BC Hydro multi-channel safety knowledge base
User-centred content organization and UX design improve access to critical safety information
CLIENT:
BC Hydro
BC Hydro is a provincial crown corporation with a mandate to generate, purchase, distribute and sell electricity. BC Hydro needed a centralized knowledge base to provide a convenient, fast and intuitive way for users across several business units and job categories to find up-to-date safety documents and share them with team members to ensure that work is conducted safely. Delivery channels for the SafeHub knowledge base include an intranet and extranet (SharePoint) and mobile app (SharePlus). Aalto Interactive’s UX & Creative Director was engaged as the senior UX design and usability consultant to work as a member of BC Hydro’s internal project team.
Discovery
The project began with the development of end user personas, based on a previous research study and interviews with internal subject matter experts. Several card-sorting and content organization sessions were conducted, with participation from end users across business units and roles and with internal project team members, to ensure content would be easy to find. The extensive consultation paid off and resulted in intuitive navigation.
Design & Develop
Aalto Interactive’s UX Director provided end-to-end user interface design from wireframes through to prototypes and branded screen designs. Detailed user interface specifications and style guides with CSS styles were delivered to guide development and QA testing.
Features include:
- a meta data-driven search
- a look-up tool
- access to a listing of the latest content updates
- personal profiles that enable users to optionally filter search results and navigation to what is most relevant to their work
- A tool for users to gather collections of safety documents for convenient personal reference or to share with others.
The user interface design was validated with iterative end user workshops and focus group sessions. To ensure new features were intuitive and easy to use, our UX and Creative Director wrote test scenarios and collaborated on prototyping and planning with another vendor for two usability testing cycles. She also conducted UX QA reviews and worked with the internal team to resolve issues.
Results delivered
Today, SafeHub is used by over 4500 end users. Since launching in spring 2017, SafeHub has received positive feedback from BC Hydro staff and contractors.
"This is the best tool [BC] Hydro has ever created. Everything you need right at your fingertips!!!"
- Apprentice Power line technician
"I love SafeHub and can find everything I'm looking for."
- Engineer