CGI Work
2021 - 2022
UX Research
CGI's Human Centered Design team is often brought in to understand current processes within a specific field and identify areas of opportunity for our clients. In these engagements I conduct user interviews, facilitate current and future state workshops, and synthesize / analyze data to identify key themes, insights, pain points, needs, and opportunities. I am also responsible for presenting findings to the client and delivering a comprehensive 60+ page findings document to help inform their strategy moving forward. Below goes through each of the research projects I've contributed to. Names of clients and specifics have been removed. For further details please reach out to me directly.
Advantage CGI IP - State Client
Quick Start Discovery 2021 15 weeks
In this 15 week implementation project, I worked with an HCD project Lead in conjunction with the development team to help a state government financial department upgrade to Advantage 4, focusing on their budgeting process. I lead interviews for contextual inquiry 1:1s, helped facilitate current state, future state, and gap analysis workshops, and developed a final deliverable in the form of a Findings Document. The deliverable includes documentation of our HCD process, high level insights, system-agnostic state flows, and recommendations for innovation.
In this project I learned how to approach and manage negative voices in the room. While our final deliverable was received positively by the majority of client stakeholders, we had to mitigate one stakeholder's view that the process and experience should stay the same. This required many one-on-one and group meetings with the client to better understand pains and work to compromise where reasonable.
Advantage CGI IP - state Client
Quick Start Discovery 2021 10 weeks
In this 10 week implementation project, I worked with an HCD project Lead in conjunction with the development team to help a state government financial department upgrade to Advantage 4. In two 4-week sprints, I managed scheduling for inquiry participants, lead interviews for contextual inquiry 1:1s, helped facilitate current state, future state, and gap analysis workshops, and developed a final deliverable in the form of a Findings Document. The deliverable includes documentation of our HCD process, high level insights, system-agnostic state flows, and recommendations for innovation.
This project enabled me to push my interview facilitation skills and work as a bridge between client needs and the development teams capability and expectations.
Advantage CGI IP - City Client
Quick Start Discovery 2021 8 weeks
In this 8 week implementation project, I worked on an HCD project team to help a city government client upgrade to Advantage 4 with specific focus on their Timesheets and Requisitions process. Conducting discovery research on the processes simultaneously, I lead several interviews for contextual inquiry 1:1s, helped facilitate current state, future state, and gap analysis workshops, and developed a final deliverable in the form of a Findings Document. The deliverable includes documentation of our HCD process, high level insights, system-agnostic state flows, and recommendations for both process innovation and Advantage4 functionality.
In this particular project, I learned how to work with the development team and push creative solutions. Often times, design and future thinking can be met with heavy resistance. But in order to create the best solutions for our clients, I had to facilitate conversations between the design and development team to find common ground and understanding on user experience vs. technical capabilities.
UI Development
In addition to research engagements, I've been involved in UI development for both redesigning and generating new user software. In these projects I was responsible for rapid ideation and wire-framing while working closely with the client to communicate ideas or changes. I then created high fidelity screen mockups in Figma and provided clickable prototypes for stakeholder presentations. Additional responsibilities included working with the development team to determine how to build the software and work through any alterations needed based on software capabilities. Below illustrates the UI development efforts I've contributed to. Names and specifics have been removed and some links have been password protected. For further details please reach out to me directly.
Crew management IP
Quick Start 2021
4 weeks
In this project, I worked with a two other HCD members in a 4 week concept project for redesigning a portion of the CGI IP for crew management. My role in the project included contextual inquiry with the client to define current pain points and define design criteria, rapid prototyping through wireframes and group analysis, design and innovation for unique interactions for boosted system functionality, and creation of visual components and presentation of final materials.
I functioned under a very short timeline for this project while balancing other project responsibilities. This required me to rapidly iterate and frequently communicate design decisions with both my team and the client to ensure the final 4-week deliverable set the stage for future design work.
Loan Origination Management
Stakeholder Buy-In 2021
7 weeks
Using SME insights into industry pain-points, I worked as a sole designer to create an initial prototype of a potential Loan Management system. The goal of the prototype was to spark stakeholder interest and obtain funding for the CGI IP. The process included working closely with the concept creator and CGI Development team to understand the processes, pain points, and goals. I designed a clickable UI prototype in Figma using CGI technology solutions and industry goals, developing a visual solution through rapid iteration and consistent communication. The prototype provided a clear communication of project intention and created buy-in for a new CGI IP project to be funded in Summer 2021. (Note: due to my efforts on the prototype, the project received full funding and is currently in development stages.)
As this project did not begin with any requirements, scope, or true definition, it posed the challenge of setting my own parameters, timeline, and meeting cadence. I worked to ensure my client had a clear understanding of realistic expectations and concept direction through quick iterative design and frequent check-ins.
Disaster relief Site
Short assignment 2021
2 Days
I was brought on to redesign elements of CGI IP to fit the look and expectations of a potential client. This included the creation of four main UI pages utilizing preciously made elements and altering them to fulfill the new objectives. I additionally created a short prototype in Figma to assist client buy-in.
This was a short assignment where I had to quickly learn about the project objective, understand the asset library available, and redesign layouts and previous features to fit the current client needs and brand identity.
Strategy Engagement
In our strategic engagements, our team works to understand the client's process at a high level, conducts user research to find gaps and inefficiencies, and develop insights that inform our actionable recommendations. My role includes working with the stakeholders to align goals and expectations; conducting user interviews; creating a market analysis; synthesizing qualitative data through affinity mapping, journey maps, user profiles, and current state mapping; and working collaboratively to develop insights, key themes, recommendations, and prioritizations. Additionally, I am responsible for conveying our findings and recommendations to the client through presentations and a 60+ page vision book deliverable.
Payment Processing Industry
Strategic Deliverable 2022 13 weeks
In this 15 week implementation project, I worked with an HCD project Lead in conjunction with the development team to help a state government financial department upgrade to Advantage 4, focusing on their budgeting process. I lead interviews for contextual inquiry 1:1s, helped facilitate current state, future state, and gap analysis workshops, and developed a final deliverable in the form of a Findings Document. The deliverable includes documentation of our HCD process, high level insights, system-agnostic state flows, and recommendations for innovation.
Being my first true strategy engagement, I learned a lot about how to structure a strategy timeline and how to use project objectives and finding to define the tools needed. Additionally, I learned how to restructure when factors outside of your control affect the project. In this particular engagement, there were external delays in getting client-provided users for our interviews. This lead to our team pivoting slightly and each working to seek out users in our community and dividing and conquering interviews.