About Me
Improving Performance through Information Architecture
"I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
Thomas Edison
About Me
I like to keep things fun and give it my all. This photo is of me on Superhero day at the office. I drove over an hour, dressed as Spiderman, to support and foster the corporate culture.
Summary: Simplicity at Work
Position: UX Information Architect Designer
Type of Company: Employment Agency
Project: Background Checks Process
Technologies: Observational Research, Personas, Content Audit, Heuristic Evaluation, Card Sort, User Flows, Site Architecture, Process Pages, Visual Hierarchy
Cutting through layers of departmental complexity takes a deep understanding of their process and organizational goals.
The Background Checks (BGC) department had grown to process approximately 30,000 candidate background checks a month for an industry-leading recruitment firm. Their internal documentation site spanned over 900 pages, users entered information in multiple locations - often repeating data - and mistakes could add long delays with vendors.
Since businesses require background checks as a precautionary measure when hiring employees, we had to figure out a way to streamline the process. As a UX Information Architect Designer, I collaborated with the Background Checks, legal, and web automation departments to figure out why the process was slowing down, and find solutions to fix them.
* Images have been sanitized of unnecessary confidential details due to an N.D.A.
Goal
Simplify the Background Checks information architecture within two months to reduce information overload and contextual proliferation causing delays in candidate applications.
The process and documentation needed to be easy to use, relevant to users, and have an ROI that reduced the company’s burden on resources.
The Driver: Myself as UX Lead & Jr. Member
I was responsible for moving the project forward. Duties included interfacing with stakeholders, conducting research, getting decisions, and working with the project team.
Approver: BGC Director & Manager
Background Check leadership was responsible for making key decisions and signed-off on all the UX team's deliverables.
Contributors: BGC Admin & Web Automation
Background Check admins were generous with their time and expertise. As subject matter experts I was able to turn to them for guidance. The Web Automation team helped me with all the backend.
Informed: UX Manger & Legal
I kept legal and my manager informed of the project status. Legal had some influence on its outcome when it came to archiving some documents.
"By Train"
Anya is new to the company. She uses the main navigation and needs to follow a specific path. This will be the same path used in the future. Her journey will be slower until she knows her way around. There is also a high chance for her to use the support ticking system.
"By Plane"
Rebecca has been with the company for 6 years. She already knows where she is going before she begins. Finding one or two things quickly is her goal. Her frustration comes from pages filled with too much scrolling, links, or java collapsible sections.
