Analyse Workflow
Workflow diagram example, showing users placing bets in a betting application.
The term ‘workflow’ means the tasks people do to achieve a goal, in the order they do them. It includes activities you mightn't necessarily think of as ‘work’. For example, people who are using a web site to order tickets have a workflow, because they perform tasks in a certain order.
A well-designed site or application supports the workflow of the people who use it. This allows people to work with it quickly and easily because their workflow and the system they're using match.
Matching the system to user tasks
A site or application that matches user tasks means that:
- the workflow diagram informs the sequence of screens we design for your site or application – we can make sure that users can move through each step efficiently and easily
- opportunities for improvements in current workflow can be identified and incorporated in the design, if appropriate
- people have little difficulty finding what they want to do and following it through
- the navigation seems like ‘common sense’, and it's obvious what they have to do next
- people can concentrate on what they're doing, instead of how they're doing it
- more people can complete the task (for instance, registrations, shopping, applications, finding information)
- this increases your revenue stream, reduces complaints and help desk calls.
What we do
We create a workflow diagram to show which part of the users' workflow the site or application must support. The diagram focuses on strategies common to most users, so you don't end up designing the site to fit individual users and create isolated fixes for single problems.
We use the results of our user analysis from field studies to inform the diagram.
We then use the workflow diagram to feed into our design work.
When to use workflow analysis
Workflow diagrams are useful when:
- there's a complex series of tasks (eg. ordering goods and paying for them)
- the site is for a function within a workplace (eg. call centre, stock-ordering, tracking progress of a print job etc)
- the activities are new
- the workflow is being changed.
