University of Phoenix Access/Audit Suite

Overview - So there was this access request front-end with an antiquated but permanent back end. Not user-friendly. Not pretty. Access and access approval for IT nerds needing server access was painfully long and tedious. Support quarterly audits in timeliness and efficiency. Improve all that. Work around their identity engine, database and infrastructure. Tap the current development team and user feedback to improve UI and UX before we called it UX. Establish a brand for the suite of home-grown application the department maintained, updated and developed. World-class identity management.

My Role - Lead Requirements focus group with developers and management, all stakeholders and representatives. Review and gather requirements and research past design, technology and limitations. Conduct in-person user testing. UX design. Communicate. Prototype build. Visual design. Internal marketing and branding. Sell the design to the stakeholders.

Challenge - Stay within the limitations of the technology and infrastructure. Develop a product people wanted to use. Carve out a brand. Support administration tools behind the scene including audit machinery...which was just as slick as the front-end, frankly. My senior developers let me run with most of this.

Approach - Engage all stakeholders. Update.  Rapid design mockups. Always adjust fidelity. Support the whole mothership.

Discovery - I learned as much as the developers would spew out. I learned how to design around weakness and adapt my design and presentation to the skeleton of an old system. Engaging developers and keeping them on target brought together a solid, wicked, resilient product.

Vision - Design something someone wants to use and look at every day.

Requirements - Consider framework. Learn from development. Get management buy-in for overhaul. Make it intuitive and smart. Support admin user and management review tasks.  Support development.

Framework - Oracle back-end and dependencies. 

Design - Whiteboard. Seriously. I love it. I would sketch lo-fi on a ream of paper I hung up around my cube. We’d use the projector for some audiences. Whiteboard daily with the crew. It worked. When I pitched the final visual design I used the big projector with the whitest bulb. It was a good day.

Refinement - I iterated mostly through wireframe unless audience and engagement dictated otherwise. It went pretty smoothly. I bounced final visual design off the team before presenting management with options. Everyone was focused and cool with the outcome and final product. I worked with development closely to make sure all actions and CSS was tight and responsive. Oh, yeah and we made a production quality documentary of the making of the new interface for CAP (Computer Access Process). Also pretty cool, internal marketing-wise.