Life Sciences Cloud Internationalization
RESEARCH, EXPERIENCE DESIGN, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT • 2017-2019 • TraceLink
Project Summary
TraceLink’s site map
The internationalization feature was a start-to-finish system redesign, beginning with research into the current product interface, users, and system needs. Research defined key areas of opportunity to improve the interface for an international audience through an updated, unified experience for users, regardless of their language.
Key deliverables included: research for I18N best practices, breakdown of suggested enhancements to 250+ screens across applications, TraceLink’s first design system, product specifications and designs for all affected screens, and presentation at customer walkthrough forums.
Design
Objective
The TraceLink interface presents content in English on a fixed-width page. As the company expands its market opportunities in Europe and Asia, TraceLink needs to deliver content in languages other than English to ensure adoption by new customers and clarity in the product, while remaining true to the TraceLink look and feel across 13 applications and over 250 screens.
Research
Curation of system archetypes based on current known usage
System limitations - front end technology, back end technology
Customer usage based on business segment
Known usability issues
Approach
Due to the nature of the system’s build, each page was a hard-coded stand alone, so changes to the TraceLink interface were tackled by through a series of steps:
Use customer feedback and design best practices to define the global interface needs and curate the first User Experience requirements document
Determine page-by-page impacts of global updates based on most impactful changes for least development cost
Establish a site map that identifies and sustains common information architecture through user flows
Apply design phases to delivery cycles and coordinate with TraceLink Customer Service to prioritize enhancement phases
Define a Design System with reusable components and visually apply this treatment through simultaneous efforts:
Page-by-page updates to create a same-looking UI without any affects other than visual
Implementing the framework, converting pages into the new global design system
Establish a User Interface Guide with styles, components, pattern library and best practices presented in a format usable for cross-functional consumption by Product Management, User Experience and Engineering
Establish and maintain a design system library in the Experience Design team’s ideation and prototype tool
Share the upcoming changes with the Customer forum and provide documentation for the changes across all aspects of the product impacted
Update the Help Center documentation throughout TraceLink to reflect experiences changes, as well as unifying the language throughout
Solution
To account for the massive undertaking, the designed solution was delivered in phases. First, the design system global elements, such as the header and footer. Then the screen templates were defined and assigned to existing, and from there the work was divided by application priority for updates.
Because of the scope of changes, a customer preview webinar and various Customer Service initiatives were offered to support the transition.
Outcomes
“We weren’t expecting the scale of change to [Serial Number Exchange] but it makes a lot more sense”
Unified experience and workflows, streamlining vocabulary of the Platform to a simplified series of concepts, removing customer confusion around key aspects of the system (16 out of 16 customers agreed on research exit surveys)
Reduced workflow click count by 17% in Administrative applications
Reduced false click paths and backtracking in Serialization applications by 60%
Standardized interaction paths of all Compliance applications to a uniform template, enabling rapid development for future Compliance applications
Customer experience webinars and feedback loops on release program