TRANSPORT CANADA OPERATION MANAGMENT SYSTEM
On any given day, Transport Canada may be called upon to respond to many kinds of emergency situations. Transport Canada must be ready to respond to any situation that disrupts the national or regional transportation system or Transport Canada employees. TCOMS ( Transport Canada Operation Management System) is built to collect data and then provide reports on situations affecting Canada’s transportation infrastructure – including marine, air and surface modes.
THE CHALLENGE
Like many other government systems, TCOMS is used by many users in different parts of Canada. All those users use this system in various ways and for various needs. TCOMS, primarily an interaction recording tool, offers users other opportunities, such as maps, person search, and document management. The challenge is identifying common ground among users and unique opportunities to improve TCOMS based on particular group needs.
Another main challenge is the environment in which these users work. The emergency centers are 24/7 offices, with hundreds of calls daily. They work fast and need a system that will work with them and not against them.
MY ROLE AS LEAD UX DESIGNER:
Conducting usability testing sessions with users to validate proposed designs and workflows and communicate findings to stakeholders.
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Using qualitative and quantitative data to create user stories, profiles, personas and journey maps to support the user-centric development of TCOMS
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Working with the appropriate stakeholders to identify and design departmental service patterns and standards that scale (where applicable and feasible) for the benefit of IMS and Transport Canada.
Assessing the impact of the new user-centric design on the IMS and end users.
Monitoring the need for design changes as the IMS progresses and adjusting / updating as appropriate.
Evaluating existing applications and suggesting improvement after interview with stakeholders and end users based on their workflow and needs.
THE INSIGHT
After interviewing each group’s users, sending surveys, having group stakeholder discussions, and just watching how different groups operate day to day (some of those user groups are located in Ottawa), I came to a conclusion that each group has very particular needs, but several groups can be combined by their needs and activities in TCOMS. I created user flows, user workflows, and personas and communicated those to the TCOMS team.
I have been a user advocate on the TCOMS team, documenting users’ needs, truly understanding their workflow, and suggesting designs to address those. I have made several changes to TCOMS strictures to accommodate each user group differently. Small changes like limiting user tabs have dramatically changed users’ daily lives and TCOM performance.
Another significant improvement was identifying and improving any search functionality issues. Based on my user research, I identified the best solution for the search function, making it easy to use and fast. I used Surveys, user testing, and user interviews to determine the correct flow for the search and the results. I minimized the information TCOMS needed and tailored the search result to the user group.
Wireframes
