Employee management system - Feature design
The original goal of this project is to design a new feature to an existing complex system.
This project demonstrates a different design & research approach then conventional b2c products.
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Complex systems design
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UX research
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UX design
System background
What is an EMS?
Generally speaking - An EMS or Employee management system, is a system that aims to help the HR department of a certain organization more efficient and organised. For example, a good example of an EMS is a "Human Resources management system" or - HRMS for short.
Main elements within an EMS​​
2 types of users
A representative of the HR department
Any employee within the organization
2 Types of screens
The screens on the admin side, i.e - The HR rep'
The screen on the "basic" user side - i.e the general employee
The KPI's of an EMS
Task analysis
Before we even start the research process, we need to first critically analyze our assumptions as designers, and ensure that they are appropriate for the demands of complex systems. Furthermore, traditional UX research methods are indispensable when doing research on generalist apps for everyday domains.
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However, when it comes to complex systems, interviews for example, fall short since skilled behaviors are automated and not easily verbalized.
Lastly, as designers we lack expert domain knowledge to fully understand the intricate nuances involved in complex problem solving. We need to be able to bridge this gap in order to successfully research a complex system.
Analyzing the task
Reviewing employees "Leave" requests on the EMS.
As mentioned above, it is preferable not to apply the usual UX research methods when tackling complex systems. As designers, one of our best practices in order to get valid data regarding our users, is partnering up with domain experts.
For example - our current research goal is to gather data on a particular EMS task. In order to achieve that goal we'll need to partner up with a HR representative so that we can analyze his/hers tasks and gather data in return.
Task flow
Organising the collected data
Desiging the feature
Design MVP's
