Prevent, optimize, and resolve application issues

• Lack of Intuitive Data Visualization: Critical information such as system alerts and incidents was buried in lists without clear visual prioritization, making it difficult for users to quickly assess the status of services.

• Inefficient Navigation: The navigation structure required multiple clicks to reach essential information, resulting in a time-consuming and frustrating user experience.

• Poor Alert Management: The alerts were not categorized effectively, lacking clear distinctions between critical and non-critical issues, leading to inefficient incident management.

• Absence of Real-Time Data Synthesis: The inability to synthesize data from various sources in real-time meant that the dashboard could not provide a holistic view of system health.

• Limited Customization: The dashboard had minimal filtering options, which impeded the users' ability to tailor the interface to their specific monitoring tasks.

• Suboptimal Use of Screen Real Estate: The layout did not make optimal use of space, leading to a cluttered interface that obscured key information.

These issues compounded to create a significant challenge for the operational teams responsible for maintaining system uptime and efficiency. There was a clear demand for a dashboard that provided an intuitive, comprehensive, and real-time view of the system's health.

Process

Initial Stakeholder Interviews:

• Conducted one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders to gather insights into business requirements, expectations for the tool, and desired outcomes.

• Clarified the objectives, such as the need for improved MTTR, and established the success metrics for the dashboard.

1. Power User Interviews:

   • Interviewed power users to gather detailed feedback on the existing system’s limitations.

   • Observed their interaction with the current dashboard to understand their workflows, pain points, and features they relied on the most.

2. Competitive Analysis:

   • Reviewed competing products and industry benchmarks to identify best practices and innovative features that could be adapted for the WishWall dashboard.

3. Requirement Gathering and Analysis:

   • Mapped out the requirements from the interviews, focusing on critical features like real-time monitoring, dependency mapping, and recovery actions.

   • Prioritized these features based on user needs, frequency of use, and impact on the troubleshooting process.

4. Prototyping:

   • Developed low-fidelity prototypes to test hypotheses and design assumptions quickly.

   • Iterated on these prototypes, gradually increasing fidelity and incorporating interactive elements to simulate the dashboard experience.

5. User Testing and Feedback Loops:

   • Conducted usability testing sessions with a focus group of end-users, power users, and stakeholders, observing their interactions and gathering qualitative data.

   • Implemented a feedback loop to refine the dashboard iteratively, ensuring the design met the user's needs effectively.

6. Design Refinement:

   • Used the insights from the testing phase to refine the user interface, optimize the user flow, and ensure that the information architecture was intuitive.

   • Worked on the visual design elements to ensure that the dashboard was not only functional but also aesthetically pleasing and aligned with brand standards.

7. Collaboration with Developers:

   • Worked closely with the development team to ensure that the design specifications were clearly understood and implemented correctly.

   • Participated in agile sprints, providing design support and making adjustments as needed based on technical constraints and new findings.

How this design helped the stakeholders

Enhanced Visualization: The new dashboard implemented a robust color-coding and iconography system to prioritize alerts and status levels, enabling users to gauge the system's health at a glance.

• Streamlined Navigation: A restructured navigation pane allowed for quick access to different system views and essential functions, greatly reducing the number of steps to locate critical data.

• Effective Alert Hierarchy: Alerts were categorized and displayed with an emphasis on criticality, allowing for quicker response times and more effective prioritization.

• Integrated Data Sources: By synthesizing data from various sources, the dashboard provided a real-time, 360-degree view of the IT infrastructure, empowering users with up-to-date information.

• Customizable Views: Users were given powerful filtering tools to create bespoke views that matched their specific monitoring requirements, improving personal and team productivity.

• Optimized Layout: The dashboard made better use of screen real estate, presenting information in a clear and organized manner that facilitated quick decision-making.

Design Comparison (Overview Page)

• Clarity: Enhanced operational state visibility.

• Navigation: Simplified tab-based interface.

• Actionability: Direct operational controls.

• Visibility: Immediate identification of critical issues.

• Integration: Seamless tool access.

• Activity Log: Instant recent activity review.

• Trend Analysis: Graphical incident tracking.

• Context: Detailed service information.