Case Response Tracking
Case Response Tracking was a feature I worked on as part of GE’s Asset Performance Management team. In designing this feature I used my deep knowledge of the users’ workflows to create and validate a prototype before passing on specifications to our development team. The end result was a smoother, more manageable workflow that allowed our users to easily track communications with their customers.
The Challenge
This feature began as a pain point that I recognized in our users’ workflow. Users filling the role of our Tier 2 Analyst persona were responsible for investigating and diagnosing issues their customers had with industrial assets, then providing recommendations for resolving those issues. I had learned during prior research that these recommendations were difficult to keep track of. Depending on the customer’s preferred method of contact, some were issued via email, or even over the phone, with no record of what had been recommended. On top of that, there was no standard way of tracking whether customers had actually acted on these recommendations or what the results were, if the customer even responded at all.
I set out to solve these pain points by creating a way for the analysts to record their recommendations, as well as the customer’s response, directly within the case they were working.
Design
Due to extensive prior research, I already had a good grasp on our users’ needs. I used this knowledge to begin designing a new section within the case page that would be able to handle the tracking of on-site actions: those recommended by the analyst, and those taken by the customer.
The concept I came up with allowed the user to create actions within a case. These actions represented the recommendations made by the analyst, and could be tracked over time as a customer accepted or rejected it, planned time to perform it, or marked it as completed. Both analysts and customers could add comments to the action, which allowed a more in depth conversation to take place.
Validation
In creating my initial concept for this feature, I assembled a short list of design hypotheses.
In theory, this response tracking feature would:
Allow analysts to centralize information.
Be able to capture all necessary information at a high-level.
Encourage customers to respond to recommendations.
To test these hypotheses, I created a prototype of the feature: a simple set of screens that a user could click through to help them understand the concept. I took this prototype to 8 different users across 3 different monitoring centers, and discovered the following:
Allow analysts to centralize information. CONFIRMED
Be able to capture all necessary information at a high-level. CONFIRMED
Encourage customers to respond to recommendations. UNCONFIRMED
I was unfortunately unable to confirm the third hypothesis. While the analysts were excited about the idea of tracking this information within the case, they were unsure whether their customers would be interested in using the system themselves.
Fortunately, the users I spoke to were excited about the prospect of having a place to track their communications with the customer, and were enthusiastic about moving the feature forward.
Implementation
Due to the success of the prototype, I continued with the concept and refined it into a set of high-fidelity mockups. I created more detailed specifications for our dev team, and worked with them closely during the development of the feature. The end result was highly praised by our users, who loved having a single place to track their recommendations and other relevant customer communications.
