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UX / UI AUDIT
DILIGENT

Board Effect software is composed of different workspaces called workrooms. Users can manage workroom users and create events and books. Collaboration among workroom members is another core function of the software.
The audit was focused on the assessment of the user experience of Board Effect software and in-house Atlas design system. The project was developed in collaboration with Lead UX Researcher Alex Card at Diligent.


Diligent is a provider of governance software. Board Effect is a management solution for governance of nonprofits and higher education institutions.

Tasks: Research & analysis / UX 
Software analysys and critical points



Board Effect has 3 main target users that have overlapping functions and tasks in some cases:

  1. System Administrator
  2. Workroom Administrator
  3. Board Member


The first two, also called enablers here in this report, serve also as a supporting role for the next ones, organizing, enabling and easing workspaces, workspaces content and related activities.

The previous illustrations highlight the different goals associated to the different roles, the mutual dependency and the interlaced communication across the platform.





An important issue in the current general Board Effect flow is that many tasks and functionalities are hidden in sections that don’t match the logical order of completion, users’ mental model and established conventions.
One of the biggest problems is related to settings area that contains primary workflows, such as the workroom creation functionality, user management and more, in a misleading and hidden way.
Board Effect interface is not effecting in explaining users how to complete the suggested flow and how to populate and manage the different sections.





A redesign of the interface is needed according to the goals and task of the 3 main profiles, presenting a more logical order.
Given the different functions, enabler profiles need a more task-oriented interface that allows them to fulfill specific productive and organizational activities. On the other hand the board member, also called beneficiary, needs an interface that facilitates content fruition.



Sample of one of the critical assessment maps



The structure of the map follows the path of a supposed user interacting with the platform for the first time. The analysis gives an overview on the information architecture, navigation and workflows.
Different sections were examined, with a special focus on critical aspects, pain points and inconsistent elements.

Board Effect provides users with a not very optimal and intuitive user experience. The platform presents itself with an outdated user interface, in terms of style and approach, with many critical points.

8 macro areas related to core UX and UI design principles were identified. Proposals on possible design strategies in order to improve the general user experience are provided.

  1. Information architecture
  2. Guidance
  3. Naming & conventions
  4. Navigation
  5. Prioritization
  6. Workflows
  7. Call-to-action elements & states
  8. Design system



Redesign





The redesign activity was focused on a new information architecture and a new navigation strategy able to rewrite and suggest an optimized flow. The goal is to better prioritize primary sections and tasks and to provide users with guiding and support information.
Given the wide and nested approach of the navigation elements, the redesign activity was focused on reducing the number of items creating primary and secondary areas of interest on the interface.
The order of the different items on the nav was changed and much more prominence was given to the workroom sections, also in terms of capabilities in the navigation area.





One of the main ideas was to expand the different workrooms in the nav bar and turn them into dropdowns that can be pinned on top of the list according to the frequency of usage.
Each workroom dropdown presents an internal navigation menu that is able to remove a level of navigation, the tertiary one inside the webpage. A call-to-action button in order to create new workrooms can be easily made available to users directly on the navigation bar.

Secondary functions such as the profile management, notifications, help section and log-out functionality can be moved to the top right corner of the window, with a lower focus rate.





A different interface layout and navigation order were presented according to the different roles and therefore the most frequently used sections and performed tasks. A simple welcome modal box could either determine the user profile or show the assigned one since the first registration steps.
3 different onboardings, get-started sections and interface layouts could be developed and presented to guide users and make them familiar with their core activities and tasks.