Online information portal for counter staff

Front-office staff at bpost need to respond promptly to customer requests for service or information, from an extensive product portfolio. To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, bpost turned to Namahn for support tools to improve the provision of information. We designed and implemented OASIS as an easily accessible information portal to help counter staff. Its comprehensive search function allows them to access context-sensitive online help quickly. We also recruited and trained content writers and produced support documentation for the new tool.

Understand
We observed 25 counter staff in 11 post offices all over Belgium, concentrating on how they tried to find information.

Explore
We used card sorting exercises with counter staff to devise a classification scheme for bpost products and services. The input was incorporated in an extensive mindmap that we used during the design and content authoring phases.

Based on scenarios of use, we created initial conceptual designs with a tab-based interface. This type of interface reflects the product-oriented structure of the content while allowing for a large amount of information per product.

Incorporating feedback from usability tests, we refined the initial conceptual designs into a detailed design. As the final prototype, we delivered a working HTML mock-up which was evaluated in further test sessions.

The new information portal for front officers was evaluated in usability tests during the conceptual design and prototyping phases. The most significant insight led to the change of the information classification inside the tool from topical to alphabetical.

Define
Together with the final prototype of the OASIS portal, we delivered detailed engineering specifications for developers, covering aspects such as design constraints, screen layout, content templates, information architecture and maintenance.

We recruited and coached content authors to maintain the bpost information portal in-house. We also formalised the authoring workflow and wrote a style guide for content.

Our complete solution enabled bpost to launch a new tool for information search, grounded in user requirements and design best practice. Assisted by the context-sensitive online help, counter staff all over the country increased efficiency and customer satisfaction when handling postal services, advice and product sales.
We made sure that content style and layout would stay consistent by training content writers ourselves and equipping them with a comprehensive style guide.