and did not offer deeper insights into the figures presented
• Data was not reliable as it was coming from various sources
• There was no consistency with the visualisations produced in the various tools
• A small segment of users were uncomfortable with changing from what they were familiar with.

Ideation

Our workflow was agile-based, so while we were working on the flows, we were also visualising low-fidelity wireframes considering the placement of navigation and filters.

The dashboards had different levels of complexity as some were executive overviews while others were for insights analysts who needed to drill down into data requiring filters. We settled for three layout types to cater to various degrees of complexity.

This layout would have more filters and many pages, which can be added below each other in the navigation pane.

The executive overview would have fewer filters and pages.

The hybrid layout would consist of a fair number of pages and filters along the header.

Scenarios

Our users requested common use cases through our user engagement, and we illustrated this through task flows. One such request was the ability for the user to create a custom dashboard. Our solution was for them to fill out a form and select the metrics and charts from predefined options. The report would be shared with other users. We created task flows for this use case.

We socialised the task flow with the users and went through various iterations.

The resulting form addressed the users’ needs in creating the custom report.

The result was a collection of Enterprise Risk Management dashboards developed in SAP Lumira with consistent visual aesthetics to ensure a seamless experience across departments and from one dashboard to another.

We would socialise the prototype at critical stages throughout the development before small groups of early adopters. A challenge we faced with the UAT was the availability of our users. To mitigate this, we used three methods of testing. 

• Designer-led walk-through via Teams (early)
• User-led walk-through (Advance prototype – Assigned a task and observed how they navigate through the dashboard)
• Unmoderated user using a survey form (The live dashboard in production)

to users that they could drill downResults from these UAT sessions gave us insights into our users’ behaviour and preferences;

• they expected to see graphs and charts they were familiar with
• they appreciated the addition of filters
• some tiles on the overview were not necessary
• it was not immediately evident to some users that they could drilldown
• they requested to see more colour

We aligned some charts with what they were familiar with, and the bank’s corporate identity guidelines instructed the use of colour. We also addressed the issues of filters by labelling them appropriately.

As the dashboards were being rolled out, users were enabled on how to use the dashboard. The enablement phase was essential in managing the change from the old system. If this were not done effectively, users would resort to what they are used to, resulting in a low usage uptake. 

Evaluation

• Monitor performance and gather user feedback
• Implement refinements and improvements based on user input 
• Assess the impact of the dashboard on reducing human errors and improving efficiency.
• Ongoing iterations ensure the dashboard remains aligned with user needs and industry trends.

• The redesigned banking dashboard successfully automated manual processes, reducing human errors and saving time for bank employees.
• User feedback and KPIs indicate improved efficiency and a better user experience.

Ongoing iterations ensure the dashboard remains aligned with user needs and industry trends.