A data entry application that helps organize, maintain and secure large sets of data while providing analytics reporting feature.
Final design mockup video
Role: UX designer
Time: January - September 2020
This is an update on the Snowglobe project.
After the Madhacks competition, the team was required to perform user testing and gather insights directly from potential customers to help out in the final steps of the project development.
User testing
I reached out to investigators from different states across the US to discuss our project and have them test the current version. I conducted the tests via Zoom, where I presented the investigators with a task and gave them access to control my screen to use the platform while talking to me through the steps.
Test insights
Data security: Investigators collect sensitive data and prefer to store it locally rather than the cloud.
Lack of technical expertise: Many of the investigators lacked the technical knowledge to use some of the features in the platform.
Laws & regulations: Each state has its own set of rules and regulations which made it challenging to develop a unified solution that can be used across the country.
Cost: Some of the features used in the Snowglobe platform were costly which will require a large amount of funds to run the platform.
Pivoting by design thinking
After analyzing the user testing results, our team began brainstorming ideas of ways to pivot from the original solution. I began by conducting a team meeting with the engineers, managers and directors to provide an understanding of the design thinking process to ensure the team is engaged and aware of the necessary steps needed to take as we work through the pivoting process.
Define the problem
I requested a training session from the human trafficking investigation team in Denver, Colorado. The goal of the training is to understand the issue of human trafficking in depth and explore the type of work investigators perform in the investigation process.
As a team, we redefined the problem and shifted our focus from a broad topic to focusing on law enforcement workers in the human trafficking sector since they face many challenges in the investigation process.
Research
Our team wanted to gain a better understanding of the investigation process and the technical challenges investigators face in their job. We conducted multiple interview sessions with multiple investigators from across the US to help us understand how the investigation process differs between states.
Interviews
Interviews outcome
Through the interviews, we were able to gather useful information that we organized into different categories based on the issues and challenges investigators mentioned.
Data consolidation: Most investigators still use traditional methods (pen & paper) to record data. The lack of a system to collect and organize data made it challenging to maintain organized victim cases.
Large sets of data: Investigators typically collect a large amount of data for each case they work on, some cases have over 1Tb of data.
Data analysis: investigators expressed the desire to understand and gain useful findings from the data they collect and work with during the investigation process. The ability to visualize spreadsheets into graphs and reports will provide the opportunity for more findings.
Data Transfer: Investigators store most data using local office computers and external hard drives. Transferring data becomes challenging and can be lost or stolen in the transfer process. Most data is shipped via post mail or sent via email.
Victims support: The need for a tool to help assist in victim advocacy services during or post investigation.
Competitive Research
We also wanted to examine the market for any products or services available to law enforcement and private investigators. We examined a range of available tools and platforms in the market.
After examining direct and indirect competitors, we began the ideation phase where we brainstormed a range of ideas on how to help consolidate data, organize and secure valuable information and ease the transfer process.
Solution with APEX
Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a low-code development platform that enables you to build scalable, secure enterprise apps, with world-class features, that can be deployed anywhere.
APEX enables developers to build scalable, secure enterprise apps, with a range of useful features, that can be deployed anywhere. Our development team began developing an APEX application that focuses on big data, security, monitoring and easy to use UI.
As a possible solution, we developed an application that allows users to create individual profiles to help organize the cases, and upload large sets of data into the Autonomous Data Warehouse for security and ease of access.
Data shown in the application is used for demonstration purposes only.
Organizational changes
There was a massive re org that happened to the North American Cloud Engineering team in July and it completely stifled our momentum. Me and my development team got spread out across different organizations at Oracle in new roles. The project was moved into the development and innovation team in London, Uk.
What I learned:
Approaching our project from a design thinking perspective allowed us to define the problem, eliminate assumptions, enhance ideation and improve our prototyping and testing process.
Collaboration among the different teams in the project including sales, engineering, and management allowed for a diverse and successful pivoting process.
Through research, I was able to discover other issues that require in-depth research and work, Welfare was a new project developed from OATS.