Creating a new Data Dashboard experience for Panzura

The D Model

‍To strategically approach the creation of this update, the D-Model, a product development framework created by Bunsan, was used. This model prescribes a series of strategies, activities, and specific deliverables for each stage of the life cycle of a software product. In this project, the D-model guided us through the processes of user and market research, needs recognition, design, and proposal evaluation for a reinterpretation of the current dashboard with a user-centered approach.

Getting to know the product

Panzura Data Services is a SaaS data management product, first accessed through a dashboard that significantly reduces the amount of time spent analyzing the operation of data repositories, searching for files, and file operations by providing visibility , search capabilities, and activity monitoring across multiple file systems.

The focus of the vision of improvement of the main Dashboard of Data Services is mainly its users, it is important for Panzura to allow them to execute their daily tasks quickly since for them every minute they spend looking for files means less productivity and less innovation.

For IT teams, finding and restoring files deleted from backups, trying to protect sensitive data, proving it's safe and compliant, and monitoring the health of file networks often take a grueling amount of time.

In our discovery process we identified that it is exhausting the time and cognitive effort of IT experts using the platform to carry out their tasks on the platform.

Market research

To validate this vision of the product and contextualize its objectives in the target market, market research was carried out, which provided valuable information for decision-making during the design process.

This comparative study between the products of direct and indirect competitors of Data Services saw solutions on the map with the same area of opportunity that it was desired to understand from different points of view such as the objectives of the product, the business model and the specific characteristics of the company. platform.

Specifically, the following points were analyzed:

• Main functionality
• Target
• End customers
• Scope of the solution
• Business models
• Dashboard
• Alert systems
• Deployment of information and actions
• Transparency in management capacity

User research

Before starting to design, it was necessary to know for whom it is being designed, how their use of the platform is related to their daily tasks, what needs they have and how Panzura Data Services helps to solve them.

The first approach was to review the tickets generated from customer support, to have an overview of what recurring problems existed at that time. In turn, the solution architects are interviewed, who are the people within Panzura who have the most direct contact with the users and internal collaborators with a System Admin role or similar, which until now was the only role identified by the of Panzura.

The results of the interviews were helpful in detecting other types of users/roles that users perform and the time required by the current system to carry out their activities.

Each type of user performs different tasks, so they have different needs. This means that a single Dashboard could not solve the needs of all equally, so we proposed to design a variety of widgets to compose a dashboard for each role, and that the user has the possibility to choose with which role he most identifies at the moment to perform their tasks.

Starting from the previous premise, we continue with the creation of User Personas, using the Jobs to Be Done methodology as a basis and thus be clear about its main objectives. Building these Personas allowed us to identify the information and actions they need in their day to day.

Finally, the User Journey of each role was created, for each task that they might need in their daily activities.

Low and mid fidelity wireframes

With the information collected we get a clearer picture of how to address the situation. To continue with the idea of a Dashboard by role, user preferences were cataloged in the different widgets that could display the information, taking into account what currently exists in Panzura Data Services and the new things that could be implemented.

Having obtained this list of widgets to be created, the User Tasks of each one were defined in order to know what interactions each one will allow.

The next thing was to design the widgets in low fidelity, to have work sessions with the Panzura team and the solution architects, get feedback and carry out rapid iterations; all this before testing with end users.

After several iterations, work sessions, and feedback, the widgets were created in medium fidelity, along with an onboarding process where the user can select which role they will use on the platform. All this was raised in the form of a prototype, which was used for testing with users.

User Testing

A series of remote tests were carried out with users in order to validate the proposal and thus check if the user experience becomes satisfactory, and above all effective.

For this usability test, a series of tasks to be carried out by the user was designed. The user had to perform these tasks using a prototype of the proposed dashboard, including going through the new onboarding process, where they must choose a role that determines their dashboard. of work.

During the tests, users made positive comments about the widgets, highlighting advantages for them, such as being able to view important system and user information from the same dashboard, and how practical it is to manage data based on their activity, thus preventing a forecast for your future licenses. We obtained notable qualitative results such as navigation utterances, or sample and information scanning, as well as quantitative results when using the SUS scale —acronym for System Usability Scale (System of Usability Scales)— to measure usability.

These same results, such as the visual optimization of information, less cognitive effort and click reduction, helped to reinforce some important concepts for users in the onboarding process and the display of widget selections on dashboards before moving on to the next one. phase, in high fidelity.

High fidelity wireframes

Once the wireframes used in the usability tests were iterated with the current users of Panzura Data Services, we proceeded to high-fidelity explorations of them.
The primary goal of the high fidelity scans is to ensure that the Design and Product team at Bunsan, the design team at Panzura, and the development team understand the business vision with this new approach to personalized experience.

To design the wireframes in high fidelity, it was necessary to build a new design system. Also created by the Design and Product team at Bunsan, as the single source of truth for all products in the Panzura universe. And that in this specific case, it was used to build the new Data Services GUI.

This design system describes how all interface graphics should look and behave, reflecting the brand's identity and values. With this guide, consistency, predictability and a better experience for users of all the company's services are ensured.
In this project, the design system included:

• Panzura brand identity.
• Definition of components and graphic patterns.
• Documentation of use.

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