Home Unite Us
A workflow management tool
Role
UX/UI Lead
Overview
Homelessness become an epidemic within the United States. Among those at risk, young people stand out as particularly vulnerable to this dire situation. Our objective is to develop a workflow management system that streamlines the process of providing temporary housing for homeless youth aged 18-25.
My Role
My role was to collaborate with the product management and development teams at Home Unite Us to to create dashboards that effectively communicate insights for three key users: guests, host and coordinators for V1 of our value proposition.
The Problem
bottlenecks in Workflow
Non-profit entities are undertaking the challenging task to combat this issue. Currently, caseworkers are overseeing their tasks using a combination of paper applications and a blend of digital and analog methods. This results in certain delays and sources of dissatisfaction.
bias
Additionally, a degree of bias and subjectivity exists, as caseworkers are compelled to rely on their individual judgment when making participant matches.
Stakeholder Goals for Pilot
• Increase success in moving people through the matching process.
• Prevent candidate drop-off for hosts and guests by making a smoother experience.
• Increase the speed and efficiency of caseworkers in the number of cases they can close.
Our Users
Three main user groups
The key reasoning behind building out the dashboard instead of using external existing software was to solve for the multi-participant schedule matching. Case-workers needed a way to pair existing participants from the organization side through a series of fixed required meetings.
Some meetings require all three parties (Host, Guest, and Case Worker) to be present. Additionally, guest and host dashboards allow both users (respectively) to know their status in the application process, upload necessary documentation and prompt them to schedule meetings.
Proposed Solution
A dynamic dashboard that chronicles where participants (Hosts and Guests) are in the matching process, accompanying the broader workflow management system for caseworkers.
Pain Points
Pain Point #1
The difficulty for organizations to deal with the high number of applicants while using their current paper system.
Pain Point #2
Caseworkers need a more streamlined approach to effectively schedule meetings with participants.
Major Pain Points
An Action Plan
Guests need a way move through an on-boarding and application process. Hosts need a way to upload documentation and receive updates on guests that are a potential match for housing. One of the main intricacies was the matching process where we needed to facilitate three parties in a singular meeting. This is a major challenge from both a design and development perspective.
Added Challenges + Constraints
- As a team of remote workers in several time zones, it can be challenging to move the process along quickly.
- We don’t have frequent or direct access to participants from the organization to conduct user testing and deeper research.
- Getting a hold of organizational stakeholders takes a long time, meaning we must pivot quickly and work with the limited information provided.
- Limitations on the amount of Nylas API licenses we have available for the functionality of the calendaring portion of the dashboard.
Low Fidelity Prototypes
Based on our user research, we tried to design around our user’s main priority needs which were:
1. The coordinator can view all applications submitted, categorized by guest and host, and can click on the Guest/Host name to pull up their application/information at their current stages.
2. The coordinator will be able to see any outstanding issues at a quick glance. A three-panel layout was our best bet.
The screens were sent to the PM and Development Teams for Approval:
Feedback from PMs and Engineers
The contents of the three-panel layout were agreed upon:
- A side navigation drawer to the left of the dashboard
- A scrollable body in the middle
- Calendaring on the right panel
The Feedback was implemented in the mid-fidelity screens
Updated Screens:
Coordinator Home Screen
Hosts Screen
Guests Screen
Feedback from PM and Devs. Some things to consider:
1.
Mobile First?
Our lead developer encouraged us to take the mobile-first approach, and it made the most sense for two main reasons:
- Most homeless youths do not have regular access to desktops. Likely they’d be interacting with the system on their mobile devices which may also have limited capabilities.
- Caseworkers will need to have access to the database on the go when doing home visits and inspections, as well as multitasking in the office.
2.
Adopting Material UI React Kit
The development team requested to modify the current design system and React UI tools as it easier to code the design components and assets already existing in the MUI kit. The UI tools are very similar to the the style guide provided to provided by the stakeholders so the decision to modify the design system was easy. The conversation was pivotal in causing us reconsider our design and focus on overall responsiveness.
Scalability + Responsive Design
We are currently working on designing scalable on-boarding screens for desktop, tablet and mobile.
Next Steps…
This project is still active, so there is much more to be done.
- Our Project Manager will be presenting our work to the stakeholders for review.
- Adopt the new design system from the MUI kit.
- Adapt the UI responsively for larger screen sizes.
- Run usability and QA tests. We will be able to learn more and refine for the pilot and later, the MVP.