Motivation
Change the logic for managing permissions, and map it to the users' mental model. Allow for full customizability and multiple reviews, and with that stand out on a market as first.
Goals
🎯 Make the setup easier for the administrator,
🎯 Make the journey/review process easier for both personas,
🎯 Better inform users during their decision-making process by providing the right context when needed, and
🎯 Enable customizability, multiple concurrent reviews, and implement a new logic paradigm for managing permissions.
🎯 Make the journey/review process easier for both personas,
🎯 Better inform users during their decision-making process by providing the right context when needed, and
🎯 Enable customizability, multiple concurrent reviews, and implement a new logic paradigm for managing permissions.
Design Process
🔍 Research (Usability testing)
🛠️ Prototype (Low and high-fidelity mockups, defining information architecture, UX design)
🧪 Test (Usability testing)
📦 Deliver
🛠️ Prototype (Low and high-fidelity mockups, defining information architecture, UX design)
🧪 Test (Usability testing)
📦 Deliver
Research & Problems
We tested our solutions both internally and externally. After 7 usability test sessions with our Users, we found out that:
◾ Users' mental model was the opposite of what we implemented. The navigational structure was "tree-like", and the drill-down process took too much mental effort. Users often felt like they left their task, leaving them confused and guessing.
◾ There wasn't enough context on each step. Our tool showed permissions for users and files separately, but users wanted to see this information combined. Thus, making informed decisions was hard.
◾ There wasn't enough customizability. Only one Review process could take place, but admins wanted some permissions to be checked more/less often.
◾ Setting up the Review was hard. Admins were confused about the first step. Saving settings and updating the states further increased the confusion.
◾ Users' mental model was the opposite of what we implemented. The navigational structure was "tree-like", and the drill-down process took too much mental effort. Users often felt like they left their task, leaving them confused and guessing.
◾ There wasn't enough context on each step. Our tool showed permissions for users and files separately, but users wanted to see this information combined. Thus, making informed decisions was hard.
◾ There wasn't enough customizability. Only one Review process could take place, but admins wanted some permissions to be checked more/less often.
◾ Setting up the Review was hard. Admins were confused about the first step. Saving settings and updating the states further increased the confusion.
Solutions
To tackle the first two goals, I went with a wizard. We wanted to guide users, one step at a time. Wizards reduce the cognitive load, which greatly reduced confusion and mistakes.
The wizard starts with an Overview page. Here, we set expectations, and inform our users of the upcoming work. We also highlight changes since the last review, allowing users to focus on them and finish tasks faster.
The wizard starts with an Overview page. Here, we set expectations, and inform our users of the upcoming work. We also highlight changes since the last review, allowing users to focus on them and finish tasks faster.
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Permissions Setup Wizard - Overview screen, where educational moment happens, and we set up expectations for the rest of the process
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Next, we had to improve the administrator flow for setup. The biggest challenge here was the complexity of data/settings which the administrator had to prepare. I mirrored the user's flow, so admins would literally select the files/users to be included in the review:
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Setup is done through the wizard, but we wanted to allow admins to access parts of it directly. After the first setup, we populate the settings page with sections from the setup wizard:
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And finally, full customization was achieved by so-called "policies". Each policy has its own settings and is applied to the content, similar to how labels work. This was a fundamental change. In the end, creating and applying policies became a new paradigm that gave us the cutting edge in the market.
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New Permissions Review Policy - enabling non-destructive exploration, highlighting options that are applied, and educating Admins
🎮 Check out the prototype
Testing the Solution & Results
After initial tests with users, the overall feedback was extremely positive. Everyone preferred the new straight-forward wizard flow over the old "flat" one. Admins loved the new experience, which is easier to complete. All the tasks in our tests were successfully completed. Here are some comments from our test candidates:
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"There's only one button for me to press, so I am going to do exactly that."
"I love the wizard!"
"Seeing all options after the wizard is perfect. I would not like to go through that wizard again."
"Now when I think about it, the way you simplified some options for the policies makes perfect sense to me - it's the way to go in the future."
"I love the wizard!"
"Seeing all options after the wizard is perfect. I would not like to go through that wizard again."
"Now when I think about it, the way you simplified some options for the policies makes perfect sense to me - it's the way to go in the future."
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Thanks to these improvements, we gained new customers. The covid pandemic provided an opportunity for this new tool, as Security and Work From Home became more important. Here are some comments from our customers:
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"The date of the first official release of SysKit Point is December 2019. Yes! This application has less than one year in the market. But still, I think when you use Point it feels like a mature product, and I love the way you navigate your data."
"I have to say that my first impression with SysKit Point was excellent. Any task is effortless to perform, and the documentation is so simple to read and understand. One of the first and best features you notice is that you can access all the information and reports from practically any place, fast and painless. The way you view and navigate the data is so well accomplished. I should say it is my favorite feature of the product."
"I have to say that my first impression with SysKit Point was excellent. Any task is effortless to perform, and the documentation is so simple to read and understand. One of the first and best features you notice is that you can access all the information and reports from practically any place, fast and painless. The way you view and navigate the data is so well accomplished. I should say it is my favorite feature of the product."
