My Nintex:
END USER EXPERIENCE

  • USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN
  • UI DESIGN

Provide end-users with the capability to initiate, monitor, and audit workflow activities.

Project overview

  • Project Details

    I was tasked with creating an end-user experience for Nintex Automation Cloud to expose the existing product to a new audience for the first time, with the potential to expand the user base exponentially.

  • Process

    I conducted a competitive analysis, ideation, user research, prototype testing to define an MVP and begin to outline a future roadmap.

  • Outcome

    - An entire new segment of the product available to a new audience for the first time.
    - For the first time, users can find and submit forms, they can track process they have started and process owners have visibility of processes they own.

  • MY ROLE:

    User Experience Manager/Lead

  • PRODUCT:

    Nintex Workflow Cloud

A screenshot of My Nintex interface displaying an activity pane open with some historical tasks visible.
An early participant dashboard that was used to early validation.
An early participant dashboard that was used to early validation.
My Nintex interface displaying an activity pane open with some historical tasks and an express approval task waiting for completion.
My Nintex interface displaying an activity pane open with some historical tasks and an express approval task waiting for completion.
My Nintex interface displaying an activity pane open with a task form visible.
My Nintex interface displaying an activity pane open with a task form visible.
My Nintex interface displaying an activity pane open with some historical tasks visible.
My Nintex interface displaying an activity pane open with some historical tasks visible.

Problem

Nintex was looking to elevate Nintex Automation Cloud, its cloud-proprietary workflow platform, over legacy offerings embedded within the SharePoint platform. One key limitation with Nintex Automation Cloud was the ability for end-users (“participants” someone starting a process or interacting with one) to submit forms, track their process activity, and complete assigned tasks. On legacy products, these interactions were handled by the default SharePoint experience.

Solving this problem required a rethink of information architecture to meet the requirements of this new persona that would be interacting with the platform for the first time.

Process

Due to its commercial sensitivity, this project was highly secretive. I sought permission from senior leaders to establish a working group of trusted partners and customers to validate our ideas. I worked closely with the lead Product Manager to pull this group together.

Trusted working group

The group consisted of Nintex Technical Evangelists, typically working for Nintex partners. Senior leaders approved all participants who were required to participate under NDAs. This group allowed us to conduct discovery research to validate ideas and test concept designs regularly. Feedback was collected and rapidly incorporated into designs or shared with the team.

Early discovery

Early design activities centred around three separate areas:

  • Comprehending the business goals
  • Understanding the needs through the working group 
  • Evaluating legacy functionality and competitor offerings

We were able to validate alignment between the business expectations and those of the working group. This gave us the confidence to begin benchmarking functionality of Nintex’s legacy products against competitor offerings.

"Ease of forms discovery for participants"

Research participant
"A process owner needs to view all the submissions and check their progress"

Research participant
"Decision makers need context to know what they are approving"

Research participant
"For lengthy forms, users need the ability to save progress and return to it later."

Research participant

Information Architecture

An early assumption was made to create a new section in the high-level site architecture to accommodate this new functionality; this would create a clean separation of user tasks accessing the platform based on their persona.
Through the mapping of common user journies, I was able to validate these ideas conceptually with the working group. It allowed the team to begin to pull together anticipated functionality with a clean sheet design, optimising functionality for this new ‘participant’ persona.

An information architecture diagram showing the separation of the 'My Nintex' area from the rest of the product suite.

Ideation

With a rough structure around what was needed, ideation focused on some key areas, such as the main dashboard, activity feed, managing task completion, and form submission flow.
At this point, some of this work was divided among my team members, as my designers were responsible for an area of the product. I focused primarily on the dashboard and activity timeline. One of the key challenges I focused on was the progressive disclosure of information. As the new user persona group were less technical than our existing users, finding the right balance between enough information for them to complete their task without being distracted or bamboozled by too much information.

Dashboard concepts

An early participant dashboard that was used to early validation.
This is an advanced dashboard concept that tested positively. Information is conveyed using graphic and metric tiles, which add visual interest. A system-level activity feed provides a quick summary of recent updates when a user first logs in.

Activity feed concepts

Exploring the available data from the workflow activity, we evaluated utilising different markers in the workflow process to show progress feedback to the end user.
Testing was conducted to understand how to mask sensitive data based on a user's permission level and their interaction with a workflow activity.
The activity feed included a new bespoke component that needed to be designed from the ground up. This image displays the optional variations that could be added to a component. The base component is always designed to be generic and able to be used in multiple scenarios.

Task flow concepts

Several different models were tested for suitability, including this example, which uses breadcrumbs for orientation. Some caveats of this concept included the additional clicks required to see the activity and a lack of flexibility when moving between different activities.
Taken from a prototype used for testing, this sequence shows the happy path flow for a user selecting a task, viewing a historical submission for context, and then approving the task via a task form.

Usability testing MVP

As we ideated our designs, I established a regular testing cadence with our working group so we could refine our concepts. One of the significant challenges faced during this time was engineering resources, so our focus was finding a sweet spot for an MVP we could take to market. We needed to ensure that it would be helpful enough for customers and partners to adopt and for end users to want to use it. 

Some compromises included:

  • We deleted the total system activity feed to ensure users received adequate feedback through number badges and system alerts.
  • Full custom portal theming was replaced by simply applying a custom logo.
  • A customisable dashboard was substituted by simply utilising existing table components to display information already available on subsequent pages. 

Results

We discovered that by using the Nintex Automation Cloud workflow engine, we could take advantage of its increased data transparency and meet the basic functionality the SharePoint workflow engine provided in our initial concepts. As a result, we incorporated some early improvements, such as:

  • Introduce an interactive activity pane to access a process’s historical steps or previous form submissions.
  • End users could directly interact with tasks in their activity feed without relying on traditional touchpoints, such as replying to an email.
  • The visibility of historical form submissions in a process was introduced (permissions-based) to provide better context when making decisions later in the process. Previously, a form designer would need to embed historical data in the form to make it available to a decision-maker.
  • Through early research, we identified a need to give business owners better visibility of the activity in their processes. We repurposed the activity pane so an HR Manager could have an overview of all the current and historical data for their onboarding process, for example.

Below is a final production demonstration of the My Nintex feature that is in use within the context of the broader Nintex platform. The demo highlights the interactions between different users with differing roles and permissions.

A production demonstration of the My Nintex feature in-use with the wider Nintex platform by Chris Ellis Director, Pre Sales.

About Nintex Automation Cloud

Nintex Automation Cloud is a cloud-based platform where you can design workflows to automate simple to complex processes using drag-and-drop interactions without writing code.