Data Center Maintenance and Repair Software

Background and Role

The data center software under consideration is an of integrating various deprecated software used at the Data Centers. However, the software has a myriad of known issues in different parts. Additionally, the software has many moving parts with the main ones being diagnosis, repair and maintenance of the data centers.

In a bid to improve the user experience of the software at hand, as the UX Researcher, I was tasked with conducting interviews, focus groups, creating and analyzing surveys, and ultimately provide insights and recommendations based on user data.

Outcomes

Ran 1-1 Context interviews with 9 data center technicians to understand the overall Software usage and painpoints.
3 iterative focus group sessions with 7+ participants in each group to understand the user flows of the data center software during the process of maintenance, diagnosis, and repair.
Creation and analysis of semi-annual surveys with more than 700 respondents (various roles within the data centers) led to new business initiatives, creation of new strategies to combat feature requests and inform decision decisions.

Iterative Focus Group Reports

Qualitative Interview Reports

Survey Report

Challenges

As we are looking at a niche userbase, there may arise a point where the user list is exhausted and may lead to repetition.
Occasionally, in the focus group sessions, it becomes hard to bring back the discussion should it go on a tangent, leading to unproductive results.
Time taken as a researcher to understand the complex domain and the related software.
One of the biggest challenges was the ever changing expectations and constant flux in the team. Ever changing expectations make it very hard to deliver the best results possible.
Changing business requirements.
Lack of coherence between product and design teams makes it difficult to push insights and recommendations and trigger discussions.
Time taken to gather feedback after roll out.

Analysis Tool

Process

Over the course of the year, I ran multiple studies either sequentially or multiple studies in parallel.

Impact

Improved CSAT and NSAT Scores.
We achieved parity with the user demands in Iteration 3 of the focus group study for the maintenance dashboard.
Continuous process meant more personnel from the data centers participating in the studies
Recruitment is easy on account of internal snowballing.
Deprecated tools no longer valuable on account of the information provided in the new software.

Takeaways

As the client, the system is always going to be a top down approach with quite a lot of business decisions taken before the tasks are handed out. However, continuous involvement of data center personnel in this process means the software under consideration would hit a phase where the experience would match the expected experience. There is a caveat, though. Combating ever changing business requirements is crucial. If we ride the storm of changes and deliver what the users need, the roll out time may be a slow process.