The Project
Targeted Client
ADP: Global Transfer
Platform
WebApp & Mobile
Project Timeline
8 Weeks
My Role
Sr. UX Designer
Team
Product Manager, Lead Engineer, Senior Researcher, Senior Content Writer and internal Global HR Specialist
Collaborating Teams
Compensation, Benefits, Payroll, and Time
Impact
Decreased average man hours of completion from 24 to 4 hours. Decreased error rates from 20% to 5% Average monthly savings of 2.1 support man-hours.
What if you had to be ‘terminated’ just to transfer to your company’s office in another country?
In earlier versions of the software, this was the reality for global transfers, creating significant challenges for HR professionals:
- The process was time-consuming.
- It required extensive coordination between the HR teams in both the originating and destination countries.
- Manual data input was necessary, increasing the likelihood of errors.
- There was a lack of transparency regarding the transfer status across both sites.
Initial Requirements from My Product Manager
- Support for Various Transfer Types:
Permanent transfers and long/short-term temporary assignments (Expats).
- Cost Efficiency:
Leverage existing design patterns.
- Coordination With Other Teams:
I needed to consider data that needed to be collected from other teams (such as compensation, time, payroll, and benefits) to complete the transfer.
- Data Mapping and Transparency:
Research and account for the mapping of data from one country to another.
- Responsiveness:
The application must be responsive, particularly to tablet-sized screens (vertical orientation).
- Mobile:
I must determine what role, if any, mobile will play in Global Transfer.
KICK-OFF MEETING
Problem Overview & Opportunity Canvas
I primarily work in MIRO, even for in-person meetings using whiteboards. After meetings, I upload photos of drawings into MIRO and add notes to keep everything organized.
The Problem Overview
The Problem Overview serves as both an intake document and a tool for initial requirements gathering. I completed this by interviewing the Product Manager (PM) before the kickoff meeting.
Opportunity Canvas
Given the project’s scale and cross-team collaboration, I needed a robust way to clearly define the problem space and serve as a central reference as additional teams joined. After completing it with my core team, I used it to inform and engage other teams, enabling smaller, more focused meetings with developers, SMEs, and other stakeholders—making collaboration more efficient.
Takeaways From The Kick-off Meeting
Identified key personas: Origin HRP, Destination HRP, and Transferee.
The current “terminate and hire” process is time-consuming, requiring manual input and resulting in a 20% error rate.
Transfers require extensive coordination between HR teams in both the originating and destination countries.
HRPs and transferees seek greater transparency in the transfer process.
Most HR professionals don’t handle transfers daily, so the process must be intuitive.
Research/discovery is needed to survey requirements across multiple countries and assess their impact on in-app task flows for these personas. Lead researcher to obtain earlier research done on transfer.
DISCOVERY
Sample Requirements, Previous Research, and Use Cases
- Our lead researcher was tasked with gathering data from NextGen’s clients, focusing on countries with the highest numbers of international migrant workers.
- This targeted approach helped us identify potential differences in transfer processes and assess if changes were needed in the app’s flow, avoiding data overload.
- My researcher also reviewed research from ADP’s ‘Workforce Now,’ which dealt with a similar Multi-Company Transfer issue.
- Major use cases for the Global Transfer feature were defined, distinguishing between temporary vs. permanent transfers and single contributor vs. manager transfers.
DISCOVERY
User Flows
During a workshop, my product manager sketched a preliminary user flow (shown on the left), which the team used as a foundation to discuss and revise the task flow and data input sequence. I then created a high-level ‘10,000-foot view’ that included actions by all relevant personas—originating HRP, destination HRP, and the transferee. The goal was to identify how external actions could impact the application flow. These flows were based on the flows provided by our head researcher and later verified by internal SMEs.
IDEATION
Wizard: Rapid Wireframing
Due to the complexity of the form and the fact that this would be an infrequent task, I decided to use a wizard instead of a long form. By incorporating screenshots of existing pages and adding new pages, I quickly wireframed the entire flow.
I went through three revisions based on feedback from key reviews:
- I workshopped the initial version with the core team.
- I invited members from other platform domains to provide additional feedback.
- Finally, I brought in three members of our global team to review our current thinking.
This approach enabled us to make quick, meaningful progress. While our confidence in the direction increased, I decided it was essential to confirm our approach with real clients.
RESEARCH
Interviews and Journey Mapping
I decided to conduct interviews to create a journey map.
- The study involved five clients, each of whom my research lead and I interviewed individually. During these interviews, my lead researcher, our product manager, and I took detailed notes.
- We presented our current thinking on the stages of the process in the form of sticky notes, arranged in a timeline, to each participant. First, we asked them to confirm the order of the stages. Then, we went through each stage in order, asking about the associated actions, their pain points, and other relevant details in their current process.
- Finally, we aggregated all the observations and comments to create the final user journey map.
Conclusions from Journey Mapping Interviews
The interviews revealed that, for the most part, I had the flow order correct. However, a significant takeaway was the potential need to break the process into two parts: one for the HRP of origin and the other for the HRP of destination.
Additional Takeaways
- I discovered that each HRP had knowledge and expertise specific to the type of data that needed to be entered.
- Ability for managers to start a Global Transfer through mobile. I heard from 2 of our clients that this would be a needed requirement.
- Allow HRPs to start a transfer and post it as a draft rather than requiring it to be completed in one go?
- Additionally, I heard a strong need for domain specialists or SMEs to contribute. Considering these points, I explored the possibility of allowing delegation or assignment within the flow.
RESEARCH
User Testing v1
7 participants | Moderated
Conclusions
- Hiding the 2nd half ot the wizard was confusing.
- Allowing users to assign/delegate at anytime within the flow.
- On certain pages, users wanted to see details of the current work assignment.
PILOT STUDY
Web Version for Pilot
This is the culmination of feedback I received from our user journey interviews, as well as from the V1 prototype user testing. Let’s explore how I integrated all the feedback into the final design. This version was released to 5 clients as part of a 3-month pilot study.
Mobile for Pilot
Our mobile app is primarily used by managers, based on feedback from clients indicating a need for this feature. It was designed to allow only managers to initiate a transfer, which would then be automatically assigned to the HRP Global Transfer specialist. I included this functionality in our pilot to assess the demand for it.
5 Transfers
Started on mobile
of 53 total transfers
Pilot Analytics
Pilot Results. Pilot encompass five clients and took place over 3 months. Within that time 53 global transfers were completed. All data was compiled using Pendo.
Conclusions
- The overall metrics confirm that this feature was a success.
- Cost savings: ADP is projected to save over $110,000 annually per client through reduced support costs.
- Client impact: Clients will save approximately $1,200 in HRP time per transfer.
- Revenue potential: Our sales team estimates this new capability opens up access to an additional 20% of the market, representing over $200 million in potential new revenue. In 2024, this feature directly contributed to acquiring 7 new clients. The pilot program resulted in all 3 pilot clients converting to referenceable clients.
- I validated the demand for a mobile version of this feature.
- Additionally, I identified 3 actionable improvements that have been added to the backlog.