Strategies for Your Office to Improve System Usability

Becky HallUniversity of Minnesota

May 22, 2014

Overview• GoldPASS – University of Minnesota’s CSO

system• Usability – What is it? Why do it?• Minnesota’s usability project• Progress• Outcomes• Next steps

GoldPASS• Enterprise deployment of CSO’s interfase

system• University of Minnesota-wide • Universal employer and jobs database• OCR, co-op / internship module, mentor

module • Resume approval process

GoldPASS - scope

2013-14 year• Jobs - 21,122 postings• Students – 36,427 active & complete• Employer database – 22,394 organizations• Events – 271 • OCR schedules - 482• Internships managed - 610

What is “usability”?

… push or pull?

“Possible to use” does not equal intuitive

Usability can be defined as target users being able to accomplish their own goals without outside help

Usability is not…

Accessibility evaluation

System testing, bug testing

A measure of the participant’s abilities

A critique on designer’s talents or abilities

Why do a usability evaluation?

To avoid this!

Enable self-service functionalityReduce need for a help deskIncrease customer satisfactionMake objective design decisions

Minnesota’s Usability ProjectWhy usability prior to site review with CSO? Complexity of GoldPASSOIT’s Usability lab

Pain points for our two main constituent users• Students – job search and search results• Employers – OCR sign-up, job posting confusion…

… led to significant (and unnecessary) time spent by system administrators and counselors

Usability Team• Career Services

– 2 leads– 3 counselors– 5 employer relations

• Analyst from usability services (OIT) and staff support

• CSO Support

Usability Project Plan• Goal setting• Participant task identification (scenarios)• Identify debriefing questions for participants • Issues analysis• Work plan

Usability Project Timeline

November 2013Project kick-off / planning

October 2013Project green-lighted

Mid-December 2013Usability evaluations & debrief (3 days)

January 2014Lead-team wrap-up & debrief review

February – March 2014Issues analysis & assignment delegation

March – May 2014 Group consultation & assignment completion

June – July 2014Assignment completion & prioritization

August – September 2014Site review & Evaluation

ProgressIssues analysis – Green light & red light issues

Green light Halfway through “green-light” issues.

Red lightInternal practice or policy?CSO? How to prioritize?

Regular staff check-ins, and additional delegation of tasks to keep process moving forward.

Outcomes• Better collaborations with staff across units• Review and upgrading of training resources• Forced to revisit previous policy and practice

decisions for current fit

Next Steps• Site review process with CSO • Terminology review – possibly through

Usability Services • Continue to work with CSO on requested

updates / changes • Identify a process to evaluate with staff

frequency of help-related calls / inquiries

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