Windstream

Change Management System

Since this system is for the client's internal use, I will be explaining the design process and sharing opaque designs while keeping internal systems confidential. I will outline the process followed before arriving at the final design and provide snippets of information without revealing the complete picture.

Windstream provides high-quality internet and network services for businesses. Windstream UCM is their system for managing and tracking change management tickets to ensure the network remains in good condition.

Screens

165

Duration

6 Months

Team Members

2

Goal

Developing a Unified Change Management (UCM) platform with a modern design language to address the limitations of legacy systems. This solution focuses on enhancing usability, streamlining workflows, and improving overall efficiency, ensuring a seamless and intuitive user experience while meeting the evolving needs of businesses.

Challenge

Existing legacy systems present challenges such as outdated architectures, scalability issues, poor integration, and high maintenance costs, leading to inefficiencies in change management.

Additionally, relying on multiple tools created a fragmented system where a complete overview of a ticket was not available in a centralised location. This required frequent follow-ups and manual tracking, making the process inefficient and cumbersome.

Analysing Legacy System

The first step we took was to thoroughly understand the current architecture, components, and processes of the legacy system. This involved reviewing the system’s functionality, workflows, and how data is being handled. We focused on identifying any inefficiencies, bottlenecks, or areas where the system was outdated or no longer met the evolving business needs.

Based on the initial analysis, stakeholder interviews were conducted, and the insights gathered were used to build user journey flows for the legacy system using the FigJam tool. Stakeholders were then invited to collaborate on the process.

To eliminate unwanted features and identify MVP
To identify personas
To build empathy maps
To identify user pain points

Pain Points

Maintenance Engineer

Incomplete information
Redundancy- enter same info over and over
Tool is not specific to their role
Have to create 2 tickets for the same work
Entering data that should be auto populated with previously entered information.
Everything must be scheduled in CST and do mental math to convert.
Scheduling process is unclear
No way to tell them what is the best element to enter
New users have no guidance
Over notifying per device

Approver

Changes require tickets to be sent back to planning
Scheduling conflicts and resource availability are hard to determine.
Low priority tickets asked to review - Tickets that have very low failure rate.
Approvers don't always understand expectations/value.
Inadequate data presented to approve or deny work.
Cumbersome approval process
Changes in organisational structure will change approvals mid-process.
• Request for project is out of band
(vie email etc)

Implementer

Resources not available
Lack of conflict visibility to other outages (deconfliction)
Can't start tickets remotely
Unplanned impact due to missed elements, affected customers and complexity
Facility Issues and hardware failure.
Conflicting or overlapping tasks.
Tickets not approved

Change Analyst

Don’t have performance metrics
Inaccurate tickets creation from internal designers.
Swivel chair to multiple systems to compile impact analysis
Lack of conflict data in systems
Unplanned impact - Tickets have to be tracked outside of system
Excessive notification.

Design System

Since building a custom design system for each client would be a time-consuming and cumbersome process, we applied the Pareto Principle and selected an open-source design system that encompassed the key elements we anticipated as essential for creating a robust system.

Wireframes & Design Elements

Based on the analysis of the legacy system, work on wireframes and low-fidelity mockups was initiated. This process was carried out in sprints to gather quick feedback and validate the design direction with stakeholders.

Key design elements were identified to address critical issues, including:

Ensuring different user profiles can view relevant ticket stages.
Streamlining ticket movement between different departments.
Implementing an "always-visible" ticket status for faster operations.
Enhancing navigation for a more user-friendly experience.
Presenting large volumes of data in a clear and easily understandable format.
And many more ...

Enhancing navigation

An intuitive, clear navigation menu with consistency in UI elements under well structured layout

Presenting large volumes of data in a clear and easily understandable format

The table design was thoroughly examined to incorporate progressive disclosure, redesign filter elements, and allow users to customize table views according to their needs.

Implementing an "always-visible" ticket status for faster operations

A custom stepper element was envisioned to indicate sub-elements within the Chip UI. Multiple versions of this element were designed to accommodate role-based access control (RBAC) views.

Prototyping & Usability Testing

During the iterative process of developing mockups, multiple prototypes were created and shared with stakeholders and team members for usability testing. The goal was to collect valuable feedback, identify pain points, and refine the design to enhance the overall user experience. By continuously testing and improving, we ensured that any usability issues or inefficient workflows were addressed, ultimately leading to a more seamless and satisfying interaction for users.

High Fidelity Mockup Snapshots

Here, I am showcasing some of the high-fidelity designs that were finalized and handed over to the development team after undergoing a thorough visual QA process and receiving client approval. These designs were carefully refined to ensure consistency, usability, and alignment with the project requirements before implementation.