Sharepoint Redesign

For this, my team conducted research and ideation in order to better an internal Sharepoint resource.

OVERVIEW

As it was, the SharePoint site was hardly utilized outside of the initial onboarding process and thus was hardly ever updated outside of the bare necessities. For this reason, many users turned to alternate resources when in need. Despite this, leadership saw the potential for the SharePoint site to be transformed beyond its original objective and tasked our team with making this happen.

Problem

Our Solution

To understand the task, it was imperative for us to understand the users who were most involved with the SharePoint site. To do this, we conducted interviews with stakeholders, gathering information on their basic understanding of the site, their experiences with it, the resources they sought out day-to-day, and any further commentary they had about the site.

Project Scope

For this case study, our team was tasked with renovating an internal SharePoint site. Our goal was to transform the site from a limited, obsolete onboarding tool into an accessible, reliable resource for all employees. Beyond just bettering the site's utility, we wanted the site to be a way to ultimately bring our entire cross-functional team closer together. Accurate information, achievement spotlights, avenues for communication and feedback were all part of the vision we held for the final site.

NOTICE: Due to a Non-Disclosure Agreement, I am prohibited from sharing the exact details of this project, however, a general overview of the design process will be provided. All images shown are for the sake of providing an overview of the process and do not contain any sensitive or confidential information. For more detailed projects, please check out previous case studies.

Thank you!

RESEARCH

Discovery & Scoping Session

User and Stakeholder Interviews

In order to grasp the full spectrum of user experiences, we reached out to a wide spectrum of individuals, from regular teammates to members of the wider organization. As for the interviews with stakeholders, they further delved into the site’s history, objectives, and pain points. From the interviews we received a treasure trove of insights that gave us a thorough understanding of the issues faced while navigating the site.

Affinity Mapping and Analysis

From interviews, we were able to identify an assortment of delights, insights, and pain points. We used an affinity map to discover themes amongst our findings.

After conducting a thorough scoping session with our stakeholders, we were able to assess our risks, outline our goals, and define our boundaries. Following this was a series of exercises where we prioritized the primary concerns and key features considered necessary for the SharePoint renovation.

Competitive Analysis

Our prioritization map with pain points (pink) and features (green) plotted from least to most urgent and important. This guided our focus on what items were immediate action items and helped us identify our priorities.

Visualizing user feedback through an affinity diagram, highlighting pain points, desired features, and usage patterns of the internal Sharepoint site.

We then conducted a competitive analysis on a variety of external Sharepoint sites, identifying UI features that we could either utilize or avoid.

Snapshot of our competitive analysis using the Rose, Bud, Thorn method. We dissected internal and external SharePoint sites, identifying features we adored (Rose), saw potential in (Bud), and believed required enhancement (Thorn).

IDEATION

Our analysis led us to a Crazy 8s session, bringing together a melting pot of ideas. This brainstorm culminated in an abundance of design strategies, each that we adapted and tested within our SharePoint template.

Crazy 8s Session

An sketch from our Crazy 8s session that captures one of the ideation phases, which would later influence solutions we integrated. Note: This sketch is devoid of proprietary details and serves purely to showcase the essence of our Crazy 8s exercise.

CONCLUSION & REFLECTION

Conclusion

In the short time we had with this project, we were able to find success in the Discovery and Framing phases of the design process. The progress we made and the product we were able to deliver was a testament to the individual and teamwork of a group of skilled, collaborative, and motivated designers.

After brainstorming we ended up with two distinct SharePoint sites, each with functions tailored to a specific user group. We then passed the designs for these sites on to another team for user testing usability testing and were redirected to our next project.

Reflections & Next Steps

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