Admin Portal for Employee Engagement App

Overview

The Admin Portal project was designed to empower feature owners on the Employee Engagement App by allowing them to manage and update their features efficiently. The portal needed to provide intuitive, seamless management capabilities for a wide variety of content, including communications, push notifications, surveys, rewards, wellbeing content, and FAQs.

The challenge was to create a system that offered flexibility and ease of use while maintaining a powerful backend integration with platforms like Power BI for survey data analysis. Our goal was to ensure feature owners could make updates without technical barriers, improving their ability to engage employees through the app.

Design and Development Journey

1. Discovery and Research
   • Stakeholder Interviews: We began by interviewing feature owners across multiple business units to understand their needs and pain points. They expressed frustration with manual processes, the need for technical intervention for small updates, and the lack of visibility into the impact of their updates.
   • Platform Analysis: We analyzed the existing admin interface, which lacked structured workflows for managing communications (comms), push notifications, and other content updates, leading to inconsistencies and inefficiencies.
2. Requirements Gathering
   • Managing Communications (Comms): One of the core requirements was to enable feature owners to manage the scrolling carousel on the app’s landing page, allowing them to easily add, edit, or remove communications.
   • Push Notifications: Feature owners needed the ability to send push notifications directly to employees, targeting specific groups or the entire workforce.
   • Survey Integration: We needed to integrate the survey functionality with Power BI to enable data analysis and reporting.
   • Rewards and Wellbeing Content: Another requirement was to allow seamless updates for rewards and wellbeing-related content, which required a simple interface for non-technical users.
   • FAQs Management: The ability to frequently update FAQs was critical to keep users informed with the latest information and policies.
3. Wireframing and Prototyping
   • Simplified Dashboard: We designed an intuitive dashboard as the landing page for the portal, giving feature owners a clear overview of the tools available to them. From the dashboard, they could access all key functionalities such as comms management, push notifications, surveys, and content updates.
   • Feature Segmentation: Each feature was separated into distinct modules, ensuring feature owners only had access to the features they needed. For example, communication managers would see options for updating the carousel and push notifications, while HR managers could manage rewards, wellbeing content, and FAQs.
   • Drag-and-Drop Functionality: We added drag-and-drop features to simplify updates to communications on the carousel and other content areas. This minimized the number of steps and allowed for quick, visual content updates.
   • Integrated Survey Management: We prototyped a survey creation tool that allowed managers to build surveys within the admin portal. The data collected would automatically feed into Power BI for easy tracking and analysis.
4. User Testing
   • Early Prototyping Tests: After the initial wireframes and prototypes were created in Figma, we conducted usability tests with a sample of feature owners to validate the design.
   • Feedback Incorporation: Early tests revealed that some users needed additional guidance for the push notification setup. We added tooltips and a step-by-step setup guide to help them navigate the process easily.
   • Survey Customization: During testing, users requested more customization options for surveys. As a result, we included features that allowed them to modify question types, schedule survey distribution, and track responses in real-time through the Power BI dashboard.
5. Development and Iteration
   • Modular Design Approach: We implemented a modular design system, ensuring each section of the portal was independent but could interact where necessary (e.g., a push notification could be tied to a specific communication in the carousel or linked to a survey).
   • Responsive Design: The admin portal was designed to be responsive, allowing feature owners to make updates from any device, whether they were on a desktop, tablet, or mobile.
   • Backend Integration with Power BI: The survey section required close collaboration with the data team to integrate Power BI, allowing managers to see survey results in a dynamic, real-time dashboard without needing to leave the admin portal.
   • User Permissions: We added user roles and permissions to ensure that only authorized personnel could manage specific sections, maintaining security and data integrity.

1. Launch and Training
   • Soft Launch: We started with a soft launch, providing a small group of feature owners access to the new portal. This allowed us to capture real-world feedback before a full rollout.
   • Training and Documentation: We developed training sessions and easy-to-follow user documentation to ensure feature owners could use the portal confidently from day one. Video tutorials were also created to walk them through the process of updating comms, sending notifications, creating surveys, and managing rewards and wellbeing content.
2. Post-Launch Support and Iteration
   • Continuous Monitoring: Post-launch, we monitored the usage of the portal closely, gathering feedback to identify any additional features or improvements that could enhance the user experience.
   • Improvements Based on Feedback: Based on early feedback, we made a few improvements such as introducing batch editing capabilities for updating multiple items at once and enhanced analytics for push notifications.

Results

• Efficiency Gains: Feature owners were now able to manage their content autonomously, reducing their reliance on technical teams and speeding up the process of updating content.
• Increased Employee Engagement: The ability to send push notifications and surveys directly through the app resulted in more timely and relevant communications with employees, enhancing engagement levels.
• Simplified Management: The modular design allowed different teams to manage their respective areas without confusion or overlap, making the admin portal highly efficient and easy to use.
• Survey Insights: The integration with Power BI empowered feature owners to gather insights from surveys in real time, improving decision-making based on employee feedback.