Enhanced Timesheet Reviewal Experience with Research-backed Insights
Role
Researcher, UI Designer / Developer
Methods & Tools
Unmoderated Survey, Maze, TailwindCSS, Ruby on Rails
Timeline
August - October, 2022
Overview
For a scheduling and time & attendance platform like Workforce.com, improving the user experience for managers of hourly staff is crucial. One key task for these managers is reviewing and approving timesheets before payroll processing.
In 2019, Workforce.com initiated development around a new mobile app for their global client base to replace their older version. Initial feedback on the new interfaces, particularly on the timesheet approval process, indicated frustration with perceived deficiencies compared to the previous app and the current desktop experience, prompting further investigation to identify necessary improvements.
Goals
Identify the reason for perceived deficiencies in the timesheet reviewal page and redesign it based on the feedback.
Outcome
Two key missing features were discovered and adderessed, leading to an 80% satisfaction rating for the page.
Research Plan
Reviewing existing feedback on the reviewal process revealed solutions already proposed based on assumptions concluded from the feedback.
Hypotheses were created from these assumptions to further address the reasons for user dissatisfaction.
Hypotheses
01
Removing the "swipe to approve" would solve confusion around approving a timesheet.
02
Displaying a list of timesheets would solve complaints around the tedious process of approving one at a time.
Objectives
01
Identify why users want to remove the "swipe to approve gesture."
02
Identify user expectations for how timesheets would be displayed in a list.
Research Method
Given our cross-regional/time zone userbase and project timeline constraints, we sent a survey out through the platform, Maze.
Constraints
The project timeline was 6-weeks, including both research, design, and development. The userbase was across multiple regions, so we needed to ensure representation from each.
Method
I opted for an unmoderated survey to quickly capture sentiments and gain a basic understanding of user behavior and preferences across regions.
Research Study
The survey was conducted using the research platform Maze. We placed a notice on the mobile app’s timesheet approvals page and ran the survey for about 2 weeks, enough to capture close to 100 responses.
The survey ran for 2 weeks, but after the first week, we updated the notice to be more urgent, bumping our mediocre response count up to 100.
Insights
Less than 20% of responses indicated they used the swipe gesture, but most found it frustrating because the page lacked undoing approvals.
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The need for a list of timesheets solved for simply seeing the other timesheets, but didn't solve for quickly finding a timesheet.
Proposed Design
01 Viewing Approved Timesheets
The swiping gesture would be removed because it was not used often, but more importantly, approved timesheets would be added to the page as a separate view, allowing for reversing the approval.
02 Group List by Teams
A list of timesheets would be provided, but with the addition of sorting by team which improves findability.
A fat marker sketch (see Shape Up Framework) of how pending vs approved timesheets would appear in the app. Borrowing the group by team setup from Shifts, as depicted by Team Schedules, this would also be applied to timesheets.
Solution
List by Teams
We had a few other mobile app interfaces which grouped lists by teams, making it easy to adapt the solution to the timesheets interface.
New Toggle
To view both pending and approved timesheets, a new component was introduced to switch the lists out dynamically. This was later adapted to other lists across the app.
No Swiping
To view both pending and approved timesheets, a new component was introduced to switch the lists out dynamically. This was later adapted to other lists across the app.
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Changes were shipped incrementally, focusing on the most complex changes (new data retrieval) to least complex (changes to visual presentation of elements). The final solution included the ability to see approved timesheets, to unapprove them, and view timesheets by a list grouped by teams.
Impact
01 80% satisfaction rating
A post-release survey revealed an average satisfaction rating of 5.4 on a 7 point Likert scale.
02 Design System & Maturity
The improvements from this project incited more work on standardizing lists, toggles, and general page layouts which expanded our design system.
Takeaways.
01 Problem before Solution
While we were likely on the right track by noting frustrations with swiping and inability to view a list, understanding the underlying user pains first ensures a solution that truly meets user expectations.
02 Capture User Behavior
Establishing a platform to capture user behavior directly, rather than only a survey, could significantly enhance future similar projects.
03 Cognitive Under and Overload
Simple interfaces are useful for reducing cognitive overload, but if it's too simple, this can increase frustration. Striking the right balance is crucial, especially with users who oversee large amounts of information.