01 | Project
Water and wastewater operator certification program - User research & early prototyping
The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) launched a project to modernize the Water and Wastewater Operator Certification System (WWOCS), and consequently improve the delivery of the certification program services to help ensure Ontario's water systems are safe.
02 | Info
Role
Service and user experience designer
Timeline
6 months
Tools
Figma, Miro, Salesforce
Team
Project manager, product manager, business analyst, researchers, ministry stakeholders (client),
The work we did
FOR PUBLIC FACING & INTERNAL USERS
I collaborated with the team to complete Discovery (user research) and Alpha (prototyping and testing) in the
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User-friendly self serve dashboard for operators to view their certification journey, training and experience history
Enhanced application tracking system to provide real-time visibility to applicants on the status and progress of their applications
Internal user dashboard with a prioritized queue to process and track applications, while reducing errors, enabling efficient reporting, and enhancing overall service delivery and program oversight.
The impact
04 | Deliverables & artifacts
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Research deck, personas, journey maps, design artifacts
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Interactive mid to high-fidelity prototype
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Usability testing insights and recommendations for service implementation
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Product vision definition
03 | Highlights & key activities
User interviews with 19 internal users and 30 external users
Usability testing with 8 internal users and 20 external users
Developed a shared product vision to clarify scope, define service features, and validate internal assumptions
stakeholder management and co-creation workshops
05 | Project overview
The problem
The processes supporting the operator certification program are antiquated, heavily manual, and inefficient.
Impacting
Approximately 10,000 drinking water and wastewater operators, 900 system owners and operating authorities, 200 training providers, and 40 internal users (Ministry and program administrator staff).
The process
Discovery:
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Uncovering pain points and insights through research
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Defining user needs
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Identifying policies and other barriers that will make meeting user needs difficult
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Concept design, low fidelity prototyping & testing
Alpha:
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Mid-fi prototype iteration & testing
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Product visioning and scope
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Defining the Future Service streams
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Future state recommendations and plan for the next phases
06 | Problem statement
How might we modernize the overall service with a user-focused solution and lean processes that can enable all users to plan, submit, process, and track applications more efficiently and with fewer errors, such that services can be requested and provided online, in a faster, more streamlined and consistent manner, thus improving the overall service delivery and program oversight?
07 | Research hypothesis
All users expect faster processing of applications and experience pain points related to the lack of a single source of data.
External users wish to have a solution that lets them self-service and have more visibility on their application status and tracking.
Internal users would benefit from the ability to spot incomplete applications and there are opportunities for better workflow support
Confirmed through research
08 | User research highlights
Research methods & approach
Remote user interviews
Interview guides
Miro note taking boards
Interview recordings
Synthesizing research insights
Following the user research activities, a thematic analysis was conducted that involved:
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looking for patterns throughout interview notes
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identifying pain points, and
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clustering them into themes
From the analysis of collected data, emerged key insights across eight main pain point themes
Coded interview boards
Miro board to collect and synthesize pain point themes
Lack of centralization
A need to consolidate information into a single centralized location to build on existing data, provide comprehensive and interlinked views, and avoid duplication.
Limited tracking and monitoring
A need to ensure profiles are up-to-date, keep users informed of what is happening within a reasonable timeframe, and provide more feedback on actions taken.
Lack of awareness & understanding
Users indicated that the language used in the program’s communications to the public was too complicated.
Antiquated processes
Paper-based and manual processes requiring forms to be faxed or mailed in, and payment to be processed with a POS machine, leads to time loss and increased frustration
System inflexibility
A need to offer a service catered to the needs of different types of users and that evolves with policy changes.
No global view
Need to connect information between employers/ facilities/operators, as well as have the capacity to generate reports or track information holistically.
Poor system usability
Need to provide an interface that allows users to accomplish basic tasks in a reasonable timeframe. Need to access previous data and history.
Communication
Disconnect between what is said, asked and done, making it difficult to complete basic tasks. Lack of follow-up when support is needed.
09 | Research findings
Key findings
& insights
10 | Future state journeys
Mapping journeys
During our future state workshops, we defined the ideal service for key user journeys. The result of that was three future state journey maps.
An operator qualifies and applies for certification for the first time, to upgrade their current certification or to renew their certification.
A course provider submits a drinking water course to be assessed for the first time or reassessed and approved.
An operator is made aware of and registers for a course.
A facility stakeholder applies for a facility classification and manages the operators linked to that facility.
Platforms & personas
Our findings from the previous activities reveal that:
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The future state service will consist of multiple interconnected platforms and will be utilized by various user groups
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Central to this ecosystem is the Secure Portal, where external users can input information for sharing with Internal Users.
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This information is then stored in the Data Repository of the future system, which supports several core features, including storing application history.
Concept design is the phase in a service design project where the insights and ideas generated from user research and the synthesis phase are transformed into tangible concepts that can be tested and iterated upon.
11 | Concept design & prototyping
Designing concept
Concept prototyping
Operator dashboard, tracking work experience, goals and application history
Course provider dashboard, managing courses, training sessions, course portfolio and applications
Analyst dashboard, exam scheduling, prioritized queue of applications
Version 1 concept prototypes
12 | Prototyping & testing sprints (Alpha)
Iterate, iterate & test
In the Alpha phase, we ran five design sprints during which a series of prototypes were developed and tested with internal and external users, focusing on prioritized scenarios and user needs identified during Discovery.
Some of what we heard
Goal setting was not a priority for operators, they simply wanted to log on and update their work experience, with automatic training updates via the course provider.
We found that the need to track and document work experience should be further investigated with existing employer tools in mind. Operators were worried about duplication.
Users appreciated the streamlined step by step application process with relevant contextual information to help complete the application without errors.
Based on our initial research using the concept prototype, we updated the flows and tested them through five design sprints.
Sprint 1
To test the Operator’s Qualification (Exams) prototypes, with a focus on registration, rescheduling, results consultation, and blockers resolution.
Sprint 2
To test the Operator’s Certification prototypes, with a focus on profile update with new work experience and new on-the-job training, Certification upgrade and renewal, and blocker resolution.
Sprint 3
To test the Course Assessment or Reassessment prototypes, with a focus on application submission, blocker resolution, adding instructor to course, course session creation, and course completion results submission
Sprint 4
To test the Facility Classification or Reclassification prototypes, with a focus on application submission, and blocker resolution
Sprint 5
To test the Operator’s Qualification (Exams) and Certification, the Course Assessment or Reassessment, and the Facility Classification or Reclassification prototypes, with a focus on application review and tracking
13 | Final recommendations & next steps
Design recommendations & next steps
From the findings of our testing phase, we identified 26 key recommendations, grouped into 2 major themes. below are some of the final recommendations to consider furthering testing in Beta & Live phases
THEMES
1. Content design
2. System usability and navigation
Content design
Provide consistent and objective filling instructions to each form field, including a directive title, a content example, and the indication of either required or mandatory
The application review history, including all feedback provided by internal users, should be clearly distinguishable from the application information submitted by external users
All information related to a single application should be easily accessible from a single page
Depending on the user’s role and decision-making needs, the overview page should provide information about service metrics and internal performance indicators
System usability and navigation
Review system features and Call-To-Actions (CTAs) to ensure they address user needs and priorities, using clear CTAs to guide users towards desired actions at each stage
Break complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps to reduce cognitive load, avoiding excess information or too many options displayed on a single screen
Design and test the new system with a diversity of users to ensure compliance with AODA standards
Consider accessible navigation options for pages or forms with high content density, such as a sticky navigation bar that remains visible as users scroll down the page