The context
A software publishing company wants to redesign its tool, which allows employees to schedule their days off through an online platform called 'Human Resources' for holiday management.
This company was founded in 2010 and specializes in applications for accountants, SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), and VSE (Very Small Enterprises) officers. It offers around twenty applications to its customers, including dashboard, CRM, payroll, accounting, task management, invoicing, etc.
This company has a hundred employees, is experiencing hypergrowth, and the number of employees continues to increase. There are different sectors, such as sales, technical, marketing, after-sales service, accounting, and administration.
I took over this project end-to-end, from research to delivery with high-fidelity flows. The current product is huge, so the goal was to improve each feature step by step.
Below are the first screens I had to tackle at the beginning of the project.
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"The existing application offers unecessary options for the user "
The fact is that the collaborator profile has the ability to set up all types of absences, even those that do not concern them. Similarly, for the manager profile, the absence validation workflow is too long and laborious.
2 personas for each profile
After conducting several rounds of interviews, I was able to create two personas: one for the employee profile and one for the manager profile. During these interviews, I collected user needs and identified areas for improvement. I did this because no personas had been created before.
How might we design the content of the "Holiday management" application ?
In order to obtain user feedback on this problem, I led two ideation workshops using the Miro tool. The first workshop focused on employee profiles, and the second workshop focused on manager profiles.
I used a communication medium to share the progress of the different exercises to be done during the workshop. I started by facilitating an icebreaker, followed by warm-up exercises, before diving into the heart of the subject—the main problem.
I asked each participant to write down as many ideas as possible on the whiteboard. We then conducted a voting session and finally ranked the best ideas on a priority grid.
"What if a leave application could allow employees to better follow a team schedule and facilitate taking leave thanks to a simple and modern interface?"
Wireframes
These wireframes allowed me to materialize the initial ideas regarding the app's zoning, as well as the first features that will be present in the MVP.
I created wireframes for both the mobile and desktop versions. They make it possible to see if the initial user paths have been redesigned and if they meet the needs of the users.
A more modern and user-centric application
One of the pain points that has been resolved is having types of absences adapted according to profiles. The mobile application did not exist before; it will play a major role in the quality of the user experience, as it will allow employees to easily enter their days of absence and submit requests.
A very simple and quick form to fill out
Asking for days off becomes child's play! There are two ways to set a vacation: either by selecting the corresponding days on the calendar, or by clicking on the 'add an absence' button.
New features have been added to the product. They meet the needs expressed by users and improve the overall experience."
1. Event tracking
Another wish of the users was to be able to find a list of their taken leave and their progress status, in order to have better follow-up.
2. Interactive calendar
From now on, it will be possible to set these holidays directly from the calendar. This will pre-fill the leave request form, allowing the user to save time when entering information.
3. Alerts
Users are notified when a leave request has been processed, when requests are awaiting processing, or when the deadline for settling their remaining leave is approaching.
Process requests flow
Managers are responsible for processing their team's leave requests. Multiple requests may come in at once over time. This is why we have redesigned this flow to facilitate this task, which may be a daily occurrence.
Laying of leave flow
When the user arrives on the application, they log into their account. They then land on the dashboard screen, where they can request leave either by pressing the '+' button or by directly choosing the dates on their calendar.
This will help them quickly and efficiently request vacation without the need to re-enter existing information.
User testing
I conducted two series of user tests: one for the collaborator profile and one for the manager profile. The initial feedback was very positive and allowed us to iterate on the product to improve it. These tests were carried out remotely due to the health context. We took into account the feedback from the testers, such as the option to display school holidays, an area for company news, or the possibility of attaching proof to leave requests.
Product release and next steps
The first beta version of the app will be released in 2022 and will initially be deployed to a few users who will be able to test it and provide feedback.
The next steps of the project are :
- Calendar synchronization with other tools such as Google calendar, Outlook...
- Review the userflow for processing leave requests from the user mailbox
- Redesign the profile settings view