Degreed
Project Type
Company’s project
Duration
4 months
Team
You Jin Lee, George Carlier, Aaron, Aaron Murdock
Description
I undertook a project that involved designing a configuration page tailored for users to input FTP Configuration details. This interface enables seamless connectivity to a desired destination where users can effortlessly download their reports.
My Role
I led the design in the Reporting team, while co-working with product manager, engineer manager, front-end engineer, and back-end engineer.
Success Metric
The final product was successfully launched in 2023, resulting in 97% of users setting up independently
Final Product
Problem
Numerous JIRA tickets highlighted challenges in the FTP Configuration setup process. Clients frequently faced difficulties, resorting to continuous email correspondence with Degreed technicians due to:
Lengthy setup procedures
Lack of visibility to ascertain FTP Configuration connectivity
Limited avenues for swift modification of FTP Configuration details
Goal
How can we provide clients with support for setting up FTP Configuration as a self-service system?
User Research
Literature review
To start my project, I looked into past JIRA tickets and Confluence documents about FTP Configuration in Degreed. This helped me understand what FTP Configuration means in Degreed and how different products use it. I also figured out the how FTP Configuration is used in other Degreed product to make sure the new page interaction and its purpose aligns with other product.
User Persona
After studying these documents, I worked with a product manager to create have knowledge upon user personas in Reporting page and FTP Configuration. We looked closely at the different types of users and what each of them needs.
Secondary Research
Because we are creating a new page, I checked out other websites with successful configuration pages. This gave us ideas on how to design our new Configuration page in the Reporting section to make it easy and helpful for users.
Insights
Literature Review
The definition of FTP Configuration within the Reporting page is a set up for File Transfer Protocol that transfers files to certain location. These files typically consist of reports generated by the company to track the learning progress and information within the Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Experience Platform (LXP).
The FTP Configuration is linked to other administrative data within Degreed because the Reporting product contains all the administrative information and data. However, the FTP Configuration does not impact the functionality of other products since it exists exclusively within the Reporting section. Therefore, introducing an FTP Configuration page will be safe to create, not affecting other products negatively.
User Persona
There are various types of users, including managers, global admins, and managers of managers. The use of FTP Configuration remains consistent across different user personas but varies based on user intentions. Some users prefer reports to be downloaded to their desktops, while others prefer reports to be downloaded to a designated Degreed folder.
Secondary Research
Other products consistently featured dedicated sections for inputting FTP Configuration details and for displaying existing FTP Configurations. Within the FTP Configuration input page, there were specific sections to facilitate real-time validation of established FTP connections.
Low Fidelity Prototype
During this phase, I collaborated with the back-end engineer, front-end engineer, engineering manager, and product manager to determine the essential information needed for users to configure FTP settings. Subsequently, we structured two distinct sections based on users' preferred download locations.
Upon reviewing the list and conducting secondary research, I decided to add essential elements:
"Create" button
A list displaying the configured settings
"Delete" button
"Edit" button
I searched for existing UI designs and interactions, not only within the design system library but also within successful products currently in use within Degreed:
User Flow
In this phase, I met with back-end engineer and front-end engineer to understand the steps of two types of users. I made two user flows for Client Provided (files to be downloaded in external place outside of Degreed) and for Client Degreed FTP (files to be downloaded in internal Degreed File).
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
In this phase, I created all the screens within the user flow. I made sure user flow works for the users. I met with other designers to check if the user flow and design system are all consistent.
While all the other pages are confirmed to be used by all the designers, the list page was not confirmed, due to the purpose of the card design. There was a feedback where list should be included within the card design for consistency. However, because there were already 9 categories to be added in per section, it did not fit horizontally. So I switched to different design:
User Testing
After confirming with the product manager, and engineers with all the design, I started to make questionnaire for user testing. By collaborating with user researcher, I wrote emails to the clients and the user researcher sent the emails out. I received 15 responses, and have conducted user survey with 15 different clients from different companies in span of two weeks. Here are the problems that users faced:
Connection Status
13 out of 15 users clicked on ‘Check the Status’ and took average 4-5 different tries to click on refresh icon. So I switched the design by also being aware of design system for consistency.
Number of Creation
8 out of 15 users asked how many they can create FTP Configuration. After discussing with PM and Engineer manager, we decided on 4 maximum, because majority of users create maximum 3-4. So I added ‘__ out of 4’ to let users know how many they can add.
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
I finalized the whole design showcasing with the design team and to reporting team.
Creation process for ‘Client Provided’ FTP Configuration
Creation process for ‘Client Degreed FTP’ FTP Configuration
Editing existing FTP Configuration
Deleting existing FTP Configuration
Maxed out FTP Configuration list
Last User Testing
I have conducted 15 user testing one last time with the same clients. They were all able to successfully finish the task.