In the last post, we described our initial design work on a wireframe prototype of the login and registration journeys for our service. This prototype tested users’ ability to log in to the service and to register a new user account. As we moved towards our alpha assessment, we needed to develop higher-fidelity clickable prototype to validate our findings, test scenarios in more detail and create a basis for our first MVS build.
For the link and password for this prototype, please contact dan.stringer@education.gov.uk
What we’ve prototyped
Our goal was to design an account management journey that would allow organisational admin users (coordinators) to keep an accurate and up-to-date record of the early career social workers (ECSWs) enrolled on the ECF programme within their organisation. This is essential to making sure organisations get the right payments from DfE to support the programme. The latest prototype has been built on the GOV.UK Prototype Kit and covers the account management experience for coordinators. We needed to make sure they were able to:
- sign into the digital service through GOV.UK One Login
- view and manage user accounts for their organisation through their dashboard
- add, remove and update user accounts for their organisation
The latest prototype is reactive and allowed us to test a number of different scenarios with users including creating user accounts, adding existing users to their organisations, and pausing and removing accounts.
New features
Changes to account types
In testing, we found that some participants struggled to identify the correct account type when adding a new user to the service. Our initial prototype asked users to select the account type from a list of roles (newly qualified social worker, assessor, coordinator or assessor/coordinator). We found that users didn’t associate strongly with these roles because the language we used didn’t reflect the language used within their organisations and because some users had other responsibilities that weren’t captured.
Based on this feedback, we decided to use permissions-based rather than role-based language to help users understand the differences between the options. Our design now prompts coordinators to select what tasks a new user will use the service for instead of asking them to select a role title.
Linking existing user accounts
We identified a need for coordinators to be able to add existing user accounts to their organisation as well as create new ones. To meet this need, we introduced a feature allowing coordinators to link existing accounts to their organisation through the “Add someone” button. If the coordinator adds an account that matches existing details on the service, they are prompted to bring in the existing account rather than create a new one. The change is then flagged to the user’s previous organisation by email so they can retrieve the account in case of error.
Unlinking user accounts
We identified a need for coordinators to be able to remove social workers’ accounts from their organisation on the digital service when they permanently leave. In our research, we found that participants strongly disliked the language around ‘removing’ or ‘deactivating’ user accounts when someone leaves their organisation. They felt that this implied that the accounts would be permanently deleted and were worried about the loss of user data and the potential for accidental deletion.
To avoid this, we removed all the language around account removal or deactivation and replaced it with ‘unlinking’, mirroring the language we used for linking user accounts. We added content to clarify that unlinking a user will not delete their account or any of their progress through the ECF programme. An unlinked account will remain on the digital service and can be linked to a new organisation if the user changes their place of work.
Pausing accounts
We also identified a need for organisations to be able to pause early career social workers’ accounts if they take a temporary break from the programme, such as parental leave or leave of absence. We added a button on the Manage User page allowing coordinators to pause a user’s account and this is displayed as a status on the dashboard.
Confirmation screens
Some users were concerned that it was too easy to mistakenly take actions on the service such as adding or removing user accounts. To reduce the potential for error, we added confirmation screens into all these processes to give users a chance to review and edit their actions before finalising them. We also mapped out where users will receive email notifications after taking actions on the service to ensure that they have an audit trail for their decisions.
Next steps
Having prototyped and tested the account management element of the service, we’re confident that we’re ready to take it forward and we’re preparing to build an MVS version. At the same time, we’re looking at integrating GOV Notify and have begun work on creating templates and content for email notifications. We’re also prototyping some initial ideas for the assessment section of the digital service, where early career social workers will upload their work and receive feedback, and will be starting a round of user research on this section with ECSWs in the next sprint.