RESEARCH / DESIGN / DEVELOPMENT

Building a collaborative CCIS (Command & Control Information System) for SAF users.

How to enhance the overall situation awareness for multi-services collaborating on a single source of truth?

DURATION

6 -12 months

MY ROLE

User research, UX design, Interface Design, Design system

TEAM SIZE

1 UX designer, 1 UX architect, 7-8 Developers

DELIVERABLES

8 modules in a product

IMPACT MEASUREMENT

Quantitive: SUS, BERT, Adoption/Usage rate

Qualitative: User interview, User Feedback

Background

With the evolving needs of the SAF users from 3 different services with disparate work domains, a robust CCIS (command and control information system) that is both comprehensive and collaborative is needed to properly support each service and their domain in systematising their upward reporting on health status.

Each service domain (e.g. air, land, sea) has preference to configure their own data input, aggregation and presentation for the purpose of monitoring and reporting pertaining to their service. All with one main system to achieve single source of truth for an overall high level situation awareness.

Informed by research, our solution was to provide the SAF users with a design interface which had the modularity and flexibility in manipulating each piece of data to pivot into the best way to suit each user groups' operation.

Challenges

Different domain user with different data config preference

Design Goals

Unified design

Design modularity and flexibility for all types of live information display to be collate, pivot, share and present.

Familiar Gap as it is not for day-to-day. Users only use the system twice a year for artificial situation and need.

Zero manuals and user training

1. Increase learnibility with more visual momentum.

2. Providing user support at timely touchpoint.

Stove piped modules resulted in data gaps workarounds, data accuracy

Single source of truth

1. Enhance connectivity

and integrate modules as ecosystem.

2. Live update to improve confidence in data input and display.

Obsolete CCIS system that affected users' experience

Intuitive Design

Leveraging on commercial design patterns so that users are able to re-etablish proficiency quickly on using the system with minimal friction.

Increased visual momentum in starting on the system with wizard and tutorials and smart support for all user types in their workflow.

Time Saving on data prep at Command Post: 2hrs ➜ 15mins

Minimum Training Required

Design validated with 100+users

Users had positive reactions to the new design and functionalities of the prototypes for mid year exercise.

Outcomes

Unified Design for all types of live information

Presentation and Situation Appraisal for decision-making with live collation and updates from Single Point of Truth.

"The senior commanders were pleased with the new system and have thanked the team for their good work. They have requested for follow ups by respective complexes to bring capabilities to new heights, including proliferation of the Apps to wider user groups in the Network."

"Very happy that many of the features now use intuitive user interface from common commercial applications so that staffers who are all part-timers, do not require lengthy special training before becoming conversant."

Achievement

Won 2019 DSTA Excellence Award 🏆

Users

Service Domain

Air

Land

Sea

Joint

Work Domain

Operation management

Strategic planning

Sense-making capabilities

Experience

Learner User

Long time user

Expert User

Design Process

Research

Wireframe

Lofi Design

& Review

Hi-Res

Design

& Review

Usability

Testing on Screen

Prototype

Product

Delivery

Usability Testing on development

6-9 months later

Exercise

Trial

1-2 sessions weekly for 1-2 months

2-3 weeks from each sessions

Avg Revisions:

Wireframes 4-6 focus on the macro functions and workflow for user's validation

3-4 weeks from each sessions

Avg Revisions:

1-2x in Hi-res with micro interactions

1-2 sessions with 5-8 proxy-users

Weekly design

review with developers

First Major Release

3-4 sessions with 5-8 proxy-users

Yearly Exercise Trial with 100+ Users

Research

Goals:

1. Bridge up the stove piped modules that resulted in data gaps and workarounds.

2. Understand broad, unstructured goals or nonlinear workflows of users from different services for this system.

Activities

User interviews, focus groups,

co-creation workshops

1. Did a current workflow study for each service's domain groups to find out their needs and pain points.

2. Mapped out the existing system functions to the current day work flow needs.

3. Did design heuristics and usability testing on the predecessor system with the main group of service users.

Constraints

High turnover of users - knowledge gap with the long project timeline =

Constant changing of user needs

Design

Goal:

1. Keeping it useful, usable, desirable and future proof.

2. Interoperability in data display and apps

3. Intuitive and familiar design to commercial products

Solutions

8 interoperable modules

1. Dashboard

Empowering users autonomy to collaborate

Giving each domain autonomy and flexility to monitor the way they want with widgets of other modules and

2. Presentation

Allows multiple domain information to piece up from other modules into a live presentation.

3. Incident

Allows multiple sources to be summed up/grouped for viewing at higher levels

4. Readiness

Allows multiple sources to be summed up/grouped for viewing at higher levels

5. Wizard

Increase visual momentum in starting the system with wizard and tutorials and smart support for all user types in their workflo based on their profile

6. Onboarding and Videos

Product tour to orient new users and help them to figure out the fastest way to get to their first moment of value.

7. Card Builder

Pivoting information to display differently on demand. Includes advance functions like formulas and aggregation for expert users.

Constraints

Running very lean with 1 design pair and 1 developer to 1 module, we had to manage complexities like

Informational

(Data volume, presentation and analysis)

Integrative

- Complex legacy backend

- At 2nd lifecycle of the project that is only for remediation.

(Front end refresh) Limited flexibility in changing the backend.