Mission Control Center - josephtoscano.io

The Problem

A Discontinued Technology

Due to the age and inevitable discontiuation of the technology used to build the Mission Control Center software, Microsoft Silverlight, this version of the application became costly to maintain and frustrating for employees to use.

With the exisiting version of Mission Control Center nearing it's end of life, it was apparent that recreating the app using modern technologies, while following industry best practices for longevity was imperative.

Key requirement: The new software was to be built as a Microsoft Teams application granting easy access for all employees.

My Role + Process

My Role

Lead Product Designer

My role in the implementation of the new Mission Control Center application was to conceptualize and design a fresh, new version exhibiting a modern interface with an intuitive and effortless user experience. This would require research and multiple rounds of usability testing.

Since I was unfamiliar with the original application, being able to try this version for myself was important. I needed to learn exactly how it worked, what it provided the company with, and the impact it had on the company.

The goal for the stakeholders was to improve employee productivity, so it was important to work closely with them throughout each process to make sure that what I was redesigning was always relevant.

My Process

Responsiblities & Initiatives

Product Research
User Research + User Flows
Ideation + Wireframing
Usability Testing + Iteration
Hi-Fi Design + Prototyping

The Research

User Personas

Once I gathered enough information on how to use the product, I interviewed 3 employees that each belonged to 1 of the 3 types of users within the app. I asked each employee what frustrations they had with the existing product, what their goals were for the new version, and a little bit of their background to help gain a perspective similar to their needs and expectations.

Major Pain Points

Lily O'Brien, 47

Admin

Location: Sparks, NV Education: Communications

Family: Husband, 2 Children Position: Executive Assistant II

Frustrations

When adding new topics to the sections of the app, the selection menu grows too large and gets cut off at the bottom of the screen.
All users are able to see the option to modify documents, although only Content Managers have the ability to do so.

Goals

The ability to add as many topics to sections as needed, without overwhelming the user as they attempt to make a selection.
To be able to hide certains options, buttons, and functionality depending on the user type.

Joshua Miller, 30

Content Manager

Location: Sparks, NV Education: Human Resources

Family: Wife Position: Compensation Analyst

Frustrations

Having to update the status of modified files using a separate app.
Having to alert the appropriate user to take action on modified files using a separate app.
Being notified for pending actions through using a separate.

Goals

To have the ability to assign statuses to modified documents and have it routed to the approriate reviewers/approvers within the app.
To have the ability to see any pending actions on a documents and resolve them within the app.

Isabella Gomez, 22

Basic User

Location: Chicago, IL Education: IT & Networking

Family: Girlfriend Position: IT Support Intern (Remote)

Frustrations

Finding documents requires clicking through 5-6 screens that load slowly with no indication anything was clicked.
Search results are not accurate and the ability to refine the results doesn't exist.

Goals

To be able to find documents quickly, clicking through the least amount of screens possible.
The ability to search for documents within the selected section and filtering the results by properties such as metadata or modified date.

Major Pain Points

By User Type

Admins were limited to the amount of topics they could add to navigation menus due to the available space on the screen.
Content Managers had to keep track of document statuses and assign actions to other users using separate software.
Basic Users often complained about the amount of click throughs it took to achieve a desired task.

Problem Statements

By Employee Name

Lily O'Brien is a middle-aged family-oriented executive who needs to output long lists of topics without overwhelming users while selecting topics.
Joshua Miller is a young adult HR specialist who needs to update file statuses and actions inside of the app.
Isabella Gomez is a recent college graduate specializing in IT, who needs to access information without having to navigate through multiple views.

User Flows

Basic User

Content Manager

Wireframes

Home

Section

File Options (Basic User)

Content Management

File Options (Content Manager)

Hi-Fi Designs

The Conclusion

Increased Employee Productivity

During the design process for the new version of Mission Control Center, I learned the importance and value the application has within the company. Used daily by thousands of employees daily, it was crucial to redesign a version that not only looked better, but worked better.

The multiple rounds of usability and QA testing with the volunteer employees helped me learn the behaviors in which they would interact with the new interface, allowing me to make iterations to what I saw fit.

By being able to resolve major problems the everyday users had with the original app, a month after launch, employee productivity has increased by 12% throughout the company.