B2B HR Management Saas Platform
Helping resource managers match employees with open roles.
Brief
When I started this project, the client (name hidden due to NDA) already had a Saas platform, used as an internal recruitment platform for large enterprises such as the “big four” consulting firms. The existing platform (named TX) caters mainly to the employees in the organisation, giving them visibility on new roles, projects & events. The client wanted to add value to the resource managers - the individuals responsible for allocating employees in projects.
The initial brief was to conduct UX research to better understand the resource manager’s needs. Based on the UX research findings the client would assess the need for creating a new Saas platform, specifically catered to the resource manager needs or simply introducing new features to the existing one.
Project Challenges
The main challenge
The current Saas platform is being used by several enterprises, each with its own department structure, staff levels and different resourcing process. The main challenge was to find a unified solution that will cater to all types of enterprises while focusing on the needs of the resource managers themselves.
The secondary challenge
While interviewing resource managers, I found that much of the current resourcing process was carried out offline. The resourcing process includes a wide network of connections, relationships and deep knowledge of employee’s personal situations. This process is time consuming and demanding, considering each manager is overlooking an average of 300 employees. The challenge was to find a way to accelerate a manager’s ability to find and place the right employee for a specific role.
The third challenge
It is the resource managers’ responsibility to recommend the most suitable person for a role and justify their choice to the project manager. Currently they have very limited access to information such as employees skills and experience. Oftentimes the information is incomplete, out of date and not consistent in presentation. Resource managers often result in printing employees profiles and comparing them side by side. I wanted the Saas platform to support and empower the resource manager’s position, presenting them the data they required in making their decision.
My Role
I was the sole UX/UI designer on this project, working closely with a dedicated product owner, the lead tech and a remote development team. My role involved all stages of the product life cycle. I started with user research and personas to help identify market needs. Using design thinking methodologies we tested hypotheses (using clickable prototypes) and iterated our solution to best suit the user needs and business requirements.
To help the client scale their products easily while maintaining consistency across all platforms I also created a design system. The system included a UI kit, component library, a grid system and more. Some of the components were also used in the existing platform (TX).
What I did
User Research
This was a long and complex project that included the full life cycle of a product. I started with user research, conducting a series of interviews with resource managers, project managers and employees to better understand the current process, areas of complexity and frustrations. I then summarised the information I collected and created:
1. Personas: Creating a short bio for the 2 main personas, highlighting their motivation, needs and frustrations.
2. User flow: Mapping the common resourcing steps across all organisations and the resource managers themselves.
Identifying the issues
Once I defined the current users and their behaviour I was able to define the issues we want to solve and how to tackle them. I marked the users frustration points on the user flow to highlight areas of “bottle neck” within the process. With the team we started hypothesising solutions that could help make the resourcing process easier.Once I defined the current users and their behaviour I was able to define the issues we want to solve and how to tackle them. I marked the users frustration points on the user flow to highlight areas of “bottle neck” within the process. With the team we started hypothesising solutions that could help make the resourcing process easier.
Testing our solutions
Following brainstorming sessions, I created a prototype and was ready to test our solutions. The prototype included new features such as a “best matches” for a role, a task bar with daily “to do” tasks and a dashboard summarising the current week. I tested the prototype with the same users I interviewed previously. Each given the same task: to try and find a suitable employee for a specified role. We recorded the sessions (video, audio and screen) and asked a few more questions at the end to gain further feedback on specific areas.
Based on feedback from the user testing I was able to optimise the user flow, created a list of features divided into “must have” and “nice to have” and iterated my designs, increasing usability and users satisfaction. I presented the findings to the stakeholders, including my recommendation to create a new separate tool dedicated to resource managers.
Creating a design system
While working on the prototype and general wireframes I was also developing a design system. Using the Atomic Design methodology, I gradually created complex components which fit into the system’s grid and layout.
In our distributed team’s weekly meeting we discussed the progress of the MVP, the development of the design system and specific questions and feedback about its components library. I worked closely with the front end developer ensuring the design system was as per the Sketch file and provided support where needed.
Results
The client has launched the MVP successfully and the platform is being used successfully by large enterprises. The product road-map includes a list of features to be developed in future releases (based on user testing). The design system is live and being used by developers across other products as well as new features.
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