Posts by this team
Providing key performance indicator (KPI) metrics
We wanted to find a way to display KPIs on ‘Manage family support services and accounts’ (Manage).
Connect families to support
16 April 2024
Updating the add a service journey
We identified some improvements that could be made to the way services were added in ‘Manage family support services’ (Manage) to make it easier for end users to find the support they need.
Connect families to support
27 March 2024
Replacing family hubs with locations
User research showed that we needed to change the way locations were added to ‘Manage family support services’ in order to improve the family hubs products.
Connect families to support
4 March 2024
Allowing VCS organisations to pause requests
We have given more control to VCS users to allow them to pause incoming requests.
Connect families to support
29 September 2023
Designing changes to the word ‘family’
We needed to cut down on the use of the word ‘family’ across our service to be more inclusive and relevant to users.
Connect families to support
28 September 2023
Consolidating start pages and URLs
We are providing a single URL and start page for Connect families to support and our Manage family support services and accounts.
Connect families to support
8 September 2023
Improving the professional request journey
We improved the support request form in ‘Connect families to support’ so that it’s clearer and more helpful.
Connect families to support
9 August 2023
Softening our language for VCS professionals
Our service relies on voluntary and community sector professionals using it to support families. Without them we have no service. So, we made our language softer and kinder.
Connect families to support
28 July 2023
Improving the ‘add a service’ journey
Users can add services to our directory. User research showed that the ‘add a service’ journey was confusing, and gave us ideas for improving it. This post outlines what we changed and why.
Connect families to support
25 July 2023
Creating a variable option for costs
When users add services to 'Manage family support services', they provide details about what the service costs. User research showed that binary options for ‘it costs money’ and ‘it does not cost money' were not enough for some users.
Connect families to support
24 July 2023
Changing how users add information about when a service takes place
Users of ‘Manage family support services’ need to add information about when their services happen. However, user research showed that we needed to improve our service so they could.
Connect families to support
24 July 2023
Designing how users manage account permissions
We needed to design a way to change, update and delete account permissions for our services.
Connect families to support
19 July 2023
Adding privacy statements
We need to tell users about the data we collect, how we use it, store it and how long we keep it.
Connect families to support
4 July 2023
Collecting contact numbers
We needed to design how to collect local authority professionals' phone numbers and contact preferences, so voluntary and community sector organisations could get in touch about their requests.
Connect families to support
26 June 2023
Designing what happens when users do not have access
Our services, ‘Manage family support services and accounts’ and ‘Manage connection requests’, use permissions to allow users access. We needed a way to tell users who do not have permissions why they cannot access the services.
Connect families to support
30 May 2023
Adding permissions for ‘Manage’ and ‘Manage connection requests’
Our users need permissions for Manage family support services and accounts and Manage connection requests services. To integrate our service with GOV.UK One Login, we changed ‘add user’ functionality to ‘add permissions’.
Connect families to support
24 May 2023
Notifying VCS organisations about a new connection request
We’re using Notify to let voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisation users know they have a new connection request. We’ve considered anonymisation to keep the family’s details secure.
Connect families to support
10 May 2023
Giving a warning on Connect families to support start page
We’ve used the warning component on the start page to tell users not to use the service to report safeguarding concerns. We considered ‘before you start’ text but learned users tend to ignore anything under the start button.
Connect families to support
28 April 2023
A dashboard for professional users
We’ve designed a dashboard to show users a list of connection requests they’ve sent. We’ve considered the search, sort and filter options we provide to help users find a connection request.
Connect families to support
26 April 2023
Updating professional users on their requests
We’re using Notify to email users to let them know that their connection request has been updated. We’ve also designed how the connection request is displayed in the service.
Connect families to support
26 April 2023
Navigation on the Family Hubs services
We’re adding a global navigation on Connect families to support and Manage connection requests.
Connect families to support
26 April 2023
Advising users about safeguarding concerns
We’ve replaced a question with an interruption page to tell users not to use the service to report safeguarding concerns.
Connect families to support
21 April 2023
Capturing permission to share personal information
We’ve explored the language we should use around sharing personal information and learned ‘consent’ causes confusion for our users, and ‘permission’ is much clearer.
Connect families to support
21 April 2023
Capturing contact preferences and details
We’ve iterated the pattern we’re using to capture families’ contact details. We're using a free text box to collect information about additional needs, best time of day to contact and if they’d prefer messages over WhatsApp.
Connect families to support
21 April 2023
Designing reference numbers for connection requests
We’ve investigated what format to use for transaction numbers that prevent duplication of work by developers as well as being accessible for users. We’re using a 6 digit hexadecimal number.
Connect families to support
21 April 2023
A dashboard for VCS organisation users
We’ve designed a dashboard to show users a list of connection requests they’ve received. We’ve considered the search, sort and filter options we provide to help users find a connection request.
Connect families to support
21 April 2023
Enabling VCS organisation users to respond to requests
We’ve designed how connection request details are shown to VCS organisation users, and how they can respond to accept or decline.
Connect families to support
21 April 2023
Capturing the reason for a connection request
We’ve iterated the text we use to prompt users to provide the right detail in the free text entry box for ‘reason for a connection request’.
Connect families to support
20 April 2023
Filtering by age in ‘Find’ and ‘Connect’
We redesigned and moved the age filter, used by the ‘Find’ and ‘Connect’ services, to make it more obvious and useful.
Connect families to support
6 April 2023
Adding new user journeys to the ‘Manage’ prototype
We added ways for local authority users to add and manage family support services, and to create new user accounts.
Connect families to support
17 February 2023
Building a prototype to test the 'request for support' journey
We built a prototype so we could test the 'request for support' journey with users who work at voluntary and community sector organisations.
Connect families to support
10 February 2023
Aligning the prototypes for ‘Connect’ and ‘Find’
When the design and research teams for the Information Sharing and Family Experience services joined together, we aligned the prototypes for 'Find support for your family' and 'Connect families to support'.
Connect families to support
6 January 2023
Redesigning how professionals search for support for families
We redesigned the journey for professionals to search for, and connect families to, support.
Connect families to support
17 December 2022
Naming Find, Connect and Manage
We decided, in groups and in consultation with product managers, on service names and domains for Find, Connect and Manage.
Connect families to support
16 December 2022
Evolving categories for 'Connect' and 'Find'
We iterated the categories that services in 'Find' and 'Connect' can use to identify what they offer.
Connect families to support
10 November 2022
Iterating how users search in 'Find'
We added a secondary start page to 'Find support for your family', and redesigned the search filters, categories and results pages.
Connect families to support
28 October 2022
Building a new user journey for 'Find'
How we designed our second user journey for testing.
Connect families to support
12 October 2022
Building the first user journey for 'Find'
How we designed our first user journey for testing.
Connect families to support
22 September 2022
Designing a form to add services - 'Manage' version 5
We iterated the way voluntary and community sector organisations add services to 'Manage'.
Connect families to support
15 September 2022
Designing a form to add services - 'Manage' version 3
We iterated the way voluntary and community sector organisations add services to 'Manage'.
Connect families to support
31 August 2022
Scoping the 'Find' MVP
We made design choices to inform the scope of our minimum viable product (MVP) for 'Find'.
Connect families to support
22 August 2022
Find support for your family alpha version 1
This is the first version of the prototype we tested with families to help them find support from family hubs and services in their local area.
Connect families to support
12 August 2022
Find support for your family alpha version 2
This is the second version of the prototype we tested with families to help them find support from family hubs and services in their local area.
Connect families to support
12 August 2022
Find support for your family alpha version 3
This is the third version of the prototype we tested with families to help them find support from family hubs and services in their local area.
Connect families to support
12 August 2022
Find support for your family alpha version 4
This is the fourth version of the prototype we tested with families to help them find support from family hubs and services in their local area.
Connect families to support
12 August 2022
Find support for your family alpha version 5
This is the fifth version of the prototype we tested with families to help them find support from family hubs and services in their local area.
Connect families to support
12 August 2022
Collecting voluntary and community sector organisation information
Iterating the data we collect from voluntary and community sector organisations to display in a directory of services for professionals working with families.
Connect families to support
31 July 2022
Developing the professional 'search and refer' a family
Testing and iterating the language we use to describe the service professionals will use to search for support services for families.
Connect families to support
19 July 2022
Form for admin users to list VCS organisation services
The first version of the form for admin users to list their voluntary and community sector organisation support service in a directory for professionals working with families to search.
Connect families to support
5 July 2022
Form for admin users from local authorities to list services
We are creating a directory of family hub services for families to search for support in their local area.
Connect families to support
5 July 2022