the challenge
How might the internal CMS be improved?
The company had developed an internal credential management system (CMS) that was used to store information for various clients and projects. In its current form, the user interface was rudimentary and had room for improving its usability issues. Seeing room for growth and improvement, I proposed a complete redesign of the current system.
Our Main Goals
Redesign the user interface to make it more intuitive and easy to use.
Add additional layers of security to ensure the information being stored is as secure as possible.
Create additional features to allow for better user handling, system settings, and organization of information.
Kickoff
I started out by researching other similar systems on the market to gain a better understanding of key features and what the current competitors had to offer over one another. At a baseline, it was clear that our system needed better security features and system settings to allow for control over the internal user’s access. I used this information to compile a list of the different features and options to implement.
Users
The users of the system would be members of a team that need to share credentials that are provided by a client or created internally for various projects. These users could be in a variety of positions within the company: designers, developers, administrators, project managers, owners, etc.
the Solution
A New Design with More System Features & Increased Security
Once I had a better understanding of the fundamental features of a CMS, I was able to start planning out the different components of the system. I started by writing out the user flows and sections with their functions.
After that was laid out, I began working on the various user interface views and components that would be needed. These became the high fidelity comps that would be used as the guide for the development team.
Once all of the designs were complete, I worked with our developers to plan out the tasks that would need to be completed for the frontend and backend work. I created tasks, set time estimates, and planned out the sprints.
THE RESULT
Increased Security & More Robust Interface
At the time of writing this, the project was still in the development stage, but the majority of the frontend user interface was complete. Once everything is done and in place, the system will have a huge increase in security features as well as admin functionalities within the interface for team management. The new user interface will also become much easier to use and allow the team to be more efficient when adding or obtaining a credential for use. Features such as the new dashboard that has a section that shows recently added credentials makes it easy for a team member to quickly access a credential that was just added by another.
Reflections
I enjoyed working on this project because it presented quite a few different challenges that made me consider things from different angles. I often found myself thinking of an enhancement to feature after revisiting the user flow again, so it was constantly growing and evolving to incorporate the different ideas. It was also a challenge to try to break the project down into different parts in order to determine what the MVP for the first release would be versus thinking about the other iterations that could be used to scale up to larger company needs.
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