The Context

As a UX Consultant, I led the redesign of Paramount’s  Employee Portal, focusing on the homepage, manager center, and international engagement pages.

Our goals were to align with business strategy, enhance user experience, encourage new work practices, drive adoption, and maximize overall value.

Client requirement

Redesign the Intranet portal

This directive came straight from the Paramount Pictures leadership during our kickoff meeting. But the critical question that emerged was "Why?".

Seeking to uncover the underlying motivations and strategic objectives, we embarked on the discovery phase. It was a journey aimed at not just understanding the 'what' but delving deep into the 'why' to ensure that our redesign aligns with both the explicit and implicit needs of Paramount employees and management alike.

understanding business needs

Why redesign the intranet portal?

Why embark on the journey to redesign the intranet portal? The answer began to unfold as we dove into our discovery phase, a critical step to ensuring our redesign would not only meet but exceed the client’s expectations by addressing the right challenges for the appropriate audience.

  • Business Background : Engaging with key stakeholders was our first step. Through a series of in-depth business stakeholder meetings, we garnered insights into the organization's strategic direction, the pain points of current processes, and the aspirations for future workflows. This set the foundation for a redesign that would not just look better but work smarter, enabling Paramount Pictures to accelerate towards its goals with greater agility and clarity.
  • User Background Analysis: Understanding the user's experience was paramount. We sifted through the Voice of the Customer (VoC) feedback from over a thousand users to uncover the friction points within the existing portal. Users expressed frustration with finding the right information and performing self-service tasks, often citing the need for a more intuitive system. This data was instrumental in mapping out a user-centric design strategy, one that would simplify navigation, enhance the self-service experience, and enable employees to find essential information with unprecedented ease.

Through this dual-lens approach of examining both the business and user perspectives, we were poised to craft a portal that was not just a tool, but a transformational force within Paramount Pictures.

The problem - business

Users are reaching out to supervisors for information instead of using the intranet.

Increased amount of service tickets to the support teams.

Fig 1:Diagram showing how user seeks information through different modes currently.

In the diagram above, we see a visualization of the core issues that were obstructing the efficient use of the intranet portal. First, there was an evident reliance on supervisors for information retrieval, which created an unnecessary bottleneck, adding to the managerial workload and slowing down employee productivity. Second, the diagram highlights a significant increase in service tickets submitted to support teams, illustrating a reactive rather than proactive engagement with the portal. Employees were often rerouted to external sources, causing fragmentation in information retrieval. This not only diluted the value proposition of an integrated portal but also pointed to the need for a more intuitive, self-sufficient system that empowers users to access information and resolve issues independently, thereby optimizing the overall workflow.

Users

What user groups are we targeting

Any employee within Paramount can be the user. Because of time constraints, this release was focused on managers.

That sounds simple!!!   :)

What about the variability within Managers?

Fig 2: User group variability

What user groups are we targeting

Our user focus is managerial, but within this group, significant diversity exists:

  • Business Unit Diversity: Managers come from various departments, each with its own specific portal needs.
  • Team Size Dynamics: The number of direct reports ranges widely, affecting the frequency and type of portal interaction required.
  • Hierarchical Levels: From team leads to senior management, each level uses the portal differently, demanding a tailored approach.
  • Geographic Dispersion: Location impacts portal access and use, with managers spread across multiple regions needing localized content.
understanding user Needs- data collection

I used my secondary research findings to design my primary research questions.

To transform our secondary research insights into actionable design strategies, we deployed a multifaceted approach to our primary research. This allowed us to delve deep into the user experience, drawing out nuanced pain points and motivations:

  • Interviews: We conducted over 10 in-depth interviews using Microsoft Teams, with each session lasting an hour. The interviews were meticulously planned with a set of open-ended questions, allowing for a natural flow of conversation that led to subjective, rich insights into user behaviors and attitudes.
  • Focus Groups: An interactive focus group session involved more than 20 managers on Teams. This setting fostered an environment where participants could freely discuss their experiences, providing us with a wealth of collective viewpoints and a deeper understanding of shared challenges.
  • Surveys: Utilizing Microsoft Forms, we reached out to 4,912 managers and received approximately 500 responses. The survey was strategically disseminated through emails and promoted across various internal channels, remaining active for a two-week period. The response rate provided us with substantial data to inform our design decisions.
  • Site Analytics: Leveraging ServiceNow’s built-in analytics tools, we examined portal usage patterns, which included bounce rates, most visited pages, and session durations. This allowed us to identify which features were performing well and which ones were potential pain points for users.

Each of these methods contributed to a solid foundation of data that informed our user-centered design process, ensuring that our solutions are validated by user behavior and grounded in real-world usage.

understanding user needs- data Analysis

Why are users not using the portal?

How are users currently accessing the intranet portal?

Fig 3: Qualitative and Quantitative analysis methods used in this project.

  • Quantitative Analysis :Harnessing the power of Excel's pivot tables and other advanced analytics tools, we dissected survey data to map out how managers engaged with the portal. We transformed these insights into vivid, digestible visualizations using Figma, which facilitated meaningful discussions among stakeholders by illustrating the variances in usage patterns through pie charts, bar graphs, and line charts.
  • Qualitative Analysis: On the qualitative front, we applied affinity mapping within Figma to synthesize discussions from focus groups and interviews. Transcription features within Zoom and Teams, alongside manual review of recordings, captured the nuanced expressions of our users. These were analyzed not just for content but also for context—tone, body language, and implied sentiment—granting us a comprehensive understanding of the users’ true feelings and experiences.

This blend of Excel's analytical rigor with Figma's visual storytelling and the nuanced transcription analysis offered a well-rounded perspective. It empowered us to identify and prioritize user needs, ensuring that our subsequent design decisions were informed, empathetic, and targeted to create a seamless portal experience that users would embrace.

User pain points - key findings

User research findings were synthesized into 4 major themes based on factors like frequency, patterns, prioritization etc.

In distilling the data from our in-depth analysis, we've identified four critical areas where the intranet portal is falling short for users. These key findings are the result of synthesizing patterns, frequencies, and commonalities in feedback across multiple research channels.

  • Findability: A significant challenge users face is locating specific information within the portal. The data is scattered across various platforms, creating a labyrinthine experience for users attempting to access essential resources.
  • Personalization: The intranet currently operates with a one-size-fits-all approach, providing generic content that lacks relevance to individual users. This has led to a disconnect, as users struggle to find value in the information presented.
  • Accuracy: We have uncovered a troubling issue of information discrepancy. Users frequently encounter multiple versions of the same document or data point, which has led to confusion and mistrust in the portal's reliability.
  • Usability: Feedback has consistently highlighted the portal's complexity and non-intuitive design. Users report that navigation is cumbersome, and the interface does not facilitate an easy or pleasant user experience.

Addressing these pain points is not just about incremental improvements but rethinking the portal’s user interface and experience to ensure it becomes a trusted and integral part of the daily workflow at Paramount Pictures.

Artifatcts after user research

Translating Insights into Actionable Outcomes

Fig 5: Artifacts snapshots after the synthesis phase(Some data has been replaced with placeholders because of NDA)

Post-analysis, our UX research culminated in the creation of a series of artifacts that not only narrate the user story but also pave the way forward with strategic recommendations. Here are the tangible outcomes that were instrumental in guiding our redesign strategy:

  • Comprehensive Data Visualizations: We translated our quantitative findings into engaging visual formats that illustrate user behaviors and patterns. These visualizations range from infographics highlighting key statistics to pie charts that reveal the distribution of user feedback on the portal’s efficacy.
  • Synthesized Observations: Detailed observation documents encapsulate the nuanced feedback from interviews and focus groups, presented in a user-friendly format. These documents serve as a reference point for understanding the ‘why’ behind user behaviors.
  • Recommendation Reports: Drawing from our findings, we crafted recommendation reports that outline specific enhancements to improve portal usability. These reports offer a roadmap for iterative design changes, focusing on both macro-level portal architecture and micro-level interaction details.

Each artifact serves as a cornerstone for the subsequent design phase, ensuring that our decisions are informed, empathetic, and targeted to meet both user expectations and business objectives.

REsearch insights to designs

Brainstorming with team members, sketching, card sorting and iterative wireframing helped us design the right solution

Transitioning from research to design, our team engaged in a creative synthesis process, where insights became actionable design directives. This phase was marked by collaborative brainstorming, meticulous sketching, and strategic information architecture planning, each step building upon the insights gained in our research phase.

Sketching the Vision

The design journey began with sketches of the homepage and manager center pages. These initial sketches served as the first visual representation of our insights, capturing the essential elements and layout needed to address user pain points effectively.

Refining Information Architecture

Armed with sketches, we proceeded to refine the intranet’s information architecture. We developed a sitemap that proposed a streamlined structure, enhancing navigation and content findability. This critical step ensured that the portal's organization aligned with user expectations and business objectives.

Iterative Wireframing

With a solid architectural framework in place, our team embarked on iterative wireframing. This process involved creating multiple versions of wireframes, methodically refining each iteration based on continual feedback and testing. This iterative approach ensured that each design element was optimized for usability and user satisfaction.

Throughout this design transformation, we kept the user at the center of our efforts, ensuring that each artifact - from sketches to wireframes - was a step towards an intranet portal that employees would find intuitive, efficient, and engaging.

Hi Fidelity Designs

How did i improve the designs to address user needs and business needs

Communication items are distributed all across the page with no visual hierarchy

There was only one actionable component “For me” which was poorly placed and not making obvious for customer what service each link can provide.

Quick link introduced to solve findability issue, at the same time, adding a more personalized feel to the dashboard.

Other pages and components designed during the process were "Manager Center", "Region Page" and "Mega Menu".

Style Guide

As part of our commitment to creating a cohesive user experience, we established a comprehensive style guide. This guide standardizes typography, color schemes, and spacing to ensure consistency across all pages and features, reinforcing the brand and enhancing readability.

Challenges

Some challenges that we overcame

Throughout the redesign of the Paramount Pictures intranet portal, we encountered several substantial challenges. Our team's agility and problem-solving skills were put to the test as we strived to align the project's deliverables with its limitations and goals.

  • Platform Constraints: We grappled with the limitations of ServiceNow as a UI implementation platform, which presented certain constraints in terms of design flexibility. However, by harnessing advanced features and creative workarounds, we were able to craft a user experience that went beyond the out-of-the-box capabilities.
  • Strategic Business Focus: The business directive to concentrate the homepage on communication required a thoughtful balancing act to ensure other critical portal functions remained accessible and intuitive.
  • Time Management: With tight schedules for primary and secondary research, efficiency was key. We optimized our research methodology to extract maximum value within the given timeframe, ensuring no compromise on the depth and quality of insights.
  • Brand Evolution: As the organization was undergoing a rebranding initiative, our design solutions had to be flexible enough to adapt to evolving brand guidelines while maintaining a consistent user experience.
Future Work

Envisioning the next steps in our UX journey

As we look ahead, the roadmap for further refinement of the intranet portal design is clear. While the current redesign addresses the immediate user needs and business objectives, the scope for enhancement is an ever-evolving path. The following priorities will guide our continuous improvement efforts:
‍

Conduct usability & user testing
Rebrand the website
Make web pages more dynamic