Sprint 1: Discovery October 2015

[Research Plan] (#research-plan)
[Conversation Guide] (#conversation-guide)
[Learnings] (#learnings)

Research Plan

Learning Objectives

1. Better understand the current experience of participants (requestors, approvers, and reconcilers) completing their tasks in C2

2. Map external tools and resources used by participants to complete their C2 tasks

3. Identify opportunities to improve the experience in the future

Conversation Guide

5 mins

• Introduction (who I am, 18F, why I’m interviewing you). I understand you are a pro at talking to designers!
• Objectives (your current experience with c2 and how it fits into your workflow)
• Overview of interview (first get to know you, second share screens and walk through how you use c2, Ideally completing a typical task, finally give you an opportunity to ask questions or give us feedback about C2)

5 mins

• Tell me a little about yourself and your role?

• Primary responsibilities? How long have you been in your role?

• What tasks do you rely on C2 to complete?

• About how much time do you spend using C2 in the course of a week?

5 mins

• I’d like to better understand the context in which you are using of C2. If I were in person, I’d love to see your office, what you have on your desk, what other work related apps you have open.

• Can you walk me through getting set-up.

• Describe your desk and any non-digital tools you rely on?

• What additional windows or apps do you rely on?

• For the next activity let’s setup screen sharing.

20-30 mins

• Let’s walk-thru from beginning to end, a current or typical tasks.
• Possible probes:
• What are the tasks you complete? Can you show me?
• When are you using C2 vs. email?
• How do you keep track of approvals, purchases, etc?
• How do you communicate with the other roles in the approval process?
• What works well, what doesn’t? How would you expect it to happen?
• Can you tell me about a time when something went wrong or didn’t work as you would have expected it to?
• How has this changed your process?
• If anything, what would you change?

5 mins

• Is there anything else you want to share about your experience using C2 or things you think we should know as we work to improve the user experience of the product?
• Do you have any questions for us?
• Thank you for your time. The information you provided is incredibly valuable not only helping me get up to speed but will help inform how the product evolves in the future.

Learnings

Requester top insights:

• Keep the product simple and easy to use. Be mindful of the tech fluency of the users.
• C2 has the opportunity to change the workflow for requesters.
• C2’s current state has been an improvement for requesters but budget analysts have more needs—accessing C2 data at an aggregate level.
• Participants use multiple systems / tools to complete their jobs. For example, email, C2, xls spreadsheet, and a shared drive for storing receipts.

Link to notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eYwf7EoYOK_cjsCeQg0dwkNisvnSsEoskb9pN7fpza8/edit

Budget Analyst top insights:

• Budget analysts needs are a priority
• There is an opportunity to improve the reconciliation process.
• Providing access to data from C2 (digital format) could significantly ease the burden of budget analysts.
• Overall, credit card transaction are difficult to track because of the volume.
• A variety of small improvements could be made around the shared mailbox system to keep Tier 2 approvers in the loop.
• Limited search functionality is increasing the burden on reconcilers
• Analysts are serving as the communication between C2 and Pegasys - each system needs to update based on the other but nothing is automated
• Being able to easily access / export data from C2 would enable budget analysts to get their job accomplished faster

Link to notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uYYax9LQHSIikJCEQh2_hfuMDfSH5u9A4hbUxTZP9aU/edit and, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Son9Oih3gnXFSZfCuluchjph-krNbhP9PJ6L1pnu6j8/edit

Approver top insights:

• Approvers have limited use of C2 and are often only approving requests.
• There is a duplication of work in C2, excel, and other financial tracking systems.
• C2 is one piece of an approvers job. C2 is a pieces of a larger procurement and financial tracking ecosystem that includes Pegasys and RITA.
• There is an opportunity to improve users experience by better understanding their needs and expectations around emails and how and when they are received.

Link to notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uYYax9LQHSIikJCEQh2_hfuMDfSH5u9A4hbUxTZP9aU/edit