K2 provide relocation services across a broad corporate client base; working with many FTSE 100 / Fortune 500 accounts. With an expanding number of international offices, global operations roll 24 hours a day.
This case study outlines a selection of areas developed. For brevity, the full system scope is outside the remit of this article. Confidential information has been omitted in certain areas.
The Challenge
Improve workflow and functional performance across internal and external users groups, balancing new features and streamlined user journeys within schedule and budget.
The Goals
Comprehensive reporting for K2 and External accounts
Empower External HR departments to initiate and monitor assignments
Streamline Client Services processes and facilitate easier assignment management
Approach
Keep it LEAN
We planned for small design and build cycles, included regular periods of review and opportunity for user feedback. This strategy enabled us to react to changing business needs and maximise budget effectiveness within the tight schedule.
Iterative development cycles
Validating features on a needs basis allowed us to focus on delivering better overall results. Creating a digital asset library and design templates was critical to meet our schedule.
Focusing on Outcomes
Task Management
In an effort to drive improvements to KPIs and the wider customer experience, we developed a global task management system which assisted users in fulfilling day-to-day activities.
Task Manager: FX rate updated
Guiding users to complete critical information improved data integrity, expedited assignment progress and improved customer satisfaction ratings.
Reporting Capability
In order to broaden reporting capability across departments, we had to restructure services from the bottom up. More in-depth tracking was built in throughout the system from an early stage.
Creating in-depth service tracking through Nominal Codes was key to reporting capability
To enable this we started from the elemental nominal codes; ensuring the correct classification framework was in place. From here we created a service structure where descriptions could be layered and finally assign any traceable service activity accordingly.
Assignee demographic reporting
Building Better Relationships
Personalised Assignment Literature
Dynamic PDFs were used extensively throughout the system, particularly for billing and in the creation of personalised Assignee brochures. The content for each brochure was administered through the system's detailed content management system (CMS) and generated on-demand via the user's dashboard.
Partner Integration
Empowering Users
In an effort to expedite assignment progress, Client HR were invited into the system workflow providing cost authorisation and assignee documentation. Allowing access into the heart of the process reduced reliance on phone and email correspondence and reduced pain-points across time zones.
New Assignment booking via HR login
Allowing HR department to initiate assignments directly expedited overall assignment progress and achieved the goal of activation within a 24 hour window.
HR could be assigned full reporting capability for Services, Financials and Demographics from within the Client's account preferences.
File Sharing
An issue identified early on concerned transfer and storage of sensitive documents. These had been frequently held within email and were difficult to access. This created problems with mail server performance and raised PCI questions on how data was stored.
User admin area and document drop zone
To remedy this we created a file sharing area where HR could transfer files (drag and drop) directly to K2's servers. From here they could be catalogued and used at account or assignment level.
Not only did this system prove convenient for HR but helped email server resources and improved organisation and compliance.
We used this method of document transfer in many instances across the system in conjunction with virus scanning to harden the system against malware.
Improving User Experience (UX)
Assignment Management Tools
To improve the ease of data capture and reduce knowledge silos, we proposed an interactive Assignment Timeline. Built upon the task management engine, we conducted integration assessments across the wider system:
How the timeline would dovetail into wider workflow
Integration of current Task and Service API
Responsive design requirements
Prototypes
After discussing with stakeholders the how the concept could help meet our goals, we built a working desktop prototype to test the idea. Here shows top-level overview with assignment list:
Assignment specific services revealed through a visually layered stack
Key milestones and tasks displayed inline, with interactive information reveals
Users able to pan into the past and explore / receive information on future events
Timeline showing personalised assignment tasks and swap-user view interface
Deployment & Launch
During development several new features were identified and prioritised for launch. At times this created intense development cycles and challenging periods of change to meet our September deployment.
After successful User Acceptance Testing, modules were deployed and monitored with regular feedback taken.
What the client said:
The team are a pleasure to work with - taking a logical and pragmatic approach and managing timeframes, costs and quality brilliantly. They often go above and beyond to adapt to our ever evolving spec, and interpret highly specialist subjects well. I would not hesitate to recommend Eye Design for specialist projects, they have delivered an outstanding piece of technology.
