Workload concerns
Through user research we found that some VCS organisations have limited resources and there is a risk they may get overwhelmed with requests from Connect families to support. This would put stress on the organisation, and the people and families being connected to support could get lost or forgotten about in the system.
Control over requests
We needed to give VCS’s more control over when they can receive requests. The solution was to allow VCS account managers to pause requests on Manage family support services and accounts but we needed to design how this would work.
Pausing requests
We brainstormed some lo-fi designs in Figma, and developers, designers and the product manager agreed on a design.
In the VCS Manage service section we added a ‘Receiving requests’ column to the table using the GOV.UK design system tags with either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. There was some consideration if these tags were descriptive enough and we decided that they will only be used on the service with headings to explain.
Selecting ‘Edit’ takes the user to a page to change service details that uses the GOV.UK check answers pattern. On the bottom row we added ‘Receiving requests’ with the current tag status. When ‘Change’ is selected, it takes the user to the add a service page where there is a question page using the GOV.UK radios component.
When asked if they would like to receive requests, users can select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and continue. This takes them back to the edit page with ‘Receiving requests’ row updated. Selecting ‘Save’ takes the user to the Manage service section where the status has been updated.
Next steps
We will take the new designs to user research and see how it tests. This is our first attempt at designing a way to pause requests and there is no standard way of doing this across government. There will likely be future iterations after user research.