We were engaged by a public sector executive agency that was finishing the first phase of a new digital marketplace project for the public and non-profit community.  They needed to communicate progress and secure commitment from their executives for the next phase.  In addition, they wanted to gain input from users of the new tool that would provide input to success/opportunity feedback, along with user-based priorities, to build into the future tool roadmap.

To accomplish this we delivered a transformation map visual aid and completed a full end user assessment report to be included in their end of phase reporting, in a very short timeframe.

Challenge

We were engaged by a public sector executive agency to support them at the conclusion of the first phase of a transformation project.  The scope of the project was to take a group of fairly manual purchasing platforms and move them into a digital marketplace that would serve public sector and non-profit organisations.

The goal with this marketplace was primarily to make purchasing compliant, easy and economical in the ultimate desire to reduce costs to the taxpayers.  In order for them to progress to the next phase of the project, they needed a method which could coherently explain the roadmap, impacts and benefits of the broad business case, whilst enabling them to request for permission to proceed and secure funding for the next phase.  This visual would be a central diagram in their end of phase report to the board.

Along with the above, the project team also found they were unable to respond to questions the board had around user feedback of the current phase and user priorities for the next evolution of the marketplace.  Due to our work on the transformation map, they immediately enlisted our help to quantitatively answer these questions through assessment, that they would also include in their final phase report.

Approach

For the first activity, we held multiple interviews with key members of the project team, held workshops with core members and reviewed over a dozen documents and reports to construct the visual transformation map to help build a visual storyline.  The final deliverable took several evolutions but was completed in just eight business days after the first kick off session.

Following this, we immediately kicked off a user assessment piece of work to help them answer the key questions around what customers’ experience with the new tool was, what they wanted to see next, and what their priorities were for the near future.

Due to the nature of timing (we only had a few weeks and the holiday season was within that timeframe), we decided on an expedited three-fold approach to get a maximum response as quickly as possible:

• We started immediately with an online survey (created on our platform) which was designed to be simple and quick to use, whilst focusing on the primary data points needed. We used closed-ended and multiple choice questions alongside free text fields, to ensure we had rich and comparable responses for the end report.  The survey was sent to 3,000+ users, with corresponding follow ups and chasers, to maximise response rate
• We then conducted a focus group with a specific group of users, to solicit their combined experience and insights
• Finally, we completed over 30 one-on-one interviews with users, to gather deeper insights and validate the findings of the survey responses as they accumulated

All of this was assessed and folded into an in-depth report with statistics, insights and answers to their original queries about usability, requirements and priorities.  This entire assessment was completed in four weeks.

This final report summary was included in the final end of phase report for the board, along with the transformation map.  Together they painted a clear picture of where the project was headed and the impact in their customer base – as heard directly from the customer.

Outcome

The feedback on the final deliverables for this work received comments such as “excellent work, exceptional process and outcome” and “highly valuable, professional work in an amazingly short amount of time”.

Equally rewarding was the process with the client team.  Putting together a transformation map required the team to step back and paint a picture together of their journey.  The picture needs to show the past (where they have come from and what they have accomplished) as well as the future (where they are trying to get to and what needs to be done to get there).  Creating such a picture, and combining it with quantitative and qualitative feedback direct from their customer base, enabled the team to build a powerful and valuable tool.

The experience of doing this work at the end of a long and arduous phase was motivating and enlightening.  It enabled the client team get very clear on what they wanted to say to their board and also what they needed to do to get to their end goal.  That was a fantastic outcome to be part of.