Case Study: Immediate ROI on an Enterprise System
I performed contextual inquiry research Interviews with two employees at the firm which resulted in massive time-saving.
Client
Major Financial Services Firm
Overview
Major software that the firm developed and owned was focused on how B2B clients would use the system. However, we had very limited access to those clients. So, I suggested that we observe users inside the firm who use the system. That research ($1,200 estimated cost) revealed a problem with a simple solution ($400 estimated cost) at a savings to the firm of $200,000 each year.
Client Need
The client needed to understand the following:
The scope of how the software was being used day-to-day.
The scope of how the software was being used internally.
Key Strategies Implemented
Discovery
Contextual Inquiry Research, Participatory Design
Delivery
Report, Agile User Story
Outcomes
With only two hours of research and two hours of development time invested, this research yielded a savings for the firm of at least $100,000 per year for the foreseeable future.
While performing the Contextual Inquiry I observed the User’s process to be:
Download a large PDF of a spreadsheet from the software
Print the PDF
Open Excel
Use a ruler and pencil to define the line being worked
Enter the information from the line into the Excel document
Repeat until all PDF information has been entered into the spreadsheet
Begin analysis
They did this, line-by-line, keying in all of the information, for two weeks per month. During the interview I learned that their co-worker also did this for two weeks every month. 160 hours per week were spent manually entering the information from the PDF of a spreadsheet. Once they had the spreadsheet keyed in, they spent the next two weeks actually doing the analysis for which they were hired. I wrote these findings in a brief report, and added a story to the backlog to make an Excel or CSV file available to these Users. It was a quick fix, which was implemented the next sprint.
The new process is:
Download a large CSV file
Open it in Excel
Begin analysis
The Client Said…
“Martha is extremely detail-oriented and takes pride in everything she delivers. She is passionate about providing the users with the best experience possible. She understands what the customer wants and needs and is a great liaison between the clients, the design they desire, and the developmental discipline that the clients don't quite understand themselves. Martha is also a very hard worker and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done and we appreciated all her hard work to assist us in reaching our goals.”
Allison Hollowell
Senior IT Program Project Manager
Direct Manager