Roles:
UX Designer
UX Researcher
Prototype redesign for the legacy Social Service Information System used by the Minnesota Department of Human Services and county case managers
Methods:
Primary user research
Contextual inquiry interviews
Affinity diagramming for research synthesis
Findings and recommendations client report
Prototyped website revisions for client review
Tools:
Figma
Zoom
Pen and paper
Adobe
Keynote
Background and Problem
The Minnesota Department of Human Services and county case managers across the State use Social Service Information System (SSIS), a legacy Windows application built from 1995-1999. In particular, my task was to examine form creation for Out-of-Home Placement Plans (OHPP), a document required by statute whenever a child is in need of protective services, or when the court places a child under protective supervision of a social service agency and orders a child into the home of a noncustodial parent. The current system is functional, but DHS feedback regarding OHPP form creation have shown the task flow to be cumbersome, requiring frequent user workarounds, with redundant information requests further slowing down the process and creating unnecessarily long final documents.
For reference, below is a screenshot of the current OHPP user flow:
While statutory requirements will necessitate a lengthy OHPP form output, minor improvements could significantly reduce processing time and create a document that better prioritizes the needs of family during a challenging time. My final deliverables to DHS stakeholders included a findings and recommendation report, key screen prototypes, and a video walkthrough further explaining the decision process for recommendations.
Research
Research began with a cognitive walkthrough of key tasks in the OHPP document user flow provided by DHS for evaluation. They were: Complete “Title Page” information, Complete “Placement” information, Complete “Individualized Determination of Placement” information, Complete “Support and Services for Parents/Child/Foster” information, Complete “Supporting and Preserving Relationships” information, Complete “Well-being” information, Complete “Permanency” information, Complete “Visitation” information, Complete “Final Issues” information, Set up the document for required signatures, Print the document and ensure the appropriate parties receive it (and sign it). The cognitive walkthrough revealed a functioning OHPP form creation process, but one that appeared to request duplicative information often and could benefit from several sections being condensed, for example, the three “Support and Services” sections ask nearly identical questions and could better be one section.
Screenshots of that task process evaluation, guided by a DHS subject matter expert who provides support for the software below:
This task flow is a perfect representation of the existing problems with OHPP form creation overall. While functional, the task is laborious, needing near-identical information entered several times. The user interface is busy, with just 30-40% of the screen ever being utilized for form creation, despite little need for users to be interacting with anything else in the application at that time. Existing user feedback about the process was validated by the walkthrough - this process could easily be improved.
Two contextual inquiry interviews were then conducted via Zoom with county case managers who generate OHPP forms several times per month, depending on need. Each reported that documents were typically 15 pages, but could be as long as 30 pages. Document creation generally took around 2 hours, but one case manager brought up examples of households with two parents and three children, all requiring OHPP forms, and how such a scenario could double or triple the processing time needed.
While seeing users walk me through their actual work flow step-by-step was instructive, it was their stories that stuck with me. The case managers shared their frustration with delivering dense documents to families that were hard to digest and left families feeling more disempowered.
“These (OHPP forms) are 14-16 pages long, getting through this is a challenge. It is overwhelming, they don’t understand these questions, a lot of it doesn’t apply to them. The harm and danger statement is at the beginning and a lot of them can’t get past that. It’s hard to get [families] to understand that this is a legal working document and we have work off of it.”
The form as it’s currently displayed leads with the reasons for child placement, rather than steps needed to reunify families. With research completed, it was time for recommendations to be crafted and prototypes created.
Findings and Recommendations
After research, some common themes had emerged.
The OHPP document creation form is too long, with many redundancies. While many sections and pieces of information are required by statute, there is no need to ask same or similar questions multiple times. This results in longer case processing time and creates lengthy documents to be delivered to families already under intense stress
Information and section types could be much better structured to deliver key information to families at the beginning of the finalized document
Better visibility of important elements and user interface overall could reduce user frustrations and increase efficiency of use for case managers who use SSIS often
A findings and recommendations report was drafted for DHS that included sketched wireframes of proposed revisions.
In our proposed prototype, “Permanency” would now appear immediately after the Title Page so important information about reunification for families would be discussed immediately. “Support and Services” becomes one section, rather than three, and several sections are condensed under “Well-Being.”
The user interface is modernized, with the file folder navigation system, plethora of buttons, and numerous open panes being dispatched in favor of dropdown menu options, large space for maximized windows, and a dedicated accordion for OHPP document creation.
A high fidelity prototype was then created in Figma that detailed these key changes. Below are the results:
In the prototype, modern Windows OS user interface has been adopted, which should lead to greater visibility of important information. The additional panes have been removed - all information will now be maximized into the main screen area that represents about 85% of all real estate. This will lead to easier form generation input and less errors by creating a larger document space, and hopefully less mental clutter for users as only tasks they are directly working on will now appear on the screen.
For greater details on the whole thought process, watch the video walkthrough here.
Lessons Learned
I believe the final prototype delivered to DHS is a big advancement from their existing application. My key takeaways during development were:
“It just works” is a fine adage for some applications, but county case managers we spoke to were very frustrated by the amount of redundancies in the existing software and number of workaround solutions needed to advance their task flows.
Contextual inquiry interviews with case workers surprised me. The SSIS placement forms are lengthy, and every section is required by statute. The hierarchy of listing reasons for placement so early in the form, however, proved incredibly dispiriting to families. My prototype adjustment of the order of things may seem small, but users believed it could make a big difference.
Working with an application built in the late 1990s was a trip through memory lane. While today this design is considered challenging for users, at the time, a plethora of file folders, placing every possible option on the screen, and text box entry forms were perfectly workable solutions for users. We’ve come a long way. I’m hopeful my more modern UI layout and decisions will help users in the same way this existing design was likely a large leap forward for users at its time of implementation.