ONCALL RECORDS
PRODUCT GOAL
To provide an easy-to-use, robust central repository for all things records related for police agencies. This records management system hosts information ranging from (but not limited to):
Event related records (Incident, Accident, Citation, etc.)
Master index related records (such as vehicles, people, found property, and evidence)
In-depth case management
Administrative functionalities such as expense reporting and an Employee module
Jail administration and questionnaire building
INTENDED USERS
Records clerks that manage event, people, vehicle, property, case, and court related data.
Administrative staff that have the credentials to manage agency-related records.
Police officers using OnCall Records in the car as reporting software.
Supervisors will also interface with Records to review, approve and reject reports.
Jail clerks who manage intake and arrestees.
& more!
MY ROLE (DESIGNER + RESEARCHER)
OnCall Records is a product that I also have been a part of since my start at Octave (formerly Hexagon Safety, Infrastructure and Geospatial). During my time working on the product, I’ve had the extreme pleasure to:
Travel onsite to sit with Records clerks, Narcotics Investigators, and Police Officers using Records in the car and observe their workflows.
Support the modernization of an antiquated software.
DESIGNS + DESIGN CHALLENGES
SUPPORT THE REDESIGN OF AN INBOX / LANDING PAGE
The Records Inbox had limited configuration/customization capability. This project was specifically to identify and implement the ability to revamp the functionality and layout based on customer needs and expectations. There were limited requirements - a large part of this was identifying user needs and expectations.
RESEARCH
To start the effort, we were able to travel onsite to talk to users to observe their workflows and hear some of their expectations. We heard varying feedback regarding inbox functionality:
Users were completely bypassing it on their way to find information they were looking for
Different types of users were using the Inbox for different functionality
In general, the Inbox didn’t really feel like an appropriate landing page for OnCall Records
Something along the lines of a ‘Home’ or ‘Dashboard’ would be more helpful to the user / align with expectations
Above: An example of the types of findings we captured from site visits to investigate this effort.
ITERATING
Based on the data and user feedback we collected, along with some loose requirements defined by product management, we were able to begin iterating on this concept to make a more usable landing page for the product.
DELIVERED DESIGN
After rounds of developer, stakeholder, and customer review, we were able to deliver the designs and see it through to implementation.