From Card Sort to Redesigned Intranet: A Success Story Elke Oberg, Electronic Marketing Coordinator, Measured Progress Bob Thomas, Manager of User Experience, Liberty Mutual Katelyn Thompson, Usability Analyst, Staples June 9, 2010
From Card Sort to Redesigned Intranet Site: A Success Story
Nov 10, 2014
This is a case study describing how we moved an intranet that was not working for its employees into a successful website.
The objectives were to "lead with the need,' to determine how current employees want their information organized and what should be emphasized first. Our goals were to redesign the intranet site, focusing on the navigation and organization (overall information architecture); make the site usable; especially when it comes to finding things; and to make the site attractive and understandable to employees.
A card sort seemed the best solution because we had 2 sites that needed to be unified and that had grown too small for the additional information that kept getting added year in and year out. We had an IA that wasn’t working, and we wanted to discover how employees – the principal users of the site – wanted their information organized.
We chose a open card sort because we wanted participants to tell us how they wanted the main categories of the site named (as opposed to us naming the categories for them).
The objectives were to "lead with the need,' to determine how current employees want their information organized and what should be emphasized first. Our goals were to redesign the intranet site, focusing on the navigation and organization (overall information architecture); make the site usable; especially when it comes to finding things; and to make the site attractive and understandable to employees.
A card sort seemed the best solution because we had 2 sites that needed to be unified and that had grown too small for the additional information that kept getting added year in and year out. We had an IA that wasn’t working, and we wanted to discover how employees – the principal users of the site – wanted their information organized.
We chose a open card sort because we wanted participants to tell us how they wanted the main categories of the site named (as opposed to us naming the categories for them).
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From Card Sort to Redesigned Intranet:
A Success Story
Elke Oberg, Electronic Marketing Coordinator, Measured ProgressBob Thomas, Manager of User Experience, Liberty Mutual
Katelyn Thompson, Usability Analyst, StaplesJune 9, 2010
Scope, Objectives, and Goals
Company Mission“Our mission is to improve teaching and learning by providing customized assessment products and educational services.”ObjectiveMake it easier for Measured Progress employees to find information on the intranet, i.e., to “lead with the need.”
Measured Progress, a not-for-profit located in Dover, NH, is a leading developer of educational testing and assessment programs
Home HR Policies & Procedures
The goal was to unite the separate Insite and HR Policies and Procedures sites, each created with different software applications.
Participants commented they would like to use Search and Site Map features. These were available only on the home page.
“You’d think the [Accident and Injury Report] form is under InForm.”InService > HR > Policy Guide > General Administration > Operational Policies > Safety > Accident Reporting and
Investigation Plan > [Text… Scroll Down Page] … Accident Report Form (7 clicks)
“A person could bleed to death before the form is even located!”
InService InForm
Original Navigational HierarchyInsite: broad and shallow
Job Request Form:InForm > Job Request Forms > Form (2 clicks)
Safety Form:InService > HR > Policy Guide > General Administration > Operational Policies > Safety > Accident Reporting and Investigation Plan > [Text] … Accident Report Form (7 clicks)
HR Policies and Procedures: narrow and deep
Original Navigational Hierarchy
I always disliked the confusing, supposedly clever navigation scheme on the old site. It was a guessing game to find content. I never remembered what was where and always had to start the hunt all over. —Mary, Measured Progress Employee
Card Sorts“Card sorting is excellent for situations where you want the users’ mental model to drive the information architecture of the product.”—Courage & Baxter (2005), “Understanding Your Users”
“Open sorts are used for discovery. Closed sorts are used for validation.”—Rosenfeld & Morville (2006), “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web”
Card SortsUsers Recruited users who had used the intranet site for a long time,
as well as new hires
Methodology Open card sort
Analysis More information to sift through with open card sorts Dendrograms to see common groupings
Methodology for the Card Sort Created and ran an open
card sort with 15 Measured Progress employees, including follow-up interviews
Analyzed quantitative and qualitative data
Made recommendations for a new navigational hierarchy and structure
Open Card Sort# Card name1 Corporate Graphics2 Floor Plans3 Facilities and Locations4 Contacts5 Employee Directory6 Corporate Travel7 Glossary and Acronyms8 Mission and Philosophy9 Safety
10 Reimbursement11 Payroll12 Purchasing and Requisitions13 Workplace Policies14 Hiring and Employment15 Benefits16 Work Schedules17 Personnel Records18 Shipping and Distribution19 Printing and Copying20 Helpdesk21 Forms22 Computer and Networks23 Corporate Marketing and Branding24 Information Technology25 Phone and Conferencing26 Contracts27 Wellness Programs28 Diversity29 In/Out Board30 News and Announcements31 Photo Gallery32 Corporate Events33 Department Sites34 For New Employees35 Workplace Conduct36 Recognition and Accomplishments
Participant Demographics All 15 participants had experience using Insite. Participants from 9 different departments 4 men and 11 women
P# Gender Department Used Insite?0-5 6-10 IE Firefox Word processing Emailing Web Browsing
1 F Testing Services Y x x x x x2 F Human Resources Y x x x x3 M Client Services Y x x x x x4 F Human Resources Y x x x x x5 F Testing Services Y x x x x x6 F Office of Technology Y x x x x x7 F Finance Y x x x x x8 M Testing Services Y x x x x x9 F Client Services Y x x x x x
10 F Operational Services Y x x x x x11 M Scoring Y x x x x x12 F Process Coordination Y x x x x x13 F Marketing Y x x x x x14 F Client Services Y x x x x x15 M Marketing Y x x x x x
Hours Per Week Web Browser for Insite? What Do You Do on a Computer?
Sample Open Card Sort Results: Major Navigation Categories WHAT I WANT TO USE Home page Contracts Forms
WHAT I WANT TO REFER TO Department sites Employee directory Working at Measured Progress Helpdesk
Analysis of ResultsWe began to see trends after five card sorts on the first day.
Main categories among first five participants
Analysis of ResultsWe started with 106 original categories from all 15 participants, and applied consistent naming conventions.
Standardized categories derived from original categories
Analysis of ResultsSecond, we combined similar standardized categories and arrived at a total of 13 standardized categories. Final list of 13 standardized categories
0.67
Dendrograph (Tree Diagram)Trying to see how frequently participants put two cards together in the same group
Analysis of ResultsMapping the dendrogram groupings to primary and secondary navigation areas
Analysis of Results“Mental image the user forms to understand how software works and how to operate it”—Arnowitz et al (2007), “Effective Prototyping for Software Makers”
In the case of Insite, many participants in our card sorts could not express a mental model of the website beyond the use of “In” headings. But many did express their mental model of the ideal Measured Progress intranet:
“There’s stuff there that people need to do their jobs. They need a reference library for working at the company . . . a big bookshelf of benefits and other [information].”
Analysis of Results Use a navigation hierarchy of medium depth and breadth
Use a primary navigation hierarchy of no more than 8 or 9 categories
Go 3 or 4 levels deep
Put search at the top of every page Put site map link on every page
Recommendations
Design of the New Site
Where I Didn’t Listen to Bob Three-column
design on second-level pages
Third-level sub-navigation
Home on main
navigation bar Search at top
right of page
Employees’ Reactions . . . terrific and very user-friendly. And it’s easy on the eyes! —Denise . . . navigation makes so much more sense. If I need to look at an HR policy or find the manager of a particular contract, it’s just a couple of clicks away. You can view company newsletters from 2001, as well as articles about what the future might hold for our industry—it’s all there. —Laura. . . now they are grouped and organized in a logical way. Another great improvement is the search feature. If I need to find anything, I can type it in! —HeatherBeing able to find what I need through multiple channel makes Insite easy to use. —Paul
The Departments Section
The Human Resources Section
The Human Resources Section
The New Help Section
The New Help Section
What We Kept Quick access to the Employee Directory, the section
employees use the most Corporate colors Anything that humanizes the user experience:
Photo of the weekKids’ artPhoto gallery
Content Management System
ConclusionsCard sort was a success because: We involved key stakeholders from the start who clearly saw
the benefits of the corporate intranet and wanted to improve the site for employees.
We recruited participants from all areas of the company. We were able to understand employees’ mental models (“a
reference library,” “a bookshelf”). We discovered how employees wanted items grouped
together and what labels made the most sense to them.
The bottom line:Measured Progress employees created the IA for their intranet.
ConclusionsRedesign of the site was a success because: We chose simplicity over cuteness (the “In” metaphor). We unified two separate sites (Insite, HR Policies and
Procedures) that were created with two different applications. We built out a navigational hierarchy that replaced a broad
and shallow architecture (10 categories, 1-2 levels deep) with an architecture of medium depth and breadth (7 categories, 3-4 levels deep).
The bottom line:Employees can find what they need easily and quickly.
Thank YouQuestions?
Elke Oberg, Electronic Marketing Coordinator, Measured [email protected]
Bob Thomas, Manager of User Experience, Liberty [email protected]
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