Reporting Canvas Beta Program - Adobe Workfront

Role

UX Designer / UX Research Lead

Introduction

The "Reporting Canvas" project at Adobe Workfront aimed to completely redesign and rearchitect the platform's old yet heavily used reporting tool. Over a year, my team developed an MVP, which we released to a select group of customers during a beta phase. My role was to lead the research strategy and execution during this beta.

Beta Purpose

The beta aimed to co-create with customers, identify bugs, and uncover usability issues.

Participating Customers

  • Alliance Data Systems Corp.

  • Anthem, Inc.

  • Apstore Inc.

  • Aveva Solutions LTD.

  • Charles Schwab

  • Colgate-Palmolive Company

  • Comcast

  • Compass

  • Dominium Inc.

  • Equifax Inc. - Workforce Solutions

  • ESRI

  • Fannie Mae

  • Gartner, Inc.

  • Google Inc.

  • Highmark Health

  • Intouch Solutions, Inc.

  • JLL

  • Kenco

  • Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

  • Optum

  • PrecisionEffect

  • Quality Bicycle Products

  • Stanley Black & Decker, Inc.

  • Stream Companies

  • Synchrony

  • T-Mobile

  • Thermo Fisher

  • Workday

Timeline

Research Strategy

  • Baseline Survey: Collected initial data on personas and satisfaction with the old reporting tool to measure against post-beta outcomes.

  • Weekly Assignments & Feedback: Conducted weekly meetings to address feedback and assigned tasks via Microsoft Forms. Assignments included:

    • Assignment 1: Complete baseline survey, familiarize with Reporting Canvas, build initial tables and visualizations.

    • Assignment 2: Apply aggregations, hide tables.

    • Assignment 3: Create and apply formula fields.

    • Assignment 4: View and export reports.

  • Slack Channel: Provided a real-time feedback channel for participants.

  • 1:1 Usability Studies: Conducted task-based usability sessions comparing the old and new solutions.

  • Ad Hoc Feedback: Implemented a Pendo feedback button for rapid user feedback.

Key Learnings

  • Baseline Survey Insights: Beta participants were experienced Workfront admins, highlighting a gap between user expectations and tool capabilities.

  • Task Success Rates:

  • Usability Scorecard Results:

  • Feedback Submitted:

  • Issues Identified: Data hydration, navigation issues between report "Edit" and "View" modes, and calculated field creation challenges.

User Quotes

  • “The user experience is much more inviting.” - Brian, ESRI

  • “Overall, I love the direction of the Reporting Canvas.” - Satchell, QBP

  • “Easier than Excel.” - Ryan, Adobe

KPI’s

  • Quality:

    • Issues submitted: 37

    • Issues resolved: 36

  • Usage:

    • Reports created: 390

    • Data tables created: 680

    • Data visualizations created: 535

    • Content embedded in dashboards: 20

  • Engagement:

    • Average daily unique visitors: 17

    • Feedback submitted (in-app): 55

    • Feedback incorporated: 19

    • Users enabled: 193

Summary

The beta research enabled us to closely collaborate with customers, validate our solution, and identify critical bugs and usability issues. I presented the beta program strategy and results at a company-wide all-hands meeting, sharing these valuable insights with over 800 colleagues. This presentation helped inform the next steps for the project and reinforced the importance of customer feedback in our development process.

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