The EOCP (Environmental Operators Certification Program) recently received an award for “outstanding contribution toward establishing and advancing the certification of environmental professionals”.
Bayleaf’s contributions, building the CRM application, was recognized as being a key component in EOCP’s winning the innovation award. View Award.
The CRM (Career Relationship Management System) is a custom built application for EOCP (Environmental Operator Certification Program) to manage over 3,500 Water Operators and Water Treatment facilities in British Columbia.
My Role
I led the UX and Interaction design for a custom application that manages profiles, membership dues, tracks learning requirements and fulfillment, and regulates the application and approval processes for exams, courses and education roles. The biggest challenge was how to convey complex information into an easy to understand, hierarchal display and to simplify workflows for both Operators and Staff.
Key Contributions
Customer Insights & Ideation
- Worked w/ stakeholders & project managers to uncover insights and business rules during discovery meetings
- These were translated into system features with goals to serve system administrators, government representatives and general application users
Experience Strategy and Vision
- Presented concepts, mockups, wireframes, and design templates for client review and developers to work from
- Developed workflow diagrams and business rule documentation for reference and sign off
Leadership and Quality Assurance
- Worked with dev team to ensure intended functionality was delivered and conformed to business process
- Delivered application training and support
Certification at a Glance
One of the most vital aspects in protecting BC’s water is knowing whether water facilities, like Water Treatment, Wastewater Collection, Wastewater Treatment and Water Distribution are staffed by qualified individuals, namely Certified Operators.
Certification requires passing exams for specific facility levels and types. Once an individual achieves an Operator ID number, they must maintain their Certification through a combination of membership and educational requirements.
The previous UI required a heavy cognitive load on the viewer to read and interpret data and could only be viewed profile by profile, making it difficult to determine whether a facility was adequately staffed.
The new UI for Facility profile pages lists Operators/Employees in a single table, calculates the complex formulas regarding Certification, and displays the information as easy to understand icons. Now EOCP and Ministry of the Environment can see at a glance whether a facility is being run by qualified staff.
Example of a Facility Relationship (employee) table, displaying whether or not the Operators employed are qualified.
Detailed information regarding the Operator’s Certification is visible on the individual profile pages.
An Operator, to maintain certification, is required to take Continuing Education courses each reporting period, specific to their Certification type. The goal was to devise a hierarchy of information, pushing the most salient details to the top (Requirements Met or Not Met) while having the more detailed information available on click (course name, credits, dates etc).
Alongside of UI, workflows for important business processes were key to the application re-development.
The diagram below illustrates the workflow for an Instructor applying for permission to teach an existing course.
Examples of design system assets created for the team to ensure design consistency across the application. Drawing on the new logo for inspiration, the colours and typography are modern, fresh and approachable.
Part of the style guide created for the team to ensure visual consistency
The application has resulted in greater operator engagement and self-service with online applications, payment and CEU management. The groundbreaking work on the CRM has made EOCP a leader in the industry.