Overview:
The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), operating the Be the Match® registry, sought to improve its internal SharePoint site to provide more effective knowledge management, system integration, and user experience. As a UX designer working remotely with NMDP, I led the project to overhaul the Data Insights SharePoint site, focusing on streamlining content organization, improving search functionality, and enhancing the overall user experience for internal users within the organization.

Problem:
The existing Data Insights SharePoint site was disorganized, difficult to navigate, and did not meet the needs of the enterprise’s analytics team. The site contained vast amounts of complex data, but the structure lacked clarity, making it challenging for employees to find relevant content quickly. Stakeholders from the enterprise analytics team, though experts in the content, were not the site’s target users, which created a disconnect between the site’s content and its users’ needs.

Goals:

  • Reorganize content: Restructure and categorize content to ensure users could find information more efficiently.
  • Improve user experience: Simplify the interface and reduce friction in content discovery.
  • Enhance search functionality: Ensure that users could quickly locate key resources, documents, and data using intuitive search features.
  • Maintain consistency: Ensure that all design and content updates aligned with NMDP’s broader brand guidelines and design language.

Process:

  1. Stakeholder Engagement:
    • Conducted interviews with stakeholders from the enterprise analytics team to understand their goals, pain points, and specific use cases for the Data Insights site.
    • Collaborated with content owners to clarify key business requirements, identify content gaps, and ensure that the new structure would meet both business needs and user needs.
  2. User Research:
    • Engaged with actual users of the site through interviews and surveys, gathering insights into their navigation habits, frequent tasks, and frustrations.
    • Conducted a card sorting exercise to understand how users mentally group the site’s content, which provided essential input for the new information architecture.
  3. Information Architecture & Taxonomy:
    • Reorganized the site’s content into clear, logical categories based on the results of the card sorting exercise.
    • Created a new, simplified taxonomy to allow for faster content discovery, reducing the need for multiple clicks to access frequently used resources.
    • Designed intuitive navigation that was aligned with users’ mental models, ensuring that the site felt familiar and easy to use.
  4. Search & Filter Optimization via Metadata
    • To enhance the search and filtering functionality of the SharePoint site, I partnered with the data science team to audit all data files and define a clear metadata schema. We established a dual-tagging structure using primary and secondary tags aligned to user needs. This taxonomy was then systematically applied across the document library to ensure consistency and improve discoverability.
  5. Design & Prototyping:
    • Created wireframes and prototype for the redesigned site directly in SharePoint, keeping the interface clean and focused on user tasks.
    • Ensured the design maintained visual consistency with the broader NMDP brand, leveraging SharePoint’s existing templates and customization options for branding.
    • Implemented design elements such as clear, concise headlines, intuitive filters for document libraries, graphics and photos, and easy-to-read fonts.
  6. Collaboration with Stakeholders:
    • Worked closely with the team to ensure that the new design I was implementing was approved in phases to keep on time and within budget.
    • Conducted regular feedback sessions with stakeholders to fine-tune the site’s functionality and ensure alignment with business goals.
  7. Testing & Iteration:
    • Conducted usability testing with both the enterprise analytics team and the broader user group, gathering feedback on the navigation, search functionality, and content structure.
    • Iterated on the design based on user feedback, improving the site’s accessibility and ease of use.
    • Ensured that the site met all accessibility standards, following WCAG 3 guidelines to make the site more inclusive.

Outcome:

  • The redesigned Data Insights SharePoint site now provides a seamless, user-friendly experience for internal users, enabling quicker access to key resources and more efficient workflows.
  • The improved search functionality significantly reduced the time users spent looking for documents and data, leading to increased productivity across the analytics team.
  • The site’s new content organization and intuitive design resulted in positive feedback from internal stakeholders and users, with improved engagement and fewer support requests.

Key Learnings:

  • Stakeholder Collaboration: Consistent engagement with both stakeholders and users is critical for aligning business needs with user expectations. Involving them early and throughout the process helps prevent misalignment.
  • Iterative Design: Testing and iterating with real users can uncover hidden issues that might not be obvious in the design phase, making the final product much more effective.
  • Information Architecture: A well-organized, logical structure can drastically improve user experience, making complex systems more intuitive and accessible.

Tools Used:

  • SharePoint: For implementing the design and content management.
  • Asana: For project management and tracking progress.
  • Miro: For brainstorming concepts, content map creation and card sorting exercises.
  • WebEx: For stakeholder and user interviews with AI summaries, video recordings and transcripts.
  • SharePoint Site Analytics: For gathering user behavior insights.