Filemaker Go

Researching Filemaker Go for Usability Issues

Role

UX Researcher (Contract)

Client

United Contamination Control, Inc.

Industry

Industrial

Scope

App Usability Research

Timeframe

2 weeks

Buzzwords

UX Research
Mobile Application
Usability Testing

Problem

United Contamination Control, Inc (UCC) cleans parts from the medical, aerospace, technology, and military industries. They are shipped to the facility, cleaned and inspected, and shipped back to their owners. UCC uses Filemaker Pro and Filemaker Go for most of their inter-business needs -- from training to tracking each part through its cleaning process. Filemaker Go is used by the technicians on the shop floor to review instructions, input data, and certify the steps they took to clean the part. These interactions were taking too long for employees to complete and the business was losing productivity as a result.

Solution

Research was conducted on the Filemaker Go application being used by UCC employees. After research was completed, recommendations were implemented that saw up to a 98% reduction in time to completion of tasks by employees.

Process

Initially, research was broad and consisted of persona development, benchmarking current KPIs, and defining red routes.
Once these were defined, user interviews and usability testing was conducted on specific problem areas encountered by employees.
After the problem was identified, recommendations were provided for how to reduce time to completion for specific user flows.

Research

Persona Development

Top persona defined
Core needs
Frustrations
Motivations
Behaviors
Biography and personality traits
Quote
Demographic information

Interviews

Employees most likely to encounter a problem were interviewed
All employees fit within the defined persona
Interviews pinpointed the research to one specific user flow encountered by many employees

Red Routes

Employee tasks prioritized by number of employees vs how often task is performed
Defined top tasks performed by users
One task stood out as the biggest problem for users

Usability Test

Validate assumptions made during initial research
Benchmark testing (time to complete task)
Test how users currently handle the problem
Ensure there are no other usability issues present
Employees suffering from issue were recruited for the test

KPIs

Based on usability tests
Task completion rate
Time to task completion rate
Two sets of KPIs were created: initial and after suggested changes
Further defined problem was in one specific task flow

Analysis & Synthesis

Problem Statement

Based on the research conducted it became clear the usability issues UCC employees were facing could be pinpointed to one page in their user flows. This problematic page was experienced by all employees to some degree, but specific employees were experiencing it at much higher levels.

Problematic User Flow

Not All Users

It was clear specific user flows were experiencing the highest levels of impact but research showed it was also connected to employees who rely on Filemaker Go rather than the desktop version of the software. Certain individuals within the business utilize both the problematic user flow and Filemaker Go significantly more than others and were experiencing the largest impact.

Implementation & Impact

Recommendations

One page associated with a number of user flows was found to be the main problem. On this page, all active jobs in the system are displayed. The user is then forced to pick from the list and wait while the job page loads.

It was recommended that the "Search Results" page be redesigned or completely removed from the users' flows. It served no real advantage to employees and was the main problem area by a significant margin.

New User Flow

KPIs After Implementation

After receiving the usability results, UCC executives decided to implement the suggested changes and developers carried out the necessary adjustments. After implementation, a second usability test was conducted to compare the results with the original usability test.

The UCC employees enjoyed significant reductions in their wait times while completing user flows within the Filemaker Go application after changes were implemented.

Target users experiencing the largest impact saw an average time savings of 4.75 hours per week, per employee. This equated to faster turnover times, higher productivity rates, and increased revenues. In addition, employees no longer felt the need to "cut corners" or develop elaborate "workarounds" that increased the likelihood mistakes would be made.

Reflections

Working with UCC to research their Filemaker Go application produced highly impactful results and it was a pleasure to see the employees' and stakeholders' reactions to the new implemented user flows. Challenges included working with research subjects that were not fully trusting of an outsider and establishing a relationship of trust with them was paramount to getting accurate results. To help facilitate this in a factory environment, I wore more casual attire and spoke with a more vernacular, informal vocabulary than usual. Helping people is always rewarding for me and this UX research project proved extremely fruitful.