Kainos
DVSA Discovery phase for Drivers & Riders
DVSA was looking to digitise their paper-based processes to assist with all drivers and motorbike riders services from getting a driving license to becoming an examiner. Kainos’s team was invited for a nine-week Discovery period to provide recommendations following a user-centred service design approach.
Understand.
I was responsible for User Research and worked in collaboration with an Agile team of 12, Ux Designer, Data and Business Analysts. Following a Contextual Design process, I drafted the project plan for user research. I then conducted a contextual inquiry with drivers, riders, their instructors and examiners alike, looking to understand the problem space.
I worked in close collaboration with the UX Designer and Principal; together, we mapped the journeys our users went through in blueprint maps, illustrating pain points and solutions coming from their experience. We then shaped the user profiles with quotes.
Like this, we surfaced these user journeys as they were, back to our stakeholders consolidating gathered data coming across the team aligned with a set of themes. This process helped us to understand the underlying problem and collaboratively seek a solution, tracing it back to its route.
Create.
To tackle a vicious circle of paperwork, scanning and printing Kainos team re-designed a concept based o user journeys ‘to be’. I tested the prototyped ideas for ease of use, error prevention, safety and distraction in the car space. The digitised Examiner’s driving licence form was evaluated in six Test Centres, following a Cognitive Walkthrough of preset tasks to see if these reflect how people process tasks and anticipate these. The user feedback provided us with valuable insight into the intricacies and legal issues of the matter.
“It would be ideal to have up to 2 weeks (waiting time) or be informed of the existing time scales” -Motorcycle Instructor
“Most ADIs’ correspondence is done by post. ADIs talk about the lack of online forms, inconsistency of file formats (when available online) and difficulty reaching DVSA for face to face help when needed.
The process of becoming an ADI is “more convoluted if done on paper. There is no VAT receipt even though we are VAT registered.” - Approved Driving Instructor (ADI)
Deliver.-
The final report consisted of the problem space as the Kainos team perceives it and our recommended solution and next research steps.
A user Research report from Contextual Inquiry in multiple locations and findings by theme.
16 User journeys and their user profiles were presented to the DVSA stakeholders as
Service Design Blueprint Maps to illustrate the internal paper process.
However, the project was put on hold until July 2017.