The Work We Do

Keeping People Front and Center: The Stakeholders

Case Study: Identifying Multiple Users' Needs

Challenge: A Fortune 500 corporation purchased an enterprise portal that it expected would enable its work force to transition more smoothly into the global market. Unfortunately, the enterprise portal floundered immediately. One of the modules was to support its sales force. Instead, a productivity disaster resulted. Users in the sales force were dissatisfied and opposed to further portal development. In this hostile environment, management was preparing to implement a module to manage new product development in the Research and Development (R&D) division. The corporation engaged LDS to analyze issues with the sales module and make recommendations on how to improve the overall future of the portal.

What We Did: Our analysis of the existing portal included onsite visits, stakeholder and user interviews and expert audits of all systems. We learned the client's initial implementation plan had approached the enterprise portal from a single perspective only: identifying tasks and transactions necessary to support the online work of the sales force. We also identified three areas – optimum usage levels, information context and location – requirements the client had not considered adequately when creating the sales support module.

We then studied current and anticipated work processes to identify business strategies and determine user needs. We found significant differences between what the sales force and what the R&D organization expected of the portal. We developed a plan to support both divisions' needs, as well as their current and future work practices. We asked: "Do we understand what users in both divisions require – including the specific tasks and transactions of their – to be successful now and in the future?

Results: By applying People-Centered Design activities through our unique methodology, The Logical Approach^SM, we answered these questions and were able to transform the client's business and enhance the efficiency, productivity and bottom-line impact of people working in both sales and in R&D.