Dates: 4-20 November 2024 (1.5 weeks)
We had many new user research insights gained from the last round of user testing. We ran 2 collaborative design workshops as a team to arrive at 2 design directions. We sketched the 2 wireframe journeys out with lo-fidelity prototyping on Lucid.
The first idea was to iterate the previous sprint’s journey, based on the new user research insights, including:
- adding a chatbot icon, to probe users in testing
- adding a signed in area called ‘My procurements’ to probe users in testing, which included “My procurement” and “My current suppliers”, as well as possibly linking to school collab team
- switching to an action-based approach, users wanting to do actions rather than read, so there was a desire to reflect this in the language of the landing page
- exploring a way to list suppliers that were in frameworks
The second idea, led by service design, was to have a dynamic filter with dynamic content. This idea built on the ‘Spotify’ journey led by interaction design in the previous sprint.
Design considerations
We took these 2 ideas to mid-fidelity prototyping, and discovered there was only time to work on the first idea. We ensured the full team’s feedback was incorporated into the design through 2 design crits, using the rose bud thorn constructive feedback methodology. We had a sprint review session with stakeholders, where we did a show-and-tell of the user research methodology and demo'd the current prototype.
We met with 2 key stakeholders one-on-one, the Procurement Operations Lead and the Categories Team Lead. During, mid-fidelity prototyping, we looked at DfE Connect designs in detail, to ensure alignment.
We also discovered GDS had released an AI chatbot on 4 November called GOV.UK chat on their Business and self-employed page, so we investigated that and borrowed some design elements from it.
User research considerations
There was a time constraint on prototyping due to user testing needing to take place on 20 November at the School and Academies Show (SAAS) in Birmingham, a great opportunity for pop-up testing with real users.
There was some discussion to include a card sort experiment at the event, alongside usability testing, but this idea was parked due to time constraints.
There was also some discussion to include 2 scenarios in the user testing, directing one set of users to a browse journey and the other set of users to a logged-in journey. This was deemed not feasible in the time allocated - 10 minute user testing sessions at the SAAS event.
Problem statement
Schools miss out on DfE's existing and emerging procurement solutions and related savings because they're not aware of them, and when they are, they struggle to find them and choose the right one for them.
Sprint problem statement
Users in schools are time poor (discovery research finding).
This means it’s difficult for them to get better at procurement through using DfE services, as they may only interact with GHBS every time they have a problem, rather than being able to self-serve and think ahead (discovery research finding).
Related insights that may not be defined as ‘problems’
Users in schools develop their own methodologies to keep on top of their procurements, such as internal Excel sheet (discovery research finding).
Design challenge
- HMW maximise awareness so users know about all buying solutions available to them, and are able to find and choose the right one? (same as last sprint).
- HMW build capability through the service for users to self-serve?
- HMW personalise the service to meet their specific circumstances?
Relation to user needs
I.e. Through the iterated journey, we aimed to continue to explore the prioritised user needs, namely:
- awareness,
- find and navigate and
- ease of use
Alongside that, through the logged-in journey we aimed explore the 2 user needs that up to this point had not been designed for yet, namely:
- capability
- personalisation
Finally, we aimed to explore the remaining user need, buying factors, with a card sort experiment but this was parked.
Design hypothesis
Design hypothesis 1: Non-logged in journey (tested at SAAS)
We bet we can meet the user needs to raise awareness, help users find and navigate, help users self-serve, and make it easy to use by:
- giving users deals on the homepage and more category tiles (raising awareness),
- adding a saved items feature (helping them find items easier),
- adding DfE Chat (helping users self-serve), and
- creating a separate page for buying options, so that guidance and action are together (making it easy to use, based on previous user research insights that some users wanted to see the process before taking an action)
Design hypothesis 2: Logged in journey
We bet that we can support users to:
- self-serve and
- get better at procurement by thinking-ahead
By giving them a personalised area, ‘My Procurements’, consisting of:
- Saved items - a way to save buying options for later, so they can plan ahead
- Cases Supported procurements - a space to see their shared cases with DfE procurement experts, to track their tasks better
- Groups - a space to see relevant groups, so they can get and share advice from their peers, encouraging peer-to-peer learning
In this way, this area collectively called ‘My Procurements’ could meet the user needs to support self-service and capability-building
Prototype
User research findings
User research insights from the School and Academies Show User research playback from pop-up testing