This thing does everything but the dishes!
MDIS, or Morgan Drexen Integrated system, first started as a real estate CMS that stored data on customers enrolling in a debt program. I was brought in to facilitate the development of MDIS 2.0. MDIS 2.0 needed to do a few new tricks. First, it would have to have an attorney portal to assist attorneys in keeping track of their debt settlement documents and signing of those documents. The second part of the build would connect through a mobile device with the same features.
THE PROCESS
First, I met with the CTO, COO and CEO to discuss project goals, timelines, who will be working on the project, and some of the details of the process. I then set out to learn the domain and the current system. During this time, I was taking notes on obvious problems with the current system. I spent about 3 weeks siting with 5 different employees observing and learning how they used the system, two of which were supervisors. I noted that the current system was built around the database, or the implementation model. I did a heuristic, or usability review of the application as well as a content audit. The content audit was delivered to development and management team to determine which features and requirements needed to be removed or added. At this point, I created a taxonomy in order to understand the logical groupings.
Documents now in hand:
- Heuristic review
- User interview/shadowing notes
- Notes from learning the system
- Taxonomy doc
With these documents I was able to sketch out a basic framework of the application which was reviewed by management and other stakeholders. Once I had buy in from stakeholders, I started on creating the flowchart and wireframes in illustrator. These documents were delivered to two developers creating a workable prototype.
We validated the application internally by running usability tests on 5 users.
I also provided 100-page DFS in order to support development.
