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An HR application for precision-targeting and deployment of emergency response personnel.


*Only select screens are shown to respect NDA limitations.

The Context

The Context

As a scientific emergency response organization, The Public Health Agency has tremendous capacity and potential to protect the health of people in Canada.

To do this effectively, we need to quickly and efficiently mobilize our people and access highly specialized expertise.

Methods & Tools

Co-design Workshop, Figma, User testing

Role

Lead Product Designer

Duration

Ongoing

The Problem

The Problem

Current HR systems inadequately map and analyze employee skills and competencies, resulting in knowledge gaps and inefficient resource allocation within the organization.

Outdated Search Page
  • Fragmented Layout

  • Poor Information Hierarchy

  • Lack of Visual Data Representation

  • Manual & Tedious Interaction 

Previous HR platform search page

Busy Results Page
  • Overwhelming Density

  • Poor Use of Space

  • Lack of Visual Hierarchy

  • Outdated Aesthetic

Previous HR platform results page

Design Brief

2 week sprint

5 person team

Objective

Design a web based application to catalogue employee capabilities, skills, team affiliations, peer affiliations, and project affiliations.

Constraints

2 week design sprint, keep within capabilities and scope.

Key Features
  • Employee Profile

  • Skill Catalogue

  • Time-series skill mapping

  • Competency Overview

  • Language Proficiency

  • Contact Information

  • Team Affiliations

  • Peer Connections

  • Current Project Tracking

  • Advanced Search Function

  • Interactive Organizational Chart

Journey Mapping

Journey Mapping

Initiating our sprint, I introduced journey mapping to the team. This technique illuminated user pain-points and platform inefficiencies, while impressing the team and guiding our user-focused improvement strategies.

Journey map built in Miro during workshop session

Opportunities for Improvement

Opportunities for Improvement

Users wanted additional information on employees skills, team affiliations, deployment status, and availability.

Design Brief

2 week sprint

5 person team

Objective

Design a web based application to catalogue employee capabilities, skills, team affiliations, peer affiliations, and project affiliations.

Constraints

2 week design sprint, keep within capabilities and scope.

Key Features
  • Employee Profile

  • Skill Catalogue

  • Time-series skill mapping

  • Competency Overview

  • Language Proficiency

  • Contact Information

  • Team Affiliations

  • Peer Connections

  • Current Project Tracking

  • Advanced Search Function

  • Interactive Organizational Chart

Ideation

Ideation

Sketch 1

Sketch 1

Exploring a new interface that incorporates key desired features such as a visual organization chart and skill mapping

Sketch 1: Organizational chart

Sketch 2

Sketch 2

Exploring a new advanced search page with improved organization and layout

Sketch 2: Search results

Mockup

Mockup

*Only select screens are shown to respect NDA limitations.

User Feedback

User Feedback

What Users Liked

What Users Liked

  • Updated UI

  • New workflow for searching and identifying personnel

  • Additional employee information

  • Availability status

  • Training and affiliated projects

  • Skills map

New Findings

New Findings

During user testing, we found that past applications introduced similar features, but they failed due to employees not updating their profiles and users being uncertain about the profile's recency


The underlying problem was that users rarely updated their profiles, resulting in outdated information and eventual abandonment of the program due to irrelevance.

New Iteration

New Iteration

We designed our new UI with gamification elements to incentivize regular updates, and added a feature allowing administrators to prompt users with outdated profiles without leaving the system

*Only select screens are shown to respect NDA limitations.

New features: Profile completion score and request for additional information

Final Results

Final Results

Users immediately recognized the benefits of the updated features, enhancing their workflow and saving them manual effort and time. This impact led to significant buy-in from VPs. The application is now in further development.

*Only select screens are shown to respect NDA limitations.

My Take-Aways

My Take-Aways

As the lead UX designer in this sprint, I realized the vital role designers have in project management and defining a project direction. By guiding the team towards user testing early on and shaping our development strategy, I ensured we understood user needs which allowed us to uncover the root causes.

Made with ❤️ by Sash Mahara
© 2025 Sash Mahara. All rights reserved.
Made with ❤️ by Sash Mahara
© 2025 Sash Mahara. All rights reserved.