Meetings WebApp:
The Digital Transformation of Legislative Committee’s Sessions
Overview
This case study provides an in-depth exploration of the design process and the development of an innovative solution that took place between April and August 2022 to enhance the management of committee meetings.
The application was strategically aligned with the implementation of a digital transformation strategy tailored to centralize the Organization’s Data Silos and elevate the technological infrastructure to align with contemporary standards and meet user expectations.
Our objective was unequivocal: to enhance operational efficiency, optimize core business processes, and provide a seamless user experience for employees and committee members in the management of meeting sessions, agendas, and resolutions.
Objectives
This case study aims to provide readers with:
A comprehensive understanding of the technological state and the organizational infrastructure prior to the design and development of the application.
The existing challenges and methodologies involved in understanding user needs and pain points, in which lead to forming the transformative strategy.
Insights into the user-centric design process, its research outcomes and personas, the prototyping process and the impact of usability testing, and the operations that underwent successful user experience transformation.
Challenge
The challenge revolved around consolidating intricate data silos while reconciling the varying user and business needs within a legislative committee. These dispersed data repositories hindered efficiency and transparency. The organizational need for modernization demanded a multifaceted approach, aligning data, catering to diverse user requirements, and enhancing operational processes and user experience simultaneously.
Content
As we set out on our case study journey, let's chart a course through its content and highlights and explore the core keynote areas:
Disclaimer
Considering the sensitive nature and confidentiality of the organization for which this product was developed, it will be referenced as the 'Organization' throughout this case study. Any similarities or resemblances to actual entities or names are purely coincidental.
Additionally, please note that the high-fidelity prototype presented in this case study will contain Lorem Ipsum placeholder text to safeguard the privacy and confidentiality of the organization's sensitive information.
01
DATA SILOS
For many years, the Organization has been actively working on digitizing manual business processes. The IT department diligently aimed to cater to the unique needs of each department and stakeholder within its organizational structure.
Consequently, this well-intentioned effort resulted in the proliferation of various software, platforms, and data sources, each tailored to address specific departmental requirements.
Unfortunately, many of these applications do not seamlessly integrate with one another, thereby limiting data sharing, consistency, and accessibility across the organization.
This disjointed landscape of data silos hindered efficiency, transparency, and the organization's ability to harness the full potential of its data resources, prompting the imperative for a transformative solution.
How Meetings Were Managed?
The Digitization effort of committee meetings was introduced at a later stage, the digital infrastructure back then encompassed Oracle as the primary metadata database, Microsoft SharePoint for softcopy documents, and Apple iPads for agenda access by committee members. It’s worth to note the following:
Oracle DB was only accessible on-premise, requiring physical presence for data management.
SharePoint was a remote-accessible platform, contributing to a fragmented system of data management tools.
Staff members needed to interact with four different platforms to create and manage committee agendas, leading to operational inefficiencies and complications.
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the IT department to facilitate remote access to the Oracle database, subsequently raising data security apprehensions within the organization. Furthermore, communication obstacles compelled the adoption of alternative channels such as Zoom, WhatsApp, and a heightened reliance on email correspondence.
Drawbacks
The direct costs of data silos within the Organization were not so clear prior to the pandemic; however, there were a number of ways data silos wasted company resources and reduced employee efficiency.
Ineffective Data Analysis
The fragmented data landscape made it challenging to access, integrate, and analyze data cohesively, leading to delays and errors in determining committees’ performance during a single legislative period and across multiple terms.
Suboptimal User Experiences
Lack of access to the right information and reduced productivity ultimately had a negative effect on user satisfaction. Employees had several touchpoints to manage at once in order to manage meeting sessions, which made it difficult for them to provide excellent performance efficiently.
Inadequate Data Integrity
Given that silos essentially store fragmented data, establishing enterprise data governance was impossible, and the nature of meeting management being susceptible to last-minute amendments made it difficult for employees to uphold information integrity and accuracy.
02
USER RESEARCH
Quantitative Analysis
A survey has been conducted to quantify opinions, behaviors, attitudes, and other definitive variables related to the use, functionality, and efficiency of the infrastructure between key stakeholders who are actively utilizing it to form and manage meeting agendas.
User Interviews
Objective:
Gain insight into the challenges employees and committee members face when interfacing with the digital infrastructure, and the barriers that administrators encounter when managing committees’ data and meeting sessions.
Total Interviews: 16 Interviews
Participants: Committee Members, Staff, Administrators, and Executives.
Total Questions Asked: 25 in Total
Market Research
There were quite a few products available in the market that could be utilized to fill the gap, but due to the nature of the Organization and its policies, the need for customization, and the desire to build in-house solutions, the market research aimed to find the best features of the available products:
Meetings Interactive System (eMeetings)
Official platform used by most government entities produced by IGA
Key Features:
Ability to hold private meetings with Zoom integration.
Hosts a range of different document types.
Bulk Documents upload and management.
Enables remote access via different devices.
MajlesTech
SaaS Developed by a private company in Saudi Arabia
Key Features:
Flexibility to form an unlimited number of Committees.
Document annotation and exportation are available.
Email and text notifications for updates.
Brand application and some customization.
03
CREATIVE BRIEF
The Organization faced a series of formidable technological challenges in managing legislative committee meetings, the proliferation of various software, platforms, and data sources resulted in a complex web of data silos, hindering data accessibility, transparency, and operational efficiency. As a consequence, stakeholders were grappling with the inefficiencies of managing disparate systems, making the need for a strategic solution glaringly apparent.
Furthermore, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic accentuated the urgency for change, as remote access to critical systems became essential. This called for not just a quick fix but a thoughtful, long-term strategy that would centralize data, streamline processes, and elevate the user experience to contemporary standards.
Problem Statement
Users need an integrated data solution to streamline committee meeting’s business processes because they currently experience operational inefficiencies, communication fragmentation, navigational complexities, and performance issues—all stemming from unattended data silos and digital infrastructure.
Strategic Objectives
To harmonize divergent user and business needs, unify data sources, and enhance operational efficiency and user experience through:
Streamlining Meeting Preparation: Streamline and expedite the process of forming and managing meeting agendas and related documents, reducing the time and effort required by a significant margin, and ultimately enhancing operational efficiency and user satisfaction.
Unify Performance Tracking: Develop a centralized platform that eliminates the reliance on personal spreadsheets for performance tracking, providing real-time performance metrics and fostering data consistency, thus improving committee performance evaluation.
Enhance User Experience: Create an intuitive, user-friendly interface that simplifies navigation, making it easier for users to understand and interact with the system. This will minimize user challenges and lead to increased user satisfaction, reducing the learning curve for diverse interfaces.
Key Features
The following considerations are deemed to be essential for a successful transformation:
Centralized Data Access to make it easy for committee members and staff to find and access relevant information.
Efficient and Streamlined processes for creating, updating, and managing meeting agendas, reducing time and effort.
Automated communication features, including email and system notifications, to keep users informed and engaged.
Real-time tracking and quantification of committee performance, thus eliminating the need for personal spreadsheets.
The ability for users to generate reports simultaneously, providing insights into committee performance and organizational data.
Ensuring the application is scalable to meet future needs and ensuring it can adapt to evolving requirements within the organizational ecosystem.
DESIGN FOUNDATIONS
04
Site Map
Low-Fidelity Sketch
Home/Landing Page
Meeting Page
Reports & Statistics
Create/Edit Meeting Form
Main Components
Meeting Records
Design Foundations
After sketching and mapping the system design, we spent some time deciding the foundations of the design system that would represent the Organization’s visual identity before we started creating the High-Fidelity design.
Components
We started with the design of the main system components in High-Fidelity and got feedback that was really useful for improvements, System main components comprised of:
05
THE PROTOTYPE
Login and Home Screen
Committee Records and Meeting Page
Performance & Statistics
Committee Documents & Archive
Create/Edit Meeting Agenda
Screens
06
IMPACT
Usability Testing
Efficient Task Completion: Users consistently reported that they were able to complete common tasks, such as creating meetings and updating information, with ease and efficiency.
Positive Feedback on Search Functionality: Users praised the search functionality, stating that it significantly improved their ability to find specific agendas and documents quickly.
User Satisfaction with Communication Features: The automated email and system notifications received positive feedback from users, who appreciated the system's ability to keep them informed and updated.
Data Entry Form Enhancement: Users who initially expressed concern about the data entry form's size on smaller screens were pleased with the addition of the option to resize the form, enhancing their experience and accommodating different screen sizes.
High User Engagement with Onboarding Assistant: The onboarding assistant was particularly well-received, leading to high user engagement during the initial setup process and aiding users in getting familiar with the system's components.
Development & Feedback
The system's development continued until late November 2022, during which it was successfully optimized for both desktop and iPad screens. It garnered overwhelmingly positive feedback from all stakeholders, which can be summarized as follows:
Users expressed their delight in how the system streamlined the process of preparing meeting agendas, citing a significant reduction in time spent, with tasks now taking only 15-30 minutes to complete.
Committee members lauded the system for granting them immediate access to their committee performance records and documents, thus diminishing the necessity of engaging with office clerks to retrieve specific documents. They appreciated the system's capacity to provide on-demand tracking of such information.
IT specialists reported a notable reduction in cloud storage usage, thanks to the system's intelligent programming, which efficiently detected duplicate documents and prompted users to select previously uploaded files.
07
CONCLUSION
During the design phase, I faced numerous challenges. It was a novel experience for everyone involved, including myself. IT professionals typically favored program-first methodologies from their existing silos and databases, making Design Thinking a fresh and unexpected approach.
Additionally, the absence of organization-wide visual identity guidelines necessitated the creation of a comprehensive design system, representing the Organization's identity and ensuring scalability for future projects.
Most notably, resistance to change was a significant hurdle, as stakeholders were accustomed to established processes. Approaching users diplomatically and understanding their needs was essential. This experience taught me:
We Are Not The Users
One key project goal is to enhance business processes through innovative digital experiences. To create truly transformative software, I centered stakeholders, acknowledging I'm not the end user. It became my duty to simplify their work. I was committed to discarding assumptions, venturing into the field, and grasping stakeholders' needs, frustrations, motivations, and objectives.
It’s Not Just a UI Design
Effective design blends strategic, generative, conceptual, and evaluative approaches. A deep understanding of business processes, user research, and usability feedback findings inform more user-friendly solutions, creating a superior user experience.
Building Relationships With Developers
Initially, I was frustrated to see developers deviating from the design guidelines I painstakingly crafted. To bridge this gap, I shifted my perspective from cynicism to collaboration. I engaged them as teammates, acknowledging their coding challenges. I realized that they prioritize system logic and wrestle with bug-free code.
Furthermore, my reputation for complicating matters with intricate prototypes led me to alter my approach. By valuing their input and understanding their viewpoint, we cultivated a shared commitment to creating an optimal user experience, ultimately yielding mutually satisfactory solutions.
08
APPENDIX
Team
Head of Information Systems - Product Manager
Senior Quality Management Officer - UX/UI Designer (Hi!)
2x Senior Full-Stack Developer
Junior Front-End Developer
Junior Back-End Developer (Outsourced)
Role
Business Strategist | UX/UI Designer: Vision and Idea Generation, Project Planning, UX Research, Information Architecture, Wireframing, Prototyping, Brand Application, and Co-leadership.
Tools
Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Apple Keynote, Whiteboard, Goodnotes.